RISD Senior Show 2020
RISD Senior Show 2020
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Apparel

Zoe
Grinfeld

I navigate the space between past and present, inspired by a sense of nostalgia and reinterpreting memories of childhood. I’m interested in the evolution of a life, in what makes people who they are, what makes me who I am. Material exploration is at the core of my process, and I approach materials with childlike curiosity, shedding any preconceived notion of a textile or object’s intended purpose. I’m drawn to things that are absurd, ridiculous or surreal, yet enticing. I want to change the way we look at things, reinterpreting objects into clothing through the use of digital fabric printing and physical material manipulation. I look at objects not for what they are, but what they represent, and what they could be. A collage of memory, a visual scrapbook, an autobiography.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 1

Vintage linen tea towels, digitally printed mesh

Look 1 in my collection is meant to portray the mother figure. The dress contains around 30 vintage linen tea towels, which I selected based on memories and personal significance. The top was made using a digitally printed mesh fabric with a scan of one of the original tea towels. I used cording to be able to create volume without cutting much of the original textiles.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 2

Hawaiian shirts, organza, crushed velvet

Look 2 in my collection is meant to portray the father figure. The outerwear piece in this look is constructed entirely out of my dad’s old Hawaiian shirts. The shirt and pants feature enlarged prints of one of the original shirt designs digitally printed onto crushed velvet and organza with a family photo frame belt buckle.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 3

Glass and ceramic beads, organza, crushed velvet, satin

Look 3 in my collection is the grandmother figure. The top is made out of leftover beads from jewelry I used to make and sell at craft fairs growing up. The dress is made out of digitally printed crushed velvet with a scanned print of the same beads used to make the top. The skirt is the same scanned design printed on organza and the head scarf is digitally printed satin.

Apparel

Family Portrait

Please see other images for individual descriptions

Through these six looks, my goal was to accomplish a collection which felt cohesive in its lack of cohesion. I wanted each look to feel as though it was a distinctly different character, but also related because they are a family. The second half of my collection and its documentation has had to shift to accommodate the Covid-19 quarantine.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 4

Curtains, doll clothes, doll shoes, knit fabric

I wanted this look and the two looks following to be able to be interpreted as though they could be different people, or that they could be the same person growing over time. Look 4 is a childrenswear piece meant to be the youngest phase of the character. The dress is made out of curtains with doll gowns added as a ruffle. The cardigan is hand embellished with doll shoes.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 5

Denim, cotton, puffy paint

Look 5 is meant to be the next evolution of Look 4. This childrenswear dress is made entirely out of second hand denim and vintage cotton. This look is a collaboration with Nellie Konopka (PT ’20), who designed and printed the screen prints on the denim pockets, and my mother Cathy Grinfeld, who added all of the puffy paint designs on top.

Apparel

Family Portrait Look 6

Satin, jersey, photo frames, steel

Look 6 in my collection is meant to be the final evolution of looks 4 and 5. Scrapbook pages were digitally printed on satin and constructed into this 34 piece skirt with steel cage crinoline understructure. I wanted to create a top that felt casual in comparison to the formal skirt, so I made a t-shirt using vintage photo frames I found in my Grandmother’s house.

Family Portrait Film

Video

This collection functions as a caricature of a family. I never intended on finishing this work surrounded by my actual family, and it has impacted the collection and its documentation in a lot of ways. I began to look at the work less as a runway collection and more as an installation. I saw it as a cast of misfit characters I created living in their natural environment.

Family Portrait Look 6 3D Render

Digital 3D rendering

Look 6 was originally designed in the 3D fashion modelling software CLO. The digital prints of the skirt were made using scans of a family scrapbook my mom made when I was growing up that visually inspired the whole collection.

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