Eric Garcia – SAIC Fashion Show 2023

Student Work

Eric Garcia

egarci16@artic.edu

Artist Statement
The story I’m telling is glamorous, bold, adventurous, gutsy, fearless, opulent, dramatic, exuberant, sophisticated, chic, sparkly, iconic, and slightly delusional. With everything I make, the intent for it is to be wearable art. I’ve always loved making outfits or costumes and getting dressed up in the most absurd materials I could find, like pool noodles or mylar balloons, doing my makeup, and serving “looks.” Give me a theme and I’ll knock it out of the park. My work is primarily fashion based, making and sewing garments. I, also, love sculpture. When I can merge fashion and sculpture together, it’s even better. I work with a lot of volume and shape. I love volume because of the dramatic impact it makes. I love shapes because it’s fun to see how I can manipulate the body in ways never seen before. These methods and aesthetics stem from Franko Moschino, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean Paul Gautier, Thierry Mugler, and of course the biggest inspiration of all John Galliano.

I have a tendency to gravitate towards evening wear: ball gowns with fifty-foot-long trains and dresses, where the only option to get to your destination is in a U-Haul because it’s that big. Because of that grand entrance, you’re an international sensation! Fashion for me is an opportunity to create characters and to be whoever you want to be, unapologetically over the top and flamboyant. To live in an “Haute Couture” world surrounded by beautiful things is aspirational. It’s a fantasy you get to create. For me, hope comes in the form of unapologetic and impactful narratives. I look forward to writing the rest of the story and see what the next chapters reveal.

Eric Garcia - Petals and Teeth

Petals and Teeth, illustrations of the full collection

Eric Garcia - IMG_5216

IMG_5216

Eric Garcia - The "Pansy Dress"

The "Pansy Dress", The "Pansy Dress" in all its glory

photoshoot in the Maclean Ballroom

Eric Garcia - The "Lobster Tulip Dress"

The "Lobster Tulip Dress", getting down to all finishing details

Eric Garcia - 70192767374__045F5DD9-14FE-4512-A477-CD3BF75F2ADE

70192767374__045F5DD9-14FE-4512-A477-CD3BF75F2ADE, assembling petals and forming final garment

Eric Garcia - IMG_4949

IMG_4949, experimenting with serger pleating and gravity

Eric Garcia - IMG_4757

IMG_4757, in case of in climate weather, dress can be used as shelter

Eric Garcia - 69180924593__AF9DC6A0-B54B-4623-ACCF-007C51C53731

69180924593__AF9DC6A0-B54B-4623-ACCF-007C51C53731, "just a little off the top!"

Shaping the understructure for The "Lobster Tulip Dress"

Eric Garcia - IMG_4526

IMG_4526, building support structures

handsewing layers

Eric Garcia - IMG_2202

IMG_2202, From where it all began

very first drape of the "Pansy Dress" back in Sept 2022

Collection Statement-
Surrounded by loneliness, fear, anxiety, sorrow, I thought about flowers trapped in darkness. Overwhelmed by recent personal events this past Summer, from my mom being hospitalized for about three months to the end of a fifteen year relationship with my partner, I fell into a deep dark place. While in the hospital, I would try to always bring fresh flowers to help cheer my mom up and even found flower wall decals at the dollar store that I covered the wall opposite her bed entirely with. I just thought about flowers wilting aways trapped in this dark and murky world surrounded by monsters. The monsters were the manifestation of all the raw emotion I was feeling, still feeling and trying to overcome. The reality of the hospital and my personal life overlapped with the idealism of growing flowers.
These teeth and tentacles pulling at me try to drag me down deeper into darkness.
The challenge was creating structure and volume with fabrics that were soft and flowy, a juxtaposition similar to the situations I face. I studied and looked at the shapes of various flower petals, even acquiring artificial flowers to have a point of reference. I chose silk organza as the main fabric due to its softness and drape ability. After experimenting with various materials, such as plastic screen mesh I found, I learned how to create the fundamental building blocks of shapes with the fabrics, so they had body. The understructures came as a result of wanting to create and hold the volume and shapes I was looking for. Another material I was excited to use was liquid rubber. This was used to give the garments a slightly battle-worn look, as if the models were emerging out of this dark swamp of fear and into the light. They appeared to be victorious in overcoming these influences, they are forever changed both physically and emotionally.

The overall mood of the collection is dark and haunting, foreboding in a way, but, most importantly, hopeful. The collection sort of evolved into this battle of good and evil, as these headstrong flowers face these “monsters”, determined to live, to thrive. They evolve, they change, they mutate. They sacrifice their beauty in order to get out of the dark and find the light. The process of building this collection was both exciting and difficult. The exciting parts being the hands-on work, the material exploration,while the difficult part was the emotional journey I had put in front of myself. There was no other choice than to face these fears head on. In the beginning, it was very hard to even start, but once I started to see the vision come to life, it gave me the momentum to keep pushing on.

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