Selkie’s New Clothes 2020

The third Selkie costume was created during the pandemic in 2020 and was featured in a filmed performance piece premiered on YouTube for Orkney International Science Festival.

HOODED BOLERO WITH LONG SLEEVES: The tailored base is constructed from discarded jersey fabric, embellished with HDPE plastic waste. The various processes used when dealing with the plastic included rust dyeing, melting, and cutting to transform them into creative repetitive embellishment elements. The design process used a desaturated colour palette when dyeing HDPE plastic, and the tie dye technique to achieve intricate shades of blue, grey and brown. Each circle piece is individually hand stitched to the base for surface texture details evocative of the barnacle-encrusted rocks. 

ECO-COUTURE DRESS: The construction process in imagining the halter neck dress started with the assembly of two separate pieces of pre-loved clothing, the tulle petticoat and shapewear bodysuit. Restoring their components into a new ensemble as a one-piece continued the journey of transformation with dying and texture embellishments from the shibori techniques and the stitching of beads to the surface. For extra volume and flow, layers of pre-loved and discarded chiffon and voile leftover fabrics were sewn in, with each individual piece of fabric being heat-manipulated to create unexpected and organic-like textures.