Emilia Tikka, Collection “External Body”, 2012, Wood, organic leather, hand-dyed silk, wool, Model: Marcella Thurau, Courtesy of the artist, Photo by Zuzanna Kaluzna.
2013
EMILIA TIKKA “EXTERNAL BODY”
Finnish by origin and based in Berlin, fashion designer Emilia Tikka bases her work on the analysis of the human body as an entity and as a medium for rethinking the present.
Strongly conceptual and trans-disciplinary, her work is inspired by poststructural philosophy and by the history of the natural sciences.
In her collection “External Body”, inspired by the writings of philosopher Jacques Derrida, she examines how the reality of the body has transformed into a biotechnological endeavour.
According to her statement, the “main idea of the collection is the fading of borders between the organic body and its dress. In the past, our choice of dress was a means of expressing individuality. Now the body itself has become a form of expression: a text that can be rewritten and reshaped by technologies and performance. In the 90s, the technological cyborg body of machines and computers inspired fashion. Twenty years later, the cyborg has transformed into a biotechnological complex, where technologies appear organic and natural.”
“External Body” treats the body sculpturally, reshaping its features through wooden structures that allude to prosthetic devices, while also giving the garments a classical and timeless character due to their refined geometries. Skin-like colours and natural materials (wood, silk) deepen her ambiguous interplay between organic and synthetic, soft and hard, vulnerable and self-restrained.
Emilia Tikka was recognised as one of Vogue's emerging talents in 2011, and showcased her work in an exhibition and at the Technical Museum of Helsinki, as part of the World Design Capital 2012.
Emilia Tikka, Collection “External Body”, 2012, Wood, organic leather, hand-dyed silk, wool, Model: Marcella Thurau, Courtesy of the artist, Photo by Zuzanna Kaluzna.