Love Eleanor

This fall/winter collection titled “Dear Joseph Mackenzie” is the first installment of a larger collection comprised of five looks that combine aspects of traditional men’s daywear into modernized womenswear that maintains a retro essence heavily inspired by the 1980s. It is meant to provoke feelings of nostalgia and a desire to connect that feeling of longing to your present story. These five looks are a search for the balance between opposing feelings of love and loss, joy, and despair during pivotal points in a person’s life. Such contrasting oppositions are showcased through design elements and techniques. Traditional menswear tailoring techniques are utilized to create the perfect boxy women’s outerwear fit as if you are wearing your grandfather’s coat in the best way possible, along with hand and machine knitting techniques that indicate craft, impurities, and the warmth of a gifted jumper from your grandmother. As a designer, it was my goal to design what I knew and create something much bigger than myself from my personal experiences. Designing this collection allowed me to create space for reflection and the creation of new memories/personal attachments to inanimate objects for future nostalgia that I hope will inspire others to do the same. Ultimately this is the story of how a granddaughter chooses to honour her grandparents.