19.4.21

Concept Research: Dimitra Petsa

When researching my project I discovered the work of Dimitra Petsa, and I felt that her work was a good way for me to understand better the relationship between fluidity and the female body in the mind of a fashion designer. As well as looking at designs I spent a lot of time reading about her work too to develop my own ideas. I have therefore added some quotes that were especially interesting to me.

1. https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/vb9759/interview-di-petsa-ontwerper?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=idfbuk&utm_campaign=global

i-D: I heard that you wet yourself in public in real life before starting work on for your first collection. Could you tell me a bit more about that?
Dimitra Petsa: Haha, that’s true. It wasn’t an accident however, it was part of my performance art. I did a BA in performance art before enrolling in the Fashion Design MA. I’m very interested in how our emotions are connected to the fluids in our bodies: sadness connects to tears, arousal to vaginal fluid, nervousness to sweat. After my research, I felt a need to do something with this. So that’s when I decided to pee my pants in public, in a crowded subway in Athens. To me, that was the ultimate metaphor for letting go -- both of my bodily fluids and of my shame. That’s how I finally came up with my first design: a pair of pants which are dyed in such a way that it seems someone peed in them. As a matter of fact, I got the models to wet themselves as well during the presentation of my collection.

Your work is mainly concerned with the female body. Are you trying to spark a conversation with your designs?
I want my work to show that the female body is a political topic, one that is constantly monitored and censored. Take, for instance, the shame that is put on mothers when they want to breastfeed their babies in public. If you think about it, shaming is an effective way of keeping women under control. I think that’s one of the main reasons why shame is such a central theme in my work.

You mentioned sweat and urine, but what about tears? Do you get inspiration from that too?
I often cried during my studies. And I know that I wasn’t the only one: my classmates were constantly crying. Almost everywhere I looked, I saw people crying because of the amount of stress they were under. What struck me was that they were embarrassed; they covered their faces with their hands or hid somewhere in a corner. Since I’ve immersed myself in this project, I now also cry in public spaces. I don’t mind people seeing that I have emotions. Two days ago, I was sitting on the couch when I felt that I was going to cry. It was almost time to get my period, so I guess my hormones prevailed. But that was totally fine. I like to cry.

REFLECTION | PART 3

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