Drawing with the Body and Cloth

RESEARCH BACKGROUND This project brought together a group of practice-led researchers working across disciplines to consider the theme of Flight within the context of the gallery. Bugg's work investigates the complexity of communication between designer, wearer and viewer of conceptual fashion in specific contexts. This work is a live costume dance performance and film screening. This experimental work extends design methods for contemporary dance through theoretical and empirical research and investigates garments and choreography as simultaneous practice. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION Bugg approached the body as a physical drawing and design tool and the process involved the researcher and dancer in continuous verbal and experiential dialogue to create performative clothing design and communication. Practitioners who take an interdisciplinary approach to extend methods in design and dance such as Maria Blaisse, Rei Kawakubo and choreographers Wayne McGregor and Merce Cunningham informed the process. The garment and the choreography were developed simultaneously through improvisational sessions between the designer and dancer and analysis of video footage and recorded testimony of the process. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The project outcomes were displayed online alongside a Friday Late showing of performances and temporary installations at the National Gallery, London in 2013, and was preceded by a special showcase at the London College of Fashion. The research was disseminated through a peer reviewed paper 'Embodied Design and Communication: Drawing with the Body and Cloth' (interdisciplinary.net 3rd Global conference) and a book chapter is included in Studio International 2014 edited by Professor Steven Farthing. This film was also screened at Berlin Fashion Film Festival 2013.