Pedram Karimi's new fall '17 campaign presents the rising Iranian designer's clothes through a surreal, warped lens, featuring models as ballet dancers in draping, organic looks. Speaking to the message he aims to convey through his work, Karimi tells OUT, "This season my message is humanity[because] I feel like being a humanist is the next step in reaching higher consciousness. Even though we live in a trend-driven culture, my brand is too conscious and way too small to play the fashion game, so I've decided to stay out of it."
Karimi's new campaign reflects a twisted view of oneself with its nod to mirror imagery and severe editing. The photos, shot by Shawn Johann, reflect "the super alert, yet inhumane and hard-edged world we live in," Karimi said, responding to our current social and political turmoil by dressing the models in loose, softly structured clothing that play off ideas surrounding human anxiety and innate femininity.
The designer continues: "I believe everything starts with the 'one within,' and what better way to present that than with the models examining themselves in the slightly bent plexi mirrors that helps distort the way they look. I've always been fascinated with mirrors because everyone sees [in them] what they want to see. This concept of feeling flawless, or flawed, when you look in the mirror is a mind game so many of us play everyday. I combined this internal interactions with feminine aesthetics to promote sensitivity and vulnerability [because] I find those attributes so humane and empowering."
With the photos, Karimi released a campaign video in collaboration with editor Wendell Bruno, who's previously worked on films, like Avatar, The Dark Night, Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Of the trippy visual, Karimi said the video was inspired again by mirrors--"the idea of covering performer Hajia's [face] with a square mirror is about self-reflection and seeing ourselves in each other," he said. "Hopefully this can encourage us as an evolved society to feel more compassion for one another and the world around us." Watch, below.
