My honours collection ‘Venal Armour’ explores the boundary between person and thing, inspired by characters that occupy the space between fantasy and reality such as dolls, marionette puppets and artworks come to life. Inspired in part by Charles Baudelaire’s poem ‘the venal muse’ and the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland, this collection aims to blur the line between the animate and inanimate, posing the question of what happens when you fall through the looking glass, resulting in a collection rooted in abstraction and artistic exploration.

The couture craftsmanship blended with an artistic approach in my design work is something that stems from my upbringing, surrounded by an artist grandmother and bridal dressmaker mother. Hence, my unique garment construction technique utilises my knowledge of corsetry construction and subverts it to create abstract sculptural silhouettes around the body that speak to a haunting femininity, achieved through meticulously sewn boning structures.

Granted the leatherwork sponsorship with Julio Valdes, I was able to work closely with Julio to develop my intricate garment construction technique into refined and polished leather pieces.

Sustainability and reusing existing materials is something I’m very passionate about, which is why I chose to work with deadstock fabrics, and repurpose bridal remnants from my mother’s dressmaking as the foundation fabrics for my digital print work. I also love breathing new life into found objects, which I did through integrating broken/secondhand jewellery into my designs and print.

I intend for this collection to act as an escapist play, performing the unravelled glamour of splitting into two selves; living and inanimate. Venal Armour is a collection of art pieces that project the body into a fantastical place. In essence, I’m aiming to capture the same joy I got out of dressing up in elaborate costumes as a little girl: surreal femininity.