Nadine Matt - Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin

Creating Otherness – Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin

PARTICIPATION IN THE BEST GRADUATES SHOW AND NOMINATED FOR THE NEO.FASHION. AWARD

The graduation couture collection „Creating Otherness“ addresses the dehumanisation of the foreign, the unknown, and the other. It depicts the process of losing one’s own humanity by perceiving others as less human. The work visualises the subjective and ambiguous perspective on the unknown – heavily shaped by individual lived experience.

Natural symbols such as infestation and organic decay through vermin and parasites illustrate this process and provided the inspirational foundation for the innovatively created textile manipulations. The combination of unique surface structures with constructed shapes reflects the decomposition of the performative facade of humanity, morality, and worldview.

The textures depict a visual transformation: beginning with a self-proclaimed, civilised observer who is unknowingly infested from within, slowly decomposes, dehumanises and alienates – until a complete transition to an animalistic, monstrous, inhuman creature of „otherness“ is reached. The layering of these textures with transparent materials creates visual ambiguity and compels the viewer to look more closely at the designs.

The collection’s aim is to evoke a combination of strangeness, disgust, confusion, and fascination. The silhouettes and pattern details deliberately contrast the intensity of the textures, reflecting an inflated self-perception through simple, constructed lines and voluminous shapes. The garments physically occupy a great deal of space, symbolising dominance, pride, and arrogance. The collection makes extensive use of natural fibres and repurposes old materials and fabric scraps.

Nadine Matt’s creative vision is to create couture pieces with a strong focus on craftsmanship and unique, innovative, and experimental textile manipulations. Her designs are conceived to confuse the eye, thereby evoking the desire to be observed from close range, to be touched, and to be perceived through multiple senses.

Her creative work is inspired by psychological themes and human behaviour in society. It examines questions such as: What defines us as human beings? Her designs engage with the performativity of individual identity, translating this into theatrical garments.

A central theme of her work is finding beauty in strangeness, otherness, and the uncanny, as well as merging disgust with elegance. Classic silhouettes and sculptural shapes meet unusual textures and surfaces. She also deliberately incorporates used materials and leftover fabric scraps, giving them a second life as design elements.

Fotograf*in: Elise Henschel  @elisehenschel_photo

Model: Leonie Gierga  @leonie.gierga

Model: Christabel  @christabel.deb

Hair & Make-up: Angelique Waltenberg  @angelique.waltenberg