S H A D O W S T U D I O

INTRODUCTION
"I open a fashion magazine; i see that two different garments are being dealt with here. The first is the one presented to me as photographed or drawn - it is image clothing. The second is the same garment, but described, transformed into language; this dress, photographed on the right, becomes on the left: a leather belt, with a rose stuck in it, worn above the waist, on a soft Shetland dress; this is a written garment. In principle these two garments refer to the same reality (this dress worn on this day by this woman), and yet they do not have the same structure, because they are not made of the same substances."
(Barthes, 1983)

A method of dress presented as fashion changes what people believe clothing to be. In this sense, fashion is something that exists in peoples minds that manipulates the way people respond to clothing. As Yuniya Kawamura has written:

"Fashion does provide extra added values to clothing, but the additional elements exist only in people's imaginations and beliefs. Fashion is not visual clothing but is the invisible elements included in clothing."

So What are clothes? What does it mean to feel dressed? Could wearing clothes or being dressed merely depend on the material clothing is made from?

In this studio students will explore the possibilities of what clothing could be when considering what it is that makes us feel dressed. A series of workshops will encourage students to reevaluate traditional ideas on the use of materials within clothing and fashion design practice.

PROJECT BRIEF
To participate in and document a series of workshops that work towards my own definition of what clothing could be. I will develop my own clothing/ fashion equation that will be used as a tool to help you realise and pint point key concepts within the development of my project.

I will research the material qualities of dress to create a series of 'garment' shadows, which re evaluate traditional presentational outcomes.