Farmer’s daughter hits the catwalk with feed bag fashion
© Simon Armstrong You’d be forgiven for thinking fashion and farming don’t mix, but farmer’s daughter Jessica Purdie is turning heads in the fashion world with her collection of whacky garments inspired by animal feed bags.
Fashion design graduate Jessica has launched a farming-themed range of six dresses, two pieces and skirts which draw on her own memories of dressing up in feed bags while she grew up on the family’s Highland farm estate in Perthshire.
“As a child I used to dress up in these bags and cut them up, which is the inspiration of the project. I used Harbro feedbags to create the silhouette of the garments and took the sheep and cow graphics from the bags,” explains the 23-year-old fashionista.
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The collection is made entirely from Tyvek – a coated paper-like material – and features 20,000 coloured rhinestones which were painstakingly added by hand to each item for a glamorous finish.
It took the Bath Spa University student about seven months to turn these avant-garde artworks in a sketchbook into catwalk-ready clothing, complete with cattle ear-tag earrings.
“This project is aimed at promoting farming in totally different industry, where it does not currently have a voice. I want to make people think about farming and consider where their food actually comes from,” she says.
© Felicity McMahon
Jessica’s daring designs hit the catwalk at Graduate Fashion Week in London in early June, where she was shortlisted out of 1,500 students for the best in show gala.
“I feel like this project isn’t finished yet and I’d like to do another collection,” she says. “It’s been stressful and has involved a lot of all-nighters, but I love it and I’m so shocked at the attention it’s been getting.”
You can follow Jessica’s journey on her Instagram page.