Barbara Í Gongini Fall/Winter 2011
Otherworldly fashion from Copenhagen’s emerging avant-goth designer
Defining her work as “dark avant-garde,” Danish fashion designer Barbara Í Gongini divides her work into two collections, the highly experimental Main Line and the slightly less radical Black Line. Both—continuously produced in collaboration with photographers, filmmakers and musicians—freely blur the boundaries between fashion and art.
The look conjures dark elves and pale fairies but mixes in an urban and unorthodox (almost creepy) mood, which comes to life in her most recent beautiful video. Without any nostalgia, echoes of the ’90s and Japanese fashion designers define these clothes, centered around deconstructed shapes in all shades of black.
Starting with square forms, Gongini creates a silhouette where sharp edges and corners disappear thanks to the choice of natural materials such as organic cotton and wool, lamb leather, goat skin and fur. Her attention to in-house production, recycling and fair trade even earned her a nomination for the Danish Fashion Award Committee’s 2010 Ethical Award.
