Briah Taubman
BROKEN/OPEN
This collection is inspired by a beautiful yet at times suffocating relationship that came to an end. Within that suffocation I found a deep comfort and was stuck in the illusion that i was supposed to stay there, when i finally broke from that illusion, I felt more myself yet still figuring out my uncertain emotions. I have used optical illusion and cocoon like constraints to personify the emotions I have felt over these past few months.n
Soft, malleable and curious
The caterpillar marches along, learning all it can about the world
Who is a predator and what it means to be prey
The caterpillar finds a companion
Someone to march along with
Make the daunting world look less like a never ending forest and more like an individual leaf
Then something begins to constrict it
The air and light slowly dwindle away
A darkness grows as its ability to move shrinks
Almost comfortable
Or perhaps complacent when the choice for freedom has already been made
What happens when that comfort reaches its limit?
Disappointment
Confusion
Lies
Who has stolen the sun?
A beam of light peaks through
Opaque and humble but enough to illuminate the way
The layers are slowly peeled away
The caterpillar is no more
Feeble wings begin to flutter
And the world begins to come into focus
The irony of the chrysalis
Something that once suffocated me is the thing that taught me how to breathe
Bio
My work focus’ on invoking an emotion from the audience. Many of my designs are brought to life through the emotions I feel mentally or where I feel them physically. I have struggled my whole life to express my emotions properly and I have found my outlet to be clothing, specifically when designing knitwear. Through knitwear I found a freedom to create any manipulation I desired, a sense of control with the manipulations but lack of control in the idea that you don’t know what it will look like until you take it off the machine. When creating my pieces, I start by making several swatches that speak to the emotion I am feeling that day or the colors of yarn I am drawn towards. Then I drape the knits on to the dress form and let the patterns of the knits inspire the silhouette, from that I will come up with the final garment. Not much sketching is involved in my process because the fabric and feeling is what leads me to my result. Whether I am working in styling or designing that day, emotion will always tell me what outcome should be.