The Monstrous Feminine is a conceptual womenswear collection that delves into the complex intersections between the female body, fear and fantasy. Drawing from the aesthetics of horror cinema and the long- standing cultural portrayal of women as both objects of desire and sources of dread, this project reclaims the monstrous as a space of power, autonomy and radical beauty. My aim for this collection was to reinterpret the female tropes that exist in film and media through a feminist lens, embracing the grotesque, the exaggerated, and the otherworldly to challenge dominant narratives around femininity. I drew shape inspiration from the work of Louise Bourgeois, whose exploration of bodily form, sexuality, and psychological tension offered a powerful framework.

Visually my collection is informed by organic, distorted shapes and anatomical references that blur the line between the beautiful and the uncanny. I used experimental pattern cutting to create silhouettes that are at once imposing and intimate, evoking both armour and skin. Digital tools such as CLO3D and Gerber allowed me to experiment with pattern cutting and creating bodily forms, through trial and error I was able to perfect my garments digitally before working with any physical materials. The materials used throughout my collection were chosen for their tactile and symbolic qualities- structured yet fluid, protective yet exposing. Fabrics wrap, constrict and unravel reflecting the dualities at the heart of the project: attraction and repulsion, power and vulnerability, the seen and the hidden. These contrasts are not resolved but celebrated, inviting the viewer to confront their own gaze and assumptions. In reclaiming the monstrous as a site of creativity and resistance, this collection asserts that what has been feared, fetishised or misunderstood can be a source of strength and transformation.