Crafty apparel
Emerging designers showcase everything from lingerie to home decor at show in St. John’s this week
Artist and designer Bruno Vinhas poses with a pair of lycra and lace underwear from his line of non-gender-specific clothing. “I hate the gender of clothes,” the Brazilian native says. “It’s a piece of cloth. If you want to wear it, wear it.” Vinhas is one of nine graduating students from College of the North Atlantic’s Textiles: Craft and Apparel Design program who are displaying and selling their work with an exhibit and fashion show this week.
“I think in the society we live in today, we should be objectifying anybody. We’re all people. You need to be whatever you want to be and we need to respect you for that, and you should believe that you’re a lovely human being, no matter what.”
Bruno Vinhas
Bruno Vinhas is quick to point out that his line of clothing — including leggings, skirts, corsets and lingerie — isn’t intended specifically for women, or specifically for men, for that matter. He makes sexy clothes for humans.
It’s not a difficult concept, and Vinhas explains it well. “I don’t like the gender of clothes. It’s a piece of cloth. If you want to wear it, wear it.”
Vinhas, a native of Brazil, has created an entire collection based on leather, lace and lycra, fabrics typically seen as feminine. Why?
“We have this idea that women are the only ones who can wear lace underwear, but maybe men should wear them, too. We objectify women’s bodies so much, but we don’t objectify the male body.”
Vinhas has spent the last nine years travelling, living in Ireland, Portugal and New Zealand and working in the hotel industry before moving to St. John’s to study art and textiles at College of the North Atlantic. Sexuality and body objectification is different in all those places, he explains, and it’s been interesting for him to witness.what’s considered kinky here is mainstream in Brazil, for instance, and Vinhas notes the lack of clothing here for different male body types. All men’s shirts are the same length, he says, and all men’s pants are the same cut. He’s noticed it’s not the same for women’s clothes.
“I think in the society we live in today, we should be objectifying anybody. We’re all people. You need to be whatever you want to be and we need to respect you for that, and you should believe that you’re a lovely human being, no matter what,” Vinhas says. “I’m a human being, you’re a human being, and that’s how we should treat each other. These are the pieces of cloth that I put together, do with them whatever you want.”
During Vinhas’ time as a CNA student, he received the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador 2016 scholarship, the 2016 Anna Templeton Award, the province’s Centenary of Responsible Scholarship and other accolades. Now about to graduate from the Textiles: Craft and Apparel Design program, he and his eight fellow graduates (Jen Cake, Kimberly Clarke, Emma Harvey, Sam Bishop, Tucker Ellis, Kayla Pelley, Scott Coish and Alisha Conrad) are displaying and selling their work via “We Made It,” an exhibit and fashion show.
The exhibit opened Saturday at the Anna Templeton Centre in St. John’s and showcases the students distinct styles, materials and interests. Cake draws on a love of patterns (particularly horses) and print-making, and use of natural dyes to create clothing and home decor, while Conrad’s palette is vibrant. She works in knit fabrics — and knits —often acid-dying her yarn. Bishop’s work is equally as colourful (“When I create my work I get very excited about using reds, blues, greens, oranges, purples and other colours to put them with,” she says), while Pelley is inspired by a boho, free-spirited theme.
Harvey’s collection is based on a story she wrote.
“It’s about a girl who grows up on a farm in Russia and she’s really isolated there,” she says. “She moves to a big city and is murdered in her room. My collection is meant to be her wardrobe throughout the story, along with paintings she would have done.” Harvey has also included a diorama of the murder scene, complete with tiny hand-made furniture, and a doll representing the killer.
Clarke says she’s inspired by childhood, and has created a line of cuddly toys from felt, mohair and other soft fabrics.
Tucker Ellis’ love of cosplay is evident in his work, which includes a “Little Sister” costume (it won two awards at this year’s Sci-fi on the Rock convention), paintings, dolls, and an exquisite installation of “A Little Monster,” a huge frightening but adorable marionette created from cotton, polyester, and acrylic paint.
Labrador native Scott Coish drew inspiration for his collection from his home.
“My family was always outdoorsy, we always went out in boar, we always went on Skidoo and those types of things,” he explains. “i was always surrounded by nature and I thought I’d bring that into my pieces.”
Coish’s hand-dyed and embroidered pieces includes representations of flora, the ocean and the shoreline, and the sky, in a stunning Swarovski crystal-embroidered depiction of the 12 zodiac constellations called “Yougen.”
“It’s a Japanese term that’s used when something is so beautiful, you can’t really explain it in words,” Coish says. “That’s what I find with the nature, and especially the sky, in Labrador.”
“We Made It” runs until Sunday, with a closing reception at 4 p.m. The fashion show will happen at the LSPU Hall Thursday night at 7, and tickets are available at the LSPU Hall box office and online at rca.nf.ca. Immediately after the fashion show, the artists will be selling their pieces in a pop-up boutique at the Anna Templeton Centre.