The Aran Islands act as a genesis point for the formation of ‘On a Sheep and a Rope”. Located off the west coast of Galway, Ireland, the three islands, Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer were first largely populated in the 17th Century. This was due to the fact that following the Cromwellian Invasion, Catholics, fearing persecution at the hands of the British, fled to the islands in search of refuge. Here, in spite of harsh climatic conditions and limited resources, they built a self-sustained society, being able to provide the necessary food and shelter to survive away from British threats to the east. In many ways it is bears resemblance to modern survivalist communities, sustaining life from little resources.
What continues to inspire many about the Aran Islands however is the way this culture did not simply survive. In the face of constant threats, they crafted culture and tradition, art and craft that continues to influence contemporary society. Music, language, literature and most importantly for this project, clothing, have traditions born on these three tiny islands that are now prevalent the world over.
On a Sheep and a Rope traces that influence to two seemingly opposite sectors of modern clothing. It seeks to deconstruct the elements of the Aran Islands clothing tradition and find its fossils of influence embedded with contemporary couture as well as modern military and utility clothing. Whilst the Aran Islands forms the origins for the clothing traditions in question, the garments and textiles of broader Irish and British rural communities are also examined, seeking to find their contemporary forms within these two vastly different styles.
From the humble fishing net, the military developed the camouflage ghillie suit in pursuit of pure utility while fashion designers like Paco Rabanne and Kei Ninomiya saw this humble tool as a structure to building garments that hugged the wearer. Madeline Vionnet too may have been inspired the form hugging structure of the net in heralding the use of the Bias cut in the 1920s changing couture cutting techniques forever. Another material of lowly origins is the salt and pepper tweeds common through Ireland and Britain and made famous by mills in Donegal and Harris. Its transition into hunting and sportswear paved the way for adoption into camouflage fatigues, while equally iconic remains its interpretation through boucle yarns that forms the basis of the famous Chanel style.
However, identifying these elements is but step one of the collection methodology. Following the deconstruction is a process of reversal. The modern examples of these clothing traditions are reconstructed together to create an alternate expression of the Rural Irish and British clothing tradition. Tweed jackets are created using ‘seamless’ couture cutting techniques whilst using a camouflage of needle felted roving to ‘replicate’ the original tweed. Fishing nets are constructed into scaled dresses using the process of layering camouflage on Ghillie suits but applied to a figure-hugging gown.
The result, an expression of rural clothing that defies common understandings of time embedded within clothing. By combining past present and future representations, alongside disparate archetype sources, the collection seeks to carnivalize fashions traditional system of historical reference whilst also celebrating the seminal nature of the original inspiration, that seeps continually through all subsequent expressions of clothing.
In many ways the collection also seeks to romanticise the lives of these rural communities analysed. The process of making such clothes attempts to embed the same sense of hand, craft, wear and work that was pivotal within the establishment of the original traditions. Needle felting is used extensively seen in the formation of camouflage tweed, herringbone patchworks as well as the construction of felted Aran ‘cable knit’ styles. Hand dye techniques are used to give clothes a both decorative and equally worn appearance, with stained appearances and shibori techniques creating a dishevelled and distressed finish. Even shoes are emphasised to be the vessels of work, caked in a mud like compound and hand distressed to appear as if worn straight from a muddy field. In keeping with the carnivalization of time within the collection, elements of modern technology and utility, studs and screws, metallic boucles and laser cut bonded scales are combined with distressed leather and handmade nets that bridge significant histories.
A hopeful celebration of culture and tradition in the face of survival, the collection attempts to emphasize the ability of human creativity to flourish both past and present. For as clothing traditions are but one of the many legacies of societies, they are formed despite adversity not on a wing and a prayer but so often on work, creativity and a sheep and a rope.
Collection Awards
I-D Australia and New Zealand Graduates to watch 2018
RMIT New Luxury Award 2018
National Graduate Showcase - VAMFF 2018
Australian Wool Innovation Scholarship 2018
Excellence Award Red T International Graduate Competition at Wuhan Fashion Week, China