To Loathe Reality
Inspired by disturbed faces and amplified lucid dreams of its creator, BFA fashion designer Kenneth Brody McCasland created an avant-garde collection driven by imagery drawn from his subconscious. Conceptualized and constructed to feel the paralyzing effects of sleep paralysis, he explains how it can feel being trapped in-between dreams and wakefulness. “[It’s when] the body is left behind and taken over,” he says. “[You’re] free to explore feelings [you] can’t recall when awake.”
Taking inspiration from an otherworldly reality, Brody often transports his designs to whichever obscure world best fits his vision. In this collection, he summons an in-between world, a sphere where dream and reality meet. To visualize this, a black vinyl pleated skirt is belted at the waist like body armor, the body is compressed but protected. It reminds us that something lurks in the night, and we’re given the power to feel it, much like the smoldering creatures in sketches by illustrator Tony Viramontes.
To further distort reality he incorporates obscure silhouettes, shaped by hollow circles and semicircles, fitted at the wrists, necks, thighs and ankles that restrict movement around different body parts. “It’s not that I’ve been dishonest.” Brody says, quoting his perpetual inspiration Stefani Germanotta, “It’s just that I loathe reality.”
