.crowd. by Bola
The name of the collection – .crowd. by Bola, was born literally a couple weeks before the pandemic state was announced all over the world.The pandemic affects us all, and through the disease, limits our freedom of movement and thought, it also affects us economically and creatively – but whatever it is, health and safety are the most important things now.
The feelings of weakness, anxiety and a kind of a failure of artistic plans were not easy to put up with, but finally, the mottoes accompanying us ever since that time, and which have been appearing literally everywhere: #staysafe #staystrong #stayhome – have been used by the designer as AN ASSET! The .crowd. collection – a crowd without a crowd, a session without a plan, your own interpretation, above all – safety and involvement – the designer wanted to somehow transform this feeling of defeat and resigning from the plans regarding the premiere of the collection, into a new challenge, into new values.
How do you show a crowd without a crowd, how do you handle a photo shoot with six models so that each of them is safe and feels comfortable?
Finally, after thinking how to save the project / over six months of artistic effort / and the premiere of the collection, the designer decided to ask a simple question:
“Do you have the will, time, desire, to take the photos yourselves, safely, with your own interpretation of the chosen stylisation from the show?”
She didn’t expect such an eager and collective answer: YES!
The commitment of the models, their own ideas how they perceive the new collection, have totally moved the designer and originator, surprised her with their incredible energy – such an unexpected action in this difficult and hard time really made you want to act, work, and not be indifferent.
Masks/balaclavas and gloves have been sewn on all of the styling selected remotely with stylist Mateusz Kołtunowicz, so that everybody is 100% safe during the photo shoot.
For the .crowd. project. – the name of the collection transformed into a bigger project – the designer invited six unique individuals:
“The collection reminds me of something different and new, with something I didn’t have a chance to wear yet. I’m very happy that I could take part in this photo shoot, since this was a kind of a retreat from this pandemic, something that finally made me stop thinking about it, and I also had something interesting to do while staying home.”
“My longtime friend Ernest shot the pics during a quick walk when we met to make some beats after weeks of isolation.
The collection reminds me of the need for camouflage in a dystopian, full of surveillance, maybe even cyberpunk, world, which – I can’t help feeling that – lurks just around the corner and looks at us slowly. At the same time, the colors and the materials used make the styling stand out from the crowd, no matter how hard we’d like to hide, causing a paradox. The times of the pandemic intensify the feeling of dystopia and a vision of the future which we could so far see only in sci-fi and which isn’t always a bright one.”
“Even this patchwork itself is a kind of an orderly disorder for me. As far as the feelings during the shoot are concerned, it was a great experience, for a moment, you could almost entirely forget about the pandemic, not fully though, due to the fact that places which are normally crowded were empty and this created such a surreal atmosphere during the shoot.”
“We took the pictures ourselves, due to the difficult conditions, but we treated it as great fun. The collection kind of reminds me of this space camo [laughs]. When you wear these things, you look like you’re from another planet and this is how people look at you – I bet nobody would look at us on the moon, when we walk together, the two of us dressed in the exact same tracksuits. The shoot was a nice escape from everyday life, a kind of a vacation from the pandemic.”
Here’s what Karol has to say about taking part in the project: “This was something completely new, as I’ve never participated in such projects before, and I also agreed because I totally like the collection.
“My shoots, as well as considerable part of my photos, are an escape/journey into a different reality. This was a spontaneous, first reaction to the clothes that I received.”
The photos which were taken perfectly describe the collection’s assumptions, doing it in a fresh and original way, simultaneously becoming coherent with one another and telling a strange tale of the current times, emotions, fashion – for a designer, they become an additional driving force for further actions, they deepen faith in wonderful people and their help, and that, even though we’ve found ourselves in a strange new situation, it’s the commitment and fashion that gave us all a few moments to breathe and an opportunity to escape from everyday life.
The .crowd. collection 2020 – we can see iridescent materials in the collection – kind of like a chameleon trying to adapt to the environment, but still remains unique and gets noticed; patchworks, polished forms of jackets and unisex sweatshirts, full tracksuit sets, omnipresent accessories in the form of key rings, backpacks, belts. The colorful pattern is the designer’s own, original graphics, the inspiration for which was a crowd of people – a crowd as a gathering, the desire to blend in, but at the same time maintaining individuality and a desire to stand out.
As far as the patchwork’s concerned, it has an additional meaning here as a combination of various emotions, people, personalities, styles and needs. The collection’s intention was to be very universal, and at the same time one allowing to stand out, emphasize your own style and individuality. The emerging ‘zentai full suit body’ silhouettes can be associated with the Japanese art of dressing, the aim of which is to gain anonymity and freedom.