# Project Description

NEON FLESH

Gwen Ryan

Summary

Final work

I am a multidisciplinary textile artist and designer specialising in knitwear, currently based in London.  My practice is shaped by a collage of cultural and historical influences, rooted in a deep appreciation for textiles, fashion, and social history. I am particularly drawn to how textiles can be used to explore identity and narrative, especially through subcultural style, costume in film and television, performance art, and drag.

I am a multidisciplinary textile artist and designer specialising in knitwear, currently ba...

College Chelsea College of Arts

Course BA (Hons) Textile Design

Graduation year 2025

From the earth rises a New Wave, neon zombie; a creature stitched from 1980s-90s horror films, retro-futurism, sportswear and drag. Emerging from a study of how textiles can embody identity and narrative, the knitwear collection draws heavily on subcultural style and costume in film, television, performance art and drag.

Finding inspiration from the pages of FANGORIA magazine, horror SFX textures and colours are echoed through 3D machine knitting techniques, methodical colour work and technical precision. Natural materials such as cotton, mohair and leather are donated or sourced second-hand.

Through an extensive process combining research, collage and sampling, NEON FLESH constructs its zombie-land of hybrid textiles for costume and fashion. This world is realised through creative pattern cutting, hand manipulation and professional finishing- producing garments that distort traditionally masculine-coded sportswear with camp exaggeration.

The collection challenges the binary categories of menswear and womenswear by designing playful, transformational textiles for fluidity, treating dress as a mutable, performative construct. By embracing the grotesque, theatrical and subversive, NEON FLESH highlights knit and textiles as a medium of transformation, expression, and storytelling.

Final work

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NEON FLESH

Research and process

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From the earth rises a New Wave, neon zombie; a creature stitched from 1980s-90s horror films, retro-futurism, sportswear and drag. Emerging from a study of how textiles can embody identity and narrative, the knitwear collection draws heavily on subcultural style and costume i...

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