This project was created for my advanced printmaking class at Loyola University New Orleans that was forced to go online due to the school closing for coronavirus protection. Not only was I unable to present it for a final critique, but my professor was planning on holding some type of exhibition for students at the end of the semester and over the summer.

Standards Portfolio

I am exploring the pressure that is put on women to cover their bodies for the sake of men. This is why a large portion of the inspiration for the piece comes from Elizabethan era clothing and how women’s bodies continue to be censored. The collar on this dress has layers to show the multitude of layers between viewer’s eyes and the model’s skin. The sleeves go beyond the hands to make the dress even less functional, along with the excess amount of fabric around the core of the dress that makes it quite difficult to walk. Although the fabric in the core of the dress is slightly transparent, there is still a lot of space to show no matter how a woman’s body is covered, it will be judged. Lastly, the color of the dress stays within a light natural color palette to refer to the “purity” and effortlessness of beauty that women feel pressured to maintain.

All of the fabric used has come from my mom’s storage of old fabric. All in all, I used a basic sewing machine, white thread, elastic, leftover fabric, and no measuring. I decided not to use a measuring tape because I wanted this piece of clothing to fit over a multitude of body shapes and sizes to provide inclusivity. 

Modesty Gown

This textile project is meant to explore restrictive beauty standards. This is why I decided to create a “beautiful” straight jacket, which is meant to restrain an individual so they cannot harm themselves or others. In the context of beauty standards, what a straight jacket means is keeping people from choosing how they want to express their own individual beauty because a person not following all culturally acceptable expressions of beauty is seen as harming themselves. This ranges from feeling immense pressure to be a certain weight, have flawless skin, having a specific body type, constantly keeping up with fashion trends, maintaining a perfect social media, and more. The goal of this sculpture is to show that men, women, and gender-nonconforming individuals should feel the freedom to be beautiful in whatever way that means to them.

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Talia Bowles

Standards Portfolio

Modesty Gown

Beautiful Straight Jacket

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