Initial Garment Designs: Skin

Using all the visual research I had gathered I began to create some designs based on the appearance of skin.

1. This first look was inspired by the photographer in my previous post, Justin Bartels. I loved how he had created those pictures showing what restrictive clothing can do to your body. When I created the base of a loose (despite the picture it’s supposed to be loose) skin coloured dress with imprints, it reminds me of plastic surgery marks. I then added to it with arrows to suggest what the restrictive clothing was trying to do to the person.

2. This one was inspired by rolls of skin. The dress is supposed to be tight as a way of saying that skinny people can be fat too – but on the inside. You might look small on the outside but depending on your diet and activity level, you might have the health problems of an obese person. Read more about this here

I was inspired by Fatma Kizil’s work called I am under construction. I really liked how the garments looked like skin through the choice of colour, texture and fabric manipulation.

3. This was inspired by veins and shows the connectivity that all systems are affected if one malfunctions. It could be adapted to show the idea of malfunction spreading.

This was inspired by Raija Jokinen’s textile bodies and the symbolism of connectivity behind it.

 

 

4. Another simple one that was visually inspired by wrinkles of the skin. I wouldn’t necessarily deem them as ugly, they are just part of a graceful aging process and you should embrace them, which is why I have created a flowing gown in muted colours to represent these ideas. This garment was inspired by the work of Yiqing Yin. The way she creates intricate folds and drapes fabric to form wrinkles is beautiful and gives the idea of gracefulness I wanted to convey.

 

 

1. Created using vitiligo as an inspiration. I don’t know if it works that well because they look like burns so perhaps changing the shape of the dress and replicating the shapes vitiligo forms. I took inspiration from real-life people who have this condition, so that I could create an accurate representation.

 

2. I wanted to focus on a different type of garment other than a dress, so I was inspired by Silence of the Lambs to create a top that has patches sewn together. They remind me of bandages and with the addition of stitches, there is a surgery vibe to it – a form of skin manipulation?

3. Inspired by scaly skin to create puckered fabric and could look like dry skin under a microscope. The artist Amy Kelly inspired this through her fabric manipulation samples. The sample below was created using melted plastic however I don’t know if this is a material I will use, but I will explore all the options.

4. This was inspired by skin discoloration from things being too tight. Created using acetate and layered fabric to get the colour gradient of pressed skin. It would be a skin coloured-bodysuit underneath, which is a different kind design to what I would usually make and it could be quite sculptural with a thick transparent material that looks like bandages.

I was first inspired by Esmay Wagemens as she displayed a variety of coloured skin formations. I was interested in how she had created these different skin tones and how I could translate that into a garment.