The meeting between Cuong Dam and sculpture at the Paramount exhibition

Paramount marks C.Dam’s third project and a significant transformation of the brand, drawing inspiration from futuristic and contemporary design elements. In step with global fashion trends, C.Dam creates a “new reality” in which past, present and future intertwine, posing questions and offering reflections on life. The brand, with its strong voice of freedom, tells a creative story of the journey to find the “higher self”, the ultimate god within each person.

Cuong Dam notes that, despite ongoing debates in fashion from practicality to encouraging creativity beyond rigid frameworks, he remains committed to a philosophy of infusing ideas into every fold of fabric. This is how fashion gains enduring vitality. Without ideas, it is merely lifeless material, lacking true appeal and value.

In an era that prizes individual initiative, every person becomes a significant entity, illuminating their own path. Inspired by mythological stories, C.Dam reframes the concept of “god”. What if god is not an external supreme being, but something created within each of us? Paramount arises from this idea, suggesting that every individual holds the power to shape their own life.

Within this space, Cuong Dam shares pages from his emotional diaries, filtered through his visual notes and those of his collaborators, exploring the question: ‘A predetermined fate, or a fate of our own making’.

In the temple dedicated to oneself, Paramount, Cuong Dam and his team guide visitors through three immersive spaces. The journey begins with the birth of the inner god, moves through confrontations with the outside world, and concludes with a return inward, ultimately connecting each individual with their most complete self.

Fashion and sculpture have long existed as two parallel streams, reflecting the refinement of imagination, technique and knowledge. Stories of materials, shapes, colours and movement in space are constantly tested, redefined and transformed through inventive creative ideas.

By exploring the contrasting nature of materials and shapes, the Paramount exhibition stages a striking encounter between these two creative forms. It celebrates the deepening of artistic exploration and broadens the dialogue between artists as they create together.

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Collaborating with sculptor Trung Chinh and sculptor Khong Do Tuyen as advisor, Cuong Dam presents works that are honest and meticulous reflections of his vivid memories. These are expressed across fabric surfaces, painted wool threads, metal pieces or gradually realised on anodised black aluminium.

The exhibition journey is accompanied by the evocative compositions of Music Director Thanh Chu. Through a palette of sounds, he interprets each work’s narrative, creating a dialogue between art and technology while reflecting the brand’s distinctive mindset.

From the red dot that begins Rebirth, The Source, and Amarok, the pure energy of the first cry is stretched, expanded and transformed through the earliest moments of life, sometimes joyful, sometimes uneasy, sometimes angry.

The First Sense of Self, the first frame each person constructs, emerges as a narrow, rigid box, confined by societal stereotypes. Each beat in Racing Heart mirrors the turbulence experienced upon first encountering self-awareness, including awareness of gender. Emotions surge, pushing us into an uncertain world, where the very core of identity is continually challenged.

Experience flows toward the inner darkness. It is the body’s natural defence against the shadow gradually enveloping The Cut, but is that strength enough to navigate the maze of Labyrinth? The darkness becomes a prison for all desires for freedom, locked in endless loops. When emotions wrestle along the line between light and dark, an open ending emerges, with a god waiting to be revealed.

Paramount does not provide a definitive answer, yet that very ambiguity is its most fascinating element. Like a journey without end, it charts a course toward the infinite self of each individual where every step uncovers discovery, acceptance and reconciliation in a world in constant flux. Ultimately, the moment arrives when the Supreme God is reborn from within the most human identity.

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