‘Warp’ is a series of three garments created in response to draping techniques explored throughout the 2016 studio. Conceptually it focuses on ‘warping’, both physically and figuratively, fabric, silhouettes, techniques and semiotics traditionally associated with draping fashion design. The three archetypes examined attempt to subvert traditional notions of drape through material and cutting experimentation with emphasis on garments, materials and construction techniques with utilitarian origins.
Garment 1 – Seamless Press Stud Gown
Constructed from a single length of nylon, this gown utilizes an elaborate series of press studs that snap together to give form, wrapping the body and finally fastening at the rear. The spacing of the studs gives the garment shaping, hugging the female body, creating a form that references an intricately pleated evening gown. Whilst creating the ball gown form when all studs are snapped with its correct pair the garment possesses no dictated form allowing it to be undone and its shape customized at will. Most notably with all snaps open it will return to its original form as a flat piece of cloth.
Inspired by the pleating techniques of both Madame Gres and Issey Miyake, the dress seeks to be an industrial interpretation of tradition drape techniques, its nylon base and extensive hardware finding far greater relationship with utility garments than fine couture.
Garment 2- Bubbled Bomber
Most noticeably, the garment features a bubbled surface, much like the divots of a golf ball. Inspired by a desire to warp the textile from its very grain, the textile manipulation experiments with the thermoplastic nature of the Ponte fabric as well as its elastomeric property, utilizing these characteristics to change the fabrics appearance.
The fabric is stretched over a frame before heated with a blow torch on its technical back. As each spot begins to melt from the applied heat, its elastic nature causes the yarns to stretch. Once the fabric cools and is released from its expanded state on the frame, its yarns are longer it the heated areas than those untouched. The result, a bubbled fabric appearance.
To complement its warped surface, the garment is constructed with minimal cutting techniques inspire by the work of Cristobal Balenciaga. Of particular note is the sleeve design. It begins with a kimono-esque two panel front and back sleeve and body cut however the shoulder/sleeve seam is rolled to the front, running down the front of the arm. Here the elasticity of the fabric is again manipulated as the sleeve is stretched onto a strip of nylon through this seam. This serves to create a kinked elbow appearance whilst also allowing it to bend and move with the natural motions of the arm due to the relationship between the knit and woven panels.
Garment 3 – One Piece Woven Top
The one piece woven top explores two central ideas.
First is the idea of an undulating grain created through the insertion of a weft yarn on each side of the fabric. These two weft yarns work in tandem to apply tension to the warp, pulling it from one side of the fabric to the other, forming a wavy structure to the normally straight yarns. Quite literally the Warp yarns are warped within the construction of the fabric itself. The second focus of such a piece was utilizing these two weft yarns in order to create a fully fashioned woven garment. The garment is woven on the loom in correspondence with a pre-cut pattern. By using two weft yarns the shaping of the body is instilled through the tension of the weft yarns. When the final piece is constructed in the shape of the pattern it is cut from the loom with the exposed yarns being used to join the side seam construction, finishing the garment. The garment is thus virtually zero waste and requires minimal finishing once the ‘fabric’ is woven.
Shot by Shae Mepham