‘What if it can be used as material for clothing?
Avant-garde fashion designer Kelvin Morales explores the human anatomy as well as the essence of its touch and movement in a thought-provoking experimental collection.
“What if the human skin can be used as material for clothing without the judgmental social hiss on cannibalism? What would it look like in the modern day?” he pondered.
Fueled by this curiosity and his passion for exploring a wide array of potential materials, the young contemporary artist started his extensive research and produced different boards for various moods, fabrics, silhouettes and colors. Morales honed his creativity and fascination in the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and graduated 2018.
“It helped me make a cohesive collection and get me on track,” he shared. “For me, it’s an effective way to translate energy into my works and makes it easy to understand.”
Human Leather is the result, a 14-piece collection that exhibits the peculiar beauty of the human skin through a seamless combination of tattoo-inspired embroideries, colorized human hair, manual hand embroidery, traditional beauty of local fabrics and nifty bespoke details that embody the conceptual and tactile qualities of individuals.
“Clothes should be an extension of one’s self and with this collection I took that literally,” Morales noted in his look book. “I interpreted skin as clothes and translated it into clothing that mimics that concept. This contextualizes the human body and the function of fashion in a different way, dismantling the stereotyping of beauty.”
“I wanted to highlight the diversity of human skin and equality of different races and colors,” he reiterated.
Morales is gearing up for the incoming PHX 2020-2021, an incubation project of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for young and emerging Filipino designers to showcase their original creations and collections in Tokyo.
Discover more of his works through his Instagram account or through his official website www.kelvinmoralesph.com.
Model Kirk Jason Guillang
