FETISHISM VS. FEMINISM

 

Inspirations, fabric treatments & drawings from my senior collection '08

The concept was to take shapes, fabrics & ideals of all things relating to what are distinctly "feminine"garments and why - vice versa for all things relating to what makes something fetish wear. The idea was to juxtapose the two in the visual sense as I learned when researching either side of the project, the fetish for all things "feminine" was as equal in meaning to any particular person as the fetish for all things relating to "fetish" garments. In one sense, I learned quickly that people most likely have a fetish for things they do not have themselves but lust after. Small examples would be: Men have a fetish for women in high heels because men do not wear heels, instead they have a fetish for something distinctly feminine...which is something they could (or would) never obtain themselves. In the female sense, some wear corsets because they cannot obtain an hourglass shape on their own. I could go on with examples, there are millions and more on the broader spectrum than I have even described here. I didn't want to take this collection that far, as it was a "clothing" collection, not lingerie this time around and for me the focus was on the meaning behind the clothing and creating something out of a material that would otherwise be considered taboo. 

So for me, my feminism fabric examples were generally lingerie fabrics, as this is typically a female-only department, I chose textiles such as power mesh (girdles), lace, chiffon, tulle & georgette. On the fetish side, I used latex, oil cloth & patent leather. The idea was to use the fabrics in an a-typical manner such as a corseted skirt made from power mesh, where a garment should be stiff & restricting was replaced with something pliable & soft. This continues on with the latex dresses, usually very form fitting I chose to take shapes from 30's style bias cut gowns, and recreate them in latex, some latex layered with pleated tulle. I could go on & on because this collection was close to my heart, but I will stop before a tangent. Here is how a few looks turned out:

 

xx.L