MARÍA LEÓN
1984
Spain
SELF-CONFIDENCE WARDROBE. 2010. Textile, sculpture, texts, photography, video. Installation
The personal story behind the project begins with my mother´s fur coat. Exiled to the back of the wardrobe, it caught my eye while I was putting in order an amount of old clothing. It was summer. Nevertheless, I did not hesitate to try it on and take a look in the mirror. It evoked an incredible feeling of protection when I realized that the garment represented a shelter offered by my mother.
From then on, I started to be interested in the functions of clothing, especially those referring to the provision of warmth and protection. Obviously, clothes serve not only to keep us warm, but also to protect human beings from the elements, as well as from insects or enemies in general, acting as amulets.
The idea of self-confidence wardrobe is based on the premise that one of the fundamental purposes of clothing is to protect the body against its surroundings. It is known that determining what kind of clothes to wear depends on several factors. One does not put on the same outfit for sport and job interviews. That is why I constantly feel the need to wear special clothing in order to fulfil everyday expectations.
I went through a personal crisis when I decided to list my fears. I definitely needed “security dresses” as a possibility for self-help and self-expression to emerge from that period of time. As a result, the wardrobe contains a range of garments to protect myself against my fear of darkness, public speaking, flying, driving and love. Thus: dress for childhood fears, dress to defend a thesis, dress to fly safely, dress to drive for the first time and dress for a hurried declaration of love.
Made in a society where people are required to be constantly seen, all the dresses incorporate accordingly high-visibility elements and bright fabrics. They have been made of protective materials in a magical sense and were inspired by my lucky clothes. Furthermore, my mother has helped me to sew them. Her love is, in fact, symbolized by the security dresses, as it was by her fur coat.
Project self-confidence wardrobe has successfully helped me to face various emergency situations in my personal experience.
(Collection has also a dress to forget about you, but don’t worry, nobody knows who you are. It is in the back of the wardrobe, as deactivated as my mother´s fur coat was, waiting to be used. Because, you know, I am not afraid of the future. Not anymore.)
