Michael Day

“Deadly night shade, shades of a plant that has poison in it, like a human being we all have poison within us.  But within poison there is beauty, beauty can be seen or be hidden or we hide our beauty just like our emotions.  During a lockdown, a kid had to change ways of how he lives life, to move to the next step in life of being a better person, one that has more positive attributes.

Inspired by the dark shades of night-time and the ambiance of the colour Resene Belladonna gives me, I have mixed there with the dark humour I have to create a garment. The vision I have for this garment is supposed to make you beautiful and comfortable in your own skin but also feeling very confident.

Being inspired by the Y2K fashion and the new way Rick Owens, Maison Margiela and Raf Simons came in with the rebellious non-traditional way of designing. I thought to take that and put it in my own way of breaking down a few garments I have been inspired by and to take each panel out to create a new garment.

The music I listen to, the lifestyle I live has contributed hugely towards my design. To see a certain silhouette and manipulate it in my own way. Also being in a dark space isn’t always that bad, there is always something good that comes out of it at the end, and for me that’s the design process I go through, to just step out of reality and be in my world for a minute. Because at the end of each day the world is yours and it’s up to you how it’s going to turn out. Are you the paint or the painter?”

Resene Whitecliffe Colour of Fashion clothing - 2020

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