DUST Issue 23 – Victory

DUST #23 - Victory (Autumn/Winter 2023)

In contemporary discourse, a concept like Victory has long become outdated. Or rather, it has turned into a tired rhetoric that falls short of addressing the power dynamics and narratives that shape our current landscape. As the line between Victory and Defeat has blurred, becoming increasingly subjective and contextual in our postmodern era, the traditional concept of Victory, with its connotations of dominance and superiority, has faced scrutiny, deconstruction, and ultimately been discarded as obsolete—a relic from a bygone era. However, we are not there anymore. The Russian military invasion of Ukraine, in flagrant violation of international law, has shattered our illusions and brought us back to a harsh reality, one in which the war in Europe remains a haunting possibility; the line between aggressors and victims is again unequivocal, and the word Victory has once again taken centre stage—becoming a heartfelt aspiration that we deeply hold for Ukraine, for Europe, and for the very idea of democracy itself. What appears evident today is that Ukraine's resistance is reshaping the very notion of Victory before our eyes. In light of these circumstances, we would like to reflect on this term and embrace it while redefining what this concept could mean today. What position do we want it to have in contemporary discourse? Can Victory represent a personal and generational perspective that extends to every aspect of our lives? From the broad to the specific, we'd like to think that today, Victory takes the form of a profound conviction, a driving force that propels us to strive and reach forward. A commitment that goes beyond mere external achievements and transcends into a journey defined by self-discovery and empowering breakthroughs. Victory is what happens after we knock down the barriers that limit us and stop acting out of a sense of inadequacy. Victory means thinking the unthinkable and reaching the unreachable—an attitude that belongs to those who stop trying to conform because, within Victory, they have already found their own perspective.

DUST, A EUROPEAN MAGAZINE ABOUT FASHION AND ITS OPPOSITES IS A BIANNUAL MAGAZINE BORN IN 2010 BASED IN BERLIN AND DISTRIBUTED WORLDWIDE.
The intent of the project is to explore the universe of youth, in the context of a present time marked by a continuous state of crisis. Our interest is to enlighten the genuine and non-codified aspects of youth and of the new emerging generation by directing our gaze far from institutionalized geography and trends, and above the current standardization that tends to conform the experience of youth in regulated forms. In our research we cross conflicting territories, where structures collapse and the western codes of appearances dissolve into different kinds of choices, different kinds of dynamics. We like to underline a silent geography, at the margin of mainstream paths, in order to rediscover a stronger attachment to life, somehow more vital, genuine and awake; something that is hard to find in the anesthetized youth presented by the disoriented circulating culture. The territory in which we dig is ‘the crisis’ as the elected place where to redesign forms, ideas, values and strategies for our generation to embrace a different way to conceive of life. We observe the collapse of stabilities taking place globally as an irreversible shift of scenario that’s pushing youth to an urgency of change, an urgency to find a new and proper vision. As many do, we feel renewal to be necessary in all fields, based on a more personal sensibility. In light of our concerns and interests, the realms of communication, visual culture, art and fashion need to be reconsidered from a new point of view. Our magazine is intent on creating, within the limits of any cultural product present in the market, this new vision. We consider the magazine a laboratory of ideas and concepts through which we search for a new esthetic and to give the image new value. Our personal interests go beyond the idea of coolness, trends, waves or anything established by pop culture. We prefer to direct our gaze to the basic, genuine way through which youth expresses itself, from where everything should be reconsidered.