As a fashion brand whose philosophy is highly centred around the gestures of storytelling and informed design, we look to create from a point of view that stems from real world discourse. Two of our latest designs draw inspiration from discourses surrounding the roles of imagination in storytelling, as well as the representations of the interconnection of the personal and the political.
The ways in which we choose to present aesthetically is intrinsically linked to a broader socio-political context, thus informing our socio-political positionality. Christina Sharpe crucial role of experiences of beauty in how we engage with the world, and petitions to redefine beauty beyond trade aesthetics by incorporating the political and social dimensions of our lived experiences. Along with a redefined beauty, Audre Lorde’s redefined erotic engages with the whole self and fosters imagination to envious alternative as new forms of being. As we critique and challenge patriarchal and racist systems of oppression, we simultaneously interrogate the means at which storytelling serves as a wholistic method of resisting said systems of oppression.
An artwork from which we continue to draw influence from is one by Mary Sibande. Sibande’s work challenges traditional notions of beauty by presenting a Black woman in a powerful, regal pose, adorned in a striking blue Victorian dress on her famous piece “They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To”. This reimagining of beauty resists historical narratives that have marginalized Black women and redefines beauty by merging elements of African culture with European Victorian aesthetics, creating a hybrid form that challenges conventional beauty standards. Her work engages the viewer on multiple sensory levels, akin to how Lorde describes the erotic as a holistic, sensory experience that leads to deeper self-awareness and fulfillment.
Moving back to political positionality, it becomes even more clear how aesthetic representation dictates the perceived self - from the uniforms of domestic workers in apartheid South Africa, to the short trousers of black prisoners on Roben Island. Beauty, and the experiences of beauty one chooses to associate with, are acts of resistance - political and otherwise.
