Camden Market

To give you some context, I was in London to see Circa Waves (a previous blog post of mine) and my boyfriend was excited to take me to Camden Market in an effort to kill time before the gig. The amount of times that I've been to London, but I've not been to Camden Lock is quite disappointing.

You could definitely spend hours in there, although we caught the stall owners in their stressy, snappy mode when clearing up at the end of the day. After one particular stall blasting Bruno Mars (and subsequently miming the song in our direction) we got to the last little corner of the markets, a small little thing that just seemed like massive open space with rails of clothes dotted around. We didn't go all the way in, as the stroppy sales assistant scared us off. But what I did manage to grab led me to a whole new subject to talk about.

Eva DiFranco, SS17. Apparently the core of this particular collection is inspired by Lucio Fontana's work.

His work involves creating holes in canvases, which is where Eva found her desire to create new dimensions in her collection. While I feel that some of her images achieve this, many are rather pointless.

It’s extremely lo-fi, which in an age of minimalism meets chaos, can sometimes work. However, I feel that this particular collection isn't given credit by it’s visual narrative, as I do not feel the amount of depth in which I feel I should by how she speaks about her work. I mean, realistically, a frame is used to create the different dimensions of an otherwise 2 dimensional image. But conceptually, I can see the fascination that she wants to create with these images, whilst the collection being a nod to Japanese obi.

“the collection also explores Fontana’s ‘holes’ series through the embroidery technique, which adds texture with its concentric repetition”

I have two particular favourites in which I feel that I can relate to this leaflet I found in Camden markets.

S17DM4 Dress

Imitating a photo frame. A very striking white and red contrast. Insert of arm in red dress suggest seduction and a kinda vulnerability and grossness. White dress figure leaning in frame and pipes creating layers on walls.

And top and pants, S17TW9, S17PM3

Here one subject is being interacted with to create the illusion of different dimensions.The frame, I feel, is now being used for continuity between the images, rather than to actually aid the image. Although it creates a focus on a white on white notion, my favourite part of this image is the pulling of the sleeves - almost creating wings, and maybe rather than a literal dimension, a fantastical dimension?

One more on Eva DiFranco's website caught my eye that wasn't in the leaflet:

I wanted to include this last image as it's quite different to the others in the sense that it doesn't strictly focus on the clothes. Although some might say it's not that innovative or thought provoking, I would say you're wrong. Yes it's basically just one model putting her arm through the frame that another model is holding, but just look at the shape it creates. Her hand is facing down, almost like it's limp, and the sharp corners of the frame so closely contrast with the roundness of their heads while an elbow makes for a softer corner. The shadows created on the creases of the clothing also look to make for another dimension, where the outer prop right through to the fabric create different textures, shape and meaning.