Final Collection Portfolio

I am deaf person with profound hearing loss from birth. I received a cochlear implant in July 2006 under the care of the Portland Hospital. As a deaf student of fashion design, I have a single cochlear implant which processes incoming sound of one ear and processes this into an artificial representation of sound. I studied the early Sonotone hearing technology of the 1940s and wanted to fuse together the heavy, primitive aid with silk and lace garments. The lightweight and soft lingerie serves as a contrast to the heavy and uncomfortable Sonotone devices. I explored options where the processing unit and battery packs could be strategically placed to allow maximum comfort and manoeuvrability for the wearer. Being deaf and having expertise in fashion design meant that I could come up with a solution which fashion designers couldn’t back then as there wouldn’t have been many opportunities for deaf designers.