Meet GFF Talent, Elena Massari, a fashion graduate from Heriot-Watt University. Her final collection is an exploration of the connection between clothing and emotion, borne from feeling isolated and homesick during last year’s lockdown. “This collection is born by acknowledging the current mental health emergency, hoping to provide a new solution by finding comfort in garments where we cannot turn to other people,” she says. Read more below!
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
I think one of the most valuable things I have learned in uni is method, as in channelling my creativity properly so that my ideas can translate well into understandable concepts and garments.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
The starting point for my final project was the extremely challenging lockdown experience I went through, mostly from an emotional point of view. I spent the first lockdown alone in Scotland, far away from family and shut in my flat. Feelings of fear, anxiety, loneliness and boredom all crowded my head and I felt the need to channel the bad experience into something positive, as well as practical, to process it properly. I also thought that seeing my work could have helped others feeling understood, since we all went through the same traumatic experience, also knowing that sometimes emotions like these are hard to put into words. Researching and visualising my own emotions while also analysing what specific garments help me when I feel down has been a great way to process the experience and to learn from it.
It was also extremely interesting to research the connection between garments and human emotions, how the first affect the latter, and to also analyse how other people besides me have lived this challenging time and how their relationship with clothes has shifted. I started off visualising my own feelings through digital collages to then be able to extrapolate details or silhouettes to transform into pattern, prints, fabrics or design details. I then merged the outcome of this creative process with trends and further academic research revolving around the shift in clothing habits put in motion by the pandemic to give life to a collection that was actually viable and useful, wearable in real-life situations such as lockdowns and working from home. emoSPHERE is born like this, exploring my own emotions and the relationship between me and my comfort garments to then incorporate how the rest of the world has lived through this time. This collection is born by acknowledging the current mental health emergency, hoping to provide a new solution by finding comfort in garments where we cannot turn to other people.
What form will your final project take?
emoSPHERE will mainly take the form of garments. Being able to translate ideas from 2D sketches or illustrations into 3D garments is at the basis of my field and something that also holds value to myself. I value wearability and have always strived to make clothes that can enrich people’s life and I think that the manufacturing process with all its implications plays an important part in achieving that. Virtually, any garment sketch or illustration can look good on paper but it’s when things are made and worn that their viability is proved. The collection will be composed of six outfits of which I will manufacture 2. Each outfit will aim at providing emotional and physical comfort to its wearer in a lockdown/remote working context but I feel that such a collection, or anyway the thinking behind it, could be proved to be useful even post-pandemic, in our modern context that was already threatened by a surge in mental health issue even before Covid hit. Every garment is a mix of Covid-related trends, data acquired through questionnaires about what garments people like to wear when feeling emotionally distressed and their reasons for it, and features that I myself have found emotionally comforting throughout my lockdown experience. A lookbook will also be produced.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
The materials I have used are also the outcome of the mix of my own garment analysis, academic research into how human emotions is connected and affected by garments and textiles and data acquired from questionnaires. Since emotional comfort and physical comfort are strictly tied to each other, I choose a mix of stretch fabrics with a smooth and soft feel, velvets and felts to provide pleasurable tactile sensations and organza, mainly used in sleeves to provide the collection with a touch of femininity, which emerged from my research helps to boost the confidence of the wearer. I also used quilted material, that I quilted myself with a pattern inspired by my emotional research. Quilted material is soft, warm and comfortable against the skin. It can also create bulk, making it the perfect material for hugging, cuddling and embracing garment to keep the wearer safe. The idea behind it was to make a fashionable version of a duvet for those days in which it’s hard to even get out of bed. Why leave the comfort zone when you can wear it?
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
Initially, I was mainly focused on looking inside myself and transferring what I had inside-outside, making it visually understandable not only for external viewers but also, and mainly, to myself. It has been a hard and personal process that also made me feel quite vulnerable since I was literally sharing the shades of my sadness with my lecturer. From this process alone I learned a lot about myself, how I think, how I process information and events. I then started to analyse my feelings from a design point of view, extrapolating elements and transforming them into design features, patterns or graphics, which has been a great exercise both visually and in terms of the design process. I then merged the analysis of my own relationship with my comfort garments, Covid-19 trends, the shift of clothing habits and the analysis of how other people relate to their own garments in this challenging time.
I have learned a lot from this process, but mainly I made stronger a belief I already had: garments are not just lifeless objects we put on and off, they are instead very powerful artefacts that get us through our life. They are our tools of choice in terms of emotional and self-expression, whether we think of them as such consciously or unconsciously. They touch our skin constantly, embrace our bodies and, at times, shape our bodies, so there is no way that something we are this close to does not have an impact on our emotional sphere. I believe garments are one of the lenses we see ourselves through and also one of the multiple ways we have to approach life.
What are the messages and themes behind your project that you want people to take away? Do explore any topics like diversity, sustainability or politics in your work?
The message I would like people to take away, especially in this unprecedented moment, is to be honest with themselves and acknowledge their feelings, whatever these might be. I think the first step for mental and emotional wellbeing is knowing what we feel inside and allow ourselves to feel what we feel in order to then be able to decide what is the next step to take or to be able to decide what is good or bad for us. I would like for people to feel brave and empowered enough to speak up about their emotions. From a strictly fashion-related point of view instead, I want people to change the perception they have of garments. Clothes are alive and they take us through life, if we started giving them the value they deserve, I think that the whole process from design, to manufacture, to the customer would immensely improve also helping to tackle issues of ethical and sustainable nature.
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
There are a few issues within the fashion industry that I have at heart, but I have to say that the one that is bothering me the most lately is mental health within the industry. Fashion is an extremely competitive and fast-paced world, and whoever has gone even just through a fashion-based degree will have had a taste of that. I feel that the dynamically of the field is good in itself but that, over the years, it has transformed into something extremely unsustainable, not only from a production and environmental point of view, but also from a personal and emotional one, taking a huge toll on fashion workers at any stage of the chain. Starting to acknowledge the issue is a starting point, get the conversation started to hopefully find solutions for a healthier industry. Maybe being healthier from within will help the industry being healthier in its products too.
What is your plan once you finish your BA?
The plan once I finish my degree is to work for someone else and build up on experience. I want to see how things actually work in the industry and grow and learn from those who are more experienced than me. I always had, in the back of my mind, the desire of starting my own brand, but I would like to have a few years (or more) of experience under my belt before venturing into such a big commitment. On the other hand, the pandemic changed the shape of our world and made finding work in the industry even harder than before so, if needed, I’ll rather start my own brand than stand still hoping to land an opportunity somewhere else.