BA Fashion Design Final Work | Contemporary Nómadas | dissertation extract

Contemporary N贸madas - Collection of Degree The Project

Ilaria Miniussi

Concept

My woman is strong, unconventional, mascoline and sensual.

My gypsy woman doesn’t care about the other people, she feels good and elegant with a denim sportswear and a blanket transformed in coat.

She’s a creative with a vintage soul wearing her man’s clothes.

In this project the iconography research doesn’t concentrate on clear elements, but wants to make the collection closer to personal feelings that reflex my way to be.

Credits: Styling: Ilaria Miniussi Photographer: Max Puntin Editing: Max Puntin

Credits: Styling: Ilaria Miniussi Photographer: Dario Sclaunic Editing: Dario Scalunic

This project is born from the desire to develop a concept of femininity that is not limited to the classical idea of woman.

I’ve thought about how woman can feel nonconformist without lose her sensuality, linking the gypsy lifestyle to a choice of clothes and fabrics that can fit in my concept.

I’ve developed a collection dedicated to a contemporary, gipsy, free and wild woman, who feels comfortable in every single location, wearing denim clothes and vintage menswear.

I’ve used the diy technique to customize some clothes and some objects: two wool blankets have become coats, a pair of shorts have become long trousers just adding two pieces of wasted denim, a cotton shirt has been modified in a blouse adding and customizing another one, a male shirt has become one for woman, a pair of male trousers and a shirt have become a coverall.

I’ve also tested the power of the blench, creating unique shadows on some denim clothes.

The result is an eclectic collection in which all the outfits can be mixed and matched and used also in formal situations: my woman can be elegant with a torn vintage denim jacket thanks to her attitude and her accessories’ obsession. It’s like she’s destroying the fashion’s preset rules with her way to be free and herself.

Moodboard & Feelings

Sketchbook & Fabrics & Diy

do-it-yourself

How to transform a blanket into a coat 1) fold the blanket in two and sew along the border making a curve on the corner. The final effect will be amazing (see the back) 2) calculate the opening of your shoulders to know where cut the holes for your arms 3) create two sleeves in knit to add on your new coat 4) cut&wear 5) close the coat with a belt, better if vintage 6) enjoy it!

do-it-yourself

How to create a shoulder-cover from left-over pieces of denim 1) calculate the opening of your arms&shoulders then cut the denim making two rectangles. Then sew the shorter sides together 2) sew the longer sides closing them as two sleeves 3) leave the centre open as the opening of your shoulders, so you can wear it!

4) fit the sleeves properly on your arms 5) enjoy it!

do-it-yourself

How to transform a male denim shirt into a blouse 1) cut the sleeves as long as you like. better if short 2) put the two sleeves together and take a ribbon 3) use the ribbon to link the sleeves together as a belt-alike 4) find an unique way to close the belt-alike as I did 5) enjoy it!

5bis) you can leave the bottoms or you can close the front-opening as a real blouse

I’ve decided to experiment the diy technique after have seen some fashion blogs that showed how to transform common use objects or garments in something different. I’ve found this very creative and I’ve wanted to try it, expressing better myself and my concept.

This technique has helped me to develop my collection and later my disertatition, which starts studying the priciple of modern architecture, form follows function, and the concept of fashion hacktivism.

Fashion hacktivism is a principle developed by Otto Von Busch on the basis of which fashion can be hacked, as the hackers do with the computers, can be shared with the mass, can become something of different, can be for the people and not anymore for just an elite.

These images show some of the projects of Otto Von Busch. I’ve found very interesting and inspiring how he works the knit creating new objects from others already made by big fashion companies. He also believes that this kind of projects must be shared, so he has created a kind of “cook-book” where put all the diy tutorials as recipes.

In my disertatition I’ve also studied the spanish independent brand Yomango and its concept of legalized theft as a way to keep fashion economy on moving, literally moving clothes from a shop to another inside some particular metallic boxes to bypass the security tags.

For Yomango, the holes on the clothes made cutting away the security tags are like symbols that everyone has to proudly underline and show.