Melitta Baumeiter

My approach to design simultaneously asks questions and tries to offer answers to them. In a world that tends toward ever-newer technological methods to create three-dimensional objects, imagining alternatives to traditional garment construction becomes more than a simple inquiry into established ideas of clothing.  It opens up new possibilities to think and make fashion. Applying techniques from sculpture, architecture and fine art, the conceptual core of my collection is materiality. I developed a new technique of tailoring in order to translate classic garments into a more contemporary form.  Plaster molds were made of the garments, which were cast them in one continuous layer of silicone. This process questions conventional methods of fabrication.  Shape is no longer determined though the interplay of fabric and pattern, but by the mold into which it is cast.  This mold becomes the blueprint of the form and as such captures the essence of a garment. It portrays the pure idea of clothing. The mold with its capability for endless repetition then becomes a metaphor for the repetitiveness of the fashion industry itself. www.melittabaumeister.com - Photo Credit: © Paul Jung