Tanja Novák

The concept for THE FIRST WAVE originally stemmed from research into the Suffragette's which led to discovering female combat sports athletes from the Victorian era; women who were paraded around as a form of entertainment or performed within a freak show and fought in corseted, heavy dresses or large frilly pieces that seem disproportionate. Fusing this with more traditional combat sport, MMA from the Far East. This created the silhouette to work from, eventually expanding her research to include other Victorian sportswear, focusing especially on skiwear as well as Victorian underwear, all of which were garments that didn't seem to provide practicality and looked uncomfortable. Later in the design process, inspiration was drawn from more contemporary sportswear, including 80s sportswear panelling.