Free place

The inspiration for my ensemble came from Slab City, California – a place where people are fed up with the western world life style.  Slab City is a recoiling from the culture of American and global consumerism which we all feed as well as suffer from.  For my design I placed emphasis on using textiles which all came from transforming used material.  For my overall I chose all white, used clothes, which I cut in two and reattached as one layer.   After spreading flat, I cut the pattern of an oversize overall taking into consideration functional pieces such as pockets. For the cape material I selected used plastic bags which I cut and sewed using the American “patchwork” technique – handiwork of North American tradition that reflects the community facet.  With my theme being consumerism at heart I designed the overall to be oversize which disguises body outline- as consumerism has erased, or consumed the client. An observer can see the old patches of clothes, on the overall, as if they were pasted on to one another, but, for the cape, I wanted the observer to initially be confused over whether the material was new or used.  Color combinations were chosen for their aesthetic matching but with inspiration coming from the colorful Salvation Mountain in Slab City.