Poppy Griffiths’ final major project is inspired by feminism and women’s safety in society, a concept that evolved as the investigation into then missing Sarah Everard was starting to unfold. Poppy became very emotionally effected by what happened and the statistics that 97% of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment, turning her project into a form of therapy to work through her emotions and past experiences. She is using her collection ‘Men Don’t Protect Us Anymore’ as a platform to bring awareness, to continue the conversation and promote positive change to women’s safety.

Combining this very personal and deep narrative with a passion for historical military garments, Poppy visited the Eden Camp Military Museum in Yorkshire to begin her research into archive clothing and the role of women in war. “1940’s British society deemed men as strong, powerful protectors and the garments I was studying represented this stereotype.” – Poppy said. She was inspired by an anti-blackout suit worn by pilots to protect them from the effects of G-force, which includes a built-in boot – “This is where the influence for the stiletto comes from and what led me to designing a full footwear range for this collection, alongside the compression suit and compression trousers with shoes built in”. Poppy takes ideas to the extreme limits of their possibilities, eliminating ‘what ifs’ and fully exploring all options.

When sourcing fabrics for this collection Poppy wanted to represent the light and airy nature of a parachute in descent and the emotional heaviness of the national statistic of sexual harassment against women. The juxtaposition of compression and volume in garments pushed her to use contrasting fabrics to play up the narrative behind this collection.