In Week 8 of MED257, we went on a field trip to different charity shops throughout Sunderland and were tasked with styling a mannequin in a Pride-themed outfit, using only items found in our allocated charity shop. Prior to this, I created a moodboard outlining my vision and aim for this challenge.
I started off with focusing on layers, ruffles, and sheer fabrics – all elements of an extravagant, intriguing outfit. I wanted to include as many contrasting colours as possible, as it isn’t Pride without colour! I wanted bouncy and voluminous garments, which led me to think about bloomers, which are coming back into trend recently. I looked at bloomers as worn in the 60s/70s when gay rights were first put into place. And then I was reminded of early bra silhouettes, how they were quite pointed and triangular, also something which has become a statement detail in fashion today. I knew it would be hard to find things with such details, but it was an idea to base my look on.
In our team, Elena, Molly and I were dropped off at the Cancer Research UK store, one of the biggest in Sunderland. Immediately, we were going up and down aisles, picking out garments that stood out, had different textures and colours, as well as interesting shapes for layering. We each picked up what we thought fit and dropped them all into a basket before taking them to the back and piecing our outfit together on the mannequin, which we decided should be a male mannequin to truly capture the beauty of Pride.
Our Pride outfit started with two beautiful printed satin silk skirts, one midi, one maxi, layered over one another as we had hoped to do. Then a coral-toned long sleeve tank top, which we struggled to fit on the mannequin in the way it should be worn, so we used it as a Bardot moment instead by tying the sleeves around the shoulders. Over that, we found a stunning sheer blouse, embellished with sequins and beads in a floral motif that matched the tone of the top as well as the accents of the skirts perfectly. We were so happy with this look but had to finish it off with shoes and accessories! We used a long green beaded necklace as a belt, along with a giant beaded choker necklace and as many shimmer bracelets as we could find. I also felt like a belly ring accent was a great idea, so we taped a spare that I had on so that it just cheekily peeked out from under the blouse. Initially, we thought to go with some baby pink heels, however after finding a gorgeous sequin zebra print clutch bag, we knew we had to go with some leopard print heels instead. You can never have too much animal print, in my opinion! With that, we also found the prettiest chiffon scarf with a pink peacock feather print, that we used as a headscarf.
Overall, our team was very pleased with the outcome, considering how unpredictable charity shop finds can be. This session was incredibly challenging but so much fun! I especially felt great about using pre-loved garments to construct such a meaningful piece of work.
