HERCUles

inspiration

For this project I drew inspiration from 70’s glam rock and the 60’s British mod fashion scene.

Glam rock was infamous for its flamboyant clothing and visually piquant style. And among the lavish drapery of glitter and satins was a distinct through-line of androgyny, and performers playing with gender expression. I was inspired by this facet of the style, as well as the personality of glam rock fashion.

The mod fashion scene was also noted for its flexibility around gender roles. Men could take an interest in expressing themselves through clothes and makeup, and women wore masculine garments and hairstyles. The fashion style was also characterized by clean-cut tailoring, bold colors and patterns: all qualities I wanted to incorporate into my own designs.

Benchmarking

I chose four brands for comp shopping and benchmarking my collection. These brands were Wildfang, Uniqlo, Pacsun, and Muttonhead. I tried to find brands that were either branded as gender-non conforming, or presented their individual garments as gender neutral. For instance, if one jacket was worn by both masculine and feminine presenting models.

IDEATION

Collection

Prototyping

For my final garment, I decided to create the cropped fringe jacket. I started the manufacturing process by creating a body shell from cotton muslin fabric, then slashing and spreading the pattern until I was satisfied with the form. For the final jacket prototype I used pumpkin orange faux suede, and lined it with a reclaimed vintage paisley fabric. All of the fringe was cut by hand.

Final