"Unmasked” investigates Jack the Ripper and The Whitechapel Murders of 1888 in the East End of London. Between August 31st and November 9th, there were a series of five murders that took place within a one-mile radius. All the victims were prostitutes working in the East end of London. The collection begins with pieces that have elements of bras and corsetry which put an emphasis on the waist and reinforce this world of femininity in which the women of London were trapped in. These are directly juxtaposed with elements of men’s suiting to embody the power struggle within gender roles. The layering of garments and material are used to further push this idea.
To reflect the method of killing, I studied the autopsy reports of each victim. The cause of death was strangulation followed by post-mortem body mutilation. The women were brutally attacked and left exposed. The killer hacked away at their faces, ripped open their abdomens, pulled out their or- gans, repositioned body parts and cut off the breasts of his last victim. Concluding the report none of the victims showed evidence of rape. To parallel this, parts of the garment are repositioned. Sleeves are upside down and placed on the lower half of the body. You find shoulder pads and sleeve headers on a men’s button down. Seams and pad stitching are left raw and exposed. Linings and boning are turned inside out and put on display to reveal the inside structures. Fabrics in my collection such as linen, muslin, wool, and velvet directly correlate to the fabrics found on the victims at the time of the murder. To evoke the violence and brutality, hand painted prints are heat pressed onto satin. Illustrated collection leaves the croquis face/hairless to speak to the anonymity of the killer.
Deconstruction is used in the collection to speak to the physical and mental disintegration of the East End. Linen, muslin and wool are treated with hand dyed techniques and then distressed beyond recognition to embody the hardship and poverty. To contrast this, meticulous tailoring techniques are used to represent the elite society of the West End. Pad stitching, handmade shoulder pads, and sleeve headers are utilized to give the garments the structure, comfort