Collection 4 THE NORTH

“Hipster bashing” has become a big thing in
mainstream media lately, they say that our generation
has nothing else to do than curate a retrospective
of fashion on our young bodies. Perhaps a
more considered view on what is actually happening
is slightly more rewarding. In order to create
something new, we need two movements: remembering
what is actually there and what actually
happened. This is what retro styles are about.
By reconfiguring techniques, sounds, ideas and
trends of times passed, something different will be
created. And to boost this creativity, there needs to
be space for dreams and tales. What else, if not the
modus of epic, is giving us space for such irrational
thoughts? The epic, so far, seemed to be a lot
about the past indeed. We all know about Greek
mythology, northern sagas and grew up with fairy
tales. But every era mediates these discourses in
a different way, and this way says more about the
contemporary than about the actual past.
A longing for alternate realities or times is as
old as modernity itself, so art, literature and history
is crammed full of references relating to other
spheres and worlds. From back when rationality
arose, there was always an alternative conglomerate
of thinkers questioning the pureness of
thoughts or challenging the reign of the brain over
the heart. The irrational is the naughty little sister
that the rational wanted to leave at home while
playing with the other kids. It seems like finally,
after (post-)modernity was overcome more than
once, rationality is about to say bye. If you don‘t
know someone is wearing “MMORPG1-“ merchandise
or is on the edge of fashion that clearly
shows that epic is appealing to a broader audience
than ever before.
In times of crisis after crisis, when the future
is no longer sure, safety becomes more and more
of an illusion. We either become as small minded
and conservative as possible to protect ourselves -
or we try to figure out new ways of expression. As
everything fast-forwards in transit there’s a feeling
that systems are about to alternate. It is the fatigue
of never ending watersheds, political struggles
and post-modern coldness, which generates the
lust for something else. We want to be seduced
again, we want to long for something, we want to
dream and go somewhere else. The mythological
and surreal is sexy. Just think about “True Blood”.
Beyond the hotties getting it on all the time, it
is nice to think about the possibility of another
reality. Vampires exist? Raww. Bite me. (and I’m
not even talking about “Twilight”). Our saturated
yet insatiable minds are desperate to believe that
maybe there is something more. Maybe the world
is not what it seems. Maybe there is something
else to discover. Come, let‘s follow the little rabbit
and let‘s see what happens if we go through the
looking glass. The same sexiness that made “The
Matrix” a big success, made parents and children
fight about who is going to be the first one reading
the new “Harry Potter” novel. “Game of Thrones”
was definitely another major step for the epic in
pop culture. No clue how many times I heard the
statement, “Actually I don‘t like fantasy, but…”
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