Photography by Zoe Bridgman
Lace work is elegant complexity. A traditional that has yielded both a long-standing and rich cultural history dating back to the early 15th century. It opened and gave artisans the opportunity to work with their needle and thread which was more versatile and open to different decorative arrangements than just embroidery which could not be undone. The semantics of as a symbol and stats of Lace reflects the incredible vision held by meticulous and time-consuming open-patched work and it has to this day dramatically added great dimension to the silhouette of a dress. Thought the function and purpose of this feminine garment has not changed much, its textuality certainly has. ‘Interlacing Opposing Thoughts’ is a capsule series produced by Canadian designer Heather Martin. Her groundwork for this piecing collection is indeed to break the categorical foundations of fashion. But her work is cross-disciplinary, the spatial revolutions that disperse between art, craft and contemporary design challenges what she has developed with extremely delicate needlework. The lace collar silk tee or the hung knotted necklace tee but particularly the lace slant jacket adds intricate surface texture, decorating a duality which renders itself being both voluminous and interconnected. Much of her work has been purposefully presented as installations which shows further her on-going process – sculpturing on a mannequin is much like architects or old artisans or even contemporaries such as Alber Elbaz is the imperfections of craftsmanship. Heather Martin’s collection is a discovery and openess of how our perspectives can change within fashion.
