FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Out of the Sea
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
In the original telling of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid”, a child of the sea trades away her three centuries of life and her very tongue for the chance of capturing the heart of a prince she once saved from drowning, and thereby gaining an eternal soul of her own – which a mermaid does not have. When she comes ashore, the silent darling makes herself a favorite in the court of the young man, and she spends her days always at his side, despite the fact that every step causes the pain of unseen knives to run through her new feet, and in the wake of each step is left a bit of her own blood - a reminder of the price she has paid to exist on the surface with him. Yet, in the end, the prince finds his mate in another. On the morning after the prince’s wedding, when the mermaid is fated to die - as she was not able to join herself with her prince - she is given one final chance to escape this demise. She may plunge an enchanted knife in the heart of her beloved, that she might then return to the sea with her kin and kingdom. Of course, she cannot bring herself to end his life, and instead she herself turns to seafoam at morning’s first light.
Outline the construction…
The clear PVC cincher is constructed with individually-painted spiral steel bones. Each seam must be sewn precisely on the first pass through the sewing machine, to avoid "perforating" the plastic and creating a weak point on any single panel. In addition, the tops and bottoms of each stitch are completed by hand, as backstitching runs the same risk of creating excessive perforations in the material. PVC is a challenging yet satisfying material to work with. In this context, it acts as a brilliant way to show off the special coloration of the boning, evoking the relatively gory original telling of "The Little Mermaid".
The draped dress is a relatively simple affair, made with salvaged fabric. The dip-dyed and hand-painted raw red edges of this piece are a nod to the bloody feet inflicted upon the titular character of this 180+ year old fairy tale. As unassuming as this garment is, it faithfully captures some of the windswept, ethereal nature of the story that inspires it.
A final accessory to the ensemble is the shell-encrusted face mask. Made with the same midweight PVC material as the cincher, this face covering is not the sort that we may find ourselves wearing in public. Instead, it is simultaneously transparent and stifling, similar to how the character of our story finds herself hopelessly voiceless in the presence of her hopeful soul mate despite this struggle being invisible to him.
Each element offers a subtle (or overt) nod to the details of the original telling.
Your work is always so whimsical and I am so here for it.
Beautiful!
I’ve been so excited to see these photos since I followed you on Instagram! Absolutely worth the wait!
Love the idea of this corset! And the draping is exquisite♡
A fantastic interpretation, and I adore the red boning!
Love the simple and clean design! The painted bones add perfect detail and I love how you turned the story into a garment.
This is so perfect to the story. It’s so delicate, like the seafoam.
I love your take on the fairytale, the cincher is gorgeous! Well done working with PVC, it can be such a pain in the butt 😆 Beautiful!