Faye Harrington

Fashion design has been a core part of my life since I was a young girl. I’m passionate for anything creative, especially art and design, I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in fashion and I don’t think I love anything more. I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve at Anglia Ruskin with the guide of the amazing staff in my department.

My final year here is a close on my chapter of university and my final collection is a tribute to my many personal struggles I’ve had to endure while being a student. I’ve used my collection as a type of therapy to help heal from my experiences. I wanted to choose a topic very dear to my heart and I believe as a woman women’s issues are very important, combining this and my own experiences I aim to help spread awareness with my final collection and hope others can understand a part of me by viewing my work.

Female Rage is a collection based on the 70s rape crisis protests and heavily inspired by the 70s fashion at the time with dropped waist lines, flared trousers and exaggerated collars. The collection is all about my journey through experiences with sexual assault and showing the after effects victims struggle with. I chose to focus in on dissociation, a condition where your brain sepreates from reality, the victim experiences not feeling like what is happening to them is real - or in my case feeling a disconnect from the body. It’s a way the brain defends itself after being touched non consensually. The red tulle in my collection is to represent dissociation and anger I experienced after my assault. As the collection progresses each garments has less tulle showing shimmers of red foil emerging to show healing, but also to show how these experiences change a person.

I wanted this collection to raise awareness to victims and women that they are valid and what they go through is seen. I hope viewers see the beauty and anger my collection portrays and gets you too see a bigger picture about the reality survivors go though.