Dezeen Magazine

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

Fiona O'Neill hand-paints dresses for Central Saint Martins fashion show

Black outlines framed the distorted silhouettes of painted dresses in Central Saint Martins fashion graduate Fiona O'Neill's collection, presented at the institution's catwalk show earlier this week.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

Fiona O'Neill hand-painted the garments in her BA Fashion collection with blended pastel colours, influenced by art depicting Japanese women in traditional dress.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

"My inspiration for this collection was women painting women, mainly derived from the artist Kate Blacker and her geisha series of painted women," O'Neill told Dezeen.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

"A lot of the patterns for this collection are large free-hand drawings that I materialised and manipulated," she added.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

The silhouettes were warped to distort the body shape at the shoulders and hips, further emphasised by the black lines that edged the garments when seen from the front.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

Asymmetric sleeves, sometimes integrated into the torso to restrict arm movement, also contributed to the altered proportions.

One and two-piece outfits reached up to the chin or sat below the shoulders, with all but one dress extending down to the ankles.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

O'Neill teamed technical and elasticated fabrics with canvas-like materials that absorbed the paint but still allowed for movement.

"I wanted to create the idea of a stiff cut out but obviously the girls needed to be able to walk comfortably," said O'Neill.

Fiona O'Neill graduate fashion collection

Also at Wednesday's Central Saint Martins show, Sang Yoon presented garments with chunky sleeves made from injection-moulded plastic cylinders.

Photographs are courtesy of Catwalking.com.