What characterizes the pieces we create the most, is the women who wear them. For this reason, we are calling on our core community to join us in our series of talks titled 'In celebration of all women', where we cover subjects of the female gaze, womanhood, beauty, community, and female empowerment.
Next up in our series is artist Alexandria Coe, who celebrates feeling comfortable in one's
body,
free of shame and of negativity.
What were some of your early female influences growing up and what were you drawn to by
them?
Growing up I spent a lot of time with my mum as she was a full-time mum for a lot of my childhood. I wasn’t really brought up in a very gendered way, no sort of boys and girls toys or clothes, and that has influenced me quite a lot. I really feel like so much was forced on us in the noughties about how women should look and dress, and when you grow up in it you forget that there is a fine line between what you like because it's socially engineered and what you actually like.
Who are your influences today?
I think when the female revolution in image making happened, that's when I finally saw a power of female influence in an industry traditionally monopolised by men. Like Petra Collins and Harley Weir, and I love Carlota Guerrero a lot. I think this is actually when I finally felt that I saw the modern day female voice.
How has your relationship with your own body evolved since you began using it in your
art?
I suffered on and off with forms of body dysmorphia when I was a teenager and my relationship with my body is ever-evolving, but I think that within my art there is a constant reminder that my aim is to feel comfortable in my body and celebrate other’s. Rather than drawing what I think I look like, I draw what I want to feel like and how I want to feel in my body – comfortable and free. Free of shame and of negativity. I want my artworks to be a conversation between artist and viewer, and between the viewer and themselves.
I want you to question. Not the validity of your body, but to reflect upon its natural state and the beauty of the shapes it can make.
The female gaze is powerful, what have you experienced that can happen when women get to tell the stories?
I like to think about it more as a female voice than a gaze. The feminine to me is like having a conversation, an open dialogue between each other and ourselves. When one woman tells her story it offers others insight too – it opens the door for another woman. It says if you talk, we will listen. It’s about that two-way dialogue. The feminine can of course be embodied in someone of any gender or sex, and I think it’s a unique place of reaction which is thoughtful and dynamic.
This campaign is called “In Celebration of All Women”, what message would you like to share with women around the world?
That you are enough. You always have been and you always will be.
Credits
Production by Stephanie Lawley Art Direction and Styling by Bonnie Langedijk Photography by Sam Copeland Interview by Iselin Skogli Casting by Andrea Martinez
