The Pollywog Collection
Gavin T.
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This is a fashion collection inspired by nature that I designed and constructed.
Something that has always intrigued me is nature, and more specifically vegetation. The idea of fungi, growths and spores constantly expanding upon themselves is mesmerizing - an expansion of an original concept. When approaching fashion garments, I attempt to build upon this thought process of doubling down on an idea. My design ideology is to create pieces that look and feel alive. Moving with this notion of inanimate objects communicating life, I create a conversation of deception between the viewer and what they perceive as animate. I continue this through experimentation, examining how one can reimagine standard and popular clothing pieces in a more rudimentary or obvious way. My presented pieces reintroduce us to garments we have seen before, but with unorthodox twangs of growth, life, and texture.
I designed an outfit completely out of recycled denim and set out looking for any way to make this denim not look like denim. I came upon a tropical crab, whose saturated coloration would be perfect for the denim. For the outfit itself I developed a style I named “Mounded Denim”, which was made to add to the whole theme of nature and vegetation. The top had an alien-like silhouette design to suggest bug wings, or something else animalistic. I experimented with many different dyeing methods to emulate the crab I had found. Finally sewing everything together, a combination of the garments pattern, silhouette, and texture gave this look very strong ties to the wilderness.
The Moss Pants are made of yarn, cotton, polyester, and reindeer moss. For this look I had a vision of creating pants that looked like vegetation was growing on them. I experimented with many different materials and applications methods over top pants to see what was the most effective way to communicate this idea. I decided upon yarn and tethered to embroidery because it achieved a ?ow and texture I was going for. For the Moss Hat, I wanted to use this similar idea around vegetation for common headwear. Depicting ultra-wearable nature, I used reindeer moss which is dried out and re-dyed moss. I used this so that it would have a real moss feel. All in all - the outfit portrays overgrown garments.
To create the pieces, I put nature into the context of fashion, so to document them I wanted to put that fashion back into the context of nature. I captured the collection with a night film shoot in a forest.
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For me, creativity is experimentation. With every piece of art comes the opportunity to push boundaries, and to jump into the possibilities of exploration. Creative experimentation is how I explore the world and express myself.
