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Bespoke Fashion & Costume by

Jessica Rowell

 

Face to Face with the World’s Best (International Finalist), National WOW Museum, Annesbrook, NSN, New Zealand| Curated by Dame Suzie Moncreiff | 2017

Madame Deficit was designed as a statement on excess and appeared as a finalist garment in Weta Workshop's former Costume & Film Category in World of WearableArt's international design competition. The garment exhibited for a year thereafter in Nelson, New Zealand's National World of WearableArt Museum. Fabricated largely by hand-craftsmanship the piece features free-hand embroidery, hand-beading, a rigilene-boned structure, canvas-backed lining, hand-cut floral appliqués and a foam-cut harness-style undergarment. The headdress was hand-built in three tiers of miniatures portraying facets of Antoinette's life.


Untitled Final Fridays (Interactive Installation), Adult Program, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO | 2017

The Wishing Kimono was a communal fashion installation designed to engage visitors in intercommunication. The installation draws upon past memories in Kyoto, Japan as a teen. Echoing the intentional practice of Ema plaque prayers at Japanese Shinto shrines, visitors similarly expressed written wishes on hand-dyed fabric tags and placed them on the Wishing Kimono (a red monochrome contemporary kimono displayed on a red faceless form). The process engaged visitors in a moment of deep reflection, connection, and contribution. As each wish joined others it evolved the look of the garment. The expression and tangibility of written word created a powerful experience in a shared public space evoking joy in participants who felt community in resonance with other's wishes. 


Costume Studio Demonstrator (Community-created project), Studio Artist Program, Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) | 2017
The studio artist program offered a platform to create within a public setting while simultaneously collaborating with the public. A part of Jessica's personal studio space was transported into the Denver Art Museum where she worked publicly during slotted timeframes. Museum visitors in attendance had the opportunity to watch her work live as well as contribute to the overall design process as they desired. The demonstration focused on engaging visitors of all ages in communal creation by freely contributing design elements to the garment from preselected materials.  As the demonstration progressed the piece also progressed as both the artist and the visitor(s) created with one another in real time.