Ruth Kent’s collection “Fun at the Football” grew from a collection of her dad’s old Irish football memorabilia and photographs that she found in her attic. His celebratory photographs were expressive and fun and the football magazines that she sourced from the late 80s and 90s were bursting with bright vibrant colours that inspired her colour usage across her collection.

Using a combination of tape colours, Ruth began to experiment with checks and stripes which she had found in the jerseys of the Irish supporters. These block and stripy compositions became a recurrent feature throughout the “Fun at the Football” collection.

From continuous research and experimentation, Ruth produced two separate collections, one which focused on woven textiles and another on printed textiles. In her print samples, Ruth used many different techniques including but not limited to sublimation printing, screen-print and digital print. She used bold colour combinations to emphasise a collection that was fun, expressive and celebratory. Her woven collection was made using two warps - one with a 5 colour stripe and another warp with even black and white stripes. The use of the two warps enabled her to create double cloth samples which varied greatly in both colour and composition on the front and back.

The “Fun at the Football” lineup is made of Ruth’s woven fabrics and prints visualised in a playful manner. From her extensive secondary research, she became all too aware of the toxic nature of football culture and how that influences the overall behaviour of people involved. Ruth explored this toxic masculinity and tried to turn it on its head by dressing footballers, coaches and fans in vibrant samples that are genderless and playful. “Fun at the Football” is Ruth’s speculative vision of contemporary football culture.