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2007

HAPPY thoughts with threeASFOUR

"Multimedia shows resembling a nightmare".

Elegant, innovative, timeless, strange and curvilinear is how the international design collective threeASFOUR describes its fashion extravaganzas. Originally, Gabi (originally from Lebanon), Adi (from Israel) and Ange (from Tajikistan) together with their German colleague Kai (they only use their first names) were causing a stir as AsFour. The quartet made a big impression on New York’s underground fashion scene in 1999 with ‘Puppencouture’, a performance installation peopled by 44 miniature puppets that were modelled on AsFour’s members. It was an interactive happening, in which the public had to prevent the dolls from falling. “It was a nightmare,” Ange remembers. All the same, they followed it with more multimedia shows that agreeably push the boundaries between fashion and art. In 2002 they won the American Ecco Domani Award for new designers.

Their highly original designs have attracted clients such as Björk, who they dressed as a mermaid, as well as Mariah Carey. Their most famous design is the ‘circle bag’, a concept that started as a joke: a circle with a hole in the middle. Helmut Lang thought it was wonderful.
Since threeASFOUR has been operating as a trio their output has become less conceptual: “We’re over that now.” Their commercial work includes designing clothing, accessories and rugs for the American label Kate Spade.

threeASFOUR during HAPPY 2007 in the Steenfabriek

For Edition 2007 Arnhem Mode Biennale asked threeASFOUR what makes them happy:

  1. What makes you happy?
    Music, light, love.

  2. Which piece of clothing makes you the happiest?
    Our own.

  3. Things you can’t live without…
    Love.

  4. Why are you crazy about fashion?
    We think it’s wonderful to play with the human charisma.

  5. What was the message of your most recent show?
    Natural elegance.

  6. Can fashion make the world a better place?
    Yes. Fashion can help people to become self-aware and express themselves.

  7. What’s the status of fashion today?
    It’s far too commercially charged, yet there is leeway for all points of view. Fashion is increasingly being recognised as an independent artform.

  8. What’s your happiest moment so far?
    Meeting each other.

  9. What’s the colour of happiness?
    Nakedness.

  10. What’s your wish for the future?
    Harmony.

http://threeasfour.com