#002 — REVOLT

乱

As time moves further away from the calamitous twentieth century, a more unclouded picture of it is starting to emerge. In the first half of the century, autocracies and dictatorships spoke in the name of the masses, shaping them, giving them their opinions. In the second half however there was an intense reaction. Protest became the engine of political change. Delayed by effective secret police forces and public fear, it moved slowly. However, after one decade into the twenty-first century the process has even reached the Arab countries on a massive scale. The power is within ourselves. The stifling of dissent and systematic oppression are the common denominators that provoke nearly all revolts and uprisings.

Nowadays in the Western culture we are systematically oppressed by the invisible forces of capitalism, media and society. The structures have pushed us further away from each other. We don’t know what we should revolt against even though deep within we know that capitalism is a massive source of misery and the only individuals profiting from it are humans that dedicate their life to money—something inhuman. But how should you stand up against it, when you don’t understand it properly. It’s not a country, a political party or a dictator that you stand up against—you stand up against a man-made system on which the whole Western mindset is based.

In this issue we seek for the indicators for uprisings within art, literature and especially fashion. Social movements, class and our gender roles influence the way we choose to represent ourselves. Throughout history revolutions have played out inside of closets. As we all know, style can help to affirm—or disrupt—the status quo. Fashion designers nowadays have strong political voices, and their creations speak for whole generations and movements. The most popular example would be Vivienne Westwood, who dedicates every show to a certain problem in society that she is involved in. When Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto first introduced their collections to the Parisian public, they disrupted the European style and the Japanese culture became a crucial part in the heart of couture. With easy accessibility through the internet these days it has become even easier to explore mindsets and cultures through clothes. The voice of Gosha Rubchinskiy within the Post Soviet youth is a very good example for that.

Revolutionary movements can happen in every sector of our life. We asked leading designers, artists and journalists who work within movements of Revolt to share their manifestos and views on the subject. Surprisingly the fashion world, which is trapped in a cycle of seasons and quickly changing trends, still has individuals who are working outside of the system, neglecting the system, staging their own Revolt against it.