Life After Trauma
Collection Concept
The new collection, Life After Trauma, raises awareness of trauma and its complexities, focusing on how trauma affects the mind and the body.
Highlighting hope, the collection explores the transformation someone can gradually make, moving through their trauma, at their own pace, to experience and find stability, joy, and peace.
Linking to trauma recovery, the colour palette is inspired by the season Spring which holds the notion of new beginnings, growth, and renewal.
5% from each sale is donated to Traumascapes, a charity changing the ecosystem of trauma and creating new horizons for survivors through art and science.
1
Strips of gold fabric are woven up and down through the jacket; these strips connect and rely on each other to form a pattern.
This weaving mirrors the power of connecting with people you can trust when in the process of healing from your trauma. Most importantly, the reconnection and self-compassion you make with yourself, with your mind and body, is a vital part of the healing process.
2
Lifting and peeling back the layers uncovers folds, tucks, asymmetric hems, and sheer and solid panels.
These complex pieces mirror the built-up layers, symptoms, and responses that manifest within the individual after enduring a traumatic incident or multiple incidents.
3
The hand embroidered buttons are inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of using gold to repair broken pottery. Kintusgi has often been used as a metaphor of trauma and healing too. The gold thread on each button conveys the imprints that trauma leaves on our bodies, mapped out through scars, both mentally and physically. The gold represents hope. During the healing process, with support around you, you can begin to rebuild your life, care for your scars, and reclaim back your personal power. Though you might not be the same person as before, you own your story and you can create your future.
4
The words wabi-sabi, derived from Japan, were originally two separate words “wabi” referring to the loneliness of living in nature and “sabi” meaning lean or withered. Wabi-sabi is a deep and strong feeling that can only be felt within people. The feeling of wabi-sabi was first formed through the ceremonies of Japanese tea houses, and influenced by Buddha, focusing on the simplicity in architecture and the joy of sharing tea with another person, whilst embracing the imperfections that come with this.
Inspired by wabi-sabi, the velvet scarf celebrates the asymmetric beauty found within nature, objects, and each individual human being. The scarf is an appreciation of the flaws and imperfections we all hold. Through acceptance of how things are, not how they should be, can help us to experience peace, joy, and authenticity.
