Rosie Broadhead
Rosie Broadhead is an apparel designer specialising in biomaterials in the fashion industry. She is a graduate from Central Saint Martins’ MA ‘Material Futures’; course and has a background as designer and Head of Sustainability at sportswear brand Perfect Moment and R&D at Rapha. She is interested in the interaction between skin and clothing, and how science and technology will influence the future of fashion.
Through a collaboration with Ghent University, her recent work focuses on developing ‘Probiotic Clothing’ a research project which adds function to textiles with minimal impact on the environment and uses technology that works in synergy with the body. More recently she has co-founded Surface Tension, a platform centred around realising the positive potential of materials.
SKIN SERIES
The skin is the largest organ of the human body, serving as a primary defence, a sensory and an excretory medium. Its semi-permeable nature plays an important role that coordinates the functions of our whole body. Therefore, what we put on and next to our skin has a direct impact on our bodies. As such, our health is shaped by our environment.
‘Skin Series’ explores the interaction between our clothing and the skin. Rosie looks to nature to inform her focus on developing garments that provide health benefits to the skin with less impact on the environment. The seaweed material developed, explores the benefits of encapsulating naturally derived or active ingredients into the fibres of clothing. Seaweed is rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids, which have known therapeutic benefits to the skin and body. Such properties can improve the immune system of your skin, encourage cell renewal, and holds antioxidant capacity. These benefits can in turn help treat skin conditions such as neurodermatitis and psoriasis and inhibit the formation of free reactive oxygen species, which can alter cell membranes and attack the genetic material of cells.
The focus is on observing what is natural in our bodies to explore how we can create sustainable yet functional clothing and replacing the need for toxic chemicals used in the production of textiles and garments. Skin Series aims to highlight the bodies intimate relationship with the skin as a permeable membrane covering the body. By exploring the current and future possibilities of these therapeutic materials, it becomes possible to view clothing and the body as one entity.
3D Artwork in collaboration with Larissa Siems.
