Here and Now Fashion Festival

[ 01 ] DAZZLE CAMOUFLAGE was among the earliest iterations of camouflage. Rather than conceal itself, these designs were created to confuse onlookers. This thought guided the direction of my thesis.

[ 02 ]

[ 03 ] The work of New York based artist VANHA LAM resembles many of the concepts found in Dazzle Camouflage. Through simple folds and overlaps recognizable shapes become abstracted forms.

[ 04 ] Initial Iterations 1/3.

[ 05 ] Initial Iterations 2/3.

[ 06 ] Initial Iterations 3/3.

[ 07 ] Look 1.

[ 08 ] Look 2.

[ 09 ] Look 3.

[ 010 ] Look 4.

[ 011 ] Look 5.

[ 012 ] Look 6.

[ 013 ] Final Lineup.

[ 014 ] Google maps imagery serves as the subject of my abstracted garments. With these manipulations each garment functions as a contemporary camouflage for city goers.

[ 015 ] Final Lineup.

The Nine Eyes of Surveillance Capitalism explores the use of surveillance to track, observe, and target individuals. Surveillance today, particularly in this era where oversharing has become a normalized practice for how one participates in society, has taken on many forms. The same information we dispense into the internet is the same information being used to exploit and target us— whether it be to encourage us to buy a product, use a service, or make a particular decision.

This collection references early theories of camouflage and abstract forms of art to create a contemporary rendition that speak to these concerns. The title of my collection refers to the number of cameras used by Google’s street view devices. The apparatus consists of no less then nine high-definition cameras that create a fully panoramic view of nearly any place in the world. The pervasiveness of this equipment serves as a metaphor not only to Google’s omnipresence in our lives, but to the omnipresence of modern surveillance in general.

My name is Tolu Akinyemi. Born in Boston, MA. Based in New York, NY.

Naturally, I love learning and investigating the contemporary issues that influence culture. My design process initiates here and progresses much like a research paper. I would consider myself a researcher with fashion as my chosen medium to evince my discoveries.