LSAD Graduate Showcase
  • Emma Carmody
Fashion Design

Emma
Carmody

The Weight of Play

knitwear
memory
Identity
Place
Childhood
oversized
exaggerated silhouettes

This final collection is a deeply personal exploration of memory, identity, and place, rooted in my upbringing on a farm. I drew inspiration from my grandfather and his generation, wearing suit-like clothing even in the ruggedness of farm life. This collection contrasts that generation with the uninhibited, playful way my sisters and I dressed as a child. Oversized, exaggerated silhouettes illustrates the image of a little girl wrapped in adult clothing, symbolizing both nostalgia and the merging of past and present selves.

The textile work is central to the narrative, incorporating sewn and knitted threads into traditional suiting fabrics to create plaid and striped motifs that recall the textures of worn farm coats, peaked caps and hand-me-down knits. Knitwear appears almost weightless, made from cotton yarns and loose threads, this mimics the dishevelled layering and tactile curiosity of childhood dress-up. The collection is both an homage and a reimagining of my childhood, with a balance of structure and softness, tradition and play.

Mini Collection

This collection builds on an ongoing exploration of impermanence, and emotional texture. Continuing from earlier work inspired by rain and transparency, the focus has shifted from referencing Ann Demeulemeester to developing a personal material language, rooted in softness, unraveling, and quiet transformation.
The textiles themselves carry the narrative: knits that stretch and distort, delicate fabrics cut into strips and reassembled, threads that hang loose or were knitted into their own form. There is a constant tension between construction and collapse, between garments that hold shape and those that seem to drift apart.
The world these pieces inhabit is not fixed, it’s dreamlike, disheveled, weathered, as though shaped by wind or memory. Volume appears in unexpected places, edges are left raw, and nothing feels entirely solid. The result is a study in soft disruption, where clothing becomes a vessel for mood rather than function, and fragility is treated not as weakness, but as expression.

The Jumper Project

knitwear
zero waste
applied textiles
fragility
imperfection
This project is an exploration of atmosphere, fragility, and controlled imperfection, created in response to the work of Ann Demeulemeester. Her designs often blur the line between structure and softness. I was drawn to her use of layering, transparency, and emotional depth. I wanted to interpret those qualities through knitwear.
Alongside her influence, I was inspired by the visual and emotional qualities of rain on glass, the way water distorts and softens what we see, leaving behind shifting patterns of clarity and blur. This became a metaphor throughout the piece: for memory, emotional veils, and the beauty in impermanence.
The jumper was designed to feel almost suspended, translucent in places, textured in others, like moments caught mid-fall. Subtle ruffles and bubbled surfaces disrupt the smoothness, much like raindrops scatter across a windowpane, never quite settling.
This piece balances between being wearable and expressive, quietly capturing both Demeulemeester’s romantic style and my own interest in the beauty of everyday moments.
Fashion Design
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