The following Weave Designers all graduated in 2017.
This is a showcase of their final collections.
(Image above) Inspired by work wear and protective wear, I explored the ways in which specialist materials have been used to cover bodies that are at risk, for example soldiers and firefighters.
My designs use fabrics that are typically found in protective wear, such as padding, high visibility fabrics, neon, metals and rubber and the inclusion of text. Function//Fashion mixes new and old fibers and materials together to create hybrid pieces that reflect and acknowledge the history of protective wear.
As my research progressed I became interested in subverting ideas of clothing that is meant to protect the body and began to create faux protective wear in which style would triumph over substance. Workwear and uniforms are a constantly recurring trope of much recent fashion design, and I wanted to play with the idea of subverting and commenting on high fashion, which is aimed at and designed for elite consumers, by overlaying themes and fabrics from protective and work wear clothing onto ‘fashion’ pieces.
Perhaps thinking about recent world events and the possibility of this continuing in the future: if life in developed, capitalist countries becomes more dangerous, even for the elite, protective clothes will become not the sign of the worker, but the sign of the elite, of those that can afford ‘protection’.
email: ialbagwell@gmail.com
