By Gussy

Sometimes when times are tough, a girl needs a little something to shield herself from the more objectionable aspects of the big bad world. Something to protect her and give her the power to cut down any obstacles standing in her way. In Spring/Summer 2010, Gemma Slack is helping women to do just that.

This Sheffield born-and-raised designer moved to London to develop a natural flair for art, enrolling in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, before being encouraged to try her hand at fashion design. The switch from painting and sculpting to sewing saw her move to the London College of Fashion, where she studied Fashion Design Technology Womenswear and graduated with a first-class honours degree.

After graduating from the London College of Fashion, Slack spent two years as an apprentice with Gareth Pugh. She first showed off-schedule at London Fashion Week for Spring/Summer ‘09, with a gothic collection of black, textured pieces, inspired by beasts and Nosferatu. She has worked both as a designer and as a stylist for Superbox Productions and T4, and has completed research for Century Films. Her interest in fine art endures, and her work has been exhibited in the United Kingdom, Australia and Korea. She was also recently selected to hold an exhibition at the National Gallery of China.

Gemma Slack is renowned for creating tailored garments from a combination of unusual materials, and Spring/Summer ’09 is a perfect demonstration of her exceptional skill. She was inspired by fetishised super-heroines and metal girls: leather and suede sit side-by-side by aluminium and steel metals to provide modern women with the perfect garb for asserting their very own super-powers. Feminine curves are highlighted via strategic cuts, and modern-day Wonderwomen clad in leather bikinis and metal are taking the world, and their sexuality, into their own hands.

Cut leather drapes seductively and caresses curves like a second skin, and there are echoes of Jean Paul Gaultier’s conical bra – famously championed by the original Sexual Superwoman herself, Madonna. Bodices are reinforced with metal plates and pagoda-like structures protrude over shoulders and hips– the final word in 21st century armour. Über-fem-bots are clad in rockabilly-style circle skirts recast in jet-black studded leather, or shiny silver metal – perfect for the magpie in all of us – while cutaways bare skin, but not vulnerabilities.

It’s certainly a dark collection for Spring/Summer ‘09, but maybe that’s exactly what’s needed – after all, it’s always darkest before the dawn.

All pictures from www.gemmaslack.com