Safety-pin Jacket

The Safety-pin jacket (1978) created by american artist Mark Mahall (1949-1978).

" Mahall's glistening meditation on pattern and texture, created by sticking a commercial vinyl bomber jacket with thousands of brass safety pins, could also be read as golden armour for a modern day hero, or a gentler, wearable-art version of Punk fashion."

I got this from the same book as the hand painted coat. This jacket links well with the punk movement, as like said in the description it's a "wearable-art version of Punk fashion", as the safety pins are an unusual object to use in normal clothing but isn't unheard of in some punk clothing. Also, the fact that it is a bomber jacket links to punk, as it suggests the wearer is rebellious.

This jacket reminds me of Leigh Bowery's Levi Strauss & Co jacket, which she customised with gold hair pins. Therefore, I can imagine the weight of the safety pin jacket to be very heavy too.

I find the direction of the safety pins very interesting as it creates a wave of textures, which can not be copied.

The method used in this jacket to show the wearers personality, individuality or role, is how the safety pins are used to create rough textures, reflecting on how the punk wearer wishes to be unique and against being normal.

I decided to try and imitate the textures that could be created on fabric using safety pins, and it worked out OK. However, I had to use seven boxes  of safety pins and the process took awhile, so now I have any idea of how long and expensive making that jacket would of been.

I managed to create quite a lot of texture though using the safety pins.

I also placed it on my shoulder to see how it lays on the body. I noticed from doing this, that the safety pins on the top of the shoulder sticks out.