Soulland co-founder Silas Adler on his first ever London presentation and attempting to create a sixth sense
“Manifesto, this is what we want to see happen.”
That’s how Talib Kweli starts his track, Manifesto, from Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1, a compilation released on Rawkus Records in 1998.
If you know more than two of the first words from the lyric above, there’s a good chance that you were into hip-hop and vinyl culture around the end of the 90s. I was, for sure! The first line always pops up in my head whenever I hear the word manifesto. But this January at London Collections: Men, Kweli’s line will have a completely new meaning to me.
For me, clothing and its presentation is all about senses. The vision comes first. Being able to see the clothing as a spectator is a given, but right after that comes the sense of feeling. What you see is automatically connected with the experience you have when feeling stuff. Raw denim is… well, raw; a chunky knit can feel foamy and soft, while a technical jacket can make you feel like you’re wearing a piece of paper. You see, you digest, you feel. Even without feeling… there is hearing. Your ears and the sounds that go into them can trigger so many emotions, and it can often come crawling from behind. Hard techno with a high BPM count gets your heart pumping and makes you feel energised – or maybe even stressed – while classical music can make you emotional, calm or perhaps even bored. All those musical references you have built up throughout your entire life are in your mind somewhere and that can also reflect your different emotions. Sounds can even change your body temperature. Your sense of smell and sense of taste are said to be less active while at a fashion shows… but are they really?
All these emotions mixed together become the endorphins that turn into joy. At times, the sensation of an amazing show can give you the feeling of being madly in love. It can also turn in to the complete opposite – the feeling of wanting to get the fuck out of there.
“The sensation of an amazing show can give you the
feeling of being madly in love”
I had a vision.
What if I could trigger all these emotions, senses and feelings? What if I could create a sixth sense? What if there could be an element that was both present and not present? Here, we go back to where all this blabbering begun. Kweli’s manifesto was based on what he wanted to see happen. In turn, mine is what I want you to see and not see. I don’t quite get it myself. But my iPhone in combination with the application that we’ve developed does… that is the sixty sense for our presentation.
So why is this manifesto not about the collection? Because the clothing should speak for itself.
Photography by Sascha Oda
