The Widows From Waste: The Martyr
The last Widow, the fifth, she was nicknamed The Saint and The Martyr.
The clothes don’t blame us, no matter, how we treat them. We may throw them to the corners of our homes, stack them on the laundry piles for days. We break them and we handle them however we want. Some of the clothes, we forget that we have them. Yet the clothes are there for us, regardless of the time or the situation.
The fifth widow has a graceful, serene appearance. Her peaceful stroll is in no hurry and her heart goes out to the clothes and to the humans alike. There is a purpose and hope for every piece of cloth. There is no scorn and no bitterness towards the humans, even if they have abandoned her. There might not always be joy either, but there is acceptance. She holds a spark of hope even in the dark moments of the lifespans of the clothes.
The fifth Widow wears a tiara-like halo on her head, which takes the onlooker’s thoughts to the saints and the martyrs. The dress has an air of modesty. The tall collar reaches to the chin, the sleeves cover the arms all the way over the wrists. The dress’ hem sweeps the ground, yet the material itself is revealing, ethereal even, in its transparency. The rich details of the fine black lace underline her delicateness and the feeling of dignity. She is the only Widow that is dressed only in black lace instead of the heavy, rich velvet.
The design for the fifth saw only small changes in its silhouette as it was processed from the paper to the fabric. The founding ideas carried through the design work: the modest coverage of the body, the skin revealing lace material and the train consisting of wide lace layers.
In the Martyr, we see some of the most beautiful lace fabrics that were gathered for this project. The clean, simple front of the Martyr is the perfect surface to celebrate them. The additional lace cutouts sewn on the top of the dress and the already familiar silhouette of the Widows places the Martyr coherently together with the rest of the collection. The many patterns of the different laces bring lightness to this dark Widow.
The trickiest part of the Martyr was, without a doubt, to make a well fitting, skin tight dress with the not-so-elastic lace details. The fitting needed to be spot on. Another challenge was to create enough support on the waist to be able to carry the weight of the rather heavy train. To solve both of these challenges, there is a short dress under the actual gown, which gives the whole the much needed support in carrying the weight. It also gave a wonderful base for the lace work to be placed on.
Her halo was a lucky occurrence. The base of it was found at a second-hand sale of an acquaintance. The moment I laid my eyes on it, I knew what it was for. A perfect fit, exactly what I had been looking for. The halo band was an effortless and naturally sewn creation.
The Martyr, in her celestial radiance, became a wonderful final piece to the Widows from Waste collection.
Sincerely,
Iina