Over the past few days I have become increasingly interested in Hans Bellmer's work, in particular his dolls. He built, deconstructed and reassembled dolls, photographing them along the way. His work was a reaction against the 'ideal body' and race that was promoted in Nazi occupied Germany, during the 1930's and 1940's. His work shows a fascination in the reconstruction and manipulation of anatomy, gender and sexualisation of the body, taking an 'ideal' body and mutilating it, resulting in an unsettling representation of the body as we know it.
Although body scarring does not change anatomy, it still plays with the body and its natural state. Isolating, emphasising and building on parts of the body physically. Can these two ideas be explored in conjunction in my work? I think they do share common ideas.
One of my favourite photographers has also been on my mind while thinking about this project - Francesca Woodman. She used her body in the same way Bellmer built his dolls; playing with anatomy and the way her body is presented.
For my fashion design and textile development I want to design in the same way Hans Bellmer built his dolls and humans change their physical body. I will add and take away parts of a garment, playing with silhouette, panels and design details. I will also explore this through my textiles, creating 3-dimensional structures in areas as though adding to the skins surface.
"DRESS BECOMES BODY, BODY BECOMES DRESS" - Rei Kawakubo
A body discussion - Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garcons, has constantly discussed the body and our contemporary attitudes towards it through clothing. It is something I am always thinking about as a designer and I think why I have decided to explore it in my own work. Clothing is the intimate connection between our bodies and the world we are in contact with, which is why it is so tied up with meaning and used to explore ideas of the body underneath - ideas that change between cultures and in history. Every season Rei Kawakubo discusses ideas on the body; gender, sex, surgery, body ideals. I am very influenced by her work, however I want to steer clear of her silhouettes etc. For me, my main challenge is to create textiles that play with silhouette, blur it, add to it - not simply pattern cutting. Here are some of my favourites.
Some of my own photographs - playing with the body's outline:
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