Gender-conditioned dress proposal
My Final topic talks about women’s gender roles and how it influences how we act in public places. To portray these restrictions on behaviour, to create a garment that does not allow certain movements would be ideal. The garment would be inspired by how a ‘lady’ is expected to sit, always with her legs crossed and sitting upright. By portraying this, I would try to communicate deep-rooted gender ‘laws’ and ways that society is making us behave and act.
The choice of medium, in this case, to create a skirt or pants, would also show our close link with how we behave and how we dress. To finalise the piece, through a short film or photography I would show this phenomenon in its natural setting. The photography would be of a woman with the garment in the metro, showing how impactful this behaviour is and to see how people react to it. Another similar option would be to create a statue or a mannequin-like piece that would have her thighs tied up and in a sitting position.
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- inspiration I
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- inspiration II
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- inspiration III
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- inspiration IV
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- inspiration V
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- inspiration VI
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- female observation
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- male observation
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- inspiration VII
The next step will consist of reuniting all the materials necessary to create my garment (this would include cloth, maybe belts, zippers, sewing supplies, different ropes..). After this, I will start to work with a mannequin to work on the form and volumes, to create rough initial ideas. Seeing what could work best, I can move on to start sewing and putting together my dress. I will also work with the deconstruction of different pants or shirts. If the garment does not seem to work, my second option would be to create a harness that restricts the movement of the thighs with ropes or similar materials.
After feedback from my classmates and teachers, I decided that the best way to start creating the garment would be to start trying on things on the mannequin and seeing what shapes work best. I also decided to just focus on creating a skirt (or If I have time, a dress). I am also going to explore how the dress has been constraining women through the years.
