Show Report: Feben S/S 24

SHOWSTUDIO.COM

BY JOSHUA GRAHAM ON 18 SEPTEMBER 2023

This summer the work of visual artist Carrie Mae Weems took centre stage at the Barbican in the American’s first major UK exhibition. Featuring photographs, films and installations across Weems’ three-decade career, the show was a celebration and exploration of identity politics, as well as inspiration to designer Feben whose own work looks to do the same. Specifically looking to Weems’ Museum Series — a set of photographs of the artist standing in front of art institutions from the Louvre to the Tate Modern — Feben’s latest is an exploration of what it means to take up space as a black designer within white institutions.

Dubbed ‘Temple’, the designer’s latest showcase was a celebration of the female form. This was showcased with her signature Twist dress first developed while completing her MA at Central Saint Martins. ‘I’ve always had a fascination with 3D textures and how that works with different body types’, she tells me ahead of the show. The latest iteration of the uniquely knotted design is fitted with sculptural straps, both long and short.

Another highlight from the collection was hand-beaded dresses that not only added movement but sound. In gleaming black and vibrant yellow, the skirts composed of strings of recycled plastic beads clicked with such a captivating clicking that demanded attention as models stomped down the runway. In no way for the meek, the attention-grabbing garments command notice from the world.

The immaculate beadwork was done by artisans in Accra, Ghana who the designer has been working with since her days as a student, and speaks to her desire to actively change how we look at creating fashion. ‘Who are you bringing in?,’ she questions when I ask about how the industry needs to change. ‘Who are you giving opportunities to? How are we going to shift things if we’re doing the same shit over and over’.

Circling back to her Weems inspiration, the pieces that are sure to be divisive within the collection are the dresses stamped with a painted print of Feben’s own body. ‘In a way, it’s a radical approach, putting myself in that space in the industry,’ she says. While the visual similarities to Yves Klein’s famous Blue Nude from 1952, initially had me raising an eyebrow, it’s impossible for me not to read the gesture as a literal taking of space through the appropriation of a white male artist so firmly in the canon as the ultimate radical act. ‘Having the portraits of myself is a bit of a fuck you.’

In a catwalk cameo that brought a smile to my face, the legendary McQueen muse Debra Shaw closed the show in one of Feben’s Twist dresses. Having the trailblazing model stand still as ingenues meander around the icon speaks to the distinct point of view that distinguishes the designer from her contemporaries. 'It doesn’t have to be a huge difference, it might just change one person's perspective and I think that’s enough’.