Skip to main content
Menswear

Emma Blythe

I am an American designer currently researching menswear through a feminist gaze. As a woman designing menswear it is impossible for me to design without responding to current conversations surrounding gender politics and identity. My work is rooted within my own experiences with gender inequality and expression.

Aware of the power of emotional memory and the need for slow, sustainable fashion, I look for ways to repurpose old and used items that I find expressive, and subvert their original purpose in order to re-imagine a positive future with items from a recognizable past.

Degree Details

School of Design

Menswear
Emma Blythe

I began this body of practice based research from my own experiences as a feminist designer of menswear, and looking for a way in which fashion can play a positive role in social discourse on male behaviour. 

The act of hegemonic masculinity hinges upon a man’s ability to communicate maleness in a way that connects him to positions of power. These acts function to directly disassociate him from the things society has attributed to femininity such as emotional connection, physical touch, open communication, and interdependence. 

These hegemonic behaviours and their harmful effects are a direct product of the clash between human nature and patriarchal expectations. 

Until very recently, history, including gender studies has been monopolised by the white male gaze. In order to break away from pre-existing trails of discourse, an alternative viewpoint is needed in order to reclaim and rework the gender matrix we have be solidified in for so long. 

As human beings we attribute codes and meanings to inanimate objects without thought. By using entirely pre-used, male-coded materials, I hope to reconfigure these male-memoirs in order to reconfigure how we understand the troublesome history of masculine behaviour.  

By designing garments that usher the wearer into a previously unexplored experience, this project suggests new methods of research which allow the space for open engagement and continuous illuminations. 

“Fashioning Acts of Masculinity” is a body of work calling out and commenting on the material culture that has allowed systems of harm to persist, and offers a new, more positive way to overcome them.

Fashioning Acts of Masculinity — Film: Emma Blythe Sound: Magnus Westwell Performers: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward Stylist: Sophie Thomalla Hair and Makeup: Jessica Kell
001
001 — Photo: Emma Blythe // Model: Laurie Howarth // Styling: Sophie Thomalla
002
002 — Photo: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell
003
003 — Photo: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell
004
004 — Photo: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell
005
005 — Photo: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell
006
006 — Left: Photo: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell Right: Photo: Emma Blythe // Model: Laurie Howarth // Styling: Sophie Thomalla
007
007 — Photo: Emma Blythe // Model: Laurie Howarth // Styling: Sophie Thomalla
008
008
009
009 — Photography: Bea Puppo Amo // Models: Magnus Westwell and Max Cookward //Styling: Sophie Thomalla // HMU: Jessica Kell
010
010 — Photo: Emma Blythe // Model: Laurie Howarth // Styling: Sophie Thomalla
001
001
002
002
003
003