‘The Joys of Commuting’ is a project exploring negative and positive experiences with public transport in London, with an aim to make journeys a little more exciting. As someone who enjoys commuting for the time I can spend with my own thoughts, I wanted to try and bring some amusement to an activity that is generally seen as a nuisance.
My research began with two photographers: Michael Wolf and Julie Poly. I was interested in trying to combine elements from their opposing photographic depictions of train travel — the miserable and the joyful.
From people-watching at Waterloo Station, I became interested in how people change their clothes for commuting. For example, rolling up sleeves for high temperatures on the tube, or combining sportswear with work wear for greater comfort. These adaptations begin to tell the story of a commute, giving clues about where people have been, or where they’re headed. This line of thought brought me back to Wolf’s work, where I looked further into the ‘contact points’ of people pressed against train windows during rush hour.
My later drapes looked at this idea of clothes being scrunched up under your arm or excessively layered to walk to and from trains, and I used these to inform silhouette and textile. The main textile in my final piece was the scrunched effect, which I arrived at by combining machine shirring with shapes from my ‘contact points’ research.
I set out to create something that would improve someone’s commute. With my final garments, I thought about how people would react to seeing them on their commute. For the wearer, I took from the adaptations people make for more comfortable travel, as well as creating a bit more personal space with a large hood.
As someone who enjoys commuting for the time I can spend with my own thoughts, I wanted to try and bring some amusement to an activity that is generally seen as a nuisance.