The show took place just few days after the attack on the WTC. "I meant to show to what an extent unleashing conflicts in the name of religion has a destructive impact on the human species," explained the designer. The show was opened by Polish model Magdalena Frąckowiak who appeared on the catwalk wearing merely black trousers, a crown of thorns, accessories and body painting detailed with the Virgin Mary.
The collection was built on many references to Christian symbolism and the image of the Virgin Mary. As usual, the show culminated with the appearance of the designer himself. He got onto the catwalk hidden in a cocoon-like structure, which he then theatrically opened. The inner side of the outfit was embellished with religious symbols from around the world – crosses, Stars of David, crescent moons. At one point, Arkadius, wearing a crown of thorns as did his model, howled dramatically.
It was about liberation, not the crucifixion - that was a sigh: oh, symbols, leave me alone! – explained the designer.
Other fabrics from the collection are decorated with prints of naked babies, reminiscent of the Child Jesus. They meant to recall, as the designer explained, that we are all born as innocent children who over the course of life are subjected to harmful ideological indoctrinations.
Unfortunately, Arkadius’s message was interpreted differently by some commentators. The Nasz Dziennik daily newspaper compared the designer to Osama bin Laden:
The attack on New York (...) struck primarily at the symbols of liberal Western civilization. The attack, which took place a few days later in London (...) was also an act which should be called terrorist. (...) It was aimed at specific persons: Christ and the Mother of God (...).
Referring to such statements the weekly magazine Wprost asked Arkadius whether he was not afraid of the lawsuit that the League of Polish Families would most likely file after his collection was shown in Warsaw. Arkadius replied that only a few symbols referred to the Catholic religion, and the model Kasia Pysiak, who was dressed in a costume-image of the Virgin of Hope of Macarena, was not vulgar but ‘metaphysically beautiful’. In London, contrary to the reception in Poland, the Virgin collection did not cause indignation. In the British fashion magazines one could read at most about the ‘weird’ collection by the Polish designer. Fashion critic Colin McDowell wrote for Elle UK:
Some might say that the avant-garde designer Arkadius is like Byron, crazy and dangerous. Others think he's a genius of fashion.
Author: Karolina Sulej, January 2015, transl.GS