DESIGN:Singer Lady Gaga is among the fans of Roscommon-born designer Úna Burke's extraordinary leather pieces, which explore the effects of trauma on the human body and mind, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN
THE LATEST FASHION designer to catch Lady Gaga’s eye is none other than former Limerick School of Art Design student Úna Burke, from Roscommon, who has just graduated with an MA in fashion artefacts from Central Saint Martins in London. The US singer commissioned eight pieces from Burke, via her Italian-Japanese stylist Nicola Formichetti, for her worldwide Monster Ball tour. Since Burke’s extraordinary leather creations went on exhibition in London, she has been under siege from enthusiastic stylists, fashion agents, photographers and even book publishers with requests for her work.
Based on body shapes and made in flesh-coloured leather, her pieces are executed with great workmanship and attention to detail. “I’ve always been interested in fashion and fine art, so I ended up making a collection of sculptural pieces based on the human body and trauma,” she says, explaining that each item, in ethical, vegetable-tanned leather, consists of some 300 pattern pieces, with 700 brass fittings held together with screws. “The leather is hand-cut, glued back to back and leather lined so you can see the inside construction.” The effect is otherworldly.
Reminiscent of the clinker-built construction of wooden boats, each leather piece overlaps the other. “I was interested in how the mind deals with trauma. What is really interesting is how you heal and change, and leather changes too, it has its own growth, so the whole thing goes back to fine art. Every decision regarding this collection came together in different elements of the concept, even in the way it was displayed in exhibitions,” she says.
Some pieces show arms trapped at the back – “it could be from domestic violence, war trauma, torture. I studied the psychology of war trauma and I myself had a childhood trauma which I didn’t deal with for years. I was constantly battling with it and didn’t have much confidence. After counselling, I became interested in psychology and the whole idea of taking a negative event and making something positive out of it”. Burke cites artists Tracey Emin, Anthony Gormley, Hans Bellmer and the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen as all having suffered disturbing childhood experiences that later informed their work. “Fashion can be so fickle and shallow that it’s nice to have a deeper level.”
The reaction has surprised and overwhelmed her. “It’s amazing; I can’t come to terms with it. I’ve had around 33 requests from all over the world. The pieces have been in Dazed and Confused, have been photographed for Numéro magazine and five items have gone to New York to be photographed by Stephen Klein.” She has had five exhibitions in London and been shortlisted for the Golden Fleece Award artistic fund. Despite her success, “I’m really broke and have not figured out how to produce all this stuff”.
However, she has started to supply Coco de Mer, the luxury “erotic emporium” run by Sam Roddick, (younger daughter of the late founder of The Body Shop, Anita Roddick) with cinch belts and corsets. She praises Sam’s human rights work, and the installation Bondage for Freedom (currently in Trafalgar Square), which Roddick organised with a number of artists including Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor, to create awareness of the victims of international sex trafficking.
As for Lady Gaga, unsurprisingly, Burke has become a fan. “I think she’s really good because she’s different and I think it is really interesting that she is not afraid to make herself ugly and unattractive and to take on weird shapes. And her songs deal with real topics.”
For Gaga she has supplied leg, arm and head pieces, and a bodysuit with a hood, not only bound to make a strong visual impact on stage, but also to take this Roscommon designer’s ideas to a wider audience.
DISTINCTIVE VISIONS
“All great pop is transformative, but Gaga takes things to new extremes” wrote a critic having seen the 23-year-old singer at the opening of the UK leg of her Monster Ball tour in Manchester. Costume has always been a key part of performance and pop singers from Madonna to Róisín Murphy and beyond know the power of outrageous theatricality and arresting visual spectacles on stage and video.
The physical distortions of Gaga’s imagery, however, and the artful play with blood and bandaging, have a darker side and set her apart from the usual come hither routines favoured by many female artists.
Behind the scenes is the influential Japanese-Italian Nicola Formichetti, creative director of Dazed Confused and fashion director of Vogue Homme in Japan and one of the most sought-after stylists in the world.
He directs magazines, consults for fashion brands including Uniqlo and Prada and works with artists. A stellar list of clients includes the late Alexander McQueen and the young avant garde London designer Gareth Pugh, along with celebrities such as Chloë Sevigne. Dividing his time between London, New York and Tokyo, he describes his style as modern and traditional, eastern and European.
He met Gaga having done a shoot with her for the July issue of V magazine. “It was an instant love,” he told an interviewer. “She was so different. She fell in love with some of my things like the Orbit hat by Nasir Mazha.” Now he chooses things for her that are new, “that no one has seen before, that are a bit tongue in cheek and outrageous. And that maybe some people would hate.”
Given that her Monster Ball tour involves flaming pianos, fountains, simulated vomit and giant undersea monsters and Gaga dressed like a yeti with over-sized lampshade hats by Nazir Mazha, it will be interesting to see how Úna Burke’s body pieces fit into this repertoire of shock tactics, as well as the shoes and boots Burke has been asked to make for the star. In the meantime, interest in Burke’s work continues apace. Her pieces were exhibited throughout London Fashion Week and may show in Paris next September.
A wealthy US client has just commissioned another conceptual piece of hers from NotJustALabel.com, through which she is now selling.
