In her latest collection, Estonian-born designer Johanna Parv explores the relationship between corporate refinement and the physicality of sportswear. Rather than putting the two in opposition to one another, she demonstrates that the body carefully revealed through sportswear can add to the authority of the corporate suit. Doing, rather than dreaming, dominates the collection, both in the materials and process and in the emphasis on movement in each piece.
Her presentation takes place at 180 Studios in Temple and consists of two rooms: in one, the looks are suspended from the ceiling in a bare concrete room, while in the other a film plays that introduces four other artists whose technical rigour aligns with Johanna’s. Ambient music plays and cityscapes are projected onto the wall. The looks hold a contrast without a struggle. They draw distinctly on the corporate wardrobe, with the blazer-trouser combination forming the basis of several looks and black, beige and white dominating the colour palette. To this model Johanna adds sportswear elements, most notably the stretchy and waterproof materials necessary for a woman cycling around the city. Several of the looks combine opaque and sheer fabrics in such a way as to create a sense of bodily autonomy: the clothes are professional and structured but conscious of the body and its movement. It feels like each piece is designed to allow the wearer to move freely and show off their body rather than to restrict or cover it in the way that corporate clothes risk doing. Every detail has this in mind. Many looks feature zips and adjustable straps, which leaves decisions such as temperature or tightness of fit up to the wearer. Johanna’s work hands control from the clothes to the wearer by letting the body take the lead.
Her work explores fundamental questions of the role of nature and the body in the modern urban environment. Crucially, she looks at how femininity, and especially the female body, can assert itself in the corporate environment, where masculinity is so often the measure of worth. She suggests that professional power can come from embracing the female body and its movement. Though not a loud collection, it is easy to see how with the subtle artistry Johanna possesses she was a semi-finalist in the LVMH Prize 2023 and became part of the BFC Newgen support initiative in 2025. We look forward to seeing where Johanna takes her work next.
