Maven’s undergraduate collection is a ready to wear concept collection centred around the use of the collection itself as a personal rite of passage into wider society and more importantly coming of age.

Referencing Rite of Passage (RoP) by Van Gennep, the collection discusses what a rite of passage of today could look like, how “no action is truly free from the sacred”, and how in a changing world, we should tailor RoP to the person(s) who undergo them.

As the collection itself is my own RoP, this more individual approach is reflected in the garments, representing various aspects and time periods in my own life that I deem significant to my personal development, with cuts and silhouettes of the garments within the collection referencing my performance roots in drag and burlesque. Ultimately these combine the people, communities and personal development to reflect the social groupings I’ve deemed myself comfortable within.

The colour of black within the collection acts as a multi-symbolic colour, referencing black as a colour significant to fashion, general colour semiotics, and the colour of black specific to the various fashion archetypal garments that the collection explores.