About Me
Conceptual Designer Aiming to Celebrate Queer Culture and History
As a response to the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, the intention came about to explore diverse queer and specifically genderqueer expression as a means to combat patriarchal beauty standards in fashion. My graduate collection is an invitation to bend the rules and explore the complex layers of identity and expression.
The collection was created to be politically provocative and calls on queer associated communities to achieve a satirisation of gender and beauty standards and includes features in which masculinity and femininity are clearly present but not defining. It is an exploration into the intangible aspects of humanity and identity and questions certain rules such as who can, or can not, show, or not show, what parts of their bodies. The end product is a combination of presentations; it is masculine, feminine and androgynous - not just gender fluid, but a complete resistance to the concept altogether.
INSPIRATION
Elevating Gender-Queerness to Combat Creative Homogeneity Induced as an Effect of the Patriarchy.
Drag is an art form of satirising gender roles in all their forms: visual and behavioural. I am inspired by artists whose work and life subverts gender expectations and my aim as a designer is to represent these stories. The image contains a photo of two local drag artists Koko Poppers and Miss Mina - members of a drag collective that creates a community where social rules are shed leaving only an exploration of creativity - similar to those created by queer artists who have been erased from history.
Also pictured is a photo of trans friend Tamar from a shoot with intentions to contextualise his experience as a trans person and a creative. As a trans man he experiences an intersection of transphobia and misogyny in relation to his personal style and appearance. He was captured through the queer gaze by Aamina Stenhouse and using him as a muse this photoshoot sparked inspiration to celebrate his queerness by abstractly representing him and his moments of gender euphoria through conceptual pieces.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
DETAIL
Fashion Film directed by myself and shot by Izzy Forbes
The film contains drag queen Miss Mina dancing in the first outfit 'Behold! A Man!' with an array of projections including the music video to drag icon Divine's "You think you're a man" and a number from Sasha Velour's 'Nightgowns' show. It was shot by fellow LAU student Izzy Forbes and directed by myself. Technical details of outfit one ‘Behold! A Man!’: Simple mini dress with cutout and gathered panels on the back. Gathers created by trapping strong thread under a zig-zag stitch with a domestic machine. 8m panels with channels trapping a wire. Fabric gathered around wire, moulded to shape and hand sewn onto base dress in line with style lines. Technical details of outfit two ‘Euphoria’: Double layered wadding stitched from garment front with red top stitching thread to create body sculpture. Panels gathered with domestic machine and sewn into seams of base garment.
"Endurance at the point between masculine and feminine" - Heather Cassils
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
