Public and private

This work explores the personal boundaries we project to the outside world and how public and private intimacy can be expressed through our clothing. Processes such as body art, adoration and armour communicate identities and create boundaries, which are used as tools to express different levels of privacy. By illustrating milestones within my life, I have explored the concept of distorted and layered projections and how through these I can conceal and reveal memories and secrets

The Dress:

The dress was made up of distorted drawings of my face. The drawings were then machine embroidered onto an organdy cotton to give the appearance of lace. They were individually cut and then stitched together by hand. The dress reflected my feminine and romanic qualities where my innocence was being reflected to the world.

The Buttons:

The buttons were made from photo etched silver and ran down the back of the dress. They were designed to look like religious symbols, as this reflected on a period of my life where i had to place a lot of faith into the ‘new religion’ of medicine. The buttons tell the story of my experience when someone close to me dealt with cancer, I have outlined in brief the memory attached to the image in the slide show below.

The Cape:

I wanted to reflect a sense of protection over the other layers and drew influences from Samurai armour. I looked at ways in which women extend their femininity and saw that many of the additions they wear were similar to the preparations of war. I constructed the cape from thousands of fake finger nails to create something structured that can also be interpreted as vicious as well as protective.

The locket:

Women in the Victorian era would carry locks of hair or images of their loved ones inside a locket hidden beneath their clothes. I adapted this carrier for mementos and used dreadlocked ex-boyfriends hair as a way of holding the chain together. I also took extracts from old love letters and created a scroll inside. The lens on the front of the locket signifies my ongoing search.