“Influenza M. Fashion is contagious”

Fashion is an enormously important aspect of our society across all generations. What is changing are not only the designs but also the way we consume and view fashion. How could new, communicative, dramaturgic and spatially tangible formats of “fashion show(ing)” present themselves? This question was put to a team of students of the Fashion and Visual Communication (Communication in Space) course at Pforzheim University. Their result was a multifaceted 5-week event under the name “Influenza-M”.

The prelude was formed by a vernissage that opened the central exhibition at the Alfons-Kern Tower. After concluding the official part, the guests were released directly onto a white catwalk in the outdoor area. This was a change of perspective that was reinforced by 100 models and extras next to the catwalk and marked the beginning of various events.

Illuminated zorb balls and hundreds of flashing lights staged the outbreak of Influenza-M on the Enz flowing through Pforzheim. A projection mapping cloaked the Alfons-Kern Tower in textile and abstract patterns, played with past fashion presentations and the topic of a viral outbreak. Dancers from the pforzheim ballet accompanied the spatial design of the exhibition inside the tower. The associated fashion show was held in the public space in 2018 – including in the Influenza-M fashion line, a bus line with its own transport network. Collections were performed in the bus or at stops, linked conceptually and incorporating initiated visitors and passers-by. Fashion workshops, presentations and a cinema programme rounded off the event-packed concept.