Hannah Rose Stewart, “Warp & Weft” at VUNU Košice, Košice

“Warp & Weft” by Hannah Rose Stewart, curated by Niki Bernath, at VUNU Košice, Košice, 11.10. – 18.11.2024.

“It was actually anti the fake history of Vivienne Westwood. She makes tartan lovely and romantic and tries to pretend that’s how it was,” said Alexander McQueen in response to the press’ criticism of his AW 1995 collection, Highland Rape. What McQueen was referring to is the revisionist perspective on tartan and Scottish fashion held by luxury fashion labels such as Vivienne Westwood, which neglected how the fabric and styles were at the centerfold of class and imperial dynamics across the Lowland and Highland, first likened to savagery, banned, and then appropriated by Lowland aristocratic society. This is just one exchange– across time, class, and high and low brow culture– that is the subject of Hannah Rose Stewart’s solo exhibition, ‘Warp & Weft’. Generally speaking, ‘Warp & Weft’ is a meditation on the nature of fabrics and patterns in luxury fashion, bringing together the artist’s reflection on her own Scottish heritage, and observations on global fashion and counterfeiting as a catalyst for disrupting symbols of heritage, nationalism, wealth, and power. In addition to “fake history,” there’s now “fake” fashion. Counterfeiting is widespread with brands such as Gucci and Burberry, the latter of which is known for their own stylized clan tartan. In the advent of ever-expanding counterfeit supply chains, these patterns and styles become democratized, worn on the street, and perceptions amongst these brand’s core consumers subsequently becomes less favorable. This inadvertent, yet ironically sweet bastardization of the symbols and monograms is what Stewart aims to exploit in ‘Warp & Weft’. The works feature fake versions of the fabrics with digitally deconstructed embroidery of the Polo Ralph Lauren logo, another icon appropriated by the American fashion house despite equestrian sport losing popularity nearly 30 years prior. The exhibition celebrates the democratization of these styles, calling attention to a certain uncanniness that remains in luxury design vernacular devoid of status and class significance. ‘Warp & Weft’ is an iconoclastic gesture. A middle finger towards luxury fashion’s romanticization of violent, and tragic histories in the UK that are still relevant to this day. And yet, also a reminder of what should be valued and celebrated in these styles — and also what not to take too seriously.

— Matt Dell