Darkwear
For this 3-week project, I was briefed to explore and respond to liminal spaces- public spaces which are transitional, uninhabited, or only inhabited for a limited time, in which the perception of time and reality may feel altered. I began this project by documenting and observing public liminal spaces as designed areas, looking at the language of street signage, road markings, public architecture, and natural sounds to see how these features of a liminal space can be repurposed alternatively.
After some research and experimentation, I decided to explore the night-time as a space that applies features of liminality to an entire part of the world at one time. At night, everything feels abandoned, nowhere is a destination and nothing is being used for its intended purpose- or being used at all.
Despite its dangers, the night-time has historically served as an escapist, socially safe and empowering space for oppressed communities such as the working class and black communities. For example, the night-time allowed for the formation of the first nightclubs, known as Juke joints and honky tonks, which later became discotheques, places where many communities could gather for leisure.
I decided to explore the night-time as a safe space. I felt personally connected to this notion of seeking safety in the darkness. While I recognised the dangers of the night-time, the lack of social pressure, judgement and stimulation brought a sense of psychological presence, peace and privacy to me and made me feel confident to explore the world, and I also had discussed this with other people who feel the same way.
I imagined how human culture would be if the world was built in a way that protected those who prefer the night-time. As there is such a huge amount of infrastructure that would go into designing a world that way, I decided to begin by looking at one element and designing within this lifestyle for myself and youth culture.
I investigated concepts and materials and started to design clothing to perform as night-time street style. The way myself and people my age typically inhabit the streets was recreationally, so I felt this was an element that would be present if such a night-time world existed.
In the spirit of the subject at hand, I decided to involve other people who felt comfort in the night-time within the design process. We designed and created our own streetwear, which involved layered accessories, sportswear, and outerwear pieces. We created the clothing out of reflective fabrics as well as neon colours as this would allow for visibility during the night-time, and because these fabrics do not perform the same way in the daylight.
We documented this design process as well creative directed a conceptual photoshoot to present the potential experience of wearing the clothing, which involved night vision cameras, makeup we designed and utilising public settings for our photography. I intend to take this project forward and launch a capsule collection of “night-wear” or “dark-wear”.