V M & WIN D O W D I S P L AY A S S I S TA N T mannykwakye@gmail.com
PORTFOLIO
MANASSEH KWAKYE
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WINDOW DISPLAY: VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - SPRING/SUMMER 2020
“CLIMATE ECONOMY”
London, UK - March 2020
#AKSS20
ANDREAS KRONTHALER for VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - SPRING/SUMMER 2020
London, UK - March 2020 / Paris, France - September 2019
ANDREAS KRONTHALER for VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - AUTUMN/WINTER 2020-21
#AKAW2021
Paris, France - February 2020
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD - CHRISTMAS 2019
“LET IT ROCK“
London, UK - November 2019
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POP-UP STORE: VIVIENNE WESTWOOD POP-UP at GALERIES LAFAYETTE
“CHANGEONS DE MODE“ POP-UP STORE
Paris, France - August 2019
LES HOMMES - AUTUMN/WINTER 2019-20 «For the FW19 collection Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch, the creative duo of Les Hommes, starts an imaginary trip from the Himalayan peaks, equipped with utilitarian elements from mountain hiking and references from winter sports. An edulcorated Tibetan aesthetic of saffron colours and patterns created by natural consumption, define a new chapter of the brand’s lexicon. The journey evolves with an unexpected twist, crashing into a mid-nineties techno rave: fluo colours, sheer PVC, reflective nylon infuse a new energy into the consolidated Les Hommes alphabet of impeccable suits and fine outerwear. [...] Snap-hooks, ropes and chains enrich backpacks and fanny packs. The look is completed by chunky sneakers or mountain boots, while the gaze is always protected by flashy screen ski inspired glasses». (Press Notes) Styling by Robbie Spencer Assisted by Ioana Ivan, Alice Maiolini, Manasseh Kwakye
Credits: Guillaume Roujas for NOWFASHION Christina Fragkou for DAZED
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FITTING & BACKSTAGE: LES HOMMES - AUTUMN/WINTER 2019-20
Milano, Italia - January 2019
HE HAS A POWER ON YOU A FILM BY
INDIGO & THE SIRENS
« The ghost haunting your lonely dreams / revealed what was hidden under the sheet »
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SET DESIGN: “HE HAS A POWER ON YOU“ MUSIC VIDEO
“HE HAS A POWER ON YOU” MUSIC VIDEO I had the opportunity to assist Indigo & The Sirens to art direct the videoclip of the second single of his sophomore EP, Gardens: HE HAS A POWER ON YOU. The concept is perfectly expressed by Maikee Magnetic in Dark Beauty Magazine: «The video features a multiracial cast of teens and Indigo long-time collaborator dancer Giulio Dilemmi. […] The visual solidifies the bigger picture, starting where the previous video left off. The first scene reminds us of iconic shots from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The faceless character from Ghost In The Sheets and La Petite Mort is still wandering, lost in the artist’s universe, always in the dark, seeking the light. Cryptic story lines and mystique cult-like vibes define Indigo’s signature style once again. A surreal slow motion rave takes place in a futuristic pantheon of young gods and goddesses who seem to come back to life after a thousand year sleep».
Brescia, Italia - December 2018
PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE COMMONPLACE Martin Margiela and Demna Gvasalia: from Ordinary to Extraordinary Taking Balenciaga’s two-thousand-dollar Ikea-bag as a case study, my dissertation questions the concept behind the appropriation of the ordinary by fashion. Philosopher Remo Bodei’s The Life of Things, the Love of Things shows how we can cloth things with multiple layers of meaning or strip them off through our perception and knowledge. Ordinary things are more likely to become common or be sentenced to fading into oblivion. However, as Bodei argues using Art and Philosophy as examples, we should recover and integrate them in our horizons to make our world deeper and broader. My dissertation develops Bodei’s analysis by focusing on works of art of the twentieth century, showing how Art can recover the mundane through concepts like readymade and trompe-l’oeil. Furthermore, I demonstrate that we can find the same ideas in the history of twentieth-century fashion: from Schiaparelli’s works with the surrealists to the fashion revolution of the Sixties and Seventies, to Nineties Anti-fashion. Taking into account these examples, I try to explain the creative process of designer Demna Gvasalia for both Vetements and Balenciaga, and why such process differs from the vision of Martin Margiela, one of the masters of Anti-fashion with whom Gvasalia is always compared. Eventually, from the analysis of a bag, this thesis examines the fashion trend of the time to focus on a bigger meaning and say something about our contemporary society.
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DISSERTATION: PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE COMMONPLACE
Bergamo, Italia - October 2018
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THE WAY I SEE: MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
“MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO� Social media platforms nowadays play an important part in our daily life. Instagram, in particular, has become the most powerful tool to promote and communicate the brand identity of an individual or a business. I would describe my own Instagram account as a personal mood board. An infinite archive that collects glances of my life and images of what inspires me the most. All these pictures as a whole reveal the way I look at and see things: finding historical references in unusual fields or elements of contemporary pop culture in high culture.
2018/2020