Zeyan He

“Black Circle” is a menswear collection that confronts the tension between traditional Norwegian folk heritage and the hyper-masculine extremities of 1990s Norwegian black metal culture. Rooted in historical costume research and subcultural analysis, the project reimagines national dress through the lens of violence, ritual, and performative identity.

By deconstructing garments associated with both rural tradition and metal subculture—such as bunad silhouettes, leather outerwear, militarised detailing, and ecclesiastical forms—the collection explores how masculinity is performed, distorted, and mythologised. The use of leather, heavy wool, distorted camo prints, and sculptural tailoring constructs an atmosphere of tension between preservation and destruction, control and chaos.

“Black Circle” interrogates the paradox of masculine fragility behind extreme expressions of strength, offering a visual language that collapses folklore with rebellion, national identity with nihilism.