'The journey of Sisyphus' by XAVAN Studio

Our Fall/Winter 2021 collection derives its name from Sisyphus Sport (1997), a sculpture and installation art piece by artist Jana Sterbak. The piece consists of a rock with leather straps and metal buckles attached, inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus whose divine punishment is to roll a heavy boulder uphill only for it to roll down every time he nears the hilltop, dooming him to repeat this task for eternity. However, the sculpture reimagines Sisyphus’ great burden as a backpack, and the title recontextualizes his plight as “sport,” suggesting that it can be a recreational activity despite its grueling physical challenge.

The juxtaposition in Sterbak’s sculpture between the immense, endless burden of Sisyphus and the playful connotations of sports laid the foundation for our collection. The sculpture offers an altered perspective on the myth and on human suffering in general. By inviting us to think of Sisyphus’ punishment as a sport, Sterbak’s sculpture shifts our perspective of the eternal burden humans are all doomed to carry to a joyous celebration of human fortitude and the meaning of labour.

Sisyphus Sport (1997), by Jana Sterbak

If to live is to laboriously and eternally carry a burden, how do we find joy in that struggle? How can we derive meaning from the meaningless repetition of life? How do humans lighten the heaviness we all carry? Can we reimagine our fated burden to write a tale in which we are triumphant instead of victimized?

Our inspiration led us into examining the act of labour in search of the real-life Sisyphus, and how his burden can be found in the images of nomads, peddlers, and merchants of olden days who carry the equivalent of Sisyphus’ boulder on their backs. Humans have always been fated to bear our burdens throughout our lives. For blue collar workers, these burdens manifest as tangible wares that overpower their carriers in weight and size. We researched the physical supporting structures that the real-life Sisyphus uses to help ease his burdens, ranging from backpack frames and carrier racks to the wardrobe of blue collar workers.

Crafted to support labourers in carrying their burdens, these man-made structures are inherently adaptive to human needs. Their flexible nature parallels clothing's ability to form and mold to the contours and habits of its wearers, and becomes a primary inspiration for this collection. For example, the carrier racks of Vietnamese street vendors can open and close to attach to motorized scooters. We designed our trousers to mimic such features: fabric panels on the legs can unfold to accommodate future modifications like patching and sewing, as the piece becomes worn with time. This versatility also encompasses our sustainable approach through encouraging wearers to repair the pieces as necessary.

Photo from La France Travaille

Through our research into supporting structures, we also discovered the understated beauty in their purely functional, minimalist designs. A motorbike carrier rack is composed of symmetrical straight and curved metal piping, and we mirror this urban intricacy through seam finishing techniques with contrasting colours. By putting bright textural details on the pieces’ primarily neutral canvas, we want to highlight the framing nature of clothing, similarly to how supporting structures frame the labourers’ bodies to accommodate the weights they carry.

Our designs aim to answer the central questions posed by our inspiration: how do we carry our burdens, and what have we created to help us do the work that we do everyday? These artificial supportive structures--whether made out of metal or fabric--are imbued with our identity through their integral role in our labour, becoming a kind of exoskeleton that we invent to help turn our burdens into a source of purpose and joy. Yet, they remain hidden from our perceptions of labourers, dwarfed by the colossal weights they hold. With this collection, we want to bring to the fore these forgotten structures and their underappreciated artisanship, and highlight the intimate relationship between internal human strength and the ingenuity of external manmade architecture.

Photograph from The Great Depression

A Merging of Two Forces

Our collection is a study on the textile and textuality of workwear. At the heart of the collection is our fixation on bringing together contradictory forces, which manifest through the pieces’ idiosyncratic combination of elements from the “uniform” of white and blue collar workers. This collection highlights workwear because it is an often neglected part of our wardrobe, yet it is perhaps most heavily wrought with implications about our societal roles. Woven into the clothes of labour are implicit codes about professionality, social interactions, and class. By juxtaposing the components of blue and white collar  work suits, this collection brings to the fore the rich symbolism inherent in fashion and prompts us to question our preconceived notions not only about workwear but also its wearers. This hybridization of clashing elements results in chimeric creations that embody XAVAN’s Eclecticism and jar us from outworn associations about class.

A development board of XAVAN Studio

Decorative Functionality

Optimized for pragmatism and convenience, workwear’s essence lies in its decorative functionality. Aspects borne out of practicality, over time, solidified into the style’s core aesthetics: the mass production of indigo dye (thus making it affordable and accessible to labourers)  turned denim blue into the workwear’s signature. This collection unearths the poetics within the mundane by highlighting the beauty of elements of workwear thought to be strictly functional, like buttons, bartacks, and pockets. Our approach to decorative functionality can be summarised as: if something has to be included in a piece, why not make it beautiful?

Ediorial Photoshoot by XAVAN Studio

Workwear Elegance

The collection’s decorative functionality is expressed first through its elevation of its source of inspiration. Following Xavan’s guiding philosophy of eclecticism, the collection marries the sophistication of high-end fashion with the down-to-earth functionality of workwear. With this collection, Xavan brings the extra touches of flourish from tailored or artisanal clothing to the humble, often mass-produced workwear uniform. For instance, we use bias bound seams in our pieces which avoid split seams and frayed hems to replicate workwear’s signature longevity. However, we choose to use different colours of fabric for the seams to turn an originally purely functional element into a “visual anchor.” Details like these are functionally unnecessary yet aesthetically essential, distinguishing the piece from common workwear clothing. The colour forms a piece’s distinct frame, holding all the components together while breathing a vibrancy into well-worn materials and silhouettes.

Hybrid Work Trousers details

Hybrid Work Trousers details

Hybrid Work Trousers details

Intimacy

Xavan’s collection communicates intimacy through an array of elements typically hidden from an outsider view and can often only be appreciated by the wearer. If the elevation aspect is a piece’s striking exoskeleton, intimacy is its veins. For example, the lining of a jacket has a vibrant shade of orange, much livelier than the muted earth tones of the outside. The button stand of a pair of trousers is decorated with brightly coloured threads that juxtapose with the rest of the garment. These elements are a hidden treasure that the wearer literally holds close, and when the wearer chooses to reveal them to outsiders--by popping the collar or unbuttoning a jacket--they open up a part of their inner lives only to those specifically chosen to share this intimacy. These details not only serve to foster a lasting relationship between the wearer and their garment, but also as a secret thank-you note from XAVAN to our customers. The maker and the wearer are the first two witnesses of these hidden touches, and by sharing these secrets with our customers, we at Xavan hope that our customers can sense our gratitude for their trust in us and appreciate the care we have lovingly woven and tucked into each piece.

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About the authors:

Charlie Pham is a Vietnamese poet. Their poems can be found on poets.org, The Adroit Journal, Couplet Poetry, and in the anthology Dear Human at the Edge of Time. They are currently an MFA student in Poetry at Cornell University.

Thu Le is the founder and creative director of XAVAN Studio. She is an award-winning Vietnamese fashion designer who uses in-depth logical analysis & creative thinking to offer innovative design solutions. An observant, vigorous intellect with unhindered imagination, she has the talent for rendering visible abstract concept into tasteful designs with nuance & subtlety.