About Me
Why be normal when you could be happy?
As a designer I attempt to convey the mood and concepts I’m drawn to in my life - such as discussions around gender expression and mood. I aim to communicate the emotions I'm experiencing, reflecting them into clothes I can manipulate and play around with.
This year has given me the opportunity to connect my love of theatricals with something tangible and bold. My final collection is a coming-together of all of the overlapping, shadowy shapes of my imagination, applied to the real world through careful choice of materials and construction techniques.
INSPIRATION
Exploring the expression of gender and history in clothing
I began with a large body of inspirations, but as I went on, my most important visual references were fine art sculpture and historical costumes. The artists Rachel Whiteread, Mária Bartuszová and Henry Moore served as important touchstones for the shapes I ended up producing, as well as reinforcing my colour palette. A subliminal inspiration was Virginia Woolf’s experimental gender-fluid-time-travel novel, Orlando which led me to blend architectural silhouettes with aspects of Tudor dress and techniques,
This collection is a playful and theatrical exploration of pre-existing stereotypes of masculine and feminine shapes. The wearer adopts a character and channels the ambiguous messaging of the garments and outfits, bonnets and all. As I continued into the project, I began to consciously explore gender and the provocative concept of a codpiece. The juxtaposition of this historic symbol of masculinity, protruding above the feminine ‘pregnant’ skirt, became an amusing concept to play with.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
DETAIL
Innovating Pattern Design
By restricting my colour scheme and selecting a padded texture early in the process I was able to focus on silhouette and pattern development. Referencing a typical Tudor sleeve pattern, I worked to adapt its placement on the body, toying with its shape and complexity. The circular motif of my patterns evolved from half scale stand work, before transferring to the body. This pattern design method evolved into an approach that could be applied to any garment type across the collection.
‘My love of clothes interests me profoundly: only it is not love, and what it is I must discover.’ Virginia Woolf. (Diaries 1925)
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