Aurélie Defez
"I make memes on clothing." With a sharp and playful narrative, Aurélie Defez challenges social classes and hierarchies. She explores the paradoxical relationship between criticizing inequality and creating objects that end up in the hands of a privileged public.
Aurélie Defez is a designer with a focus on fashion, design and graphic art. Aurélie graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2021. Immediately after completing her studies, she participated in the 2021 Dutch Design Week. She completed her academic journey at ERG (École de Recherche Graphique) in Brussels with a master's program in “Design and the Politics of Multiplicity”. Her academic trajectory allowed her to develop her first collections while refining her unique artistic vision. In 2021, she explored the boundaries of craftsmanship and modernity during the Modern Craft exhibition at MAD Brussels. She also showed narrative pieces mixing fashion with social criticism at the 2022 FASHIONCLASH Festival in Maastricht. In 2023, Aurélie exhibited at Infra-Flux, a show for ERG graduates. Her work was shown in the expo “Thread” at Texture in Kortrijk. She was also featured in the fall 2024 edition of Slanted Magazine. A magazine focusing on fashion and typography, an area in which Aurélie Defez continues to search for new narratives with a critical eye.
“I have two sides. On the one hand, I question the commercial value of aesthetic design within a capitalist system. On the other hand, I make stylish objects within a higher price range.”
From an early age, Aurélie Defez has pursued a vision of fashion that goes beyond aesthetics. Colors, patterns, and materials are not mere decorations to her but markers of identity that shape how we perceive and position ourselves in society. For her, clothing is a visual language that structures social relations and accentuates class distinctions. For Aurélie, a designer’s role is not limited to producing aesthetically pleasing objects; they should also interrogate the social and political dynamics behind their creations. So, who is Aurélie Defez's work ultimately for? Her sarcastic response reveals a central paradox in her practice: “I have two objectives. On the one hand, I question the commercial value of aesthetic design within a capitalist system. On the other hand, I make stylish objects within a higher price range.” This critical reflection forms the basis of her creative practice.
Central to her work is the “meme.” For Aurélie, memes function both as a narrative tool and as a critical lens on contemporary society. This medium allows her to create an ironic dialogue and, inspired by viral images on social media, build an ecosystem of shared meanings. In her project eAt tHe rIcH (2021), she gives second-hand sports and workwear a new life, with a satirical take on the commodification of popular cultures and aesthetics. For example, she replaces traditional prints on clothing with embroidery inspired by memes. By combining cheap clothing with embroidery techniques, she transforms outdated pieces into objects of desire, challenging notions of aesthetics and redefining the value of an object.
Aurélie Defez creates pieces that critique luxury consumption. Ironically, she simultaneously acknowledges that she contributes to the same system she criticizes. Her collection Gentrification Scarves (2023) embodies this paradox: to earn a fair income, she must sell her work in markets that are not accessible to everyone. The scarves in the collection consist of two layers of shiny fabric and padding, and literally refer to a meme. With this collection, she takes a critical look at the design industry. While this industry is often praised for its authenticity and exclusivity, in reality, design remains accessible only to those with the financial or cultural means to afford it. This leads to a form of elitism that perpetuates inaccessibility.