'Imago'
Thinking of metamorphosis as the process of self reinvention and transformation, Imago was borne from exploration of the boundary between protective support and restriction. The need to expand past the limits placed on women’s daily lives, notionally for their own protection, much as in nature the butterfly must eclose from the safety of its cocoon to thrive, drew me towards the aviatrixes. The first female pilots, and specifically my muse for this project Harriet Quimby, achieved flight by defying social norms, and designing their own flight suits celebrating their femininity rather than fitting in order to do it. Through the lense of 18th century corsetry, which in itself embodies the struggle between support and restriction, Imago looks at how something impeding can be deconstructed and reborn into something facilitating the empowerment of the wearer; a metamorphosis of self if you will from rigid restriction to comfortable luxury.
