This Enactment was based on the
In February/March 2023, the second Fashion Fictions wardrobe challenge was Meet the Mushrooms, an enactment of World 91.
The challenge followed the same recipe as the first World 91 Enactment in 2022.
The fiction guiding this Enactment:
Once a week in World 91, people undertake a quiet ritual: they present themselves to the mushrooms that are widely understood as spiritual guides.
For most, this practice involves a fleeting visit to a wooded area to enable a few minutes’ connection with either visible fungi or the hidden mycelial network, and reflection on cycles of decay and regeneration.
As a sign of respect in this nature-centric culture, people take great care over what they wear for the mushroom visits. Aesthetics vary, some adopt celebratory flamboyant styles, while others opt for a more subtle approach.
The mushrooms see it all.
Every weekend the participants were invited to take the opportunity to visit some fungi – or, in the absence of visible mushrooms, connect with hidden mycelial networks – and to share their experiences either on Instagram (using the #MeetTheMushrooms hashtag), on a dedicated Padlet, or in a private group chat.
Thanks to everyone who took part – and to Emma Fukuwatari Huffman, who created an amazing series of videos as as Nobu the Kinjiya (co-mender), a fictional character from her project Mending with Mycelium.
Watch the videos in the embedded Instagram posts below (or, if you encounter viewing problems, you can access them in this folder).
Want to try this out for yourself?
This Enactment was devised by Amy Twigger Holroyd, building on an Exploration created by Elly Platt, Talia Hussain and Martin Benes, which was in turn developed from a World contributed by Suzanne Rowland, using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the authors and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
Image credits: Meet the Mushrooms participants on Instagram; illustrations by Tolmeia Gregory
Does this World remind you of something?
I am keen to hear about any historical or contemporary real-world examples – whether individual practices, subcultures or mainstream activities – that this fiction brings to mind.
Please share any such examples using this form. Thank you!