FIRST PERSON FEMININE
Category: Apparel
Competitions: Fashion Competition 2025
The collection “First Person Feminine” was born out of a fear of control over the female body, a historical pattern that continues today. It draws from religious texts and cultural myths, where women are punished for curiosity, and from feminist theory that critiques how motherhood and reproduction are tied to female identity. By referencing the silhouettes of the 1950s — an era when women were forced back into domestic roles the collection explores how femininity has been shaped by social expectations. Leather becomes both a symbol of strength and a material of constraint molded, cut, and engraved to reflect the tension between self-expression and imposed identity. Crafted entirely from vegetable-tanned leather, The Idol is a sculptural piece that examines the control of the female body through the lens of idealized beauty. Inspired by the tension between visibility and restriction, the garment was molded by hand on the body, using heat and moisture to shape the leather into a rigid silhouette that echoes both armor and imprisonment. The leather was naturally tanned and then hand-dyed in a visceral shade of blood red — a color chosen to evoke the physical and emotional cost of being objectified. Silver 925 seams seal the piece shut at the back, reinforcing a sense of finality and confinement. The sculpted leather bodice is reinforced with prominent silver structures that wrap around the bust and arms, evoking the rigid underwires of a bra. These metallic lines do not merely support the body — they contain it, referencing both the physical constraints of lingerie and the symbolic confinement of femininity. Like the traditional bra, these elements shape, lift, and restrict, turning an intimate garment into a visible, almost architectural device of control. The lifted leather straps suggest a body hung for display, referencing how women have historically been reduced to their appearance. This piece embodies the clash between societal ideals and female autonomy, using leather not only for its strength and beauty, but as a symbol of power, vulnerability, and resistance.
