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For the Good of the Company
This wardrobe subverts the conventional garments of the modern professional, exploring multiple avenues of decentralizing established forms through design. Using a muslin toile as the central unifier poses questions of how one exists in the professional world where indicators of order, stability, and productivity become disrupted. Industry use of muslin permits design and application on the body to be tested, reflecting a committed non-commitment to production and final fabric. The nonconformist power suit, classic blazer, collared shirt, blouse, A-line skirt, and trouse are modernized through a dissection of their patterns, intervening on the foundation of construction and challenging the expectations of the body in these settings. The pieces take ownership of the history of a business suit like a taxidermy patch- wanting to participate but ever the outsider, questioning the reasoning for this normalized pomp and circumstance. The decentralized forms assert that there is no definitive right or wrong in the process of making clothing, dressing, and attitudes toward professionalism, multiple systems exist at the same time.

materials: organic cotton muslin, woven wool, rayon, woven cotton

APRIL 2023

Skirt Trouser

This skirt is comprised of pant leg patterns, highlighting the range in interpreting 2D forms. The skirt trouser is designed at the intersection of traditionally masculine and feminine forms in office dress. 
Angled Button Down 
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A take on the classic button-down shirt. Disrupting symmetry in this piece de-centers associations with power and influence.

Fly Skirt

This piece highlights the intricate design of the fly zipper. Balancing its masculine connotations with a feminine form, this skirt incorporates construction details found in formal trousers. 
Shoulder Pad Camisole
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Mirroring similar attributes to the rest of the collection, the historical connotations of authority and masculinity present in the shoulder pad are highlighted. This design isolates these utilitarian construction notions and employs them as straps to a delicate, camisole form. 
Shirt Tail Trouser 
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These trousers utilize the language of a button-down shirt as an accessory to formal wear. In this design, the shirt tail is sewn into the waistband depicting a shift in formality when combining two professional attributes
Side Seam Blouse 
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This design requires a dissection of 2D patterns, reimagining their use, and conventional garment construction methods. The side seams are utilized as the center front placket and the former center front seams are shifted to the side seams. This results in an organic center front line and a boxy-fitting garment—relaxing expectations of rigidity and traditionally form-fitting garments in professional dress.
Dress Skirt
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Similar to the “Shirt Tail Trouser” this piece combines two elements of professional design resulting in a casual form. Inspiration was found in 90’s powersuits where matching blazers and skirts were commonly worn. The blazer is opened up allowing for play in the styling process. The now open-front dress is patterned like an apron, wrapping around the back of the body and meeting at the waist.  The interior right seam houses the skirt pattern which wraps around the front of the body and snaps to the adjacent left interior seam. 
Layered Collared Jacket 
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This design utilizes the button-down shirt as the lining to a blazer jacket. It combines two elements that are frequently styled together and reshaped through the hem of the jacket.