GRADUATION COLLECTION ´22 GLAM YOUR JOY

The core objective of my graduation collection finds itself within the pages of a book that I have read during the pandemic: “The Book of Joy”, written by Desmond Tutu Dalai Lama. A time in which the world around us seemed to collapse into a big black hole, dragging with it our dreams and hopes.

The main dilemma discussed in this book is the question of how we can seek long-lasting happiness in a world that is submerged in failure, depression, grief and death.

One movie that I could immediately relate back to this book, would be the biography of the rock band ‘QUEEN’: “The Bohemian Rhapsody”.

What had me relating it back to the book is one of Freddy Mercury ́s powerful statements, after he had shared with his friends the terrible news about his diagnosis with AIDS, that quotes as follows: “Music is all I want to do with the time I have left. I don’t have time to be their victim. I decide who I am. I am going to be what I was born to be. A performer, who gives the people what they want. A touch of the heavens.” 

He turned an extremely devastating disclosure into something extraordinary, by focusing on the love he had on sharing his voice with the world. The major inspiration for the silhouettes and aesthetic of my collection are the outfits worn by Queen in the movie “Bohemian Rapshody” and other rock singers from the late 60s, early 70s, such as David Bowie. My vision was to romanticize the glam inspired silhouettes using various materials and fabric manipulations, such as tucked ruffles, honeycomb smocking, pleats, and fabrics, such as chiffon and organza, to awake a certain emotion of what Freddy Mercury had felt for his duty as a performer, which was to share “a touch of the heavens” with the people who loved his music.