Maisie Dodd

“In the brief few seconds after reading my colour name ‘Flourish’ and opening my bag to see my colour, the word really resonated with me.

Moving into lockdown, a frequent feeling that I experienced and probably commonly felt among others was helplessness. I felt like a small fish in an endless ocean and nothing I could do would help the situation. So I did what I could do, I stayed at home, washed my hands, when I went out for necessities I did so by myself, taking all precautions to distance from others and keep myself and the people around me safe.

All my life I have had a great fear of uncertainty and when no one in the world can tell you the outcome of global pandemic. It can be very unsettling. To my surprise, I did not have a particularly negative experience in lockdown but neither a positive one. I had more time to be with myself and my thoughts and learned things about myself without being forced into quarantine, I don’t know if I would’ve ever discovered. Moving our of lockdown and into a new normal, my mind, creativity, my being, has flourished.

This outlook of growing, and thriving as a human after going through a difficult and undetermined time evoked this feeling of being amongst nature. A flower grows from a seed, to a sprout, to a stem with a bud that will blossom into a flower full of colour. Whilst it grows, it survives the cold, wind, rain and storms and remains lively and content.

The magical feeling you get when you are free and taking in nature is what heavily influenced my design. The fullness of the sleeves, the shape of the dress, the shorting and the ties are all details inspired by the shapes, silhouettes and movement seen in the natural world.

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2020

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