Assignment: pick a garment that tells a story about your interest. Research it.

I picked my Maison Margiela - Replica shoes. I'm a huge fan of Martin Margiela. The way he shined a different light on femininity is something that's really interesting to me. With the contradicting garment silhouettes and make-up.

The replica shoe is a part of the collection ' REPLICA ' meaning:

“Reproduction of found garments of carrying sources and periods,”

The ‘Replica’ collections take the notion of timeless pieces and rely on the principle that these pieces have already proven the test of time.

The idea was to design each garment so that they are as relevant for today as they will be tomorrow. With the popular ‘Replica Men’s Sports Shoes’ or more commonly known as the German Army Trainer, or GAT is a staple in the Maison Margiela timeline.

I think this garment touches upon a few different topics i'm interested in: Masculinity/femininity, unisex clothing, timeless design and emotional value to garments.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How does our clothing control us?
What are the differences between men's and women's clothing details and what do they imply?
Is there need for unisex clothing, if so; why?
What makes a garment unisex?
How does ... show what society prioritizes

VISUAL RESEARCH IDEAS

Same garment on male and female

Sizing of garments

How does silhouette affect movement

How does clothing changes body language

Currently i'm researching into the way that clothing controls us. I started with the thought that we can control our own visual identity, in the way that we are able to choose the garments we're wearing. However, these garments are already made up by someone, or even made up by a system. You're just picking out what you like out of that pre-made selection. All clothing has certain details and a certain fit, mostly related to gender, that control the way we look, behave and feel. I would like to investigate what these garments tell us about expected behavioral norms in our current society. How do they push us in a direction of behavior? What do they tell us about expectations? How does the fit and sizing affects our body language? And what does this stress about power dynamics? This could be put in relation with gender. For example the difference between pockets for men's and women's clothing. I found a book called ' fashion game changers' which is a really great reference. It's about designers that challenged the dominated female silhouette and created new silhouettes that gave the female body more freedom.

An interesting thing i would also like to look into is unisex clothing.

How do heels change our posture/ body language and what does it say?

Hussein Chalayan - gravity fatigue

BEELDVORMING

De manier waarop iemand naar de wereld kijkt,
gevormd door wat je ziet, hoort, voelt, en weet.

Persoonlijke databank.