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| Photography by Lucas Seidenfaden |
“I wanted technology to revaluate how we
construct clothes,” Nicola Morgan tells me while peering out from under her
blunt fringe. The fresh faced designer stands alongside three examples from her
collection, two black, one red, but all three, full-length evening gowns. This
RCA graduate explores the possible interactions and overlaps between technology
and fashion while looking to construction for detail. In the graduate showcase
three such examples of Nicola’s combining of these juxtaposing forces can be
witnessed. Fabric drapes into elegant folds and twists into sweeping drapes.
The molded metalwork creates an industrial and almost skeletal framework for
the fabric to hang from. In some places smooth and others track like, these
metal additions wrap around the neck and back of the garment, manipulating the
structure and shape of the pieces.
Glancing over the jersey fabric and framework as
we walked around the pieces she began to explain her methodology and
inspiration. “ I wanted them to have a jewellery like quality,” and these metal
structures with enamel finish certainly do. In fact, they have an almost
seductive quality, as the structures in one piece break free from the fabric
and wind around the neck like a choker.
Entwined in her technical jewellery. She explains that each solid
structure is carefully held in place by tiny pins that give a smooth and
invisible finish. To create them Nicola formed every piece digitally, creating
the whole collection though virtual media. “It was so exciting when I finally got to touch them,”
working digitally only enhanced the tactile encounter for her when it came. The
real art of these pieces lies in the tension created between the soft fabric
and rigid constructions.
Text: Samantha Farr