Levi Palmer and Matthew Harding share how they turned challenging personal experiences into triumphant and innovative designs for their Autumn-Winter 2022 collection
It isn't easy turning a negative into a positive, but Levi Palmer and Matthew Harding discuss how self-reflection is the key to healing, and turning abstract feelings into actionable terms can inspire tangible creativity. Acknowledging trauma and the emotional journey to move past it was at the core of their latest Palmer Harding collection, and they share their thoughts about their creative process.
What was this collection inspired by?
Levi Palmer & Matthew Harding (LP & MH): It was an expression of the emotional journey of the past six to nine months, which caused us to question the importance of our creative identities.
Why was it so important for you to express mental health in this collection?
LP & MH: Over the course of the pandemic, we realised that we had focused all our energy on Palmer Harding for the past decade, and we needed to cultivate individual identities outside our business as we could have potentially lost it at any time [due to the situation]. This caused us to reflect on the aspects of our life that we had neglected: Family, friends, our relationship and ourselves.
This introspection came with aspects of depression, which were difficult to get through, but we found coping mechanisms and methods of self-healing which helped us to reignite the aspects of our life that we had for so long forgotten.
Among the joy of these new found passions, there was a situation during Fashion Week where our designs were copied by another designer. This caused us to return to our negative emotions, and for many months we were unable to cope with stresses or enjoy even simple pleasures.
After some reflection we felt that the best method to heal was to interpret our emotions creatively, which is what pushed us to create this collection as a way to find closure.
This desire to return to a place of happiness is what pushed us to also partner with the mental health charity Young Minds, who help children and teenagers deal with mental health issues, and for every garment made in this collection, we will donate £1 towards Young Minds.
We are also providing discovery points on our hang tags, which could provide a vital link for someone dealing with depression or anxiety.
See more: Tatler’s Edit of the Best Looks From New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2022
How do you face adversity creatively?
LP & MH: To us, facing adversity creatively means not searching for temporary distraction or escapism, but instead becoming introspective and dissecting your emotions to understand the reasoning behind them.
It is a long and painful journey, but with this method you are not only able to identify the pains and discomforts more clearly, but also discover aspects of your personality you may not have known existed. Once you understand these intricate details of yourself you can then begin to heal.
In our case, we felt the best method of healing was to interpret our emotional journey through our creativity and find a beauty in the pain which allowed us to find closure.
How did you convey complex emotions in your garments?
LP & MH: It is always challenging to convey an emotional concept three dimensionally. However, we searched for the words used to describe emotions, and once we conveyed these actions, we translated that into draping on dress forms.
The concept of anxiety come through as a “twisting” motion, which can be seen in the saffron satin dress and top.
The idea of healing comes through in the lattice work on the oversized white satin dress as sutures or stitches of a wound.
Recurring stress is often called an emotional loop, so we used the idea of a bias cut fabric loop to create a black dress made of two simple loops of fabric, which opened this collection.
Lastly the idea of tension is conveyed in the mesh dress that closes this collection, which has foot pads at the bottom of the dress to simulate that tension as the wearer walks.
See more: After The Tokyo Olympics, Hong Kong Swimmer Stephanie Au Is Tackling Mental Health In Sport
