WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR 'ENTITLED'?
Generally, I work with themes because it allows me a way of approaching something that’s quite specific for that season – even though all the themes have a connection. I look around and see what inspires me, and that’s often through observing behaviour or certain tendencies, or looking at how the young generation is evolving. Not to say that I’m that old, but there’s definitely a generational difference, even with people who are only five years younger than me. I think that, for me, it’s a case of really looking at what’s around me and seeing how I can embrace that with my work. Really, it’s just for me to have a platform.
So, in this instance, I was looking at the idea of ‘Fear of Missing Out’ and how a lot of us or a lot of people around me constantly live with the fear of missing out: the fear of missing out on events, the fear of missing out on being in a certain place or missing out on knowing the latest thing. I think there’s a sense of despair, but at the same time I’m finding that there are a lot of people from the younger generation that have a strong sense of entitlement, which means that they feel that they are entitled to many things without necessarily making the effort to earn those things.
I think it’s partly due to the amount of information that’s available, and the way we can access information is so broad compared to the past. I feel that it empowers people to feel like they know about everything, therefore they can also have opinions about everything too – much more than us when we were growing up without digital media. So, I think that it’s possibly to do with the advancement of information and the idea that we are living in a competition culture where people can become stars overnight without earning it over time.
ARE YOU SAYING THIS IS A POSITIVE THING OR A NEGATIVE THING?
I think it’s both; I think on the one hand, why shouldn’t somebody become a popstar overnight, through a talent contest for instance. But on another level, are they really ready? Because they haven’t really done the groundwork. The original collection was called ‘Momentum’, because it’s about the weight of the individual and the momentum which comes from velocity - from the weight that an object builds up while it’s moving. I guess it’s about not necessarily having built up the momentum to have the final result. Whereas ‘Entitled’ – this part of the collection, this chapter – is about empowerment and the sense of defining your position.
All the squares around the head are to redefine your sense of self and there’s lots of cutting in the garment where we base it on a frame. They’re similar ideas that I’ve worked on before, but not quite like this where the frames collapse and form the composition. So, I know where they come from – for you that would be a drape – and I know why I did them. And of course, here crystal was used to create a stronger sense of empowerment. So, whilst I guess the theme is critical in a way, it’s also contradictory because I can also see a beauty in something we create inspired by a critical idea. A lot of my work is about those contradictions and how those ideas clashes in one place. I like that, because that’s what life is: I don’t think life is about everything being wonderful, it’s about the good and the bad, and the ugly and the beautiful, and I find that more exciting.
HOW HAVE YOU USED CRYSTAL IN THE COLLECTION?
There are a lot of textures where the crystal has become a sort of growth out the fabric, using beads which lift the crystal up. For me, that meant that the crystal-imbued surfaces become forms. This was a really important question for me: how could I turn crystal into form? Often you say that crystal is decorative, so by raising the height of the crystal I felt that that was a way to make it appear to be an object and not just decoration. At the same time, of course it’s a decorative element, and there’s for instance a leaf that gets imbued with crystal. That leaf is about texting, but the text becomes an embroidery. You embroider your text to slow down texting and then the other person has to embroider their text. The idea is that it’s a comment on the speed of texting and we slow it down by turning it into embroidery.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS THAT MEANS YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOUR VISION?
For a start, I think that Swarovski has such a broad range of crystals. We’re going from chunky crystal to create form and not just surface texture, plus we’re also using crystal in relation to value. For me, the idea is that you’re going to have all these different sized crystals on a panel but with drapes around them so they’re not in your face, they blend into the garment. Then we have kind of representational Post-Its made of plastic and then embroidered, as if to suggest a sense of selection and empowerment. I think we live in an era where everything is curatorial and not necessarily about production. It’s about: “I choose this this this, that that…” and “There you go.” You know: “That’s my work. Because I’ve selected that”. I think there’s also a sense of entitlement there because: “I have the power to select, I am important, and my taste counts.” So, I guess it’s a sarcastic take on that.
But also, there’s a beauty to it. There is somehow a sort of industrial element and a familiarity and a semiotic around this. We all know what Post-Its are - they’re part of our daily life - but then to marry that with a situation like this, for me, suggests entitlement and value combined.
SO, THE CRYSTAL IS THE VALUE AND THE POST-IT NOTE IS THE EVERYDAY?
Yes, and the post-it note represents the sense of entitlement and empowerment.
I thought it was a really nice take and I’ve never used crystal so literally – it’s almost like a catalogue becoming a piece of sculpture. It’s sort of a catalogue because of the lines we’ve embroidered with the strings hanging off. I guess I’m interested in things that have a life about them; they’ve incurred movement or something’s happened to them. I think my work is always about that. I try to create a sense of life for the garment.
Th other thing that’s happening is going to be this waved fabric where the frills of the fabric are coming from the weave of the fabric. And then underneath the frills there’s going to be Swarovski crystals peeking out. That’s not to do with the theme in the literal sense, but I like the fact that the crystal again becomes form.
We also have accessories with the crystal that you hold where the garment punctuation is pivoted; so you hold the piece and the drapes come from the piece and then flow to the rest of the body. The headpieces also spill onto the body, so you have a headpiece that will be encrusted with the crystals at various levels and different heights and then that would spill onto the neckline of the body. When you wear it together you become like a tableau.
AND SO, THESE ARE _____ PIECES FOR THIS?
Definitely. They’re going to be finished last minute – they’ll be at it all night the day before! Because they come back from India and then we have to do more work on them.
WILL THERE BE ANY SURPRISED FOR THIS SECTION OF THE SHOW?
Well I think these are the surprises. Because they’re going to be so rich.
With the crystal dresses, there are different versions: there’s the frill idea and there’s the frames. In total, there are going to be six crystal headdresses. I’m hoping that without the headdresses, the pieces will still be wearable.
I’m hoping that it’s going to be quite an edited show, quite precise, in a nice space. The capacity isn’t massive but it’s really nice – it’s a theatre. (Next door to Sadler’s Wells)
We try to always push the boundaries of crystal and I think for me the important thing is not to think of it as decoration, but think of it as the pivotal idea that you can build on. This is really important for me – it’s much more of an integrated approach as opposed to decorative approach.
