With fire as a tool – the design behind the Minister of Culture's Nobel dress

Beckmans fashion, nobel

Beckmans students Alice Svensson Brostedt and Kevin Nilsson are the creators of Minister of Culture Amanda Lind's Nobel dress that highlights forest fires and climate change.

The remains of a forest fire in a dress 

Based on the theme Of Fire, the dress explores the result of a devastating forest fire; the scorched ground, the ashes, the embers and the darkness that afterwards settles like a weight over the ground. With the help of a lighter, embroidery, glittering rhinestones and knotted fabric over the left shoulder that symbolizes charred wood, they have wanted to create the feeling of a newly fire-ravaged forest.

"We stood in the wind in Humlegården and burned holes in the fabric of the dress. A lot of people wondered what we were doing... Alice and Kevin said.
"But we wanted to get the feeling of scorched nature, the unstructured landscape that the forest creates after a fire. To get that feeling, we worked to manipulate the fabric, 100% silk organza, by burning it. Around the edges of the burned holes, a bronzey effect was created, just like glow. Since the silk organza formed after the manipulation, we let the fabric speak for itself and chose to make a simpler silhouette.

To reinforce the feeling of glow and broken ground, embroidery runs all over the dress as well as sparkling rhinestones, all done by hand. The smoke column consists of a western application that runs along the left side. The vest is removable and the hope is that the dress can be used many times, both with and without the vest. 

"Forest fires are becoming more common with the rise in temperature resulting from climate change. We want to tell you about the feeling of powerlessness and injustice to the animal and plant kingdom caused by man's climate impact, and that a warmer and more diverse climate actually affects us all. 

About the Nobel Creations 2019 project 

Earlier this fall, the first-year fashion students at Beckman College of Design were given the task of creating a dress for the Minister of Culture to wear to the Nobel festivities. The students were divided into groups and created a total of five different creations for Amanda Lind to choose from. The dresses are based on important issues for the Minister, such as knowledge and freedom of expression, ridding the world's oceans of pollution and plastic, climate change and forest fires. The issues were divided into themes from the four elements: earth, fire, water and air. The result is creations that weave together fashion with social issues, personality with professional role, and the historical legacy of the Nobel Prize with research for the future.

The Minister of Culture's Nobel dress will be on display together with the other creations at the Academy of Fine Arts from 11 December.  

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