Senior Highlights: Current Work from the Senior Seminar 2013
Sterile Beauty
My work thus far has used the frame of fashion to propose a history of beauty and body image. I take a critical view of fashion, beauty, form and texture. This project thus far consists of 3 six-foot tall gowns composed of materials one would find inside the walls of a hospital. The medical supplies, such as rubber gloves, respirator masks and biohazard waste bags, are sewn together to construct the intricate fabric of an evening gown. Materials that we typically use to protect and heal ourselves are transformed into objects of beauty. I hope to challenge the concept of beauty by creating a relationship between these unusual design materials and the world of fashion. The materials I use inform and question the relationship between the healthcare supplies, the body and its presence. The gowns I create help us to see the body as less of a fragile object and instead something dynamic and unpredictable.
Artist’s like Susie MacMurray and Beverly Semmes have inspired me throughout this process. These artists also play with fashion and the variety of meanings it has within our world.