"When you venture beyond identity, you realize that what you are is awakened consciousness. No longer a separate piece of the puzzle of life, but interconnected existence itself."

Individual identity, what is it? Can it be grasped, and, most of all, is it static or changeable, just like everyone's attitude to life is? The idea that everyone goes through various states of being in their lives in order to arrive at one's 'core identity', seems logical enough just as the concept of a parallel development of individual and world does.

Most people would describe themselves as single individuals that rebuild and reinvent themselves again and again, and solely on their own account. De facto this means that every person shapes their own reality in which he or she exists as a very independent person equipped with an all-encompassing ego. What ultimately becomes clear is that the perception of individual truth is at stake here. In reverse this means that absolute truth is hardly attainable at all. Consequently, the question pops up whether it is indeed the individual's ego that keeps them from perceiving and living in a universal, truly real world.
One of the most striking examples for the collective creation of 

a potentially illogical reality is the determination of gender roles. Although it is a proven fact that men and women share many qualities and traits of the other biological gender, they have been confined to fixed roles for at least two millennia. Those 'role corsets' have no bearing on their actual emotional and biological reality, and they bring up the question how we are to define and re-imagine our biological and social gender in order to step by step arrive at a much more universal truth.

So, ultimately: why are we confining ourselves to our own egos? Because we are too afraid to loose not only ourselves but also the all-too-narrow boundaries we set ourselves? Maybe we manage to free ourselves of this indefinite kind of fear if we finally start perceiving ourselves as part of a great or even universal reality. 

Cocoon-like shapes and wide capes embody the individual's relation to their self, while high-necked collars point at depicting introversion. On the one hand, the garments made from heavy woolen fabrics offer a great level of consistency and linearity. Fixed gender denominations are not a part of the concept.
On the other hand, transparent and light fabrics represent the 

presentation of the self. While the shapes are still very much devoted to the unity of masculine and feminine features, lace, silk and chiffon explicitly uncover them without idealising them.

In the ONE collection, black is the dominant colour. It is the linking agent, while the delicate colour accents of creme beige and olive unsettle it time and again.

VON BARDONITZ ONE - AW 12|13 



MERCEDES BENZ FASHION WEEK BERLIN
STUDIO PRESENTATION 



18 JANUARY 2012 - 5PM TO 6PM