Luxus Sicut Futuō

2018

Inspired by the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes, the collection evolved into a examination of hyper-desirable opulence and the grotesque everyday in relation to the human form. The leading statement ‘Luxus Sicut Futuō’ loosely translates to ‘Fancy As Fuck’ in Latin, distorting the language that has historically been gatekept from the working classes into a crass bastardisation of itself as the emperors idea of clothing and luxury was in the traditional fairytail.

Constricting and distorting foam, fabric, and the human form allowed me to extensively explore ideas of shape in relation to the naked body and my historical research into deformity and disease within a contemporary garment context. Second hand knitwear was pinned, slashed, and reconstructed to form the basis for my toiles in this collection which were then knitted into final garments using traditional knitwear techniques and luxury fibres such as merino wool, elasticated viscose and lurex. These pieces were adorned with plastic jewelery, optical illustion stripes, imagery of supermarket shelves, and graphic illustrations from life drawing classes.