Representing the creative future

Power to the Model

Patti Smith’s People Have The Power could have been played as an appropriate tune to the mood backstage at the final year show of Antwerp’s Fashion Department. In an attempt to give the models the power, we asked them to take a picture of themselves with the infamous selfie stick, trying to get away from the inhibitions they might feel when a photographer pushes a lens into their faces and asks to pose. The results were entertaining: some would simply refuse to touch the stick and its pink rubber handle, some would struggle to click the button as their hands were in one way or another restricted from movement within the garment, some shot from below — some from up above — some from a side angle; some wanted to retake a picture about seven times, some would pout while others had a cold stare; and, in some of the photo’s there are no models but students who had dressed up for the final run (see video ↑). So, here you go: fashion people as they would like to show themselves through an iPhone 6 dangling in the sky attached to a stick. This is the end of the idea of the model as a white canvas. Now they have the gaze and they have the camera to show it to you.