Storm Anh Thu Le
METROPOLIS 2050
My concept is based around Fritz Lang's 1927 movie Metropolis, looking at a past that mirrors our present and future. Lang's metaphorical vision of social decay is depicted through the fictional scenario of two coexisting worlds of complete opposition, one great city of Metropolis and one worker's city in its Depth.
Through Fashion Illustration I have tried to emphasize the human act of overdevelopment, leading to class disparities, social inequalities and environmental degradation. The message is not only told in my garment and print design but also speaks loudly in the illustrated figures, the melancholic faces on the elite people and symbolic creatures, the perfection meeting imperfection, the sinuousness opposing to the unwind of the stroke.
I came to fashion through the world of fine art, influenced by the master of line Botticelli, the artist of light and colour Monet, the engineer of artistic deconstruction Picasso. Back then, I learned and drew nude figures with different body movements from Renaissance paintings, experimented with Impressionism, Paul Cezanne's colour palettes and painting techniques and Picasso's art of deconstructing beauties and conventions. From there, the liberal use of my strong inked lines to dismantle existing shapes and textiles has evolved and developed through my practice and became my key identity as a fashion designer and illustrator.