Beyond Binary: The Future of Fashion
Fashion is a powerful vehicle for self expression and identity. Designers have explored genderless fashion for decades, however the rapidly changing views on gender norms are beginning to transform the industry, with many young designers spearheading the movement.
Beyond Binary: The Future of Fashion is an exhibition showcasing gender neutral clothing, featuring pieces from local and international emerging designers. The exhibition’s key message is that the rigid gender binary of clothing is being challenged, and the future of fashion can be gender neutral. By showcasing gender neutral clothing from emerging designers, Beyond Binary is an embodiment of the way young people are disrupting the rigid, binary approach to clothing and embracing fluidity. The exhibition is a manifestation of the progressive and rapidly changing attitude that young generations have towards fashion and gender.
Exhibition catalogue
The exhibition catalogue lists all designers featured in the exhibition, displaying a selection of garments as well as their location (local or international) and a short bio. There are four interviews with a combination of local and international designers from the exhibition. There are also two timeline spreads briefly outlines the history of gender neutral fashion in the 20th century, covering some of the pieces available to virtually try-on with the interactive screen.
Interactive screen
A large interactive, touch screen is installed in the exhibition space. The screen has a camera, allowing users to virtually try on history, iconic garments. By standing in front of the camera, the screen shows the user wearing their chosen garment. The user is able to select garments either by designer or type of garment eg. jackets. As the garments were created by famous designers, such as Issey Miyake and Yves Saint Laurent, the screen also offers more information for the user to read about the garment, such as its history, a bit more about the designer and the year its made.
Promotional poster
The A3 poster is a promotional piece as well as a purchasable keepsake from the exhibition. The poster combines black and white gritty, blurred imagery with silhouettes of featured garments, creating a balance between the conceptual visual identity whilst maintaining clarity on the focus of the exhibition. The poster features typography exploration of the Beyond Binary logo, and is a further conceptual reference to gender fluidity.
Entrance installation
The exhibition entrance is comprised of a two part installation. There is a large mural at the entrance to the exhibition, which has two distinct archways to enter through. Following this, there is a walkway made of arches; here there is just the one pathway option.
This is to represent the gender binary of clothing (ie. two archways for two genders) which then merges into the one archway. The mural imagery has more defined shapes and less of a blurred effect, then through each archway the imagery become increasingly blurred.
