Ellen Attridge – ‚Death of a Former Self‘ – BA FASHION – FESCH.TV

Ellen Attridge – ‚Death of a Former Self‘ – BA FASHION & FESCH.TV:

ELLEN ATTRIDGE – ‚DEATH OF A FORMER SELF‘- ATTRIDGEELLIE@GMAIL.COM – @ELLENMAE_STUDIO

Death of a Former Self became an exploration of the various types of grief- grief for people, places, a memory, a feeling or grieving for the person you once were. The finality of death – metaphorical or otherwise – allows for a certain type of freedom, once grieving has been felt. The pain of this grief allowed me to explore more eery and grotesque themes that oftentimes get overlooked.

Using this as the continuous narrative of my final collection I was inspired by Victorian Mourning jewellery and subsequently developed Victorian-esque silhouettes. I was also heavily inspired by the work of my sister Phoebe, who had previously explored microscopy as a photographic medium. I went on to use her images of blood and other cells, as a way to connect my theme to the details seen in my knit swatches.
The knit development for the project leant heavily on cabling with eyelet details. I initially used cash-wool and merino wool to experiment with form and placement in the knit.
I also did a lot of work with elastic yarn as a way to create silhouettes not typically seen in knitwear – using elastic to gather the two sets of mercerised cotton bloomers seen in the collection.

PVC also became a central part of the collection – I had been given the half transparent PVC seen in look 6 and it had certain quality that was reminiscent of skin using it to represent the grotesque and strange elements of grief that had inspired me.