Shanti Bell: Representing the Weight of Masculinity

“I take a lot of inspiration from furniture design.”

“I take a lot of inspiration from furniture design,” Bell continues. “I developed a way of creating wood bending and wood sculptures and that allowed me to reference curves and chairs in the garments.” She’s inspired by furniture designer Martino Gamper, who did a project of 100 chairs in 100 days. “I loved the way his process was to use one chair to inform the next,” she says. “He has this continual process and progression throughout his work. I try to be like that sometimes when I’m working. I take reference from what I’ve already done to influence the next thing.”

The references to chairs go beyond Bell’s own interest in furniture design. They’re part of her conceptual approach which involves visually representing the burden of masculinity through items that we use to carry our weight, such as chairs and bags. As part of her research, the designer looked at how different cultures carry their weight. Southeast Asian men, for example, fix straps on their heads to carry bricks and other materials around construction sites.

Wood carvings, projected shadow ‘prints’ and sculptural tailoring all come together to create contrast between masculine strength and vulnerability. Workwear-style garments constructed from light cotton evoke hypermasculine images of manual labour whereas the shadows and the poses the models adopt reveal a more delicate viewpoint. While wood can be associated with heaviness, the way Bell used wood veneers in her collection brings a touch of light playfulness.

The pandemic meant that Bell could not get to the wood workshop and create the sculptures as she had originally planned, but this gave her new ideas. “I had these big, long wood veneers and I just let the model pick them up and play with them and in a way, we created more interesting shapes because the wood wasn’t static,” she says. “We had the power to manipulate it how we wanted and it ended up being really interesting.”

Studying menswear as a woman meant that it took Bell a while to figure out whether or not there was a personal angle to her work. “I’ve had long discussions with people as to why as a woman I do menswear,” she says. “I was questioning myself about why it is important for me and I think a big part of my work is exploring how young men of today feel.” The CSM graduate has just started her MA at the Royal College of Art where she aims to continue the practice of working with both fashion and furniture. “My hopes are to develop a way of combining the world of furniture and the world of fashion, and producing this really contemporary furniture or some clothes that have wood in them,” she explains.

Bell is confident of having found her niche, but her experience is varied. She has done placements with both commercial and high fashion brands, experiencing different business models and approaches to design at Zara and Craig Green. “It was really interesting to see how Zara approaches fashion, which is not really the way I would approach it. I was interested in seeing what it’s like to work commercially. Then at Craig Green it was completely different. It was really great to see how he works and how he approaches the starting point from which he then develops a collection. He’s the kind of designer I would like to become in terms of having a contemporary menswear brand.”

“You shouldn’t necessarily have to produce two collections every year. You can have a year to just be inspired and take in the world and then come out with a great collection maybe the year after.”

While Bell was disappointed that her graduate show was cancelled, she hopes that digital fashion shows will help redefine the role of the designer for her generation and that they will help the industry slow down a little. “We always get told that you have to give everything to it,” she says, “and I think in certain respects you do but there should also be time to develop an idea. You shouldn’t necessarily have to produce two collections every year. You can have a year to just be inspired and take in the world and then come out with a great collection maybe the year after.”

“I’ve made sure that my health is equally important now. After all, you still need to be able to stand up to toile something.”

Since graduating, Bell has found a better work/life balance herself, but it’s a task that’s taken years. Now, she’s passionate about prioritising her health as much as her work. “Doing a fashion degree made all my health go out the window,” she says. “I’ve made sure that my health is equally important now. After all, you still need to be able to stand up to toile something.”