FOOTBALL FAN GONE FEMININE
Sportswear, knitwear, and the juxtaposition of these within womenswear have been an integral part of my design philosophy, reoccurring throughout my time on the BA Fashion course. I have always had an eagerness to explore sportswear garments that have undergone unique reinvention through a clash of ideas in reconstruction and textile design. A crucial part of my design process is reviewing how I can adapt menswear inspirations into a female setting and play with both knitwear and sportswear to compliment or contrast one another in the most successful way possible. This approach helps me to consistently provide new and challenged ideas to my practice, playing with material choice and silhouette to design exciting garments for the sporty, modern young woman.
Whilst attempting to pinpoint where my passions in sportswear and knitwear originally arose from, I was able to reflect on the prominent aspects of my childhood which have carved my creative identity today, centered around my grandad. Having an extensive background in professional football in my home city Bristol, my grandads career gave me access to a significant amount of photographic research from the field as well as an unlimited number of spoken stories from his memories on the pitch, sparking an early interest in sportswear clothing. He would often dig through his drawer beside his chair crowded with football photographs and newspaper cuttings for paper memories and begin a whirlwind of stories from each photograph. This led me down a path of exploration into football fans in the North during the time he was playing in the 70’s an 80’s, analyzing how I could reinvent football fan history into a modern female presence.