UNCOOPERATIVE APPROACH

A KALTBLUT exclusive menswear editorial from Berlin by photographer Daniel Peace. Models are Spyros Droussiotis & Ariel Martin. All fashion by Chinese designer XI. The collection is called “Uncooperative approach”, and deals with totalitarianism and state oppression, and especially concerned with the authoritarianism of traditional Chinese culture. A culture, which the government draws on, and nourish from. The will and lust for freedom and social equality is know in the whole world. But in China, most of civilians have problems understanding the concept of freedom and humans rights. The Chinese government is constantly blocking websites, banning books and magazines, imprisoning publicists and writers. There is no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no independent judiciary system. Most things that constitute a modern, free, and liberal society doesn’t exist in China, and the power of the Chinese government is built upon civil and widespread ignorance. But what if we let the citizens know about human right? Freedom is the most beautiful thing in the world, everyone has right to pursue, and enjoy it. The Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989 and the dictatorships of eastern Europe started to fall. In the same year countless students was killed by the Chinese government in the Tiananmen Square protests. Countless students, lawyer and journalist were arrested for pursuing freedom.

I mean that as an artist I both have the responsibility and the right to speak out. As a fashion designer I must put my emotions into my collection. I use military uniform because the military represent the core of authority, but also because the uniform played an important role in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. One of the darkest period in China: Art, culture and economicwas devastated for decades after.

In my work I use humour, irony and wordplay, putting opposing elements together to create a new whole like the uniform and the banner. I displace objects, giving them new meanings. One great inspiration is the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, he has been like a teacher and I’ve learned a lot from him, not only from his way of making art, but also from his courage.

In the end, I hope that more Chinese people will wake up, and demand human rights and dignity. We can’t give up these precious things.

says Xi

Designer: Xi

Photographer: Daniel Peace instagram.com/danielpeace www.daniel-peace.com

Models: Spyros Droussiotis & Ariel Martin 
Make up: Hermes Pittakos