Yanan Zhou
Between Skin and Shell
Between Skin and Shell is a collaborative project between photography and fashion design, exploring the relationship between the body,clothing, and space.
The garments featured in the project were designed and made by a fashion design student. Lace, fabric, and large sculptural structures extend outward from the body, transforming clothing from something that simply covers the body into a form that exists somewhere between a shell, a pair of wings, a protective layer, and an extension of the body itself.
Through photography, I reinterpret these garments visually using lighting, composition, camera angles, body poses, and different spatial environments. I place the figures within settings of concrete, metal, stone walls, and clean white spaces, creating a contrast between the softness and transparency of the lace and the hardness of the surrounding architecture.
As the relationship between the body and the garments changes, these structures sometimes surround and protect the body, sometimes restrict its movement, and at other times expandoutward to occupy the space around it. The project therefore explores a series of contradictory states: protection and restriction, vulnerability and strength, and the blurred boundaries between the body and its external environment.
Between Skin and Shell
Between Skin and Shell is a collaborative project between photography and fashion design, exploring the relationship between the body,clothing, and space.
The garments featured in the project were designed and made by a fashion design student. Lace, fabric, and large sculptural structures extend outward from the body, transforming clothing from something that simply covers the body into a form that exists somewhere between a shell, a pair of wings, a protective layer, and an extension of the body itself.
Through photography, I reinterpret these garments visually using lighting, composition, camera angles, body poses, and different spatial environments. I place the figures within settings of concrete, metal, stone walls, and clean white spaces, creating a contrast between the softness and transparency of the lace and the hardness of the surrounding architecture.
As the relationship between the body and the garments changes, these structures sometimessurround and protect the body, sometimes restrict its movement, and at other times expand outward to occupy the space around it. The project therefore explores a series of contradictory states: protection and restriction, vulnerability and strength, and the blurred boundaries between the body and its external environment.
