"What you fear in others, you really fear within yourself."
THE STORY
This story begins the summer of 2020 when the world was in shambles. In particular, America. As everyone was already trying their best to get through the pandemic and the losses that came with it, the state of affairs in America were intensified as injustice after injustice took place within the Black community. As I tried to process everything that was taking place, one question always repeated itself in my mind. Why is fear the first response when engaging with Black people? With the Breonna Taylor and George Floyd incidents, I couldn't wrap my mind around what triggered these two incidents to end in...death. That question remained with me when it was time to come up with our senior capstone explorations. I knew then that I wanted to address these issues and my feelings on these issues with my senior capstone project. With my love for horror films and current social events, I set out to marry these two interests and research. Through this research, I found I was able to expound on this topic in a disruptive and creative way. In a sense, this project became my own personal journal and a way for me to speak out.
THE CONCEPT
Horror Vacui is a Latin phrase defined as: nature abhor's empty space. In visual arts, to get over this fear, the artist fills the entire surface with detail. Noir Vacui: The Director's Cut addresses the fear of Black individuals created in the past and present through horror films. It explores how Black imagery within these horror films influences perceptions that can lead to dangerous outcomes. Through fashion, music, and film, this project explores how fear aids in the erasure of Black identity and culture. This erasure manifests in many different ways such as gentrification, disappearance of Black individuals and lack of media coverage, and historical violence against the Black community. When fear is present, nature abhors blackness. When nature abhors blackness, there are measures taken to erase it and fill the space it once held with other things unfamiliar to it.
THE REASON
Noir Vacui: The Director's Cut not only takes a stand for the Black community but for other underrepresented groups of people. Many of our stories do not make the mainstream media news. Some of our concerns go unaddressed and it makes us feel as if our voice is being muted. Noir Vacui: The Director's Cut addresses the horrors that we face in reality, but it is also meant to show the beauty of addressing topics that seem too scary or heavy to talk about. When designing this collection, I wanted to honor the Black community by designing garments that paid homage to our culture while also allowing these garments to make a statement on their own. Furthermore, I felt the best way for me to execute my concept was to create a digital-only fashion collection. By creating a Meta-fashion collection, it gave me the opportunity to allow my imagination to run wild. The Metaverse is a space of boundlessness and curiosity. I wanted my collection to reflect this. Noir Vacui: The Director's Cut is a digital-only collection that speaks out about the horrors that happen in reality while creating the opportunity to write our own individuals stories because...not every story is a horror story.