Bibi Butten

This collection immerses itself in the depths of the murky waters of a small harbour town.

The inhabitants of this place are forced to endlessly wonder the landscape, trapped by the coming and going of the tide, collecting treasures lost to time that wash up on the shores. Taking inspiration from my growing up in a historic harbour town and imagining

the stories of the individuals that lived there before me.

Through this medium I further explored the complex relationship many people feel towards outgrowing their hometowns and the places and memories that haunt them. This pairing of both grief and nostalgia is reflective in my use of knitwear and upcycled objects throughout my collection. Knitwear symbolises my ties to family, a skill which was passed

down to me by my grandma before she died, each piece hand-stitched with her memory. The use of enlarged yarn and oversized silhouettes highlighting both the softness and

smothering that grief often brings.

The magpie and its folkloric significance within British culture was also muse for this collection. Often an omen for misfortune and its propensity for shiny objects the magpie narrates this story through the items she has collected. Growing up by the beach I frequently spent days hunting for the prettiest shells, walking home with clattering pockets full of the treasures that washed up that day. The preservation and restoration of these otherwise "useless" materials was an integral component in my design process, centring pieces of my collection around each of the objects I collected over months of sourcing.

This consideration of material is extended to my use of exclusively deadstock or natural fibre fabric and yarns as a slow approach to fashion and allowing for the creation of

unique one-off pieces.