“it became
an
exploration
both of the
evolution
of design
concepts
and also the
evolution of
my body”
throughout 2018 and 2019 having to fight
to get reconstructive surgery. By January
of this year when I began the project I was
anticipating forthcoming surgery and yet at
the same time had begun to
become more accepting of the
person I now was. I also felt
disappointed by the lack of
visibility of women who have
unreconstructed bodies. It
impacts greatly on the clothes
you can or choose to wear.
As soon as I began to design
the pieces for the collection
I realised I wanted them to
be things I would and could
wear and that in order to
demonstrate this, I needed to
be the model for the collection.
Gradually it became an
exploration both of the
evolution of design concepts
and also the evolution of my
body over the months that followed. Soon
after the first lockdown was announced in
the UK in March of this year, I was notified
that my pending operation had been
cancelled and that it could be up to two
years before any operation would be likely.
This news affected me deeply but working
on Evolution has helped me so
much, and now I find myself
accepting who I am in a very
different way to the beginning
of the year.What has the reaction been
like to the book so far?
The response has been quite
phenomenal on the whole,
with people both embracing
the designs but also being
incredibly supportive of me,
my journey, and what the
book represents. Sadly, I have
received a small amount of
unpleasantness from very
isolated sources, unhappy
with my use of the word
Evolution, suggesting I am
attempting to deliver an anti-creationist
message by using it as the title of the
book. It has been quite upsetting but IFEATURE