The Japanese concept of Ma can be described as empty space.
I was inspired by the Sack Line dress as a concept and how Balenciaga uses the space in between to create a narrative through his designs.
In the 1950’s, it was revolutionary to create a sack line that almost disregarded the body because the society at the time placed too much emphasis on the female body for it’s aesthetic value.
I started this process by asking myself what our equivalent of the sack line would be today. For me, it is about getting our of our head and back into the body in order to find release from the discomfort of living too much in a state of anxiety.
The sack line challenged the perception of 1950s society. For my research I filmed a performance of a contemporary dancer inspired by Martha Graham’s ‘lamentation’. I captured the silhoettes she created through this dance and draped in response to it.
I wanted to create a silhouette that was different from every angle. In some places, embracing the feminine silhouette, and in others using structure to create distortion and sculptural drape.
