This thesis will discuss the influences that initiated my collection of overcoats. It will also discuss the issues of fashion, its evolutionary development, and the importance of the fashion's physical and psychological impact on our society.

Modern technological developments in the textile industry impact conventional construction methods in garment design, pushing costume and fashion designers to invent nontraditional approaches. A cutting edge fashion design exhibit, Breaking the Mode, originating in Los Angeles County Museum of Art, demonstrates that contemporary fashion designers are striving to “establish new aesthetic principals of fashion—in the construction, materials, form, and ultimately, in the concept or meaning of clothes to the designer, wearer, and audience.”

Looking into the Eastern world's fashions and its impact on Western Europe and the United States, Breaking the Mode presented Japanese designers whose work caused a breakthrough in the design of Western clothing at the end of the 1970s. This global influence provided new aesthetics for the Western World.

In this thesis I will compare two methods for creating a garment. These methods come from the world of theatrical costume design, on one hand, and the arena of fashion design, on the other. I also will discuss the notion of designer's and wearer's identities within fashion, and the presence of costume designer's and character's identities in a theatrical production.

The pieces in my show demonstrate the visual and sensory connection between modern and futuristic styles. The major inspiration comes from the image of the Femme Fatale, the archetypal deadly seductress. This image, as well as the image of Japanese Anime, is reflected in the materials chosen for my work.

The installation method of suspending the garments suggests the sculptural feel that takes my work out of its ordinary context, while still helping the viewer to sense the human form.