Twins – We are You (2007)
‘Twins – We are You’ consists of two cotton blouses. Both blouses are buttoned-through front and back, so you can take each blouse apart and can exchange the halves to create two ‘new’ blouses.
The cotton fabric is from my home town Muenster in Westphalia, Germany. The traditional flower pattern of the fabric has been around for more than 100 years, I find it pretty and timeless.
Both blouses are based on the same simple and sleeveless pattern. I then varied the design: For one blouse I worked with pleats and the other blouse has patches of the same fabric sewn onto the upper body as well as metal eyelets.
The button line for front and back doesn’t run along the centre but is offset by around two inches to the right/left.
The buttons I chose are old bed linen buttons. I removed most of the cotton covers so the metal underneath is exposed.
The ‘Twins – We are You’ blouses are meant to be shared by two people. The blouses are a playful approach of 2 people getting dressed and wearing pieces of clothes that are connected. What you are wearing is one half of the whole thing even each blouse is a full piece of clothes in itself.The other half is worn by your ‘blouse partner’ at the same time or it could be hanging in a wardrobe or getting washed etc. If you want to you can do a swap and change the look of the blouses.
The idea is extendable, for example you could create pieces (not necessary a blouse) that can be worn by a group of people with different sizes, gender etc.
Words that come to my mind: interconnection, correspondence, fluidity, communication, mobility, changeability, play, sky & ground
Maria Pantel 