SUBCULTURES & STREET ART

2007 - ongoing

Subcultures & street art - identity expressed through clothes

My practice in sustainable fashion is embedded in the 1980s when, as a teen, I customized secondhand clothes to create one-off pieces, to stand out from the crowd. The 1980s/90s was a hugely creative era of experimentation that followed the fierce energy of the Punk movement. Clothes were about self-expression, a revolt against a dominant society; played out on the streets and completely unrelated to the established fashion system. 

For subcultural groups, clothes become a language for the expression of beliefs, values, identity, and location in society. New Romantics took on the cultural attitude towards gender, identified by glamorous elegance. Styles were softer and make-up was just as important as clothes, to boys and girls. Japanese designers like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto developed silhouettes that were not driven by the female shape or male attitudes.

For teens, creating a look is key to understanding and articulating identity, aligning with others of similar beliefs, and shaping values. It is a formative time of our lives when we find our tribe.

My first piece in this project brings together two elements of Mod style from the 1960s; a sharply tailored jacket and an oversized parka coat. Opposing in culture and style, shape and form but sitting together in the world. I explored traditional tailoring; where detail, shape, and form are crucial elements and played with details, mixing up elements in unexpected ways.