estelle smalley

‘In Everlasting Memory’ is a perennial collection created by Estelle Smalley, THese ‘ready-to-wear’ garments evoke feelings of; love, loss & grief, and the heightened importance of personal connections, whilst endeavouring to convey the ephemeral nature of emotions, converting them into physical garments.
The collection makes reference to historic pandemics (including The Great Plague and the Spanish flu), but is primarily intended as an ‘ode’ to those lost to Covid-19 and more specifically her late Grandfather; this brings focus to her wider conceptual narrative, dealing with personal emotions and the challenges faced whilst dealing with sudden loss of life, these concepts are threaded through the collection and become evident in each garment.
This idea is depicted most literally in her press piece, ‘I’ll carry you’.  The design includes a ‘mourner’ character to the left with the exaggerated hood and gown, imitating a ‘classical’ mourning veil and gown and to the right of this person is ‘the deceased’, who is physically attached but is metaphorically being ‘carried along’ by six connective bows, which ‘hold’ both garments together with a future intention to ‘separate’ emotionally and physically, allowing the mourner to ‘move on’, whilst retaining the remnants ties as ‘memories’ throughout life.
the second garment pictured Envisaged as a modern interpretation of corsetry, look ‘No.2’ is a fully boned and stand-based corset, with no pattern cutting and includes leg covers all crafted from leather, pre-embossed with a bespoke hand-carved lino lace print. Paired alongside a beaded headpiece made bespoke by estelle herself.
The themes of Estelle’s collection are intended as ‘relatable’ for everyone, to some extent; having recently experienced a viral pandemic, as we move forward, the importance of love & care for others around the world is increasingly fundamental to developing a better society; where everyone tries to be more considerate of their neighbour, be more inclusive and give more of themselves.