Hi, my name is Abbie and I am 19 years old from the centre of the Cotswolds. Though its only the dawn of my creative journey, I wanted to create a website to communicate my growth within fashion and the story I can tell through my personal portfolio.
I enjoy experimenting through all types of mediums to support my process. This is something I learnt through the years from SGS college where I connected with other creative people in a focused environment. I also learnt this during my gap year where I worked through Method 4 Fashion Portfolio. I practiced my course with designer, tutor and CSM grad, Isidora Durovic, who assisted my ability to think more abstractly and to paint my imagination through fashion as to me, that is what fashion is a doorway for - To build a character and story behind each concept and to embrace your inner creativity!
01/14
An experimental project exploring intertwining bodies within shibari, the Berber people of North Africa, and the arts of Louise Bourgeois.
I brought these contrasting elements together to generate something abstract and 'unflattering' to the eye. I played on the juxtaposition between shibari and the look of the Berber people and how they drape clothes in non-conventional ways compared to the rest of the world.
Despite their differences, I built parallels between the two through the idea of negative space, and amplifying the curvatures of the fabric as if they were being squished by rope. The Louise Bourgeois art exhibition only tied these ideas together more, building a more in depth concept leading me to do my own collaborative sculptural experiments.
With the main focus of the project being 3D bold shapes, I felt there was more to play on. A colour theme of red and blue came in, and I was grabbed by the idea of print and texture through paint and ragged stitches. I wanted to bring the looks to life more through so.
Being inspired by more styles of print from across the world, block printing caught my interest particularly. Overall, I gathered the general idea of displacement in all forms and managed to do something I hadn't done before.
1/10
A mixed media line up sourcing inspiration from the idea of returning back by nature through decay, and drawing ideas of surrealism through the artworks of Aquirax Uno and dolls. I wanted to depict a wonderland through clothing , focusing on imperfect textures. I played around a lot with candle wax and crinkling fabrics without a particular aim, more allowing nature to take its course with how it decides to turn out. This project explores themes of divine femininity, fantasy, fairytale, and imagination.
For this garment, i worked with limited supplies and material. The challenge was to be as sustainable as possible. In my eyes, sustainability doesn't only mean to have ethical fabric, it is to have fair-trade for workers and to have function and longevity within a product that wont be tossed away into landfill.
I made a parallel between this idea and military wear. Military wear is the epitome of function, so I decided to buy an old military parachute from Facebook market place to repurpose into an experimental piece of clothing that can be worn in multiple ways. I also delved into my family history with my dad and great grandfather who were in the military.
At the time of creating this, I had Covid so there was many obstacles to overcome. I had to interface fabric together to make it sturdy, and I needed to do lots of trial and error.
The garment consists of a base dress and an over jacket/shirt, both having zips to overall build the illusion of a trench coat when worn together. This also enables the ability to layer it in multiple ways.
Final photography by Anorah Beck
You could say this is an extension of my parachute project as it explores similar themes surrounding the idea of adjustability and being able to morph one thing into another. However, i found this project to be more imaginative and again, playing more on fantasy and building a character.
I kept the philosophy of repurposing military wear by reusing the pattern of an army poncho and using recycled fabric. But, I also wanted to portray what someone would look like in a pagan, futuristic utopian world where spirituality was preserved and more prevalent in todays society.
This project was my FMP on my Level 3 Extended Diploma with UAL, so I combined both function and imagination top tie together everything I had learnt across my two years at SGS.
This black outfit also a part of my FMP, acting as the yin to the yang of the white dress above.
This black outfit is a more commercial, wearable version of it - more subtle in appearance. It is also multifunctional with a skirt that can be worn as a dress. Like my previous garment, it is also adjustable in length to tailor to the wearer. It also has a pullover jacket to pair with it that I that was developed from an adjusted pattern. Again, this is a multilayer outfit that can be worn in anyway to suit the person and their body type.
Furthering the idea behind my FMP and it being based upon a pagan alternate reality, I drew links with the Yuga cycle philosophy which represents the world ages and a spiritual future. I named this project Tretageist, as Treta is the world age that represents healing and revolution. It represents rising from the ashes and changing our ways as a society, appreciating nature and fair-trade between people. This relates with what I made within textiles as it represents the idea of longevity and flexbility with our clothing, alongside embracing who we are as individuals through identity and our personal, open beliefs.