Meri Malminen

The MA thesis collection Commemoration is a homage to Malminen’s previous collection Pieces of Evidence, in which a fictitious crime scene investigation carried the narrative of investigating her designer identity. Through six looks, each different scenario showed extensive creative experimentation in a cohesive collection of evidence. Malminen continues the narrative by commemorating the past by extending it into a ceremonial context. The collection is conceived as a fictional funeral setting, where each look represents a participant within a collective act of remembrance. At the core of the creative process is an exploration of emotional states as generative tools for design. The collection is structured around the stages of grief; Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, with each look developed through an immersive, intuitive method: entering a specific emotional condition and allowing it to guide decisions in silhouette, construction, and styling. This approach transforms abstract feelings into tangible forms, where garments become carriers of affect. "The link between this project and my previous one creates a meaningful continuum and allows me to approach fashion as both a form of creative expression and a personal process." Material selection plays a central role in articulating these states. The collection features high-quality materials such as silk, handcrafted tweed, and velvet, shaped into classical silhouettes with a modern touch. Malminen uses traditional tailoring techniques combined with experimental manipulation—layering, deconstruction and hand-made detailing—to create pieces that balance precision with emotional rawness. "Working with emotion proved more challenging than I expected; the process becomes an act of play, where the creative process carries the same emotional weight as the character."