What She Didn't Feel

I’m Kayleigh Michelle Overton, a graduating Fashion Design major from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). I’m passionate about creating wearable works of art for an inclusive size range. My goal is for women in underrepresented communities to see themselves as worthy works of art so that they may find confidence in their appearance. While I specialize in eveningwear, I also work in conceptual fashion. I enjoy approaching design and silhouette from a non-traditional angle, as well as making use of unconventional materials thanks to my experience in costume-making. After my International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Exhibition, Stripping Premeditated Notions, in the spring of 2020, I wanted to continue to explore feminist themes and statement art through the medium of fashion, as well as continue to develop my fashion illustration skills. 

For the past year, I’ve been developing my Senior Collection, What She Didn’t Feel, and was honored to work with Style Lab Mentor Fred Tremblay throughout the process. One look from this collection was featured in SCAD’s fashion film Déjà Rêvé, while three looks of the capsule collection were selected by a jury of industry professionals to be exhibited in the 2024 SCAD Fashion Show alongside several of my fellow graduates.

Inspired by my experience as someone who identifies as asexual, What She Didn’t Feel is a conceptual dissection of the female body that calls into question the established beauty standards of our society by presenting the naked form, not as a sexual object, but as a collective of skin and fat. Focusing on adding bulk to the form where it is least welcome and subverting “sexy” silhouettes, I bring my audience on a journey of body neutrality to reexamine their perception of physical attraction. Included on this journey are the plus-size bodies often disregarded in conversations about beauty and targeted as offenders to the term “flattering.”

Asexuality, defined as experiencing a lack of sexual attraction, is an underrepresented identity within both larger society and in the LGBTQIA+ community. As an asexual person, I understand sexual attraction to denote feeling attracted to someone through the potential for sexual relations, often based on physicality. While others like myself in the community experience aesthetic attraction (perceiving other humans as aesthetically pleasing), I have never understood why some lumps of adipose tissue on the form are labeled “sexy” while others are frowned upon by the larger society. 

A repeating motif throughout the collection, purple accents represent the asexual community (as established on the asexual pride flag), while the rest of the color palette consists of saturated skin tones.

My process began with studying the body in order to best abstract it. This included several interviews with women about their viewpoints of the human body and their relationship with their own bodies. Combined with magazine research into the regions of physical appearance beauty product advertisements target (as well as the common insecurities spawning from this form of media), I extracted “problem areas” (like hip dips, wrinkles, and stomach fat) that remained my central focus throughout draping and sketching.

Another point of inspiration was drawn from fashion history, specifically that which was used to alter the female form, like corsetry and cage crinolines. Instead of forcing the body into a slimmer shape, I expanded the stuffed sections outward. I produced several samples with this concept, then after draping them around the form to continue referencing the human body, I used digital editing to collage the drapes together.

Contrasting stuffed shapes with skin-tight mesh (along with unusual cut-outs), I warp the human form, making the wearer part of the garment and, therefore, a walking sculpture. 

Throughout my design process, I relied on digital drawing software like Autodesk Sketchbook to collage images of my physical drapes, test colors/textures, and illustrate my final line-up. 

For garments that would require less stuffing, I used CLO 3D software to draft the pattern, using the 3D Avatar Pen to continue reference and building off of the body. My goal throughout was to render the human form an abstract sculpture that forces the viewer to see the body from another perspective.

Prior to my senior collection, I experimented with CLO and implemented the program into several of my projects.

The White Shirt Project involved reimagining a basic white button blouse without losing any of its characteristics (collar, button placket, etc.). With CLO, I was able to slash and spread a traditional blouse pattern to create a loose ripple effect along the garment once buttoned, meaning the silhouette of the garment changes depending on how it is worn. Furthermore, the sleeve is removable with only a button on the shoulder connecting it to the main shirt.

This final assignment was for my CLO 3D Patternmaking course in which we were tasked with creating a full outfit without traditional style lines or seams (no side seams, no front fly, etc.). I experimented for some time with making wrapped or crossing segments on my garment, meaning CLO was integral for both the pattern-making process and the design phase. I eventually decided on the swirling pants and wrap top, the former causing some trouble with simulating a casing for boning that follows the swirling lines of the pants to provide structure (the plan I had in mind for the real-life garment). Eventually, I simulated a sturdier material, allowing the pants to take shape and the crossing motif to show through.