Twenty-four-year-old Paula Vēvere from the Art Academy of Latvia continues her collection Ness, in which she explores fashion as a medium of collective memory. Her design combines personal reflection with national history, addressing the flooding of the Daugava Valley caused by the construction of the Pļaviņu Hydroelectric Power Plant — a defining event in Latvia’s landscape and identity.
“I am interested in how human power inscribes itself into nature and how memory can be transformed into material,” says Paula Vēvere.
Her design is not a nostalgic return but a dialogue between past and present, between nature, technology, and emotion. The silhouette appears architectural, layered, and fluid at the same time — like the water that once flowed through the valley and is now confined in concrete.
Paula Vēvere works with machine-knitting techniques that intertwine different types of yarn into textile reliefs. These structures evoke the movement of water and geological strata, metaphors for memory, change, and loss. Draperies and asymmetrical folds create the impression of a river searching for its form, while metallic elements produced through laser cutting or 3D printing symbolize human interventions in nature.
The interplay between softness and rigidity, fabric and metal, reflects the duality of her theme. Paula Vēvere leaves room for process and improvisation in her design, altering shapes spontaneously through interaction with the material and following its inherent rhythm. The result is a garment that reads like a poetic topography of yarn, memory, and movement. Ness stands for transformation, reflection, and the quiet strength of remembrance.
