On October 16, 2000, Carol Christian Poell presented BEST BEFORE at Artlife in Turin, Italy, a performance that would challenge the boundaries of fashion and art, and cement Poell’s status as one of the most subversive designers of his time. The event was not a conventional runway show, nor did it center around wearable garments. Instead, Poell orchestrated a somber meditation on death, decay, and the futility of human existence, conveyed through stark imagery that disrupted the fashion industry's obsession with materialism and appearances.
At the heart of the presentation were three gurneys, each carrying a body entirely concealed beneath a blanket. The figures, with toe tags affixed to their feet, lay motionless under the cold, sterile glow of spotlights. The scene evoked an unmistakable sense of finality, with the gurneys symbolizing the in-between space of life and death, moments away from the morgue. Poell's decision to hide their clothing—if there was any at all—was a deliberate move, stripping away any suggestion of fashion or individual identity, leaving only the faceless forms behind. The audience, walking in silence around the gurneys, became witnesses to this haunting display of mortality, forced to reflect on the inevitable end that awaits all living things.
