Siobhán Palin

Siobhán is a Womenswear designer specialising in sustainable swimwear over the course of her Masters at the RCA. Originally from Sydney, Australia, where swim is known to be a saturated market, Siobhán seeks to re-define the term, looking to alternative fibres, applications and inclusive means. With a now urgent need for less, the series of bodies are intended not to remain solely as swimwear, but rather staple pieces with multiple applications. Pushing emerging manipulations of Merino wool, the one fibre Australia is known for, The Woolmark Company has provided invaluable support to the development of her practice.

BODY OF WATER

I think it is only now, since moving away, that I realise how for granted I have taken the constant and calming surrounds of water.

‘Body of Water’ – many bodies of water, not just your standard beach scape or chlorinated pool. Your cold water lidos, murky harbour sides, an open water channel, the deep sea abyss. Swimming was simply a life skill, an inherent part of our culture growing up. Moving to London to discover so many without felt foreign.

Questioning.

Am I designing a swimsuit for one whom cannot swim? Or does not swim very much... A work of contradictions. The polarities between wool and swim would seem contention enough, but to then target the non-swimmer with swimwear?

...

With an urgent need for less, to rethink the way we dress and consume, the 100% (waterproof) merino hybrid series is conceived to be adaptable in nature. Not merely choosing to remain as sole swim pieces, they present alternative applications, a sustainable fibre exploration.

Shot by: Johann Spindler

Model: Ava Coffen

Styling: Grace Brebner

Hair & Makeup: Julia Roma

In Collaboration with:

Johann Spindler

Photographer

Lulu Wang

Artist / Model

Noosa, 2004

Bondi - final swim before return to London

Manly 1998

Alternative fibres have proved a focal point that has continued throughout my practice. Optim™ fibre, a relatively new innovation in processing merino wool, has been used and tested in each garment of the swim series. After having first discovered it being used in men’s boardshorts for Kelly Slaters surfwear label ‘Outerknown’, the one existing example of it in a swim context, I was keen to explore how it could be adapted to women’s swimwear

The swimwear industry is a major contributor to the micro- plastics polluting our waterways. Merino is an alternative, cutting down on the use of synthetic fibres so readily used today. Each time polyester or synthetic garments are washed, tiny harmful micro-fibres drain into our oceans. Swimwear poses a more direct issue, hence why alternatives such as Optim™ must be considered.

Optim™ fibre is naturally water and wind resistant. It is pre-stretched and spun into yarn before being woven. During the final stages of dyeing and finishing it will super-contract. This creates an incredibly dense structure, eliminating the need for any chemical waterproof coatings or treatments.

Women’s swimwear typically being much more fitted and body-conscious than that of a men’s swim trunk, has forced me to develop new ways of working around the body in the absence of stretch. Balancing tensions and testing various methods of adjustable strappings has taken this into consideration. The concept of a wrap dress, or for me a piece that en-circles, embracing the form, has accounted for this best. As demonstrated, when removed, a number of the garments can be un-furled and pulled open. Almost laying entirely flat, they translate into new coalescing forms of their own.