Destiny Lowe

“I open my eyes to escape from my closed-eye reality.” My capstone collection explores the unset definition of reality. Through the stages of an acid trip gone wrong, these looks take the viewer through a twisted path on a quest to find ego death. When presented with the fastest way to enlightenment, many expect a difficult yet direct path. However, in the pursuit of answers, one is always left with more questions. Lost innocence, sublimity, curiosity, perception, and existentialism are interwoven concepts. I aim to have my designs question reality and promote curiosity expressed materially in a five-look collection of womenswear/gender-fluid garments that transgress the traditional rules and regulations of fashion’s notion of men’s or womenswear. This collection uses traditional and novel methods of sewing, embroidery, draping, and tailoring, combining handcraft and technology with an experimental methodology. Through design and construction, this project will investigate the intersection where high fashion meets technology, highlighting natural formations and sacred geometry found throughout our world. My thesis surrounds research into the capabilities of one’s mind and individual perception. What scares people? The lack of reality. What happens when that reality is taken away from them… did it ever really exist in the first place? Asking the questions, “If I only know the perception my brain has defined, how do I know what is normal or true?” “Is the visual information that I see the same as what others see?” “Is my reality another’s nightmare (and vice versa)?”. My research is founded on concepts and theories regarding hallucinogens, abjection and synesthesia. My aesthetic viewpoint wishes to creatively reflect on how one’s world can go from comfortable to grotesque and uncanny in the most unexpected ways.