The little black dress is part of the fashion revolution that is still going on today. It is therefore no coincidence that the Department of Textile and Clothing Design, OTGO, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering of the University of Ljubljana has selected this particular cult item to explore questions about how we can set new, socially relevant tasks for fashion today. The old wisdom, that a dress is never just a dress, is especially true of the little black dress. There are indeed moments in the history of fashion that do not just capture the zeitgeist, but that clearly and lucidly articulate the salient societal tasks of fashion design. They are not the zeitgeist, but rather the articulation of the demands of the future. From the outset, under the pretext of a new glamour the Coco Chanel little black dress undoubtedly articulated a demand for the emancipation of women and a reevaluation of roles in society, and now too it once again represents a battleground in which the younger generations of fashion designers seek to encapsulate the key issues of the future of society.
Upon its creation in the 1920s, the little black dress shifted established social patterns, since, in relation to the body, it offered a new, free way of dressing. A hundred years later it is still topical, mainly due to its durability. It was this that the fashion design students relied on, taking into account as may criteria as possible of sustainable design: upcycling, recycling, use of new technologies, waste-free tailoring and manual work. In the many forms offered by designers and adapted by creative users, today the little black dress represents a current, sustainable, fashionable, multifunctional and timeless garment.
Depending on who is wearing the little black dress and what style that person has, this universal item tells without words the personal story of individuals and their viewpoints. For this reason, the Little Black Dress project serves to establish the full democratisation of modern clothing culture, and highlights the social component of inclusion, dressing for all types of suitability, gender, age and figure. In this way, it presents a mirror to society, which is still persisting in outmoded binary divisions and categorisations.
Artists: Tamara Bizjan, Lucija Bostič, Katja Bradač, Žiga Brezovnik, Zarja Černe, Neža Dapčevič, Jurij Fidel, Maja Gazvoda, Pia Hočevar Mucić, Špela Hudobivnik, Tia Jelen, Eva Jelenc, Zala Jenček, Eva Jež, Klara Kališnik, Natalija Krašovec, Tia Krašovec, Ana Križnar, Nika Krošel, Ela Lesar, Borjan Litovski, Rebeka Mamič, Gašpar Marinič, Anja Matičič, Soča Melik Filipič, Alenka More, Anže Mrak, Zoja Muhič, Anže Orešnik, Rebeka Pajek, Katja Pavlovič, Jaka Podgoršek, Eva Primec Maria, Regioli Staša, Rituper Ela Rozina, Cilka Sadar, Neža Simčič, Sara Šmid, Lenart Šolar, Katarina Tomšič, Ester Vaceva, Katrin Večerina, Tina Verbič, Filip Vujović, Pia Wallner, Eva Zupančič
Mentors: Asst. Prof. Petja Zorec, Prof. Elena Fajt, Prof. Nataša Peršuh, Prof. Almira Sadar, Tech. Assoc. Alenka More, Tech. Assoc. Nataša Hrupić
MGBS Curator: Vladimir Vidmar
Production: Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering of the University of Ljubljana
