Fashion - Honours
Through a refusal of the social norms ingrained by the male gaze, opportunities arise to reclaim space and embrace femininity on our own terms. Space Invaders explores concepts of the female gaze, feminism, and femininity. The collection combines print design, fabric manipulations and a use of unexpected materials.
Spectatorship, Male Gaze, Female Gaze, Feminism, Empowerment
One of the key concepts within spectatorship is the term gaze. The gaze is a term that describes how a viewer engages with visual media (Loreck, 2016). It is often considered part and parcel of gender politics and power. Within the fashion industry over the last few decades the male gaze has become widely acknowledged. At its core the male gaze is about power structure, positioning men as both the viewer and as the subject. The male gaze shows women from a heterosexual male perspective that sexually objectifies women for the male viewers pleasure. However this point of view opens up the possibility for women to stage-manage that sense of surveillance via taking control of the visual economy to express themselves and manage their own sexual representation (Paarsonen, attwood, McKee, Mercer & Smith, 2020, p 27).
In more recent years with the help of the fourth wave of feminism an alternative lens to the male gaze has been developed and is gaining more frequent acknowledgment (Laing & Willson, 2020, p. 7). Yet the female gaze is also described as an incredibly vague concept. Caetlin Benson-Allott outlines this in her paper, she makes note that since Mulveys original paper the female gaze has only been defined by what it is not and not what it is (2017). The term at its core however is used to describe art that subverts the ever-present male perspective; it portrays a female vantage point with feminist sensibility (Smith, 2020). This is highlighted in an interview with a female photographer from the female gaze issue of i-D magazine. When asked what the female gaze means to her, the photographer Chloe Sheppard states that it’s about reclaiming what’s ours as women have always been told how to behave, how to look, and how to live according to men.
Space Invaders aesthetically is very much aligned with the maximalist movement. This is due to its eccentric forms that give it the ability to disregard boundaries of gender and sexual identity (Fogg, 2020, P. 550). It plays with ideas of what the male gaze views as attractive. Whereas the female gaze within the fashion industry is more aligned with female creators and reclaiming our ability to dress for ourselves rather than how our body is viewed by others. With these points in mind for this project the most relevant designers are female and in particular those that use maximalist aesthetics. The three designers I will be using to contextualise my project are Molly Goddard, Simone Rocha, Ashley Williams and Vivetta (images 1-4).
or my collection it has been completely relevent to situate my project within social movements happening on social media. Social media provides opportunity for people to be who they want to be but also has the potentially negative impacts of surveilence. The movement that holds the most significant relevance to my project is the Reclaim Bimbo movement that originated on Tik Tok. Chrissy Chlapecka and Griffin Maxwell Brooks are one of the unofficial leaders of the bimbo movement They state that “The modern bimbo aesthetic is more about a state of mind and embracing, “I want to dress however I want and look hot and not cater to your expectations”.
WGSN mentions that the Reclaim Bimbo movement juxtaposes sex appeal with intellect; being a new age bimbo means you are flipping the male-gaze on itself (Napoli 2021). The movement was inspired by the role and view of women in society and it takes on an inclusive, sex positive, anti-capitalist and leftist agenda (Napoli, 2021). This concept aligns with the idea of the female gaze. While ill-defined the female gaze aligns itself with subverting the male gaze and embracing feminine perspectives. The Reclaim Bimbo movement is unabashedly frivolous and feminine with political undertones which is the mood I want to evoke with my collection Space Invaders.
The first look of the collection consists of two garments and an accessory. The first garment is tailored mens shorts made from suiting with pink piping detailing. The second garment is a cropped metallic pink leather jacket. The jacket has appliqued leather flowers made from discarded scrap leather and iridescent daisy chain-mail. The daisy chain was made by through laser cutting the daisies from iridescent acrylic then chaining them together with jump rings. The accessory for this look is a hand made leather belt that has been hand stamped and dyed.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Finn Mumford
The second look in the collection is a white denim set contains three garments and an accessory. The first garment is a mini skirt with side cut outs. The daisy chain is used to fill the void left by the cut out. The second is a white denim bralette that is used as a base for the daisy chain bralette. The accessory for this set is a iridescent acrylic sunglasses chain made from the left over cut outs from the daisies.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Bethany Stewart
The third look in the collection consists of two garments and two accessories. The first garment is the bubble tube top, which is made from iridescent organza that has been manipulated to create a bubble effect. The second garment is flared satin pants with godet inserts. The first accessory doubles as both a choker and a scrunchie. The second is a bag that has the same fabric manipulation as both the top and the choker.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Sarah Nicholson
The fourth look of the collection is the second mens look, it consists of two garments and an accessory. The first garment is tailored mens pants made from suiting with a sheer organza knee panel. The second garment is a button up shirt made from custom printed fabric that I designed. The accessory is a bum bag made from faux leather with seat belt webbing for the belt component of the bag.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Finn Mumford
The fifth look in the collection consists of one garments and one accessory. The dress is made from clear plastic and a shower curtain from Bunnings as well as the iridescent organza that was also used in look three. Flower vinyl stickers were made with the use of a cricut and then hand placed on the clear plastic. The accessory is a choker made from the small daisies that were also used in the daisy chain.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Bethany Stewart
The sixth look in the collection consists of two garments and one accessory. The slip dress is made from same satin fabric as the button up shirt in an alternate colourway. The second garment in the look is a large oversized bubble gum coat made from 12 metres of fabric and 60 metres of elastic. The accessory is a hand made leather harness featuring the same floral embossing and dying techniques as the leather belt.
Photography by Ailish Flynn
Model: Sarah Nicholson
Jacinta Winnington-Martin (AKA Cinna) is the designer behind the collection Space Invaders. She uses fashion design as a way of exploring the world. Her concepts are inspired by social movements, politics and fantasy. This often contrasts against her playful approach to fashion design and Space Invaders is no exception to this.