Opening Report: Nordic Fashion Biennale
SLIDESHOW: A preview of the Nordic Fashion Biennale at the Nordic Heritage Museum, on display through November 13. The show includes film, photography, jewelry, fashion, and, as shown here, expressive interpretations of "looking forward to find our future" (the show’s central theme and concept).
In some cases, what you’ll see at the Nordic Fashion Biennale is indeed fashion. Not clothing mind you, but fashion.
There’s a real sense of connecting heritage, location, and history to dress. I think that’s what I love best about the show, and the concept. What we use to cover our bodies—it’s as important as the food we bring from our soil, the products we export to the rest of the world, the music and art we produce, and the way we live and work in our environment.
The Nordic Heritage Museum has a wing devoted to showing the history of immigration from Northern countries to America, and to Seattle and Ballard. Inside these scenarios (replicas of passage ships, old time storefronts, farmhouses, slums), there are mannequins that are usually dressed in traditional garb to further illustrate the historical perspective. For the NFB, the forms have been outfitted with fashion from the designers represented in the exhibit. It does get a little hokey at times, and it’s not as successful as other parts of the show, but it’s an interesting effort.
