The craftsmanship that is weaved with modern techniques and new age matters, holds a peculiarly sensitive space. The fashion collection by Amanda Colares Silva brings such emotions to the surface.

So, Amanda, let's begin by discussing your life a bit. How would you describe your first encounter with the world of fashion?

I’d say there’s a combination. My first encounter was with my obsession with playing with dolls growing up. All I ever did as a child was play with my dolls. Hour after hour I would dress them, setting up visual stories with scenery and photograph them as if they were real-life photoshoots. Which naturally led me to an interest in doing the same with real-life people. Later, I remember in my pre-teen years being mesmerized by Lady Gaga on MTV, in particular, McQueen’s appearance in the Bad Romance video and discovered the photographer David LaChapelle in one of my mum’s fashion books. I would always make a huge deal of dressing up to go to church on Saturday nights with my family and would spend half the day picking my outfit, matching my jewelry, and making my mum do elaborate braids in my hair, so I would stand out amongst the other kids in bible class.

How was life for you growing up?

Growing up I was always incredibly independent. I would often choose to play by myself with my toys rather than with my sister or other kids. You would only find me playing with the other kids when I was leading them to participate in a game often involving some kind of play, I had made up which I had decided that we would all perform to the parents after tea. I’ve always been super curious and stubborn as in never accepting a simple answer to anything and I feel like this has contributed a lot to my way of approaching my art and fashion. The forces behind how I seek to push my own envelope in every project, discover newness and spark interesting conversations within my work started in these personality traits I've had since I was a little girl.

Your recent collection at Central Saint Martins is your very first presentation and is loved by all. Tell us how the idea happened first. How did you begin developing the story?

Leading on from a Reborn Doll I created the summer before coming back to study, I wanted to explore conditions of an invented universe, in which various characters play a part. It is a specific time and place where what these characters carry on their bodies communicates the atmosphere of this imagined situation. Over my placement year out, I learned aspects of the craft of realistic doll making and have gained first-hand insight into the conceptual, creative, and emotional side of the world of reborn. This experience has shaken my view on what it means to study fashion design and changed my perspective on how I approach it, from creating “clothes for people” portraying a character, to creating clothes for characters that I have literally constructed myself, limb for limb.

I knew I wanted to bring clothes and props which I had been doing in my first and second-year projects one step further. At first, I thought these reborn skills would lead me into prosthetic making in makeup, but surprisingly I fell in love so much with the delicate process of baby painting in particular that the dolls started to really speak to me as actual materials for creating my art. I knew I wanted to create a series of babies which would participate in my final collection, and somehow create this character (an almost visual representation of aspects of myself) which was a cross-over between a child and an adult (The Inner Child: Look 3). Very initially I had an idea to create the plexiglass belly this year that would showcase a neonatal doll I would paint, as a sculpture idea. I then wanted to bring this idea into my final collection as a wearable piece for the body, which could be classified as both fashion and art. Within further character research and design development, the MOTHER look was born, and this was the first character of a series of works called “Strength in Weakness”.

I'd like to know a bit about your artistic direction. What was the process for you and what intentions did you keep in mind?

In my physical work, I aim to always consider the meaning behind each aspect I use. The materiality I use almost always includes an accumulation of objects and fabrics all of which are salvaged or donated to me. It’s a small but prominent part of dealing with overconsumption and waste. This aspect of the materiality in my work relates to a primitive motivation in participating in a conversation relating to redemptive matters. The same motivation that drives me to explore emotive themes relating to aspects in which our society needs nurturing, is the same motivation to nurture the outcasted materials that I come across to produce that work.

As a Fashion Print designer, color theory and how color plays a role in expressing emotion are important aspects that I want to express, along with print placement on the body which plays a significant role in my work, especially through design outcomes. My making process usually includes silicone and vinyl painting with inks on realistic body parts for character and prop development. Alongside hand painting with heat press inks and dying techniques for print fabrication. As my work aims to construct characters, the processes I use mimic aspects of what it would take to build an actual person. These techniques hold significance, as the liquid density of the ink, for example, density mimics blood, water, and other bodily fluids which participate in the function of the human body.

Speaking of creative direction and process… Can you elaborate on your concept, theme, and the whole story?

“Strength in Weakness” is the name for my current body of work. This concept started with my final collection at university and tells a story of three characters, a mix of persona and spiritual beings who make up a 'family trio'; Mother, Father, and Child.

On MOTHER:
The mother look is made from four elements: ‘breastfed top’, ‘water-bottle skirt’, pointe shoes, and ‘Neo’ encased in a Plexiglas belly. The water bottle located by the uterus suggests comfort, and the pointe shoes: are beautiful things that must be broken so as to not cause pain to their wearer. The ballerina color pallet and silhouette: lightness married with core strength.
The placement of my ‘Neo’ baby doll is biologically inaccurate, missing the vital organs and blood which make up the somewhat gory reality of a fetus. As I wanted to create a picture of a moment of imagination through the eyes of a child -what they think their little brother would look like inside mum’s tummy. Neo is half submerged in a yellow-tinted liquid that glows, conveying an atmosphere of warmth and purity he has within the safety of his mother’s body, not yet exposed to the conscious world. She is at the forefront, the embodiment of strength in weakness.

