My name is Amy Frankie Moroney and I’m a multi-disciplinary fashion designer, and recent graduate of Fashion Design at the National College of Art and Design Dublin (NCAD). My graduate collection titled ‘Sunken Remnants’ (“Iarsmaí Báite” as Gaeilge), is a cross-disciplinary, conceptual womenswear collection that is exhibitionist in nature. Referencing the past as a starting point, “Sunken Remnants” is rooted in Irish history. The work draws on the plight of Ireland during the recognised genocide of the Great Famine, to highlight current issues. The national cost of living crisis, rising levels of emigration, and the international use of hunger as a weapon in countries such as Sudan, Yemen, and now Palestine. The intent of this surrealist design approach is to create discomfort and provoke dialogue surrounding these issues. I depict this concept through a multi-disciplinary lens, merging artefact and sculpture, to fashion. Using sculptural silhouettes, innovative fabrications, that project a ghostly haunted aesthetic. Unconventional accessories in wood, rope and latex act as exaggerated extensions of the natural form. In a consuming manner these pieces tie to the body like artefacts stuck in time, challenging the perceptions of what fashioning the body can be. ‘Sunken Remnants’ distorts and reimagines the use of fashion as a vessel toward highlighting political and social matters. The process of my practice is designed to provoke emotional disruption and invite engagement to each piece. Hence the whole collection challenges the perceptions of what fashioning the Body Politic can be.
