Let's make a fashion of socialism Riko Uchida 

What is “radical” for me? In this modern time, everybody tries to express their identity through fashion because they want to become different to everyone else. Even if their fashion presents a contradiction with their true identity, they continue to use fashion as a means of expressing it. One example of this can be seen in New Romanticism, in which people wore lots of layers and make up and pretended to be different people. David Rimmer, author of “The Look“ (2003) said at the time“ [directors are] trying to out-non-conform each other“ , “ Posing has become a kind of performance art, each poseur his own art object, with Blitz as the gallery or stage. “ 

In Japan the 1980s, and the burst of its bubble economy, gave birth to the likes of Konishi Yoshiki, and Japanese people, who belonged to a traditionally conformist culture, also began to strive toward expressing personal uniqueness by using fashion to broadcast identity. Now seen as the symbol of Kawaii culture, Keita Maruyama is a good example of this. 

The fashion industry these days however has become deeply inconsistent with this past. Rei Kawakubo and  Marina Abramovic have commented that lots of contemporary young artists just imitate or make things that look the same as those made by other artists. As a result, although they are trying to create something unique that expresses identity, they end up creating something derivative. Before I can get excited by images or films I see on the internet and social media, they always remind me instantly of lots of existing art and history. I believe that creativity is an individual process, and think that is very important. No two people work in the same way.

On the other hand though, why not think "let's all be the same"? That's the other radical extreme. What would happen if everyone wore the same clothes and acted the same way all over the world? 

If everyone started hiding and destroying expressions of identity, would it just be dots everywhere, as in the work of Yayoi Kusama? Would everyone wander from place to place as if they were in a lost in a world of illusions, as in Henrik Vibskov’s “The big wet shiny boobiew copenhagen SS07”. There is no dynamic, special set design in this piece. There are just lots of dots and models lying down. Everyone is inside a small box becoming dehumanised. 

An other example of Vibskovs expression of people lost in conformity, is his “Consumes for state ingrid Fiksdal Graz Austria 2016”. In it he creates a world of white space where everyone wears white, making them invisible. 

The most interesting part of Henrik Vibskov's work is how he satirises danish culture through his design and the spaces he creates. In Denmark, everyone wears black all year around, everyone has the same nationality, the same hair colour, the same eye colour. They don’t even wish to have their own character. People there believe that everything should have an equal relationship. Everything should be shared with other people. This is because Danish people think in a socialist way. Henrik Vibskov conveys an objective view of this culture through fashion. 

This is what I believe is radical about Henrik Vibskov. He creates socialist worlds that critique endless, often futile attempts to convey unique individual identity within the fashion industry, whilst also managing to express the individual character that is attached to a socialist society and culture such as Denmark's. Radical for me is beyond a designer’s bombastic clothes, concepts and identity rammed down an audience's throat. 

P.S. If I was doing the art direction in one of his collections “The transparent Vogue Paris SS13”,I would put the same mask on all of the models' faces, and make everyone look completely the same to create a socialist space in the absolute. I would also have all the models screaming their own language and wandering from place to place, in order to represent a more radical world.