Urban Garment

Simon Swale

Urban Garment

Simon Swale

New Zealand / Otago Polytechnic

My recent practice involves both jewellery and textile making; a focus on wearable objects that respond to and connect with the urban environment in terms of space, place and non-place. With an added focus on the production and consumption of global consumer goods such as food, cigarettes and pharmaceuticals, my work critiques the global cultural economy and the human narratives of globalisation. These narratives become embodied and further transported by the objects being worn.

Work in this exhibition is photographic documentation of my textile piece ‘Urban Garment’, a recreation of a generic corrugated cardboard box in multi-layered calico. Besides the concerns for the themes mentioned above, this piece is furthermore a direct extension of my exploratory fashion practice; a consistent thread of my research considers the limits and borders of fashion, and the interface of fashion and art. For instance, this piece initiated with a direct engagement with corrugated cardboard boxes that were ‘draped‘ upon mannequins to explore the potential for new and unorthodox silhouettes and materials. While this in many ways follows the traditions of ‘fashion’ draping, this process was surprisingly physical - a process in which the usual fluidity of conventional fabrics was absent. Thus, in the process of creating, the body was unable to be (ad)dressed in the conventional way - usual concerns for the natural contours of the body could not easily be incorporated, and by extension, the traditional shapes of western patternmaking were irrelevant.

The result is a garment that is true to the dimensions of a flattened corrugated cardboard box. From here, domes are positioned so to enable the garment to be reinstated to the form of a three-dimensional cardboard box. More importantly however, the dome positioning allows the audience/wearer to transform the way the ‘box’ is structured, allowing for a multifunctional and wearable garment.

Bio: Simon Swale

instagram: simon.marcus.swale

Simon Swale is an artist, designer and Senior Lecturer currently teaching on the fashion program at the School of Design, Otago Polytechnic. He completed a Master in Fine Arts from the Dunedin School of Art in 2020, and is a current participant in the Handshake mentorship program, mentored by German artist Gabi Schillig.