What other way to represent the times than a fashion show in the form of speed-dating? [Hardeman](https://hardeman.co) sees no competitor. Teaming up with the love dating app [Feeld](https://feeld.co) and concept store [50m](https://50-m.com), the Dutch fashion house with a taste for denim brings you their latest collection: “Hard Love” during “A Day in the Feeld”. Presented with a floral photobooth’s with styling from [Merle van der Wal](https://www.instagram.com/___m3rl3___/?hl=en), we are all gagging for those g-string bumsters. We got the lowdown from the labels designer Sophie Hardeman about denim and dates.
**About the concept**
Hardeman wanted to host an event in which the audience can directly participate with the other performers. These events was to feel akin to a speed dating event. Hardeman’s Speed Dating events are, first and foremost, occasions for people to feel loved: to make overtures to new ways of feeling loved. Society expects love to be found only in monogamous and heteronormative relationships, but Hardeman seeks to challenge the normative ways we conceive of love. Opening doors to all public—together with Feeld + 50 M -- to engage everybody curious to pop in and have a look. In other words, Hardeman is for everyone.
**Why did you want to run a speed-dating event?**
‘A FEELD DAY’ with Hardeman is the name of the event, and will be an interdisciplinary and interactive event; the content for this show is driven by our desire to destabilize and challenge what is taken to be the ‘mundane’ and the everyday. Taking Valentine’s Day as our starting point, Hardeman will explore themes such as adolescence and sexuality; and more poignantly, thinking through questions of “self-love” in an age of where self-care becomes a means of self-commodification.
By collapsing the boundaries between love and friendship, Hardeman brings us closer the intimate, and messy spaces that exist in-between. In our pessimistic present, the search for love, according to Hardeman, has just begun. Look for love and find friendship.
**What do you think of the dating scene today?**
I believe there is a strong social implementation that being in a relationship equals to some sort of 'primary succes' and even that has invisibly defined rules set within our social structures to what that should look like. Ruling out possibilities of developing your real self and experimenting with what you find or feels good. In this normative heterosexual would - family asking if you already have a boyfriend and movies and commercials promote monogamous partners. In the Netherlands it's even kind of not done to date at all - you're in a relationship - or not. I find dating can be fun and you get to know your self and the world better but it should never come out of necessity of fear to be alone. Therefore speed dating is fun because its more open and easier lead to friendship and conversation. Feeld will hopefully open more doors for people to meet!
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Photographed by [Julia Hovve](http://www.juliahovve.com/)
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