AMELIA DAMER
Clarke and Reilly's 'Blue Collar' exhibition
An exploration into the fabric worn by America's unseen workers through textile experimentation and garment technology.
The 80ft long textile was the starting point for Clarke and Reilly’s exhibition. It was made up of pieces collected from the English and French countryside, spanning three centuries.
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After using them as a backdrop in their last presentation, AD2021, Clarke & Reilly placed them in three different locations in the Californian countryside to weather them.
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(image Courtesy of Clarke and Reilly)
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The utilitarian and functional element of the fabric drew me in and the old repairs in them showed a thoughtfulness that was very beautiful to me. They were then dyed by the design duo using indigo and traditional dyeing techniques.
After seeing the fabric in the space I drafted a pattern based on archival workwear t-shirts. The Pattern was then drawn out onto the fabric and all of the pieces were cut. That was done in a way to use up as much of the fabric as possible. A number of the remaining scraps were used to create a one-off patchwork 'low-vis' vest which I designed and sewed by hand.