Omosefe’s first HUMANWEAR collection is inspired by the drive to materialize the ephemeral connection between the air that passes through the fabric and the act of that fabric moving in response. With the addition of a historical context, a time period, a feeling- sadness, happiness, she asks, how does fabric move then? This comes as a response to her aim to understand the intrinsic nature of human emotion in relation to human action. What makes us move in the world the way we do. How do we make our movements visible, seen, the way that they are? An analytical thought process extrapolates the theme of said movement, the emotion, the place, the time, the wearer- the life of the wearer’s past, all to design and reveals the act itself.
Her BA collection then begins to research the historical context of dressing like layers. With each layer, the original thought, the original look and movement of the relationship between the fabric and the wearer changes. She looks at not only what is worn, but the way it is worn, and the reason it is worn. What was worn before, what changed, what does this particular in-between space between past and present look like and how does this itself move on the body? Her first method of visually interpreting the answer to these questions is exploring the way fabric drapes on its body, whether that’s the human body or the space it encompasses. It then becomes twisted with the emotion of the invisible space, from the perspective of its history, it’s present and Omosefe’s personal anecdotes. The unique results of fabric obeying and defying gravity like this become the base of her design development.
Through detailing and refinement of the feeling of the garment for the wearer as an observer, of the garment itself, and as being observed, development comes the addition of these layers from the perspective of its meta-purpose. Is it meant to be seen, is it meant to be felt, heard, worn, worn by the many, worn by the one, once, twice, all the time, never. From this, a consciousness of creation arises whilst limiting the destructive element from fabric production, garment production. The realities of the current world affairs, political, environmental and societal join the dance, elevating designs into a contemporary snapshot. An image of our self-reflection wrapped and twisted in its own gravity.
