BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear
Post-Eschatologist is a collection visualizing a hypothetical ending. It is a reaction to the paranoia surrounding the Mayan 2012 doomsday phenomenon and more importantly a response to recent conflicts with Government and turmoil caused by social upheaval and rioting. If the world were truly to end, what cultures and values would we lose, and more interestingly, what would re-emerge? The key concepts are primitive protection, ethnic utilitarianism, and poetic fragility. This collection looks into how people have dealt with hardship in the past in post-war eras, evidence of military presence translates into the tough and rugged steel buckles and belt loops found in harnessed garments. The clash of the hardware with surrounding delicate silks and unraveling edges evoke a feeling of the utilitarian uniform deteriorating into elegance scarred from a harsh, bygone era. Gauze cut on the selvedge gives a nod to the days of rationing and armor-like, geometrical jade beading on knitted net merge ancient Mayan ritual with ammunition shells. The juxtaposition of emergency mylar-fused fabric, protective neoprene backed wool, and distressed gauze is a prediction of what might be to come. Spliced furs from varying textures, colours, and lengths create forms reminiscent of wild animals but with new, unfamiliar, and almost impossible characteristics suggesting new a species. Taking hints from the past, Post-Eschatologist brings melancholic emotions and ceremonial cultures into modern day with sensitivity towards materials, texture, and proportion.