Christina’s research topic is concerned with sexual dependency and interdependency between individuals. Many people in big cities like London have the desire to be independent, but at the same time a craving for the intensity that comes from interdependency. The tension this creates seems to be a universal problem. (Nan Goldin)
In order to get visual inspiration she collaborated with Jelly Luise, another CSM student to create a mood film that would support her final collection in terms of colour, shape and structure. Christina provided image-heavy research that was rooted in Nan Goldin’s ‘Ballad of Sexual Dependency’, Schiele drawings and many others. Their common research soon expanded, considering movement and time as well as bodies in relation to each other. They worked with Ryan Jones from London Contemporary Dance School, who acted as the choreographer for this piece, coordinating dancers from Rambert, LCDS and Middlesex University. She designed and made everything for this performance. The final outcome of the video was first shown at the CSM Design Degree Show, alongside her final collection. This underlines the narrative and concept of her collection well, and was also the main inspiration for her knitwear.
Most of the knitwear pieces are fully-fashioned on the Dubied-knitting-machine, one look is designed on the Stoll-machine, and one dress is hand-crochet. For the shapes she was looking at early 1930’s which, she introduced after draping some of her textile samples and finding a connection to this period. Christina was especially inspired by the way that simple square shapes were used to achieve this ‘drapy’ look.
Her knitwear has a refined simplicity to each look. Haufen shows a feminine side, but has a rough touch to it. It is minimal, but on the other hand technically very sophisticated. From the toile to the finished piece she made everything on her own. There is a sense of identity and recognition of my aesthetic in each piece. The wearer of my fabrics should really experience the softness of the fabric, but also recognise the connection to dependency and interdependency by wearing it.
Collaborating with many people made Christina’s project even stronger and inspired her from so many different aspects. For my degree in Textiles she had to create a lot of samples and knit experiments, but my heart was into the fabrication of the actual knitwear, so she pushed herself to create a full collection.
Most of the knitwear pieces are fully-fashioned on the Dubied-knitting-machine, one look is designed on the Stoll-machine, and one dress is hand-crochet. For the shapes she was looking at early 1930’s which, she introduced after draping some of her textile samples and finding a connection to this period. Christina was especially inspired by the way that simple square shapes were used to achieve this ‘drapy’ look.
Christina used very delicate, high quality Italian yarn including viscose, rayon and greta to achieve this light feeling through playing with techniques that create shiny and matt surfaces and sheerness on the 12 gauge machine. She has also experimented with latex to cut into the knitwear, which gave some of her designs a 3D look. This technique is something she wants to push further in her MA collection as, there is a lot more to explore with in order to create new shapes.
Her knitwear has a refined simplicity to each look. Haufen shows a feminine side, but has a rough touch to it. It is minimal, but on the other hand technically very sophisticated. From the toile to the finished piece she made everything on her own. There is a sense of identity and recognition of my aesthetic in each piece. The wearer of my fabrics should really experience the softness of the fabric, but also recognise the connection to dependency and interdependency by wearing it.
