"Beneath the Surface"

This project explores the bra as a cultural artifact and a symbol of both support and suppression. Created by Amelia, a white-British student at Caramel Rock, it examines the bra’s evolution from ancient bandeaus to the 1950s hourglass ideal, and how Western beauty standards — amplified by designers like Christian Dior — were exported across the Commonwealth through colonial influence.

Amelia contrasts these imposed ideals with alternative cultural practices, such as the 19th-century “breast tax” in India, raising questions about cultural identity and bodily autonomy.

Her final piece is a reconstructed corset made from donated bras, with knots, straps, and hanging bands symbolising the weight of expectation, the tension between restriction and liberation, and the solidarity of shared experience.

“A bra is more than just a garment — it’s a complex cultural artifact. By deconstructing it, I found freedom.”