Paper Dress

Last week I joined forces with my sister Kate to create a one off Paper Dress for Fashioning an Ethical Industry. The project, part of Labour Behind the Label, aims to promote awareness and push for change in the working conditions behind many of our high street stores, but most importantly to change peoples perceptions of fashion. They work with fashion based students and tutors to educate and inform the future generation of industry workers, so that they will in turn go on to push for higher standards in their workplace. This particular event was held in Edinburgh's beautiful Drill Hall space, the day revolved around a series of talks, discussions and workshops.

Kate and I developed the idea for the Paper Dress by wanting to give the students something practical and visual that they could all take part in and that could come together swiftly but effectively. We considered the fact that the participants were all creatives; and wanted to offer them a chance to convey their ideas and notions, towards the topics of discussion, that day in a way that didn't necessarily put pressure on the written or spoken word.

The Paper Dress itself evolved through a series of ideas between Kate and I. The coordinator of the event had approached us to take part after discovering our illustrated dresses, and we wanted to build on these foundations to offer something bigger and more exciting. We thought back to the early use of decoration, such as telling stories and documenting events through embroidery and wall paintings. We talked about patchwork and how the traditional way a blanket would be crafted would be by a series of different women, each conveying a different idea. From all of these ideas we envisioned a Patchwork Paper Dress, with each student choosing a panel and decorating it however they desired, incorporating the knowledge and ideas that they had gathered from the day and then piecing it all together to be displayed for the end talks and discussions.

The Paper Dress, before the workshop.

The thing I love the most about our illustrated dresses is that they are so simple and could just as easily be a wall hanging, thanks to Kate's artwork. Kate has even likened the fabric I use to canvas she would illustrate upon at Art School. The Paper Dress is no exception, and incredibly special. I was so inspired by how the students managed to mix print relief alongside thoughtful text, illustrations, questions and desires. I was also so excited to see how many people so readily got involved, we even had the tutors and event organisers grabbing the sharpies and expressing their own thoughts. It was a really amazing day and I'm so pleased to have been part of it.

Thanks DNAnderson for the lovely shots x