About Me
Hi! I'm Demi, a fashion design graduate from Leeds Arts University
Demi Rostron is a fashion designer who specialises in womenswear and fabric manipulation; her work is largely inspired by her experiences with trauma and PTSD as she believes it's worth turning something bad into something beautiful. She has a particular focus on Victorian dress as well as alternative subcultures such as punk and goth.
I took a conceptual approach to my graduate collection 'Visio Nocturna' (meaning 'nightmare' in Latin) with each outfit being based on a different 'stage' of PTSD. Focusing in on the physical + mental sensations, emotions and visuals I experienced at said time I utilised lots of drawing; similar to that that would be done in art therapy, as well as self-portraiture to form the basis of the collection as I wanted the work to be as personal as possible.
INSPIRATION
The stages of PTSD and how it affects the mind
AUXILIUM - This stage embodies the active trauma, the all-consuming darkness that permeates one’s life. Represented by sharp, overbearing silhouettes and an ode to crows, as they symbolise death - the death of childhood innocence and freedom. LIMBO - Inspired by the assumed location in which one’s soul floats between worlds, this stage encapsulates a state of dissociation. The silhouette is derived from the idea of being frozen in time and taken out of one’s human form left to wander aimlessly and alone.
BARE - Representing the sensation of feeling wounded and confused, the silhouette is mismatched and backwards to outwardly express the inner conflicts of the mind. Corsetry is utilised, influenced by sutures, allowing something traditionally seen as ugly to become beautiful. JOURNEY - Inspired by my healing journey, the silhouette blends hard tailoring with fragile flowy elements and dove imagery to emblematise growing strong despite hardships, but also learning a softness about myself.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
DETAIL
Wound-inspired slashing and broken needle stitching
Much of the detailing was influenced by cuts and exposed flesh. Fabric slashing, mismatched pleating and ruched elastic were developed to create the illusion of abrasions and blood. Rostron re-created different suture patterns with the use of eyelets and ribbon, further adding to the medical influence used in ‘BARE’. To create deeper texture, Rostron used a broken needle to machine-sew across fabrics to fray and distress them, adding fascinating detail. It was important that this outfit have a range of eye-catching visuals and textures, as it was meant to grab an audience's attention and bring a sense of unease, the longer they looked at it, in an attempt to bring awareness to the physical and mental struggles one experiences from PTSD. Resin was also utilised to give the appearance of a garment ‘frozen in time’. As well as ‘claw’ visuals that started as large, infectious structures and slowly became smaller and less obvious as the story of the collection moves from traumatic to healed.
"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn." - Gore Vidal
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