The Court of Nightmares Collection explores how characters present themselves in the Court of Nightmares faction of the Night Court Society from “A Court of Thorns and Roses” book series by Sarah J Maas. This was achieved through local centric, slow fashion and the sensory imagination of materials for character embodiment. The Court of Nightmares is cut-throat and viscous. This faction is located in a city under a mountain, full of dark tunnels and cavernous spaces, a never-ending maze of stone chambers.

 

I successfully embodied the characters from A Court of Mist and Fury through sensory design. In the video, the soundtrack created the moody, dark atmosphere that would have been felt in the Court of Nightmares. The tactile experience of the rough, cold rock also reinforced the cut-throat and cold nature of the city and the embodied experience of being in the city under the mountain. The close-up shots of the garments conveyed the tactile nature of them.

 

During the design development, the sheer amount of time and resources it took to create the dress made me realise just how much it was worth and that to be able to create/sell it sustainably, it would need to have a very high price tag. Also, the amount of waste I created through using the machine embroidery shocked me and I would like to look at ways to reduce the waste in future.

 

Through sharing the process of making my collection on social media, I have tried to educate people on the amount of time that goes into creating pieces like my dress. I think making people realise the craftsmanship that goes into creating high fashion will help them to understand why it needs to be priced the way it is for it to be sustainable. Sharing the process online also allows people to be involved with the tactile sensory experience of creating the pieces. The biggest challenge in creating this collection was time because I chose to make a very detailed and time-consuming garment. In the end I had to ask for help to complete it as the hand stitching of the petals onto the dress took approximately 48hrs after the hundreds of hours spent creating the embroidery pieces and getting them positioned perfectly onto the dress.