This womenswear collection explores the difficulties of creating fashion during a time of great uncertainty. How do you align your morals with your creative pursuits in an industry that depends on overconsumption? Inspired by abandoned objects in the street and beloved Edwardian postcards, the collection is made using unwanted shirts and wedding dresses. Their existing shapes become new ones, while silk and lace are transformed through embroidery, appliqué and hand-painting before being hand-manipulated into squashed textures and forms. The use of slow hand processes is a conscious response to the relentless pace of fashion: creating a deeper emotional connection with each garment at a time when we are producing, consuming and disposing more and more, faster and faster. The garments are purposely contradictory, just as making clothes in these unsettling times feels: precious and destroyed, delicate and crushed, reused but wasteful.
Outfit 4 - silk taffeta blouse made from the 6 panels of an unwanted wedding dress, with crinkle pleating areas. A hand-painted and manipulated squashed skirt in silk taffeta. Both feature repurposed silk-covered buttons.
Outfit 3 - hand-painted silk taffeta bralette, and silk taffeta wide leg trousers. Covered in hand-painted and embroidered lace appliqué.
Outfit 4 - silk taffeta blouse made from the 6 panels of an unwanted wedding dress, with crinkle pleating areas. A hand-painted and manipulated squashed skirt in silk taffeta. Both feature repurposed silk-covered buttons.
Outfit 3 - hand-painted silk taffeta bralette, and silk taffeta wide leg trousers. Covered in hand-painted and embroidered lace appliqué.
Outfit 2 - "squashed shirt" jacket with a hand-painted and embroidered lace earring, and hand-painted stipe silk taffeta trousers.
Outfit 2 - "squashed shirt" jacket with a hand-painted and embroidered lace earring, and hand-painted stipe silk taffeta trousers.
Outfit 2 - "squashed shirt" jacket with a hand-painted and embroidered lace earring, and hand-painted stripe silk taffeta trousers.
Outfit 1 - Hand-painted squash dress with tulle and lace gloves, hat, and earring bralette. All hand-dyed, painted and embroidered, repurposed from unwanted wedding dresses.
Outfit 1 - Hand-painted squash dress with tulle and lace gloves, hat, and earring bralette. All hand-dyed, painted and embroidered, repurposed from unwanted wedding dresses.
Outfit 1 - Hand-painted squash dress with tulle and lace gloves, hat, and earring bralette. All hand-dyed, painted and embroidered, repurposed from unwanted wedding dresses.