Mirkka Metsola’s eight signature collection ”Snow White” was born in collaboration with a Finnish visual artist Rita Hill. The partnership was born in a common friends summer wedding where the now good friends met for the first time. A common dark tone of creative thought was found quickly and the new collection was created during the long Nordic winter nights.
”Grimm’s tales, the Snow White especially, are well known to both from the childhood. Both the collection and the exhibition take a new, different approach to the classic story, reflecting it to the contemporary time. Narcissism touches everyone’s lives in its various forms but its most destructive force comes out when it occurs within a family and functions as a tool of power. In Grimm’s tale the focus is on the narcissistic stepmother and her disastrous relationship with Snow White. We wanted to present this current theme trough a well known tale in order to make it easier for the recipient to approach the problem. Grimm’s tales are equally beautiful and brutal, making them very human”.
Grimm’s original story is dark and desolate. The aging woman blinded by her vanishing beauty feels her life running from her hands as there is no relief for aging. The blossoming daughters beauty becomes a threat and a source of bitterness and rage to the mother graving after youth lost. The daughter of the narcissistic mother suffers of a sense of inadequacy in a fight between good and evil. ”Snow White” tells a dramatic story of a beautiful woman’s troublesome path of finding herself and becoming whole again.
Grimm’s tale is the inspiration and motivation behind both Mirkka Metsola’s ”Snow White” series and Rita Hill’s artwork. The collection consists of dramatic clothing and evening dresses. Rita Hill’s abstract patterns are repeated in silk, chiffon and jersey, creating stunning contrasts in the deep autumn colors. Soft cashmere silk scarves and other autumn accessories spice up the collection.
Rita Hill’s baroque spirited surrealistic artwork has been made on canvas using mixed media techniques. In order to bring depth to the narcissistic theme and to link the viewer to the whole she also uses mirrors as a canvas in an interesting way. The theme of the exhibition runs trough in the patterns designed for Mirkka Metsola in an abstract but recognizable form. The key elements in the works and patterns are raven’s wings, baroque mirrors and mother-daughter character.
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Collection and styling by Mirkka Metsola, Artwork by Jenni Ritamäki a.k.a Rita Hill, Photography by Liisa Valonen, Make-Up by Piia Hiltunen, Hair by Erica & Sedin / QHair, Modelling by Anette M. and Christel / Paparazzi.
