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Today, November 25 at 17.00 an exhibition devoted to the fashion history of Latvia «Let’s Talk about Fashion!» opens at the National Library of Latvia (NLL). It is one of several touring exhibitions created in the framework of public diplomacy and culture programme of Latvian Presidency of the Council of European Union which will be show in Latvian embassies and diplomatic representations abroad.

Stories Editorial November 25, 2014

Fashion is a peculiar mirror of the society, its values, views and their alterations that enables to become acquainted with the era, specific place and people. The exhibition «Let’s Talk about Fashion!» focuses on the past 60 years in Latvia, starting from the moment when Riga Fashion House was first established. The author of exhibition’s concept Zane Zajančkauska explains: «The beginning of a conversation could be an interest either in high fashion or street fashion or, on the contrary, a statement «fashion doesn’t fascinate me». However it may begin, a conversation about fashion will provoke interest about the rest — Latvian social life, politics, economy, art, boundaries and overstepping them, dreams, illusions and the human nature.»

The exhibition consists of five themed sections. «Who’s in charge?» draws attention to the changes of not only the fashion trends, but also the manner of speaking about them in the course of time. «Opposition» tells about people that have deliberately chosen to go against the reigning fashion tendencies. The section «Weekday» reveals how fashion lives outside the glossy magazines, whereas «The strength of tradition» focuses on the never–ceasing interest in ethnographic ornaments. A special case is the concluding part of the exhibition «Show. Latvian fashion design today» that will jointly display garments of the most noteworthy contemporary fashion designers as «QooQoo», «Amoralle», «Mareunrol’s», Natālija Jansone and others.

Materials from the collection of the NLL, as well as other Latvian recollection storages have been used in the exhibition. The primary language of the exposition is English, however translation into Latvian is also provided. The exhibition takes place at the National Library of Latvia, ground floor, room 122, Mūkusalas iela 3, Riga, until December 8, and is free of charge.