Alex Nugent
Up in Nellie's Room Behind the Wallpaper
What’s up there?
Sexuality, Power, Guilt, Hysteria.
The poisonous results of Church and State teaching on Irish women’s lives, is the cocktail infusing this collection.
It carries through the generations.
Drawing on the lexicon of sexualised femininity, this is a collection of bias-cut gowns, corsetry, high-heels and detailed ribbon embellishments. It aims to embody the feminine for anyone who wants to channel it.
Unfortunately, there was no happy ending, no re-claiming of power for the women who fell victim to the institution. This is melancholy and abhorrent.
In an ideal world – these models walk in a Catholic Church – if deemed offensive, that’s fine.
Who offends who?
After all of the destruction, what’s ultimately left behind the wallpaper? Skin, muscle, spine, and absolute nakedness…
Up in Nellie's Room Behind the Wallpaper, puce hand-dyed silk chiffon bias-cut with spiral flounces on a corselette base, with draped satin ribbon mimicking musculature
Up in Nellie's Room Behind the Wallpaper, black single-sided satin ribbon bonded to black cotton-backed viscose coutil, with the back panel hand manipulated to create a spinal column
Up in Nellie's Room Behind the Wallpaper, black nylon corset with pink nappa lambskin leather strapping dress, with handmade face covering and knee-high boots
Up in Nellie's Room Behind the Wallpaper, nylon corset layered over extended girdle mesh corset
