Jake Birks
regression
Underpinned by the concept of regression, this SS19 Womenswear collection evokes a sense of nostalgia and intoxication influenced by the context of festivals, fairgrounds and circuses. The whole background design aesthetic will be influenced by the Japanese concept 'Wabi Sabi', which is about finding beauty in imperfection. The dominant concept of regression, accented by Wabi Sabi forms the basis of the source of inspiration for this collection. The clothes are not practical fashion, they are loud statement pieces with the elegance of an evening gown that express the energy, creativity and unbridled imagination of a young child dressing up.
Silhouette is drawn upon from various circus and festivals costumes which where collaged together to create a new silhouette with allot of volume. The colour palette will take inspiration from the glitter and metallic colours seen at festivals, although these will only be used for surface decoration and embellishment. The majority of my actual fabric will be black to allow the metallic/glittery surface decorations to have maximum impact and the black gives a luxurious chic feel and prevents the collection from looking to costume like. Lightweight fabrics have been used to build up volume with varying opacities and create sculptural garments with textural surface decorations.
My Celestial X project for Kenzo takes inspiration from the Smithsonian’s travelling exhibition “Suited for Space” which was created by Cathy Lewis. The exhibition looks at the evolution of spacesuit technology and shows X-ray footage of spacesuits revealing their internal composition. I have used this reaserch to produce a capsule AW19 collection.