Meg Naysmith

COLLECTION NARRATIVE

'beautiful chaos' Spring Summer 2022

Megan Naysmith

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Initially inspired by ‘ladies who lunch’ and todays culture that obsesses over photographing their aesthetic surroundings and portraying their ‘perfect’ lives on social media, I aimed to create a womenswear fashion & textile collection. 

 

‘Ladies who lunch’ was originally a term for upper-class women who went out with other wives as something to do to fill their time while they lived off their husband’s money. Nowadays many women are far more independent and work hard to earn their own living allowing them to go out to these social events on their own accord. Although ‘ladies who lunch’ are often associated with the silver service high teas that have connotations with being ultra-delicate, pristine and fine-tuned, I hoped to switch this up and show that although this may all appear very neat and tidy it’s not always what it seems. 

 

I began by investigating the colours and textures from ‘Instagram-able’ foods, looking in particular at the delicate icing and garnishes of tiny afternoon-tea cakes that have gone on to inspired my textile designs. From brunch spots to afternoon teas there were many possible avenues for me to go down in terms of colour palettes, patterns, shapes, moods and techniques. I often find myself wanting to capture and do it all which is a blessing and a curse. I had to find a focus, and after originally deciding I’d work on developing printed textile designs, this quickly turned into a mixed media collection. I just love experimenting with a wide variety of techniques, and with finally having access to the facilities in Gray’s, after a long (long) time of working from home, I couldn’t not make the most of all the workshops. Combining print, knit, dyes and constructed textiles was where this led.

 

I then looked into fabrics such as vintage lace, tulle and silks which conveyed the ‘well-off’ feminine aesthetic I was initially investigating. I planned to gather these types of second-hand fabrics, to add a sustainable element to my project. I experimented with shapes, fabric manipulation and layering to help translate all of this into my designs, inspiring prints, textures and silhouettes that could be applied to garments to create my womenswear collection.

 

I didn’t want this to be the perfectly curated version for Instagram. In reality life can be much messier and more chaotic than people often like you to think and there is always much more going on behind the front each person portrays themselves through. Therefore, I hoped to combine and contrast this strong but delicate feminine aesthetic adding a slight edge to it in a sensitive way. In a sort of celebration of those strong people out there, showing up, working hard and living their best lives, no matter what else they’ve got going on behind the scenes.

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