VIVIERS’ first birthday editorial: MIRRORING THE ABOVE

“Streaming and projections, soon shine light on their reflections in the mirror, their inner dialogue and contemplation in the windows, slowly they becomes aware of the eerie silence within lockdown. Suddenly they are aware that they can no longer go out. They are left to observe the virtuous silence within. They are moving inwards, reflecting on their lives in solitude.

‘Could we wake up to a new reality?’

Patiently they become aware of her beauty yet again. They light a candle in her darkness. The sun rise, reflecting her gold shimmer onto our faces. A new time has yet to begin. Patiently they observe this process of transformation. Light is shone onto their thoughts; creative ideas start to form, emulating new opportunities. The [slowed] pace opens their ears to their heart, their eyes to their soul. They hear themselves breath, enchanted by her beauty and her light. The prism of light is clear, the future bright, should we be quiet and reflect in stillness? Noticing her beauty is ultimately what continues to give us hope in times of suffering”.

As quoted by Lezanne Viviers from No mud, no Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh

It is often said that it is in the moments of darkness – the times of tribulation, suffering, or pain – that the light can be seen clearly and embraced with great appreciation. Such is the experience of the individual encountered in the quoted passage at the beginning of this piece, who in a time of turmoil caused and fuelled by their inability to turn outwards due to the lockdown and its restrictions and, rather, is now forced to slow-down and turn inwards to find the strength and happiness. The process, initially driven by fear, anxiety, worry, and panic begins to take a turn and through moments of reflection and stillness the individual is awakened to their own beauty and light, as well as transformed by the realisation of their own glory and the great possibilities that could emulate from it. All of this, clear and unquestionable, is reflected and thus seen through their internal mirror; their transformed and renewed thoughts. Ad expressed by Lezanne Viviers, “MIRRORING THE ABOVE, envisions the slow change within individuals during the period of lockdown.”

This period provides not only an opportunity for transformation for the individual alone, but for the environment they live in too. In this way it elicits a conversation with mother nature within the context of a “slowing down of the world” and a much needed and long overdue moment of stillness, given the harsh reality of the deteriorating state of our natural environment and of our own states of balanced interiority:

“The world needed to stop… A global pandemic, a world economic crisis; the disease of greed and consumerism might finally make us stop? She has cried out for our help, her soil pumped with trash and litter. Her blue breath suffocating in fog, resisting yet another sneaker in process, another bag we do not need. Her drawers erupting with yet another dress. “All I hope for now is enough hand sanitiser and toilet paper. Reset and format are her only options. Mother earth could resurrects herself in this decisive moment if we were to act consciously.”

Shot is the Lotus House in Johannesburg prior to the nation-wide lockdown, the MIRRORING ABOVE editorial was a celebration of VIVIERS’s first birthday on the 11th of April 2020. The visual story sees a femme body adorned in VIVIERS attires, surrounded by glass windows and mirrors; all reflecting and mirroring the internal process and transformation that Lezanne speaks of. It tells a beautiful story of hope – though these times we live in may be mentally and materially taxing, existentially daunting and disheartening, there is a silver lining; the opportunity it has allowed and cultivated for us to collectively slowdown. And in stillness, to go within and realise the beauty of ourselves, as the fashion brands’ founder expresses:

“My current inward process, that keeps mirroring in my thoughts, is one of gratitude for all the support in the past year, joy for the beauty within creation and a vision of a very bright prism, that bursts into a colourful rainbow of an even brighter future. I really hope you find your beauty in the quiet time of contemplation.”