Ragna Sigríður Bjarnadóttir: 80 Days to Graduation 2017

”I am inspired by UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 about ‘Gender Equality’. I have always been interested in femininity and how women are portrayed through fashion today and in the past. I have studied aspects of conforming the female body to certain beauty standards that change over time and the differences between female and male dress practices.

I recently came across the condition of hysteria when reading a book about fashion and psychoanalysis. Hysteria, from the Greek word for womb – hystera – is a now outdated medical diagnosis for women suffering from a number of possible symptoms such as insomnia, nervousness, irritability and too much – or too little – sexual desire.

In my graduate project, I use this historical condition to explore modern femininity. In my research on female stereotypes, I found the creative tools for treating issues of gender equality and body politics. My most apparent vehicle in this endeavor is the color pink and I also incorporate what has traditionally been considered female crafts such as embroidery and knit, but in my own intuitive renditions as a way of making the techniques my own.

The color scheme and techniques are part of my overall re-claiming of femininity in an effort to show how ridiculous the notion of gendered colors is with pink as the prime example. I turn up the volume on these clichés to create a deliberate effect of visible discomfort. The patterns for the outfits are intentionally scaled up so they are too big. This is a way of displaying the emotional tension inherent in hysteria as a concept and also hinting towards that moment when a little girl tries on her mother’s clothes and thus takes on the role of being feminine.

But it’s too much for her. The sleeves might be too long to allow the hands to function and the dress too long to walk in without holding it up. I want it to look like the wearer is drowning in the clothes and in a sense also drowning in femininity. It’s too much. It’s suffocating her. 

Even though I am trying to break the feminine mold of being quiet, being polite, being girly, I want to make this collection subversive but also beautiful.

Right now, I am in the middle of sketching up my final line-up reducing it from 10 outfits to seven or eight. I am thinking about where to place the fabrics and beginning to pattern cut those styles, that I feel sure about. I have all these styles, materials and techniques that I need to figure out how should fit together to make a complete collection. For me, it is like putting the puzzle pieces together.”