On FATHER’S HEART:
The Father’s Heart is the middle look of my collection and the only male look… He represents the center of all things, the heart of my body of work. He is the only spiritual character, alongside my Amy doll, however, his manifestation is purposefully through a living human body. In this look, I wanted to have a more organic approach to making, and let my brushstrokes and colors sing the story, without too much of my control. I’ve hand-painted his skin print using my familiar heat-press ink technique, but drenched it in water, letting the inks flow organically in sync with the vision in my head.
I see this suit as more of an outcome from a moment of performance (done in the space of one day) rather than a fashion garment. As I painted, I listened to “Broken Vessels” (aka a reprise of “amazing grace”) and other similar songs while dancing over the studio tables in my head. The whole process was about experimenting with water, both through its tubes and in its print, representing both the tears streamed whilst coming up with the idea and the blood flow which connects the heart to the man.

On INNER CHILD:
A combination of my familiar techniques is married in this look; the inner child. Vinyl silicone paint to bring my Amy doll to life, alongside vignette hand painting with heat-press inks and hand ruffling. The inner structures are made from an up-cycled wedding dress my uncle handed down to me.
The Inner Child represents a combination of concepts that stem from my personal relationship with God. As I view myself much like a child; a daughter of my creator. The adult wearing the child’s torso is a symbol of feeling turbulently torn between being both an adult and a child in my teenage years, also the stage in my life where I met Christ. The child stage of life is a vulnerable, essential, and wonderful season and spiritually represents the place in which I want to abide in always. A child is dependent on their parent, much in the same way I am dependent on God.

Your garments are art to wear and have a fun aspect attached to it. What was it like for you to actualize the overall presentation? What challenged you the most?

There is nothing quite like seeing fragments of your imagination come to life in a physical form. It really was like an experience of having a baby, in like, me not being to apricate the work I had done until the day of our graduate show, really. It’s like I was blind to how everything was going to look together as a collection of work, until I saw it on my models in full glory post-show, much like a mother who cannot physically see their baby until the moment they are born.
The most challenging aspect for me during the creation process lies at the very start and at the very end. At the start, we had a lot of time to develop our ideas, not to mention our whole placement year prior, which is an unofficial time when you start thinking about your final collection. In having all this time, I had too many ideas to try out, too many different routes to take and I think the pressure of it being my final year of work started to daunt on me. Nothing seemed to really speak to me with what I was developing at first and it took me a while, almost 4 months, to really get the ball rolling. Once I really found my niche, it was right at the end where it became the most challenging, because it’s like now you have all these brilliant well-developed ideas which gave all this pressure to finish it to the standard everyone and yourself is expecting. In the end, I think the collection came together just as it should have at that time, with room to expand further into developed works and clothes alike.

Fashion and Art as both cultural rebellion and redefinition... What is your subliminal message? Is there anything that scares you about the future?

My subliminal message is marrying a connection between human emotional experiences and costume for the body. My starting point of inspiration will always come from my desire to raise discussion around sentimental themes such as the fundamentals of human relationships, mental health, body politics, and spirituality. Poignant conversations about aspects from young childhood we have all experienced to teenage heartbreak and questioning the existence of God. I often dive into my personal experiences, both hardships, and fortune and the lessons learned from them. Taking these and expressing them through visual communication, often through my own imaginative world.

I use these topics as starting points to coil together a story, create an atmosphere and aesthetic surrounding this story, characters that play a part in this story, and finally the dress in which they wear. I often like to accompany my visual projects with written work, short story writing, or poetry. The motivation behind my work has always floated between a necessary form of self-therapy and provoking an emotional response from the viewer.

A vital part of any project I undertake will evidently be a process of self-exploration and expression, although the core does not lie in ego-driven motivations. I like to call myself a permeable artist, as my strengths are in being a good listener and observer and I hold a hypersensitivity and empathy towards the people who surround me and the stories they offer to tell. How they navigate through life and consequently the hearts and souls of those closest to me become part of the development of my characters.

What I’m afraid about is irrelevant to the art and fashion culture but I’d say would definitely affect it in the future. What scares me is how this Gen Z is so emersed in the online world and wants to make it big as a social media talent for example, that in the next generation there will be a decline in striving of being the world’s best policeman or teacher. Areas in which we, as a society, must focus our advancements to benefit the wider world, one that is separate from the art world but just as visceral for future generations.

Last but not least… What music artists and movies do you recommend to the COEVAL community?

Definitely have to recommend one of my favorite films of all time Mad Max: Fury Road and a classic: Disney’s 1950s Alice in Wonderland. In terms of music, I’ve really been into nostalgic listening, so I’ve been re-visiting all of Amy Winehouse’s albums a lot lately.