squishy flesh suits created by textile artist daisy collingridge

squishy flesh suits by london-based artist daisy collingridge layer bulbous forms over swathes of ‘muscular’ fabric. made from quilted textiles in pastel colors, the wearable suits are a statement on the complex aesthetics of the body.

‘burt’ (2018)

the inspiration behind the body suits came from the shapely muscles of bodybuilders and an exhibition collingridge saw during her childhood called ‘body worlds‘. developed by gunther von hagens, the travelling exposition contains dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures that preserved through the process of plastination.

‘burt’ and ‘clive’ (2018)

pushing quilting to the extreme, hand-dyed jersey and other fabrics are filled with plastic pellets and sewn together to form bulbous shapes in various sizes. collingridge has made an entire family of costumes, with names like burt, clive, and lippy, and each one taking two months on average to complete.

‘hillary’ (2019)

she graduated with a degree in fashion design from central saint martins and created her first costume in 2016 for the new zealand-based design competition, world of wearable art. her ‘clive’ costume is currently on tour as a part of 62 group’s ctrl/shift exhibition. meanwhile, ‘dave’, a suit named after and modeled by her father, and the rest of the clan are at her family home.

‘crouching tiger hidden hillary’ (2019)

‘I often say my work is quite impulsive,’ she explained in an interview with dazed digital. ‘the squishy idea definitely came from my graduate collection, which was all free machine quilted, but all done with really fat wadding. it wasn’t really your traditional patchwork quilt.’

‘a tower of two men’ burt and clive, (2018)

‘what? (burt & dave)’ (2019)

‘dave on his bed’ (2019)

‘together’

progress shot

progress shot 2

project info

artist: daisy collingridge
project: squishy