Colour in Design Award Week 1 Entry - No Such Thing as Overdressed

It has been a year since I went to a party. A party where everyone’s dressed to the nines. Lockdown put a pause to the kind of excitement that comes with getting dressed up for a party, but it’s just that, a pause. The fun of dressing is something that I’ve missed in the last year, but my project shows how the clash of pattern, colour and modularity can bring that back. Modular fashion gives the wearer the control – the ultimate self-expression through garments that are broken down into modular pieces and interchanged at will. Often, modular fashion is designed in subdued colours with very little pattern in order to match and blend in, a trope I want to change. It’s time to put colour back into the clothes we wear, after a year of beige tracksuits and pyjama bottoms, using the bright colourful modularity as a fresh form of self expression and individuality. As well as creating variety and playfulness in one garment, it gives a longevity without buying more; an ideology which is so crucial to keeping fashion slow and sustainable.

My research started in Glasgow between lockdowns. Modular fashion and Glasgow went hand in hand for me, as it seems like a city that’s been bolted together, clashing and coordinating in equal measure. As the year wore on and I kept looking at these pictures, I imagined the city with the vibrancy and joy of everyone being able to be together again. My three collections were designed to clash; I have ‘Meander’, inspired by the mismatched and peeling paint jobs on the corner shops of Glasgow. ‘Smudge’, inspired by the murky back alleys and cigarette-break steps. Finally, ‘Floral’, a mash up between the graffiti and foliage in Kelvingrove park.

The prints are bold, luxurious and intentionally clashing to give the chaotic vibrance and fun, showing how print cannot just have a place in modular fashion but steal the show. The designs are sumptuous and rich, with meandering stripes, carefree smudges and graphic florals. An homage to the parties before; an invite to the parties to come. When world begins to reopen, there will be no such thing as overdressed.