Gillian Macdonald: Print For a Reason | BRAW Bursary
My name is Gillian (she/her), I am a queer, 30-year-old fashion designer currently running my own small business, Gillie Jean King, working on elaborate costume design and made-to-measure garments for local drag queens and a variety of other queer artists and persons throughout Scotland.
The idea behind my project stems from the art of communication; the power it possesses and the positive impact it can create. Communication in this project will be delivered through clothing and print design and by the final visual image that the final outfits will create. My project explores themes of sexuality and gender, using garment design as a platform of communication surrounding the issues presented to the LGBTQ+ community in its entirety.
My aim was for the project to visually explore the communication power of clothing; through print/illustration/design and the stories that the garments themselves tell, which can, in turn, have a profound impact on our culture today. In the current climate where clothing has become so faceless and so nonchalantly used, I find myself continually returning to the idea that clothing can be more, and stand for more, than simply ‘items to cover the naked body’.
In its varied and diverse approach to design; digital printing, slogans, queer fashion, hope is for the context of the work to have an impact on the viewer and portray so much more than simply ‘clothing’. The project, ‘print for a reason’, is a communicative design project driven by the aforementioned media.
A two-piece couture look was handmade and digitally illustrated by myself, in an effort to highlight the unity of this community and again, the aims adopted throughout this project, this garment was presented at the final artists sharing in Dundee.
Skinny Minnie wearing Gillian’s design on the Pride March in Glasgow.
While designing the garment, I looked to analyse current queer socio-economic issues, and through deconstruction of the iconic rainbow pride flag that represents various ideals of the LGBTQ+ community. Strong, bright colour palettes were used as the basis of the design elements of this project, mirroring the united colours on the pride progress flag, colours to evoke happiness and joy within the viewer. Once the illustrated digital print was developed and sent to the printers, the next step in mind was to turn the design into, what I like to call - a ‘visual protest’ garment.
Here I used my pattern cutting and garment construction skills to develop the final look. The context of the politically inspired print was developed using issues which currently exist within the LGBTQ+ community so naturally. These illustrated prints will be merged onto the clothing through the method of digital printing. They will be printed in a way that demands attention in effort to attract as much attention to the cause as possible. The garments themselves will be striking and strong as the purpose of this addition is to provoke audience participation. The final garment was worn by the talented drag artist, and friend, ‘Skinny Minnie’ on the Pride March in Glasgow this month, following the exhibition.
Gillian Macdonald is an award winning, queer fashion designer working from a creative studio in Glasgow. As an artist/designer, Gillian’s work explores themes of gender identity and sexual orientation with the aim of speaking out forcefully for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Gillian runs her own business, working on stagewear and made-to-measure garments.