SS23 KUDUS
The air is hazy with the early morning fog,
electric with the thrill of a twisted Mardi Gras:
a nightmarish procession bestowing blessings,
in a tradition passed down for hundreds of years,
and here he comes, the beribboned creature,
‘kudus’, they call him and scream with delight,
spellbound by the force of the lurid parade,
the magic they summoned, the sense they belong.
INSPIRATION
The SS23 collection titled KUDUS is inspired by the rituals of Moha, a village in Hungary, where the streets are lined with barely more than a hundred houses.
The last day of the carnival season is dedicated to bringing fertility and bounty to the homes through rituals that are as unapologetically flamboyant as they are chilling to behold. Villagers dress up in costumes embodying four figures: one clad in skirts and a red-cheeked mask; one in black from top-to-toe; one stout in a costume filled with straw and one, a lurid shape of hundreds of ribbons. For a day, no doors are closed, as the procession of the costumed creatures enters each home. The beribboned figure, the ‘kudus’, is endowed with the power of bringing fertility and bounty to the households by blessing every chicken along the way with a stick. A tradition steeped deeply in animism, the spirituality of the festivities goes back to an origin forgotten but unquestioningly respected by the people of Moha.
Calling on the figures brought to life during the rituals, the SS23 collection KUDUS is an homage to village traditions that bind people together, strangers as much as friends.
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
The colours of the collection evoke the celebrations meant to bring fertility and bounty to the households. The pitch-black soot is offset by bruised peaches and bursting gooseberry greens: lush hues of ripe fruits grown in fertile soil. The figure of the namesake ‘kudus’ is silhouetted in beribboned garments and hidden in details and trimmings. The characters brought to life in the carnival are depicted in the prints of the collection designed by tattooist and artist Áron Dimén. Each design is first etched in lino, before screen-printed onto the garments, giving them a coarseness - a texture-beyond-texture. The limited REMADE line made from upcycled hundred-year-old fabrics is extended with new styles, such as jumpers, vests, shirts and shorts. The zero-waste REMADE hats are hand-made in collaboration with Vecsei Millinery in Hungary.
PRODUCTION CYCLE
Each garment and accessory is made in the countryside of Hungary following a sustainable and ethical production cycle.
Every fabric used in the collection (such as 100% organic cotton and 100% recycled PE) is certified and sourced from European manufacturers to minimise the ecological footprint of the garments. The collection also utilizes natural substitutes for plastic buttons and zip-pullers in the form of ethically sourced horns collected at the natural end of the animals’ lives.
The REMADE line upcycles 100-year-old fabrics collected in the countryside of Hungary both in order to preserve the heritage of traditional costumes and to use what we already have in the world to create something new.
Patterns are angular in order to maximise fabric usage and minimise tailoring waste.
Following zero-waste production principles, fabric waste from previous collections is utilised to create trimmings, inserts and hats.
Motifs are screen-printed onto the garments by hand in Budapest using a unique, eco-conscious dye.
Garments are finished with hem facings that are meant not only to embellish the garments but to lengthen the lifecycle of the items.
The final products are packaged in recycled fabric and are delivered with DHL’s Go Green service which minimises logistics-related waste and other environmental impacts.
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photo: Péter Lestár
models: Icon Model Management I SAM The Agency I Nine Casting
creative concept is inspired by the rituals of Moha, Hungary
hair: Mátyás Lukács
makeup: Fruzsa Watz
vegetation: György Zsigmond _ Finecut
creative writing: Krisztina Targraphic design: Henriett Hauer
