Welmoed Bosch
Fashion Design and Writing

Phantom bodies

A garment in an exhibition, detached from its flesh counterpart, can have an alienating effect. Quivering on a hanger or mannequin it becomes, in the words of fashion theorist Elizabeth Wilson, a “desolate shell”. This series of textile objects explores the phantoms of bodies in exhibited garments.

Made possible through the generous support of CBK Rotterdam.

Jacket

Ripping a garment from its everyday, embodied existence and placing it in an exhibition transforms its functionality. From something we live with, it becomes an artefact that may only be looked at. When a garment finds itself in this curious predicament, what is left for it to do? Devoid of movement and tactile qualities, under carefully positioned spotlights, it does not get to act as a garment. It becomes an almost purely visual thing.

While the living, breathing body is absent, exhibited garments still echo bodies. There is an abstracted corporeality designed into the clothing itself. How literally does the body need to be present for the object to still be considered a garment? ‘Phantom Bodies’ morphs, flattens, and abstracts these bodily echoes.

Red (front)

Red (back)

Armpit/Oksel

A businessman’s lingerie

Pencil/Koker

A pair of jeans or a dancer’s calves

Torso #1

Blue

Thingies are bodies are thingies

White #2 (detail), half handspun flax on linen

White #1

Suiting the Body

Suiting the Body proposes an alternative approach to traditional tailoring. The men’s suit has symbolic meanings which seem contradictory. It was designed in accordance with Enlightenment ideals of rationality which denounce physicality. Meanwhile, it was modelled after an ideal male body in Greek sculpture. The rejection of the physical and striving for a ‘life of the mind’ is countered by a very erotic emphasis on the body underneath.

The suit emphasizes anatomy by showing a singular interpretation of a man’s body. Although tailored suits are made specifically for individuals, their bodies are still translated into garments within a pre-defined system. This causes us to perceive bodies in a fixed way.

This series uses a different method: by casting a body, the form can be unfolded and laid flat like an orange peel. Garments created from this emphasize shapes which traditional suits smooth out: protruding shoulder blades, bulging crotches and clearcut calves.

Developed as Designer in Residence at EMMA Pforzheim. (2022)

Film by Robben Fuhler
Models: Dominic and Dany
Jewellery by Franziska Lyon

Special thanks to the team at EMMA Pforzheim.

Practising Solidarity

Contributed chapter on the standardisation of bodies in industrial clothing production to Practising Solidarity (2025), edited by Daniëlle Bruggeman, Artez University Press.

Find it at Idea Books.

Dressing the Body

Why is clothing created for our bodies based on flat shapes (patterns) rather than our physical bodies?

In ‘Dressing the Body’ I develop clothing using a method of patternmaking which takes the concrete body as its foundation, rather than its abstraction in pattern.

Art direction/videography: Robben Fuhler
Models: Monika, Ton, Sachia, Serdal, Mina, Robben

Special thanks to Robben, without whom this shoot would have never been possible. (Not many people will direct, roll the camera and model simultaneously.)