This young designer created a dementia-inspired collection
[Photo: Bethany Grace]
The people who remain firmly in the ‘fashion is frivolous’ camp need look no further than emerging Scottish designer Nadia Pinkney.
For her graduate collection, Nadia combined fashion and science in a bid to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s; a disease which both her grandmother and great grandmother had suffered from. “My aim was to design a collection that meant a lot to me. It was emotional at some points,” the designer admits.
Red plays a huge part in the collection (and in the lives of Alzheimer’s sufferers) with the vibrant shade appearing in every look. This not only sparked from the red raincoat worn by Nadia’s great grandmother Bridget but from her work with a doctor at Alzheimer’s Scotland, who revealed that red sections on a brain scan indicate disease-free zones.
[Photo: Bethany Grace]
“Even in the most severe cases of Alzheimer’s, there will always be a part of the brain not affected. The red shows there’s always a little bit of the person you know that’s not been taken by [the disease],” she explains. “When I first started my research, I wasn’t sure which route I was going to take my influence from. I looked at therapies and the emotions both the individual and the family feel but soon realised I was inspired by the science behind the disease. I worked closely with Dr. T Russ who informed me about the breakdown of the brain and what different brain scans reveal.”
A black-and-white print taken from these brain scans features throughout the designs which combine modern silhouettes with classic vintage shapes - another nod to her family’s personal style.
Aside from the flashes of red, the rest of the collection appears in a neutral colour palette. As with everything else, this wasn’t merely based on stylistic choice. It actually displays the one or two colours that patients choose and stick to throughout a course of art therapy.
[Photo: Bethany Grace]
Just like the significance of the aforementioned red, the collection’s name - Remember Me Knot - also has a double meaning. It refers to the loss of memory that comes hand-in-hand with dementia as well as the way the disease “basically ties neurons in knots”; another thing Nadia learnt from her time with experts. A transparent fabric knotted to resemble the inside of a dementia-addled brain reflects this finding.
Although the concept was first thought of as “distasteful and too controversial”, Nadia’s painstaking research and creative flair earned her a nomination for Graduate of the Year at the 2016 Scottish Fashion Awards. “It’s great to have the support as the collection is raising awareness of the disease on a completely different platform,” she says.
[Photo: Bethany Grace]
Nadia has also released a line of scarves featuring the same brain scan print with all of the proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Scotland’s Dementia Research Centre.
And as for the old-school thinkers who still believe fashion has no purpose?
Nadia believes otherwise: “Fashion is a great platform to create discussion because anyone can relate to it. I know there are a lot of people that don’t understand the fashion world but at the end of the day, everyone wears clothes. If you can create something that people want to wear and has a meaning behind it then that’s a real achievement.”
Photographer: Bethany Grace; Make-up: Jak Morgan; Model: Paighton Muir
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