Fetishism of Fashion - M°BA

New corporate identity for M°BA

M°BA Director Olga Godschalk called it a “a gift from Lidewij Edelkoort”. The curator of the most recent edition of the fashion biennale did more than just think up a great theme (Fetishism in Fashion). Trend forecaster Edelkoort also renamed the Arnhem Fashion Biennale M°BA.

According to Edelkoort M°BA is a much clearer way to propagate what the biennale is and what it stands for. M°BA has a ring to it. It refers to the biennale’s cultural identity and is easy to pronounce for the biennale’s large and international audience.

The noticeable º in M°BA represents the playful and creative character of fashion design.

RELIGIOUS FETISH

Grayson Perry argues in favour of the motion “The world needs religion even if it doesn’t need God” at this IQ2 debate at The Tabernacle on 24th January 2011. Grayson Perry (born 24 March 1960) is an English artist, known mainly for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. Perry’s vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours, depicting subjects at odds with their attractive appearance. There is a strong autobiographical element in his work, in which images of Perry as “Claire”, his female alter-ego, often appear. He was awarded the TurnerPrize in 2003.

T IS FOR TRANSVESTISM

Transvestism (also called transvestitism) is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex or gender. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, these are clinical terms that carry potentially negative connotations or implications of mental illness. Cross-dresser is a term that more accurately describes the behaviour and avoids clinical or pathological implications. Transvestism has been referred to in the Hebrew Bible. The word has undergone several changes of meaning since it was first coined in the 1910s and is still used in a variety of senses. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional or ceremonial reasons. For example, in India some male devotees of the Hindu god Krishna, especially in Mathura and Vrindavan, dress in female attire to pose as his consort, the goddess Radha, as an act of devotion. In Italy, the Neapolitan femminielli (feminine males) wear wedding dresses in a procession that takes place through the streets, a tradition that apparently has pagan origins.

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