About Me
Hi, I'm Isabelle, a fashion design graduate from Sheffield Hallam Uni.
Isabelle Lucy Burton is a creative of Irish-English heritage who specialises in fashion and textile design. Her research and personal connection to Irish history combine to create garments and structural textile pieces that celebrate Irish culture. Whilst studying, she undertook a placement year in childrenswear design, working for retail clients.
After studying fashion design for four years, I have experimented with many different mediums such as; knitwear, print design and rug tufting. I have found a fascination with crossing boundaries and learning about gender-fluid fashion, particularly encouraging males to be more open to divulging in typically more feminine silhouettes. I think now more than ever, in an ever-changing society, it is important to be open-minded and eager to create work that inspires others to be bold.
INSPIRATION
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' was inspired by my dad's upbringing in Belfast during the Troubles.
Through exploration of the political ‘peace’ murals and religious stained glass, I aimed to explore the division of Northern Irish society, from the perspective of someone who had heard many stories of violence and separation, but not witnessed it first-hand. I aimed to portray the lives of the young men of the troubles as they were at the time, vulnerable and susceptible to the crime and violence around them.
The collection features woollen garments including cable knit, important in Irish heritage, along with tufting with wool and corsetry, pulling in the body to keep heat in. The use of profanities and bold prints is radical, in your-face, a statement; political design aimed especially at British youths. I felt responsible to represent a part of history not many people know about, the Northern Irish Troubles.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' mainline collection
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' LOOK ONE
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' LOOK TWO
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' LOOK THREE
'CATCH YOURSELF ON WEE FELLA' LOOK FOUR
DIFFUSION LINE
DIFFUSION LINE
DIFFUSION LINE
DIFFUSION LINE
DETAIL
I EXPERIMENTED COMBINING TRADITIONAL IRISH CABLE KNIT WITH RADICAL, BOLD GARMENTS
After developing a variety of prints during the research period, I began to work with wool, discovering how I might incorporate this knit aspect into my work to mimic the notion of dramatic forms and colours that piqued my interest in the murals and stained glass. Knit is particularly relevant to my research as I gathered lots of images from articles and books, of young boys playing in the streets of Belfast, during the 70s and 80s, wearing cable knitted jumpers and young girls wearing knit cardigans-all whilst the chaos of the Troubles continued behind them whilst they played (see figure 13). Knits made of Aran wool with cable patterns are a blatantly recognisable aspect of Irish identity (Corrigan, 2019), typically comparable to Irish symbols like Guinness or hurling.
"It was a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance." Charlie Haughey, summer of 1982.
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
