Inhabited Abstractions

For this project I was assigned to draw inspiration from one Cristobal Balenciaga piece and one Rei Kawakubo piece to create my own concept. The construction of the Balenciaga piece inspired the way I constructed my final piece, and the concept of the Kawakubo piece inspired my concept. Looking at Kawakubo’s collection using aspects of the menswear suit as a statement empowerin woman, I wanted to question what makes women feel empowered today? Is a men’s suit still relevant as a mean for female empowerment? To work around this topic, I conducted interviews with two friends about what makes them feel empowered. As I was doing this, I draped my dad’s old suit on their bodies using stockings, adapting the shape to their answers. One of my friends feels more empowered when focus is shifted from her body to her personality and voice, therefore she prefers to wear looks that are oversized and distorts the silhouette. My other friend feels empowered when showing more of her body, because she feels like she is taking control of her body and sexuality. My challenge was to combine these two interview in to one look.