ARKADIUS IS DEAD

Influential fashion critics compared him to John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Stella McCartney. Collections inspired by childbirth and postpartum, the Polish countryside, religions, sex work, and the American invasion of Iraq were provocative commentaries on reality, while his conceptual shows were full-fledged spectacles. His avant-garde creations and eyewear were worn by Björk, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Pink, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Justin Timberlake, among others.

Arek Weremczuk from Parczewa near Lublin became the only Polish designer in history to reach the very top of world fashion. In 2015 - betrayed by business partners and disillusioned by the collapse of his business in Poland - he announced his death and rebirth as AFKAA (Artist Formerly Known As Arkadius). Today he lives in Salvador, Brazil, shunning the fashion industry, which he considers dishonest and destructive to the planet. As he said in an interview with "Wysokie Obcasy": "he is nobody and he is happy".

"Arkadius is dead" is a spectacle balancing between biography and literary fantasy - the story of a young man from the Polish provinces trying to escape small-town constraints and reach for fame, inspired by the designer's life. The uncompromising world of fashion becomes a metaphor for aggressive capitalism, while striking visual design and spectacular costumes build a narrative about grand dreams colliding with the reality of exploitation. The spectacle poses a question: is it possible to escape a system that simultaneously seduces, consumes, and destroys?