Pedestrian is a collaborative research project initiated by Nadine Goepfert, proposing alternative concepts of garment- and textile production. Through annually developed editions Pedestrian aims to articulate a more ecological and humanist design ethic that challenges the current state of the industrial production and consumption of garments.
Basic Fit, 2019
The variant of fit (…) makes the transition between form and matter, its principle is the significant alteration between tight and loose, between choking and relaxed: hence, from the point of view of psychology (or a psychoanalysis) of the garment, this variant would be one of the richest.
—Roland Barthes, The fashion System
Edition 001, entitled Basic Fit, focuses on the development of a new sizing system for clothing, embracing the individual human form. The project aims to develop and proof an alternative model to the prevalent numeric standard sizing system. The project is largely informed by socio-cultural research, the processing of textiles and material advancement.
Since this variant rests upon the feeling of a distance, it is normal that the scale of these variations be intensive, even if, according to the terminology rule, its expression remains discontinuous; we therefore have two signifying states : the tight and the loose, whose terminological variations can appear to be quite distant, depending on whether it is a question of the relation of the piece to the body (fitted) or the relation of the piece itself (tight). —Roland Barthes, The fashion System
Each garment in the collection of prototypes exists in two variants: tight and loose. Both variants are designed to fit a variety of body shapes and are produced from the same amount of material. The difference in size, width and length is achieved solely through the use of different textile processing techniques and treatments. Contrary to the numeric standard sizing system, Basic Fit refrains from indicating the size of the garment by the size of the human body: Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large. InsteadBasic Fit treats all body sizes equally in an impartial, value-free way. Independently from predefined numbers or letters each wearer decides individually for a „feeling of distance“ – tight or loose.
Basic Fit is based on the idea that the numeric standard sizing system has created and manifested a discrepancy between the perception of the human body and the size of the garment. The project seeks to reintroduce a more neutral, body positive perspective into the sizing of a garment. The partly hand-crafted pieces concurrently are designed to raise attention on the importance of ethical production and the long time appreciation of garments.
By considering the word “basic” in both its opposing definitions, essential/fundamental and simple/uninteresting, and by mimicking the aesthetics, shapes, color codes and presentation methods of fashion companies, that represent the contemporary „basic“, the project is intended to encourage a critical discourse about the “uniform” of the contemporary society and the essence of the basic.
Accepting preorders from June 2019. All preorders will be delivered in October 2019.
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Concept, Art Direction, and Design Nadine GoepfertResearch assistance Eszti Kiss, Elise Ory, Aleksandra Gudkova
Production Assistance Elisa Breyer, Jule Maurer, Anna Zimmermann Photography David Bornscheuer, Styling Almut Vogel
Pedestrians Anais Hazo, Julia Riedel, Katrin Steiger, Oliver Sabin, Julian Eide