Photos Courtesy of Michelle Corvino
SHAME 2023
RTW 2023 COLLECTION
Brooklyn, NY - On Wednesday, February 8th, Shame showcased its 2023 Ready-To-Wear Collection at the Brooklyn Monarch consisting of 9 looks.
Shame presents its 2023 collection, Not Everyone Manages to Fail featuring 10 looks, in which designer, Ramona Beattie, reveals a landscape occupied by humanoid fembots, real to the touch, and salacious soldiers. To others they are ultimately disposable, built to serve, made to be used, conduits to pacify fear, sacrificial vessels. Pleasure is a two way street and they derive power from being at its center.
These narratives find cohesion, tracing autobiographical threads as Ramona has come to define power on her own terms through fractured autofiction and the hand that ghostwrites one’s own becoming. Emotional degradation tends to be listed as a side-effect to promiscuity, immediately seeking to take agency away from those who incite internal fires. By shifting the hierarchy of objectification, Shame makes existing power dynamics obsolete.
The tone of this collection is a refusal of the idea of disposability and an expression of the hope that to be an object is to be open source: resplendent, reusable and ultimately inextinguishable. While Shame’s 2022 collection Ramona’s Behavioral Infection depicted a sinister feminine doppelganger as a vehicle for self-reconciliation, the 2023 Collection is its evolution. Instead of depicting alter egos, the models wear a uniform in various states of undress and various stages of artificial and real disrepair, forming what looks like a makeshift army in a state of play. The doppelgänger is provided with alternate endings for her laid out fate. She goes from disposable to reusable, objectified to empowered. References to armor, equestrian clothing and military undergarments are given lewd twists: horsehair-tasseled epaulets, cheeky oversized belt buckles, laser cut tees with holes right across the nipples and men’s briefs. The accessories for this collection were developed in collaboration with artist, Winona Sloane Odette. Horse bits are worn on the wrists, acting as armor or maybe a constraint/gag/splint. The garments themselves will not be put into production and are available solely in the form of sewing patterns, subverting traditional ideas of ownership - holding the belief that an autonomous wearer is also a maker.
WHEN: February 8, 2023 at 9:00 PM EST
WHERE: The Brooklyn Monarch, 23 Meadow St, Brooklyn, NY 11206
SHOW CREDITS:
Styling: Stephanie Perez
Make-up: Rose Grace
Production: Hillary Lui
Casting: Neon Baez
Hair: Matthew Sosnowski
Accessories: Winona Sloane Odette
Runway Soundtrack: Vesolo
Special thanks to Catrina Treuhaft, Mohmmed Mamdouh, Hanna Snead, Shaena Baddour, Yuka Ito, Ben Doctor, Elliot Zukbus, Lola Dement Myers
ABOUT SHAME
Ramona Beattie is a New York based designer and founder of Shame. Since its inception in 2020, the label has become known for its darker proclivities and detailed garment construction featuring dead stock and recycled materials. The brand values an open source ethos – championing tenants of reusability and disposability. Shame in turn sells its patterns, an uncommon practice that speaks to the notion of accessibility while subverting traditional ideas of ownership - holding the belief that an autonomous wearer is also a maker. When you wear shame you're an object with agency.
FEATURED PRESS
office - Not Everyone Manages to Fail: Shame 2023
Download Link for Lookbook/Show Selects:
Runway (FULL): LINK 1 (Courtesy of Michelle Corvino)
Runway: LINK 2 (Courtesy of Colin Savercool)
Runway: LINK 3 (Courtesy of Ava Perman)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 1 (Courtesy of Colin Savercool)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 2 (Courtesy of Maya Spangler)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 3 (Courtesy of Michelle Corvino)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 4 (Courtesy of Naicha Mercier)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 5 (Courtesy of Yashel Macapagal)
First Looks / Backstage: LINK 6 (Courtesy of Ava Perman)
Front of House: LINK 1 (Courtesy of Maya Spangler)
Lookbook: LINK 1 (Courtesy of Michelle Corvino)
Video (16:9): LINK 1 (Courtesy of Adé Randle)
Video (4:3): LINK 1 (Courtesy of Adé Randle)