B a c h a P o s h – T w i s t i n g T e m p l a t e s
In Dari, ‘bacha posh’ means dressed as a boy. In Afghan families with no sons, one of the daughters might be selected and dressed in boy’s clothes. Thanks to the clothes, the girl has temporary access to the freedoms enjoyed by boys.
The formal jacket is a Western men’s garment that is used by both men and women in business and politics. Clothes with a more feminine expression are not ascribed the same authority. By twisting and turning the classic details and materials of the formal jacket, I want to explore how clothes reflect gender roles and power.
J u d g e s ’ c o m m e n t s :
A finely tuned mixture of strict and austere, meeting hand-embroidered freedom. Against a background of life for girls in Afghanistan, the deconstructed men’s formal jacket twists the concepts of identity, power and gender roles. A story of social codes, and of being heard and seen. How attributes and clothes can be seen as a kind of role play in both historical and contemporary contexts. A thoroughly well-crafted collection that manages to shed new light on such a well-established archetype as the formal jacket and its functions.
