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"Feminist quiz question of the day: Where in the world has a society existed since the 17th century in which women do all the work and the men take care of home and childcare? Google “haenyeo divers” and you’ll find that just such an impressive cultural economy exists in the Jeju coastal area of South Korea, where the “Amazons of Asia” dive for valuable shellfish without breathing apparatuses well into their eighties. Thea Bregazzi and Justin Thornton discovered this at a traveling photography exhibition at London’s National Maritime Museum last year. “They are just so incredibly strong, and we found it fascinating to look at how they dress to dive—with their scuba equipment, but feminizing it with layers of lace blouses or other bits of clothing from their wardrobes.” As parents raising two daughters, the designers want to immerse their children in the belief that gender equality is a right. After deep reading around the haenyeo community, they made the obvious connection with the state of mother nature. The makings of a collection that centered on eco-feminism was born.

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With prior knowledge of this research background, you could pick out the references: the tight hoods, scuba fabric parkas and pencil skirts, trails of fishnet, bags manifested as buoys, marine blues, shimmery mother-of-pearl and gold sequins, and “seaweed”-sprouting shoes. Had you not read up? You’d see Preen by Thornton Bregazzi working its way through its signature repertoire of florals and dippy-hemmed dresses, with some Asian-appropriated padded brocade coats, fringed with goat hair.

Where does that leave us? The submerged meanings are important to these designers—they’ve gotten into the habit of leaving photographs of stacks of their reading matter on benches at their shows. Still, plunging into eco-waters and matters of cultural appropriation will inevitably raise many questions today." Sarah Mower Vogue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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