Hattie Thomas

The Emily Speed Masterclass 

How the costume turns the body into an object.

 My favorite part about the workshop was watching the body change through the use of shapes. It goes against form-fitting clothes and becomes more like the style of Comme Des Garcons. Emily showed us Triadisches Ballett (Bauhaus) by Oskar Schlemmer, the geometric shapes in his piece inspired everyone to make costumes based upon obstructing the body. The performers had to really push their bodies in terms of movement and began to alter the costumes themselves twisting and moving the shapes around their bodies. I made a simple outfit by just cutting two holes in the bottom of the cardboard and one around the neck, for the legs and head. And another just by cutting crazy edges into cardboard to make pants. It made me realize I could make wearable art out of anything, in my tutorial Brigitte suggested the materials don't have to be soft so through this process of making I have begun to explore more resilient materials. I found this so beneficial for my practice.