Showcase

'The Bizarrely Beautiful'

Calantha Gerrard

I am a creative individual who has nurtured a strong passion for textiles, developing a unique and personal aesthetic within knit and print design at Central Saint Martins. My strengths lie in my multidisciplinary approach, which allows me to explore innovative methods of construction and embed sustainability within my practice. I am an enthusiastic and driven designer with a strong creative instinct, and I am eager to continue expressing this within a professional context.

I am a creative individual who has nurtured a strong passion for textiles, developing a uni...

The ‘Bizarrely Beautiful’ is a collection of textiles, with a couture approach, that follow the theme of duality through a chimeric approach. It is a tailored exploration into materiality and my personal journey re connecting with handcrafts to create delicate, bespoke designs. Sponsored by HD Wool, the collection fully embraces a sustainable ethos, only using natural dyes and as many raw fibres as possible. With a refined aesthetic through a knitwear lens, the collection effectively pairs a bizarre narrative with beautifully crafted techniques and textures. This body of work has cemented my design practise within the fashion and accessory world, where knitwear becomes the foundation for intricate design constructions. 

Final work

A girl posing in couture knitted dress with accessories representing the 'beautiful' within my project.

The 'Beautiful'

Look 1- A sheer knitted dress that reveals a story about elegance and translucent beauty through a couture perspective. Each and every lace hole and individual ripple has been purposefully placed, paired with a macrame diamanté raffia belt and two dip dyed crochet cuffs to bring in a pop of colour.

A girl poses in the knitted dress looking at the camera on the right, and lying down on the left on the floor.
To the right a girl crouched down showing the sleeves without the jacket on top. To the left is the model lying on top of a mantle place.

The 'Bizarre'

Look 2- A bespoke tailored knitted jacket with attachable macrame sleeves made from sustainable sheep wool fibre and off cuts leather pieces. It tells a chimeric story of courageousness and strength through dual materiality and intricate details using textile design.

Up close images of the jacket front faced on and then to the right are two close up images of the accessories paired to go with the jacket.

Research and process

Hand crafted crochet cuffs naturally dyed with an illustration to visualise the look.
Three images of the design process including leather pendants and colour swatches.

Share this project

'The Bizarrely Beautiful'

The ‘Bizarrely Beautiful’ is a collection of textiles, with a couture approach, that follow the theme of duality through a chimeric approach. It is a tailored exploration into materiality and my personal journey re connecting with handcrafts to create delicate, bespoke designs...

A link to this page has been added to your clipboard

Browse related work