BMW Vision Neue Klasse

QUEERNESS MEETS TRADITION —QUEERNESS MEETS TRADITION —QUEERNESS MEETS TRADITION —

Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design

My Bachelors Thesis/Project is a three-piece Digital Fashion Collection, reinterpreting traditional costumes of countries with queerphobic laws. Traditional costumes represent national identity. Countries like Hungary, Poland or Russia often discriminate against and exclude queer people from being part of their society. My aim was to reinterpret those traditional costumes so that they include and reflect queer identities and people as part of the country. On top of that I combined the outfits with a specific social issue/topic that is important for the queer community, like Visibility, Equality and Liberty. To create patterns that look organically and not repetitive I used midjourney AI. This allowed me to create abstract patterns that are inspired by national colors and embroidery without copying them. Each Outfit can be worn through an Augmented Really Snapchat Filter. If you want to try them out yourself just search for »Hungary Queer« — »Poland Queer« or »Russia Queer« in the Snapchat Filter Library.

Awards and Recognition

Visbility — Hungary

Visibility is the topic I chose for the digital fashion outfit that merges Hungarian traditional clothing with queer identity and colours. The Hungarian government passed a media law in 2021 restricting information about lgbtqia+ people in the media and books effectively censoring them and their identity. This is not only discriminating against queer people who live in Hungary now, but makes it even harder for the coming generation to get educated or have role models who they can look up to. Seeing queer people live happy and normal lives in society is what normalises the topic. Queer Visibility is what Viktor Orbán is actively fighting against. The inspiration came from a traditional gown that features countless pleated underskirts. The pants were inspired by another traditional outfit that featured tights with tiny nubs on them.

Equality — Poland

Equality is the topic I chose for this digital fashion piece that merges Polish traditional clothing with queer identity and colours into a new hybrid. A fashion statement that combines both identities and therefore includes queer people as part of the nations identity. The inspiration was Justitia, the goddess of justice in Roman mythology who stands for justice and equality in front of the law. Polish queer people are not treated equally. The country was known for its lgbtq free zones for a long time. Regions that absurdly declared themselves free of queer people. (Edit: With the new government...)

Liberty — Russia

Liberty is the topic I chose for this digital fashion piece that merges Russian traditional clothing with queer identity into a new hybrid. A fashion statement that combines both identities and therefore includes queer people as part of the nations identity. The inspiration came from the statue of liberty a symbol for liberty/freedom known around the world. The topic was chosen to reflect how limited queer people in Russia are in their personal liberty to live as they are and to love who they want.