My concept is based on resistance, exploring the link between fashion and resistance. I investigated the punk movement during the '70s and '80s, the musical Cabaret and the relationship between the ruling class and the working class. I was influenced by the aesthetics of the punk subculture and the costuming of Cabaret – the musical is based on the political apathy felt by the characters centring the cabaret house The KitKat Club during the rise of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. These ideas mirror the modern rise of far-right ideas in both the UK and the US.

The relationship between the ruling class and working class strongly reminded me of the dynamics between predator and prey animals, I looked at prey defence mechanisms which directly inspired my designs. Deimatic behaviour, when an animal makes themselves look bigger to ward off predators (such as the frill-necked lizard), inspired me to incorporate pleating into my designs, as the wearer moves the garment opens, becoming unapologetically bigger. I was also inspired by the camouflage defence, which led me to develop my own prints that I called ‘urban camouflage’ – I photographed concrete pavements and roads and took them into photoshop for screenprinting. I printed the designs over the pleated pieces to emphasise the pleats as they open.