‘Touch Me I’m Sick’, a collection/editorial by UY– the Berlin collective whose dramatically styled work spans art, fashion, photography and home decor- invites us into a surreal dystopia, far removed from the traditional fashion realm and arguably its most shocking project yet.
The story is dark and charged with suggestion; motifs of sadomasochism, anonymity and confinement occupy a clinical and lifeless setting, in which the subjects seem to perform bizarre ritual practices. Punctuating the editorial is the clean and minimalistic clothing; interestingly shaped and unvarying in tone, the garments are placed strategically upon the body to form a central ingredient of the narrative. The pieces vary from uniformly scanty drapes to bondage style wrappings, to futuristic headwear and sharply cut full-length robes. Handmade in Berlin, they epitomise UY’s non-seasonal, non-gendered and unconventional ethos, underpinned by innovative design. In this extraordinary world, it seems, clothing is power.