Evolve
Category: Apparel
Competitions: International
'Evolve' is a garment crafted fully of leather and recycled metal buttons and loops. The garments aims to tie together leather's properties of durability, water resistance, insulation, and comfortability. 'Evolve' functions to uphold its multifaceted nature as the piece notably possesses adjustable flaps along its back and sides. The customizability of these pieces allow the garment to be fully coverage and worn as a 'true' jacket or allow the garment to exhibit edge and exposed skin. This decision wasn't finalized simply for the work's functionality solely but also was developed with the concept of evolution and girlhood in mind. As a 19-year-old girl, the wonder, woes, and tragedies of girlhood and the death of such once womanhood is introduced has been a slippery topic that has consumed me consistently throughout my first year of college. I've pondered girlhood and womanhood's implications and representations and how convoluted, complex, and confusing the entire concept owns up to be. In a way, I wanted to incorporate these thoughts - to an extent - within this garment. I wanted the silhouette to be reminiscent of delicate femininity - seen through the pointed skirt silhouette at the torso and the allusion of a long gown silhouette when viewing the bottom half of the work. Concurrently, I wanted 'Evolve' to almost be tom-boyish and edgy seen within the exposed back portion, use of repurposed metal, and various style lines (which were inspired by tattoos' line work). The maturity and sexiness that - usually, in my experience - accompanies the beckoning of womanhood is reflected within the various cut-outs which are able to expose the back, waist, thighs, and collarbones. Although these parts are exposed, there is a choice for the back, waist, and collarbones to be covered - whether for stylistic or functional purposes - by buttoning flaps over the selected areas. I, again, included this aspect to account for girlhood/womanhood's more modest depiction. Overall, I wished for this piece to reflect the complexities and contradictory nature of how I've chosen to represent my girlhood and womanhood and how I've managed to navigate through life as a woman through my clothing. The multi-functionality additionally aims to make for a garment that people will keep, nurture, and use for varying purposes and for a long time. It makes for a garment that people won't hurriedly throw away or grow tired of, something that won't fall victim to fast fashion and be found within heaps of the world's waste.
