To generate some initial ideas, I created a series of collages that covered and protected the body. I wanted to focus on making a wearable that can be seen as a piece of armour to protect from the physical but primarily from emotions. I chose the shoulder as a location as it is one of my insecurities as a trans woman and feel that starting from a place of vulnerability can ignite the conversation of exposing the body, but also my mind. I see the pieces of paper as sheet metal with words from my diary stamped and rolled into its surface. I want to create juxtaposition between the idea of protection and vulnerability in a wearable that is used as armour.
I experimented with compositions that emphasises the breadth of the shoulders both looking at concealing them and challenging my negative preconception and weather this should be hidden by celebrating. I played with the ideas of drawing the eyes away from the shoulder and rest of the body and beyond. Also, I looked at the quantity of material used to cover the body, questioning how exposed I want to be and what to let the viewer into.
Trip to Royal Armouries Museum Leeds
I took a trip to Leeds Royal Armouries Museum to research the ways that armour from the past and how it was previously used in warfare. Across all the exhibitions and armour types I was fascinated by the plate metal from 1400-1600 in Europe. I was first drawn to the connections between the different components that made a suit of armour, primarily the rivets and straps. I found my eyes drawn to them often due to the difference in colour but then enjoyed figuring out how then connections allowed the large plates to move. This was reinforced using curved embellishment that often served no use against physical attacks.
Lots of the suits of armour were refinished and kept as tournament ready with a highly polished aesthetic. However, I loved the patina and marks left in the armour as it degrades over time from poor storage or being excavated. I think that the history of these marks helps to tell the story of the peace giving it greater meaning than that of a perfect suit.
Alongside plate armour was a variety of sword types from across multiple centuries and locations. I didn't focus on one of these particular but an element of the sword, the hilt. I was initially interested by the repeating curved that swept around the handle (Loop guard, Knuckle-bow and bars) that can be used to embellish a simple sword from afar. But after further investigation I found the necessity and the invention of these to deflect strikes away from the hand. These elements couldn’t be entirely made from sheet metal like plate armour for the body as this would disrupt the centre of gravity of the entire sword which is critical to the swords ease to be swung and controlled. Despite these elements physical use for deflection, it challenged my ideas of capturing or entangling emotions in a modern contemporary wearable.
