CPS Week 3
n response to this week's 'Found Object' theme, I made a fashion illustration design using an image of a lighter and chains from my house. Cigarette lighters have a masculine connotation due to the branding of cigarettes. Hence, I wanted to use it as the basis of this design, in order to subvert this notion and create something more feminine. In my production phase this was pushed even further by the visible masculininty of the model design, but I felt adding the chains added an element of androgyny in anonminity. The design is heavily inspired by fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who explores these ideas by pushing conventional understandings of different materials and utilising iconic 'costumes' and items in his work. For example, the motorbike look from 'Les Cowboys' (1992) takes a motorbike handlebar and light to make a bustier. Thus, the original item is re-imagined and placed on the feminine body, playing with the masculinity associated with the motorbike.