FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
An Umbrella In The Rain
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Other Credits
Model: Moire Día
Outline the story …
I loved the idea of an umbrella as a costume – taking something mundane, even associated with dreariness, and transforming it into something whimsical and joyful – and I wanted to bring an umbrella costume to life. The shape of an open umbrella echoes the popular skirt silhouettes of 1850s and 1860s Western Europe, and yet the structure that holds it open is so different. While skirt supports commonly used horizontal hoops held in place by vertical tapes attached to a waistband, umbrellas are held open exclusively by vertical supports (ribs and stretchers) emanating from the central shaft.
My umbrella skirt design was particularly inspired by various umbrella garments by Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada. The umbrella-themed fashion I came across in my research has incorporated horizontal hoops to support the shape, and all of these have been opaque garments where the inner structure is hidden from view. I wanted to challenge myself to develop a wearable structure, not just an immobile art piece, that uses only vertical supports as in a real umbrella, and clear PVC which does not allow for any hidden structure – everything is on display.. To push the concept further, I also created a thundercloud hat with programmable lights and speakers that mimic a thunderstorm. The hat design draws inspiration mainly from Alexandra Koukinova’s Rain 4 (The Goddess of Depression).
Outline the construction…
Skirt and belt: The belt is a hefty leather, laced at the back like a corset to provide maximum tension against the body to keep the carbon fiber rods from drooping. Brass hose connectors are attached to the belt via Worbla rigs I developed that sit behind the belt, to keep the connectors parallel to the floor. The skirt panels are attached to each other with flat-fell seams, and the rods slide through these channels to rest in the connectors and support the skirt. At the end of each rod is a ferrule attached with elastic thread, so they can be removed easily if a rod breaks. The bottom edge is trimmed with black cotton sateen.
Corset: clear PVC, flat steel bones, cotton sateen, zipper
Hat: Felt skull cap base, with an interlocking sprung steel wire frame and horsehair cloth to support the large shape. I arranged and soldered the Neopixels, microcontroller, speakers, and all other electronics to this base. The central hub of electronics sits under the Leno cloth cage, which is removable in case anything needs to be accessed. Everything is covered with a layer of quilt batting, silk dupioni, and 10 yards of custom dyed silk organza that I carefully furrowed and stitched down. The upper layer "cover" is attached with magnet tape all around the perimeter so the electronics can be accessed. The hat has an on/off switch, a knob to turn the volume up and down, and a charging port for the batteries.
So creative! I really, really like how you have the “spokes” of the skirt coming out from the waist, and appreciate how complex that was to make work well! And of course, the hat! love it!
That hat is fantastic! This piece is so creative I love how your used the umbrella and made it sit through the garments, that must have been quite a challenge.