Harvey Roche

I am a recent fashion design graduate specialising in creative cutting and complex pattern development. My design process centers on creating bold, innovative silhouettes that are conceptually driven while retaining a strong visual identity. For example, my graduate collection acts as a rhetorical love letter to my own femininity as a young Transgender woman, as well as femininity at large. I focused on bold cut and dramatic silhouettes, serving to remind the onlooker of the power of overt femininity and the power of a woman to have control of her own image. Using Natural and historical references to explore the power found in feminine elegance, especially for those of us who have lived so long without it. I often think of McQueen describing his work as "almost like putting armour on a woman, a very psychological way of dress”, and feel that this notion rings true in my work. Through university, I forged my own vision of armoured femininity, one that makes the wearer feel powerful and the observer afraid, a uniform for all those who want to say: You did not create me; I am my own rib.