DESIGNER / LAG
designer:
Lychandra Anastasia Gieseman
location:
nipaluna. Hobart, TAS
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attributes:
Ambiguous, Ungendered, Unruly
My name is Lychandra Anastasia Gieseman, I am a queer, non-binary/mostly femme, chubby, silly, first-gen finn living on Muwinina country making art & designing clothes. I like romance, making music, playing the Sims, snorkeling, forgetting I’m human. My fashion dream is to look like shit 24/7 & answer to no one.
q & a
background / edu
I studied fashion at Tafe after dropping out of art school with no intention of starting a label and very naïve to the ugliness of fashion. Once I finished up with studying I worked on making my own clothes and designs while dedicating myself to becoming more aware of the industries social and environmental impacts. Over the last 10 years or so I've gained more practical experience working in repairs, tailoring and formalwear which has led me to have disdain for perfect techniques, the idea of something needing to be “flattering”” and neat sewing
manufacturing & production methods
All pieces are designed & made by me! Fabric sourcing is a combination of new & upcycled fabrics particularly t-shirts which I source through my community - sometimes in the context of exploring alternative economies. Such as hosting events with entry by donation of old t-shirts which are too broken for op-shops and repurposing them so they don’t end up as landfill. When sourcing fabrics for my work I look for fair-trade organic plant based fibres and am very picky.
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A big part of producing my collections of clothing has been presenting them in fashion shows-cum-performance art in which I can correspond to the themes of the work. In producing shows I often collaborate with friends who are musicians, performers, makers and artists in their own rites
inspiration
I am not entirely sure…
The process has been mostly experimental & intuitive. My collections are usually conceptually made in response to and in the hopes of educating others about the problems within and caused by the fashion industry as a means to work through the difficult feelings of being involved in it albeit in a small way
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I've always loved sailor moon (very fashion!!!) which probably shows through my continuous use of long ties and ‘love of ribbons and fluttery bits of fabric.
creative process
Throughout my development I have been working on creating zero waste patterns cut from flat fabric which incorporate the entire piece into the design, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle but 3d. Historically I’ve also done this in an intuitive step-by-step rather than planned sense, working without a final design or pattern in mind. Meaning I end up with lots of one-off pieces which don’t always work out to be something I'm into but can then transform into something else.
Over the last couple of years I have been experimenting with weaving as an exercise in repurposing waste, non-electric making and trying to connect with the cultural craft of my ancestors from a displaced position (living in so called aus), this includes building my own looms from found and discarded materials.
There is a mixture of time-intensive work & very fast work that I do which I feel corresponds with demand for design within the demographic of people who purchase it. Slow fashion done quickly.
Occasionally include prints of my own illustrations or hand paint garment.
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concept
Approaching clothing as foundationally being fabric wrapped on the body, giving the wear autonomy to style and redesign pieces in ways which work for them. Drawing on basic recognisable shapes and abstracting them through size or functionality, adding extra openings, relying on ties to create shapes. Fluidity of wear in accordance with fluidity, fluctuation of the physical body and of self.
aesthetic
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Shitty chic , ambiguous shapes, big silhouettes, lots of dangly bits and ties, unruly draping, messy, ungendered but with hints to the feminine and the industrial.