Hides, skins and straight-jackets inspire student
21/05/2010
Gemma Francis, a third year fashion design student at Leicester’s De Montfort University (DMU) has used shiny and matt metallic leather, metal studs and custom-made nails in her "restriction-inspired" catwalk collection, which is to appear at the prestigious London Graduate Fashion Week on 8 June.
Ms Francis was attracted to leather because of its subtle variations in texture and visual appearance, she said on completing the collection. She also used metal buckles and clips, and commissioned an engineer to make metal nails with special screw threads to allow her to secure pieces to her garments.
She commented: “I really pushed myself to the limit with my final collection and put a lot of time into researching silhouettes and imaginative use of fabrics and techniques. This is what led me to the idea of using different animal skin within each piece. At the outset, I explored the effect that restriction and types of torture have on the body and designed pieces that change the shape of the body, creating awkward silhouettes influenced by my research.”
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