Cancer Couture

Hi Everyone,

February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and this year, it hits closer to home. In mid-December, my close friend received a cancer diagnosis and emergency tumor removal surgery all within a two-week timeline. Needless to say things have been shaken up, and unfortunately I haven't been able to be more available to her. But we can only do what we can.

While poking around on the net, I found a story about a Canadian woman who created a line of couture gowns based on the patterns the cells make under a microscope.

Jaqueline Firkins teaches costume design at the University of British Columbia. She created the gowns after seeing a few of her friends go through the process. I've compiled screenshots from the UBC website.

Click here for Firkins' works along with the description of each dress and the cell that inspired it

This is the complete collection. The gown that introduced me to the collection was the dark green gown third from the right. The second was the strapless red taffeta dress. I thought the entire collection was a beautiful throwback to the 50s with the tea length skirts and bodices.

There isn't a lot of artistic licence taken when it comes to how the cells translate to the fabric. They are pretty true to cell. On the site, you can see a side by side comparison of the slides and the details. It's also pretty amazing that they used students to model the dresses.

This is the Brain Invasion Dress. 

This is a textile representation of what happens when healthy brain cells (model's right) meet cancer cells (model's left). This is my favourite one of the bunch.

This project did something small for something so big it affects more and more of us. I watched the video of the fundraising Gala where these dresses were auctioned, and Global BC's Sophie Lui had the perfect description for the whole thing. 

"With fashion we're not curing anyone, we're not necessarily treating anyone, we're trying to take something and make it beautiful and make it ours." 

All dresses were auctioned off and the money collected was donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. I urge you to donate if you find yourself with a few extra dollars this month. 

Have a great weekend.