My Growing S(k)in
Category: Apparel
Competitions: Fashion Competition 2026
My project is called Growing S(k)in and it’s part of a collection that deals with the concept of a second skin which is dangerously growing on you. This skin is part of yourself but at the same time it’s poisoned and you want to run away from it. Natural materials play an important role as it’s about growth of a second skin. During this collection I explored two main textiles, one included the growth of a skin like fabric with bacteria and the second textile is entirely made from hair. Both textiles don’t use any chemicals and because I made the textiles myself I can control that the creation of the textile is entirely made from natural materials. This means that every textile was made with a 100% natural process and without any harm against animals. As my concept talks about a second skin it seems like a possibility to make use of leather in order to show the growth of a second skin. But because I am against any harm and violence against animals, I had to experiment with other materials in order to create fabrics that convey this idea. The coat that I’m presenting belongs to the part of the collection where I’m exploring the second skin as a layer of hair that is growing on top of the first skin. It is made out of raw wool fibre, a fibre that is used to felt. It is completely sustainable because the fibre is raw hair that was obtained through shearing, which means it is 100% biodegradable. I chose the wool fibres from the Zwartbles and the Iceland sheep as they seemed suitable for the mood of my collection. In order to make the textile for the coat I spread the spikes of egg boxes that I collected and then I put some layers of the wool fibre on top together with water and soap which connected the fibres and created the fabric. Concerning the inspiration, the coat tells the story of covering up with the second skin and hiding from noises. The spikes are representative of soundproof walls which is why they became the main shape of this second skin that protects you from noises. Because of the process of covering up your ears when it gets loud, I thought of using hair to cover up and protect oneself from the noises. Meanwhile those noises are a symbol of danger and voices in your head that you want to run away from. At the same time it was important to use a material that is actually growing, so I chose hair that grows like the concept of a “growing skin”. Link for Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v8IwtLNvcsyMox-v1UywQDwrRODnP3UN/view?usp=drivesdk
