Julia Ballardt: The poetry of punk

Every year, the school would organise a trip to Antwerp to see the highly regarded graduate show, and when Ballardt went, she was instantly mesmerised by its level of creativity. “I knew that I had to end up there, but I didn’t feel ready. Prior to applying, I studied a fine arts degree for two years just to improve my drawing skills, and now I’m happy that I did it, because it’s one of the best tools that you can bring with you to the programme.”

For her graduate collection, Catch the Silver I Fling, Ballardt decided to be as personal as possible, and use her archive of analogue photographs – taken over the course of the last 10 years – as a starting point. “I never thought they would be relevant to fashion because it was just photos of objects, my friends, hands, and flowers,” she says, referring to them as purely sentimental memories. In her vision, she fused the idea of using this imagery with a ‘poetic habit’ of collecting adornments on clothing within the punk subculture, where each patch and badge have a symbolic meaning and declare belonging to a community. The punk influence is also present in the structure of the garments as the collection is built on the tension between sharp tailoring and tearing. Blazers are juxtaposed with spiderweb-like knitwear, and shirts and coats are decorated with applications that are holding on by a thread.

“The trench has only the photographs of flowers from my aunt’s garden, and the white shirt has three photos I took while hanging out by the lake with my best friend.”

Ballardt printed the photographs on the fabrics, and tied her signature diamond-shaped patches into the garments through a string system. In order to create a consistent aesthetic, Ballardt grouped the images into categories: “I arranged them into little stories – if you take a garment and you want to have a conversation about it, I could tell you something about each picture, but it would be coherent in this one piece. For example, the trench has only the photographs of flowers from my aunt’s garden, and the white shirt has three photos I took while hanging out by the lake with my best friend.”

Ballardt says that although the lockdown period in Belgium had its technical challenges, these difficulties helped create a strong supportive network within the course, where all the students would help each other out with materials or contacts for people that could assist with developing the garments. It also forced her to think outside the box when it came to visuals that would accompany and give context for her garments. Ballardt decided to photograph her collection in the setting of Antwerp’s parks and dressed the city’s sculptures in her designs, creating nostalgic imagery that resonates seamlessly with her overall vision.

Ballardt tries to stay optimistic when it comes to the reality of graduating during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains active by working on a few freelance projects. In the future, she hopes to eventually get a job on a design team within a fashion house and join forces with people who have a different point of view. “I would love to work in the Artisanal team at Margiela, just because of how free their environment is, and now with John [Galliano] at the helm, I’m also a big fan of their dreamy approach. I can also see myself in a house like Jil Sander because tailoring is one of my strong points. But I’m very open – I like to jump into people’s worlds and try to design around it.”

“From my own experience, I wish I would’ve opened up sooner or trusted my gut more, because in a school with such strong teachers, strong opinions and strong classmates, it’s very easy to fall into ‘trends’ and be influenced by the praise that fellow students get.”

Looking back at her time on the course, Ballardt believes that in order to get the most out of the institution, future students can’t be afraid to show who they are and what they stand for. “From my own experience, I wish I would’ve opened up sooner or trusted my gut more, because in a school with such strong teachers, strong opinions and strong classmates, it’s very easy to fall into ‘trends’ and be influenced by the praise that fellow students get. You should be aware that what you have in your mind is enough to succeed. That said, take the critique into account and be also very critical yourself, but at the same time, there must be a reason why the professors accepted you onto the course, so really trust your aesthetic and push it further.”

All images courtesy of Julia Ballardt.

Photograph(s) made with the exceptional permission of the Middelheim Museum.