See With Your Hands

I worked on this collection, See with Your Hands while I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy for the semester. The theme for this collection was sense of place and I wanted my inspiration to come from the stimulation of senses, mainly focusing on the sense of touch through textures. I focused on the tactile side of my designs over the visual since the blind see with their hands.

Final Coat

The fabric for this coat was purchased in Prato Italy at a designer fabric warehouse. I chose this fabric because it had a lot of texture which went well with my sense of touch theme that I was going for. The inside lining is a silk that had embroidery to give the fabric dimension. The flap on the back of the coat has a vinyl laser cut design that has the feel of braille. It’s an unexpected detail that only the person wearing it would know. The notions and snaps were also purchased in Florence. I chose these snaps because they became part of the design of the coat rather than blending in. The design also included a welt pocket with a flat.

Research

I knew I wanted coats to be a big part of this collection so I did extensive research on collars, backs and details on coats. I also did research on textures since my collection was going to be more tactile.