The woman behind Lisa Loveday’s second collection is a survivor. “She’s clothed in the wreckage,” she said of her grunge-meets-modern-art designs. “She’s someone who’s not quite human, trying to become human. But I think in the end she just ends up being herself,” she said. The prosthetic pieces on the clothes represent blood, guts, and burnt debris.
An array of worn and processed materials are handmade elements. Loveday shredded, bleached, knit, and weaved most of her fabrics. She used cotton twill, acrylic, and wool, as well as some recycled fabrics. One of her pieces is made from recycled silk. “It’s really a one of a kind because it doesn’t exist anymore,” she said.
She also used chunky, hardware to contrast the fragile layers of material. “I needed something that was really strong because it’s basically holding the whole piece up,” she said about one of her torn dresses.
Surely, Loveday’s designs are not for the everyday wearer. “You can’t really adapt it into an everyday fashion,” she said. And she is fully aware of the bold statements they make. “I don’t want to compromise my work.” She envisions her clothes on the red carpet or as performance pieces. “Ideally, if Bjork would want one of my pieces I would be more than happy to make one for her!” she said.
Loveday is a fresh face in the industry. “I’ve had my own studio for about a year...so I’m still fairly new,” she said. She recently graduated with honors in fashion arts at Seneca College in Toronto. While in school, she won an award at the Hempel International Awards in China. “I’m still not up and running completely at this point, so I don’t have anything for sale or wholesale. I just do custom work,” she said. For now, she isn’t certain of her next step in her career. “I have something sort of in mind, it’s more really strong pieces,” she said. “Everything I do is kind of big. It makes some big statements!”
To see more of Lisa Loveday's work go to her Facebook page.
