The wired collection is a study and experiment shedding light on and providing comfort to those suffering from mental illness. After personally experiencing some of these struggles, I intended to create garments that are physical representations of these thoughts. Additionally, after taking a course on AI and social justice, I was alarmed and horrified at just how much waste AI and electronics produced. I learned even more about planned obsolescence and environmental destruction and started thinking about ways to reuse that waste in this project. I started thinking about how, typically, when people are seeking help for their mental illness, instead of something being wrong with them, they are told they are just WIRED differently. I combined the two of these into some of the pieces in the collection. I designed a jacket inspired by my lived experience with depression and wanted to physically represent the feeling of being weighed down and tangled in your own thoughts so deeply that you cannot do anything else.
The jacket is made of a 4 layer quilt created from Japanese Selvage Denim, Silk Organza, Cotton batting and muslin. The interior is lined with silk twill to provide extra comfort to the wearer. I created an oversized boxy silhouette to fit and comfort as many people as possible. I then hand-tacked and tangled the cords around the shell of the jacket. Underneath the jacket is an asymmetric silkscreen and hand-dyed dress that appears to be melting off the body. To make the fabric for this dress, I started with plain white cargo denim, and then the crackle was dyed with black Rit dye that turned the dress greyish purple. I then screen-printed lace on top with pearly white ink. This represents covering the cracks from within and masking how you truly feel on the outside. My machine knit looks are meant to reflect these themes of vulnerability and feature wires going through knit eyelets for a full range of styling for the wearer. These looks are also styled with basic jersey and pico garments I made for future styling purposes
