Reaching New Heights

Brenna Curley

Reaching New Heights is an anti-monument proving that fashion can be gender neutral and still serving a similar purpose to gendered clothing. This installation recreates the height high heels give you, as well as the way they affect your posture by using mirrors reflecting off each other.

This anti-monument creates an alternative to high heels and heavily gendered clothing. Reaching New Heights aims to challenge societal gender norms. It allows the user to see from a higher perspective, feel taller, and focus on their posture as if they were wearing high heels but without the gender norms. This is targeted towards anyone who strays away from gendered clothing because it triggers dysphoria or makes them uncomfortable. It's a reminder that they can still wear gender neutral clothes with similar functions as gendered clothing while remaining comfortable. "Reaching New Heights" is a wooden collar with mirrors attached to the front and back, allowing the user to see from a new perspective. When the user looks down into the front mirror, it will reflect back whatever the back mirror is turned towards, giving the user a higher sense of vision. This garment uses the height of the back mirror along with a different visionary perspective to replicate the feeling of tallness that wearing high heels grants the wearer. Additionally, there are weighted shoulder pads to fix the users posture, much like how high heels force the user to be careful and pay more attention to how they're standing. This anti-monument is meant for the general public to try on and showcase the gender neutrality of the garment.