The AW21 collection from conceptual clothing and accessories brand DZHUS is, indeed, a uniform for multitaskers. DZHUS transformer pieces cannot be classified in a standard way: their modular structure allows to modify clothing in numerous ways, including its metamorphosis into accessories. Unified wardrobe items with unprecedentedly extended functional is DZHUS’ innovative solution for the problem of overconsumption, with a focus on creation, not limitation. Designer Irina Dzhus is very familiar with the perfectionist urge to “clone oneself”, and the message of the new season has derived from a rhetorical dilemma: is a prototype self-sufficient without a copy, or are those undividable, like and object and its shadow, a form and a counter-form? Replicas and duplicates imitate the original, generating a train of phantomic projections, resembling a freeze of its dynamics. Such synthesis forms a polyphase existence with an unlimited kinetic potential. The idea of an object’s stratification as a way to push boundaries of its utility has implemented in a repetitive pattern of identical details. DZHUS has developed such hybrid styles as shorts/top, shirt/skirt, hat/waistcoat/hood/peplum and a range of bags modifiable into a cardigan, a coat, trousers, bustier, sleeve, jacket and other apparel categories. The variety of bags in the collection is symbolical, and their shape pays honour to recognisable types of packaging, as DZHUS continues to motivate for recycling and choice of reusable containers. The materials used have distinct textures: shape-keeping pleating, cotton with a crumpled or laminated finish, silk imitating sackcloth or featuring an optical illusion of “petrol” stains, ribbed knits. The textiles’ ethical origin is the determinant criterium for DZHUS’ material sourcing, as the brand transmits the values of cruelty-free fashion.
