Let's be real: Even in a mail-apocalyptic world in which lxxx% of the population has been decimated by a pandemic, people are notwithstanding going to want to look proficient. People may be mortal, only true style never dies.

At least, that'southward the concept behind "Survival Is An Art: The Last Transport Experience," a mode show curated by TNT with the help of amusement branding bureau loyalkaspar, in order to promote the postal service-apocalyptic drama The Last Send, which premieres June 22 on the network. Michael Bay carries an executive producer credit on the series, which involves a U.Southward. naval ship that is trying to solve–and resist–a pandemic that's wiped out much of the earth's population. Say what you will near Bay'southward frenetic approach to filmmaking, simply his work has never lacked in style, which makes a curated fashion bear witness total of postal service-apocalyptic threads a surprisingly germane concept.


The majority of the collection includes xx pieces created by Munich designer Irene Luft, who worked upward a series of dresses intended for a fashion-frontward approach to one of the obvious post-apocalyptic necessities: The gas mask.

"The collection depicts a kind of postal service-apocalyptic haute couture mode future," Luft explains. "The masks were created in dialogue with the dresses, always with an eye for thinking well-nigh how to 'intermission' their beauty, simply just in the right way. The audition needs to be thrown off a bit, simply also intrigued by the interplay betwixt the mask and the dress. The hand beading and detailed lace and sew together work stands in striking contrast to the industrial nature of the gas mask itself."

Those industrial gas masks range from things from diverse designers that it's feasible to imagine people in a post-apocalyptic world fighting over to, er, less practical pieces by Luft. (Diamond studs and fake mohawk spikes are more probable to provide incentive and convenient handles to roving gangs of marauders, after all.) The crocheted gas masks from artist Nathan Vincent, meanwhile, avoid the industrial look birthday in favor of a softer, more friendly slice of pandemic protection.

"Gas masks are a direct response to threat of catastrophe, and we don them as a way of protecting ourselves while projecting a sense of safety," Vincent says. "These crocheted gas masks reference the persona we projection to the world and the sense of confidence and power we portray, which offers no actual protection from harm."


The gallery exhibition this week volition take place at a pop-up gallery in Manhattan, and guests will be able to photo themselves in gas mask couture. It's a peachy concept that considers some of the weirder, but more than intriguing, questions that surround post-apocalyptic fiction–what would Kanye West wear to protect himself from a pandemic?

"This activation was inspired past what nosotros saw out in the world of popular civilization: a real fascination with gas masks equally a symbol of both threat and empowerment," explains Anna Minkkinen, Creative Managing director of loyalkaspar. "We reached out to artists with styles ranging from steampunk to hip-hop who have built fan followings with their custom gas mask art. 1 theme that interested us was the wild personality in the masks — as if these artists were asserting a need for beauty amid the anarchy of modernistic life'due south dangers; an assertion that uniqueness and personality must reign until the end."

Possibly 2004 Kanye would have walked around in the dope Gary Lockwood mask based around a pair of Jordans, while the 2014 version would probably be more than drawn to Luft's beaded masks, or the brute-inspired designs of Bob Basset. Regardless, manner as an aspect of survival is an interesting concept, and the fact that TNT and The Last Ship are embracing information technology speaks to the potential for the series to annotate not simply on the need to survive, but the fashion nosotros do information technology.

Tricia Melton, the network'due south senior vice president of marketing, is keyed into this notion besides. "Viewers are fascinated with the idea of apocalyptic events, and a viral pandemic is riveting because there is a strong element of realism," she says. "The gas mask is both a sign of a deadly, horrific state of affairs and a symbol of survival. In the course of developing the marketing for The Final Ship, we discovered artists who are embracing the gas mask as an icon of humanity's drive to survive. We felt that this was a uniquely interesting way to bring to life an important component of the show–which is ultimately about the art of survival."