Fashion and Textile Design

Amy Hunt @amyhunt_designs

A gender neutral seasonless collection raises awareness about heart failure in youth,
using upcycled fire service uniforms.

Coming from the heart

I wanted to create a body of work that raised awareness of heart failure in youth and adolescence. I chose to upcycle fire service uniforms in a sustainable approach that reinforced conceptual ideas. 

Inspired by samurai armour for form and silhouette, the uniforms reflected this idea of modern-day armour. These qualities underline my context of health and wellbeing. The fire service uniform and samurai armoury symbolises bravery and protection, attributes of young people fighting illness and heart failure. I wanted every part of my design to indicate these ideas. 

I used mixed media such as screen printing, embroidery and laser cutting to show organic shape motifs which are in strong contrast to the utilitarian aesthetic of the uniform. Organic swirling prints, embroideries and complex pattern cutting are reminiscent of something trying to engulf the body as it fights it off. I used donated fire service uniforms for a large proportion of the collection. I wanted to explore sustainability and upcycling in my collection. 

Fire service uniforms are garments that cannot be used again as they can no longer withstand heat and will end up as fabric waste. Reusing these donated materials provided creative challenges when designing and pattern cutting. I designed by splitting my garments into sections which allowed me to arrange textures and textile ideas that I would not have done without these restrictions. 

Core to my collection is health and wellbeing and a desire to raise awareness in youth and adolescents about these topics. This seasonless collection is for unisex youth wear and is highly versatile through layering and detachable and adjustable elements. Detailing comes from surgical tubing and the stitching draws medical procedures into the collection.

Melissa de Beer

@melissadebeer_designs

A Sustainable collection inspired by the twilight zone. It focuses on using different textiles to express aspects depending on the lighting and communicate a message.
Bioluminescence 
My inspiration comes from the sea's twilight zone and the use of bioluminescence for communication. Long inspired by the natural world, and organic elements that I can physically interact with, the ocean is an unending source of interesting shapes and colours for me. Seeing the oceanic lifeforms suffering due to plastic pollution is an aspect I wanted to address within my collection. 

I was drawn to the unusual life deep down in the Twilight Zone that glows to communicate. To emulate the bioluminescence of fish, I developed a way to make bioplastic glow and trialled different sustainable materials to create bolder colours and stronger glowing effects. 

Due to the global pandemic, I found myself much like the rest of the world, relying on digital communication for social connection and communication. Employing morse code dots and dashes and the idea of bioluminescence, I created a UV-dynamic print to communicate the issues of the climate crisis. 

Late 90s/early 2000s rave wear was the inspiration to design layered rave wear to appeal to a youthwear market. By creating my own bioplastic and using deadstock materials I was able to explore sustainability in a way where materials, to a certain extent, dictated the outcome. 

I've used panelling and patchworking to be able to get full use out of the donated materials, which resulted in garments that did not initially follow my original plan. However this provided a more interesting and exciting outfit. I explored prints by using a full range of colours and layering of different light effects to maximise the glowing and UV aspects, which would enable the garments to be fully dynamic depending on their environment.
 

Jess Bruce

@jessbrucedesigns

A body positive sportswear collection inspired by tennis in the 1920s. The contoured, colourful and powerful prints and silhouettes highlight the inequalities in sport today.

Game, Set and Match 

I was inspired by the influence that sport and exercise have in my family’s life, specifically my Grandma's love for tennis. Paying homage to women who marked change within the sport, I also wanted to show the inequalities that still exist in the sport today. 

The 1920’s was a period of time when women's sportswear changed from restrictive to functional wear, this change has inspired the collection's silhouettes and detailing. I wanted to highlight the inequalities still existing in the world of sport today, therefore, manipulating a space to evoke conversation about the gender divide.

The graphic prints are inspired by classic Art Deco designs blended with feminist symbols. The playful colour palette brings forward the idea that women can be feminine at the same time as being serious, strong and powerful athletes. 

Garments have been sculpted to highlight the contours of the body creating this body-positive collection of functional sportswear. Sportswear detailing has been used throughout this collection. Stretch lycra is the main fabric throughout with design features in contrasting colours, aesthetically representing restriction, whilst allowing the garments to be more functional.  

Engineered digital prints and block colours on pleats, create a change in appearance as the garments move. Border prints have been used to highlight tiered layers. Functional pockets are designed to best aid the flow of a game of tennis. Printed mesh and sheer fabrics create the distorted view of the garments below to signify that although the world of sport has changed there is still not full transparency or equality. Stretch binding has been used to allow negative spaces within the collection to be created. Cord and toggles have been used to allow change within garments so they are able to be adapted to manipulate space.