"What is a corset beyond the body, if not an architecture of memory?"
(Maddie Godfrey, 2021)
Frances' 2021 Honours collection, AFTERLIFE, explores the complex relationships we have to clothing in life and death, seeking to develop an identity beyond the body. AFTERLIFE was created with assistance from a scholarship by Liberty Fabrics, using traditional prints and heritage designs to anchor the historical references of the collection, and juxtapose against the contemporary garment silhouettes.
An allegory for these relationships, the collection presents clothing as a facade, focusing on the illusory aspect of our physical existence that is brought out when approached from the perspective of dressing in death. Pieces were developed through an investigation of the conventions of clothing the body in burial traditions and practices. This body of work explores notions of death, materiality, and the performance of dress through upcycling materials, garment preservation and compression, print, and literary text.
As a part of the collection, Frances collaborated with Perth based poet Maddie Godfrey who created a series of poems to go alongside the collection. You can read these poems below.