This website uses cookies

Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation uses cookies to create a better user experience, to interact with social platforms and for anonymised statistics of traffic on our website.

Social media cookies enable us to interact with well-known social media platforms and content. This may be for statistical or marketing reasons.
Neccesary to display YouTube videos
Neccesary to display Vimeo videos
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
Is used for UI states

GANGSTER'S PARADISE

Name
Nikolaj Storm Hauge Tost
Education degree
Master
Subject area
Design
Study programme
Fashion, Clothing and Textiles - New Landscapes for Change
Institute
Architecture and Design
Year
2018

This project is an investigation of the male wardrobe through out time and a response to the male fashion scene right now. It's a collection working with the boundaries between masculine and feminine - fighting for men to be allowed to express their sensuality through their clothing. In order to achieve equality between the sexes, men should be equally allowed to dress as sensual as women are already.

In order to express these new types of men, I have created a fictive paradise where people are not bound by socially constructed norms. Therefore they dress more daring, more sensual and more explicit - with elements recognized from a strong masculine identity mixed with the softness of a feminine identity. Welcome to Gangster's Paradise!

PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO

The collection draws inspiration from different sources in order to create the perfect combination of masculine and feminine. The gangster represents the classic male wardrobe, as well as the strong masculine figure from the beginning of the 20th century. The flapper represents the soft feminine figure with all of their feathers, pearls and laces. The flapper also represents the important rebellion, where girls liberated themselves from the norms of their time. They started wearing clothes for dancing, short skirts and loose dresses instead of the tight corset. The same rebellion that Gangster's Paradise represents for men, trying to liberated them from the tight suit, that has dominated the fashion scene way too long. To give the collection the last touch, I draw inspiration from Muay Thai kickboxing for an exotic feeling as well as representing the power of sportswear, that will help my collection to get a more relaxed feeling.

PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
So, you know, in five years when a kid goes to school wearing a skirt, he won’t get beat up and kids won’t get mad at him. I’m taking the brunt of it so that later on, my kids and the next generations of kids will all think that certain things are normal that weren’t expected before my time.
Jaden Smith
Mirror 2016
PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
Imagine a young Al Capone going to a pool party in Ibiza in our time - That would be Gangster's Paradise!
Nikolaj Storm
PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
PHOTO: PETE LAMBERTO
Gangster's Paradise
The Royal Danish Academy supports the Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2017 the Royal Danish Academy has worked with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is reflected in our research, our teaching and in our students’ projects. This project relates to the following UN goal(-s):
Gender equality (5)