Elegant confinement and material mourning : an exploration of fashion, fetish, materialism, restriction and confinement

Abstract

Elegant Confinement focused on creating a series of wearable sculptures that confine the body, as well as restrict movement. A primary objective was to explore the fashions, fetishisms and confinements of the Victorian era, by examining the role restrictions, strict mourning codes and body manipulation that upper class women endured. This body of work also addresses first wave feminism and the Industrial Revolution, and how all these substantial changes have strongly impacted contemporary society. Victorian gates, fences, under-garments and accessories have influenced the forms of the sculptural adornments. Each sculpture, created by brazing together industrial steel parts, hinges open and then closes to cage the body. Elegant Confinement is accompanied with Material Mourning a series of jewelry pieces inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry, as well as Berlin Iron Jewellery created with similar parts.