A dialogue with artists and designers: Post-modern Fashion

Linking to the theme of Post-Modernism we were asked to produce a post-modern garment as well as explore and initiate different approaches to using fashion related media and techniques as well as developing existing techniques. This was a great chance to go even more in to depth with the construction side of things and come up with some really wacky designs.

There are a handful of fashion designers who are challenging what we perceive to be fashion. Vivienne Westwood, Gareth Pugh, Hussein Chalayan and Maison Martin Margiela are currently show casing post-modern and experimental fashion pieces that are all renowned for their innovative use of material and construction techniques. Their work is considered to be post-modern as opposed to Haute Couture (which means made to measure) because although in the past this kind of fashion would be considered controversial or risky, today we think nothing of it, especially when you see celebrities wearing them.

Hussein Chalayan

Gareth Pugh

For my dress I really liked the idea of geometric and something that would stick outwards, not lie flatteringly across the body- something that would stand out. I took a lot of inspiration from Cintia Ruggeri's dress Homage to Levi Strauss from the V&A exhibition, as the constructional methods and way she made a feature of the shoulder really stood out to me. I however didn't want my garment to be too harsh with lots of hard edges, I wanted rhythm. The solution to this was the oval. Colour wise, I wanted simple, like Ruggeri, but clinical, so I chose to keep it an off white.