Arts Thread

My name is Charlie McMahon, and I am a fashion and textile designer, specializing in print design, from the Northeast of England. My work revolves around my experiences growing up in the countryside and taking elements of rural textile practices and bringing them into a high fashion context. My current work is based upon a series of nightmares I had as a child which featured the work of the kitsch artist Vladimir Tretchikoff, more specifically his painting titled “Miss Wong”. This painting hung in my living room when was young and her bright green skin and piercing eyes would deeply unsettle me. For the project I used vivid colours and textiles reminiscent of the English countryside such as Gingham and Tweed and juxtaposing it with intimidatingly over the top couture silhouettes inspired by the work of Cristobal Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen. To create print designs for this project I used typical fashion print motifs such as florals and polka dots and printed them in a way in which they swirl and swarm around the body, mimicking the disorientating feeling of being in a nightmare. As I grew older, I have gained an appreciation for the work of Tretchikoff and how he can make people feel varied emotions through paint which is something I wish to do with fabric. As for Miss Wong, my aim was to create a wardrobe for her by imagining what kind of clothes an evil, yet highly glamorous woman would wear in the countryside.