Finished at last - this one has been a long time in the creation. Im sure I will continue to refine, but its ready for the Immanuel Arts Festival wearable art exhibition. Im looking forward to seeing it worn on the catwalk. This work is inspired by the fashions and the plight of women in the mid-1800s – women constrained by gender, education and fashion. In particular, this work references historical images of young women reading (one of the few mind-expanding activities they were allowed), and dreaming. It questions the women in the historical images - Through their reading, where did they go? What did they see? Where did they want to be? To read, perchance to dream … of a life beyond the constraints of locality and expectation - a life of travel and colour, a life with depth, richness and variety. A life with a little danger, adventure – even if only for a short while…. The dress, with its tight corset and voluminous skirt, made from the pages of books (their little pleasure), but made dull by the inevitable. The dreams manifest beneath the dull confines of the expected restrictive dress. The windows within the skirt provide an insight beyond immediate confines, dreams of faraway lands - bright and colourful, varied and patterned, delicate and transitory. Floating like flotsam, a glimpse, a passing fantasy. Throughout all – paper is the carrier of dreams. Paper in the books that are read, paper in the patterns that help form fashion constraints, and paper for the maps and visions of freedom.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 10:43:41 +0000
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