Our studio is a workshop in which we construct wearables for dancers in the exhibit, On Display. On Display is trying to change people's ideas of beauty, by using dancers with disabilities. It gives the audience a chance to disregard society's obsession with body image. My group is creating a wearable for Heidi Latsky, the head of On Display. Heidi does not have disability, however she feels very vulnerable about her image, and age. We decided that this feeling of vulnerability is something we could represent in a wearable very well.

Our project is a necklace, with many detachable pieces of armor connected to it. Throughout the show, Heidi will slowly take off the pieces of armor until only the necklace is left. This is meant to represent her getting over her vulnerability. Heidi performs a very serious and physical dance nearing the end of the show, and doing it with the armor attached would be very restrictive. This is another reason for why we decided it would be important for her armor to be stripped fully off at some point. Heidi wants everything to be white during her shows. This became an obstacle we had to overcome because it limited us to a very minimal amount of materials, however we were very lucky because Acrylic, the material we knew we wanted to use, came in white. Most of our project is created out of this white acrylic. The triangle pieces that the necklace is primarily made out of is white acrylic, as well as the plates of armor. Our wearable is a very meaningful piece of art. We hope this project can encourage people watching to let themselves show their true form, and not let themselves feel self conscious about who they are.

Lucy Gunther

Stained Glass Shards is a wearable that represents the way that glass shatters and rejoins. It is inspired by the Fragments from Reims Cathedral that is exhibited at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The Fragments from Reims Cathedral is a stained glass window that was shattered by German bombs in World War I and after the war the fragments were collected and set back together in a new abstract way. The shattered glass wearable helps people to realize that beauty can be made out of something that is broken. It brings art out of a museum and lets people experience it in a new and interesting way. This wearable was for a Boston Latin School Step Dancer, who modeled the wearable in a performance on February 19th at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The wearable uses colored acrylic triangles and elastic string so that as the model walks the pieces spread apart and join back together. 

Izzy Ramras: 

Guiding Shield is a wearable art piece inspired by the Medusa mosaics in the garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.  Guiding Shield has been adapted from a previous project, Focal Point, which used similar shapes and concepts; however, Guiding Shield incorporates only the best parts of Focal Point in addition to many new elements. Guiding Shield includes four arm bands and two shoulder bands that incorporate mirrored mosaic tiles embedded into each frame. Additionally, the frames are all angular shield-like shapes. These design components parallel numerous aspects of both the original artwork itself as well as the story of Medusa and Perseus. For example, the original art is made of mosaics and the mirrored shield plays an important role in the Greek myth. Finally, no one can actually go into or touch the garden at the museum, so the arm bands are suspended away from the body so it's not touched by the model's arm. Guiding Shield has been featured on two different occasions: the first at a fashion show at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum alongside other art-inspired wearables, and the other at a book signing with the founder of Boston Fashion Week. The goal of Guiding Shield is for the viewers to enjoy its aesthetic as well as learn about where it came from and the story behind it. 

Izzy LaCava:

Guiding Shield is a wearable that allows people to question fashion norms and the boundary between clothing and art. The wearable was chosen to be worn in two fashion shows, one at the Isabella Stewart Garden Museum and another at the book launch for a book by the creator of Boston Fashions Weeks. The wearable is meant to evoke the myth of Perseus and Medusa, the sight of whose head of snakes turns all viewers to stone. Perseus was able to defeat Medusa using a mirrored shield to prevent looking directly at Medusa. Guiding Sheild is a later iteration of a previous project called Focal Point. Guiding Sheild includes similar concepts but extends them to connect the wearable to the inner garden in the museum, which is decorated with Medusa mosaics. For example, similar to  Focal Point, Guiding Sheild consists of assembled pentagons with mirror surfaces that increase in size to represent Perseus's growing shield, but Guiding Sheilds mirrors are mosaic to represent the mosaic pieces that create Medusa at the museum. Guiding Sheild is created out of acrylic rather than wood to give the project a more finished look. The wearable incorporates an element of obliqueness, in that the acrylic attaches to an elastic armband with strings so that the mosaic mirrors hover above the wearer, much as Perseus does not actually look at Medusa.

Live Glass interprets the colorful shadows produced by stained glass found in the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and transforms them into a wearable piece that can be experienced by both the model and the audience. This wearable looks at color and light and the relationship between the two when water is added. The piece is made up of three parts: a central frame that holds the “stained glass” pieces, the “stained glass” made from heat-sealed vinyl pouches that hold dyed water inside, and a lighting system to cast shadows. Live Glass, inspired by the stain glass piece on display in the museum, is meant to challenge the way that art is typically viewed. In order to make the artwork feel more alive, the piece will be worn and shown off, casting ever-changing shadows. The user wears the piece around their waist and uses the attached lighting system to cast shadows onto themselves and the floor. The shadows produced by the piece are variegated which adds a new level of complexity and attraction to the piece. The variegated shadows are produced by shinning an led light through the pouches of dyed water. The effect that is created is similar to when sunlight reflects on a pool. Live Glass is to be worn in multiple fashion shows, including one at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and two for Boston fashion week.

Lucy:

Soft Power is a shirt designed for the dancer Hortense to wear in ON DISPLAY, a dance performance in which able-bodied dancers and dancers with disabilities take statue-like poses that show off their wearable artwork. The goal for the "soft" triangles is to convey that though Hortense’s background in Taekwondo can be intimidating, she is still very gentle and sweet. The triangles are made out of felt and are sewn into 3D shapes to visually represent her opposing sides of her personality. The angular  the triangles go in a fluid zigzag direction so it cover more of her body. Adjustable straps where also added to let other dancers wear the wearable.