The next stage of the project meant reflecting on all the research and experiments I have done so far and choosing a more direct concept. I was particularly drawn to my experiments surrounding the female body and body positivity in the fashion industry (see my posts Fat Girls Can’t Wear White Pants, Body Casting and Print Exploration for more info). This submission asked for an A1 poster describing the concept and what your physical outcome would be, along with all the theory and methodologies to support it. I am basically looking to create a design for discussion; to hold a mirror up to the high-end designers that only create for a small section of women, therefore rejecting varied body types and gender identities. I also want to explore this changing body standard that is presented to us, how damaging it is and what people are actually doing to their bodies in order to achieve this. This is such a sensitive and personal topic to me, so I want to make sure I am educating designers as well as I can do to try and break this constraint in the design process. I am beginning to explore restriction, plastic surgery, ageism and censorship on top of my body shape and stretch mark enquiries. I am continuing down the line of abstract shapes, which I am happy with so it’s just a case of seeing where it goes!
If people want to zoom in and read this, be my guest!
Here it is in situ, complete with fabrics and my 3 pages of image references (what?!?!)
This was presented in a faux-conference setting, so there was plenty of discussion and questioning happening in quite an intense way! I feel this is such a necessary project, so I am happy with how I answered questions and defended the project and its outcomes.