c o n t e x t At the core of this project is the concern for care. Mental and physical wellbeing are interconnected and co-dependent as “certain social, environmental and lifestyle factors can promote systemic chronic inflammation” (Furman, D., et al. 2019). How we manage our stress correlates to our overall health. Therefore, tackling stress is a crucial starting point. This project demonstrates how this can be achieved through clothes. From a designer’s perspective it is highly desirable to shift the negative connotations of the clothing industry into a positive domain. Fashion is linked with detrimental impacts on a mass scale affecting the environment, manufacturers and the consumer. This project seeks a new paradigm where the role of the garments is a new tool, encasing a new concept and reshaping what clothes mean and can do. Mental wellbeing has long been an aloof subject – stigmas and label attachments have created an otherness that can be difficult to recognise as well as share. According to The Guardian, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19: “an estimated five in every 100 people in England were experiencing regular or uncontrollable worries about multiple things in their lives – a condition known as generalised anxiety disorder” These figures increased by 31% percent in March 2020 as a consequence of social isolation and uncertainty about the future. According to a recent study lead by Dr Gemma Taylor these challenges “cannot be undone overnight”. Therefore, there is space to explore methods of therapy that will influence these challenges.
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