Social Fabric explores the ways that fashion is part of our lives and speaks of our cultures and values. A single item of clothing can link us to communities and networks; and how we consume and produce fashion is tied to complex cultural behaviours.

In recent years, contemporary fashion designers are exploring cultural issues, as well as how cultural bonds are sustained and the role that fashion plays to challenge these. Contemporary fashion designers are spearheading a new critical practice of fashion.

Social Fabric brings together a group of contemporary fashion designers and artists that work with garments in ways that deal with the social and cultural fabric of fashion. The exhibition includes fashion, site-specific work, sculpture, and video work, and it includes designers from the Nordics and beyond, some for the first time in Finland.

The exhibition is curated and conceptualized by Ane Lynge-Jorlén from ALPHA and co-curated by Reetta Kalajo from EMMA. It is the third instalment of a wider collaboration between ALPHA, the Röhsska Museum of Craft and Design, Sweden, the National Museum in Oslo, Norway, EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art and Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark.