Hide&Seek: Appearance.

Brit van Nerven from Uden, Netherlands, wrote an article about the way in which women choose to reveal and conceal their bodies because of various reasons.

The extract below was found on her website, www.vanbrit.com, describing her collection.

"Daily life shows us a considerable variety in appearance. From women covering their skin totally to women ostentatiously showing their body and concealing nothing, and everything in between. Fascinated by these differences I started a research to find out more about how women want to cover their body and what to show and why. In conversation several women shared different but very specific opinions:

Written as well as unwritten rules related to culture, religion, social surroundings and trend play an important role in the degree of coverage. Written rules are often quite obvious like veiling your body because of religious beliefs, wearing cultural costume, dress according to the latest fashion or sub cultural dress codes.  When you read between the lines there are the unwritten rules, which are less obvious and determined individually. The unwritten rules are read between the lines, less obvious and determined individually. Women alter the vocabulary of do’s and don’ts according to their self-image and their wish to manifest themselves to the outside world. As women are quite specific in these opinions, they show a personal adapted style /palette of how they want to hide or emphasize their body shape and forms.

I translated my observations into a collection that is formed out of a modular system of different garment pieces. These pieces can be combined according to personal needs."

Brit Van Nerven is another one of the many designers that use the body and fashion as a way of expressing and communicating to the world the idea and theory behind why and how women conceal and reveal themselves through clothing.