Playing By The Rules

"Playing By The Rules" is a Fashion Thesis Film by Archisha S. about a group of students, suffocated by strict school uniforms and tired of waiting for Friday to feel free, boldly bend and remix the rules turning their weekday uniform into a fearless act of self expression.

"The idea for Friday Colour Dress, which is my women’s wear collection, came from my school days. We wore strict uniforms every day of the week, and only on Fridays were we allowed to wear anything we wanted. For most kids, that day was pure freedom and the one day for self expression and creative liberation. They hated the uniform and loved Friday colour dress. But for me, it was more complicated. I enjoyed Friday colour dress, but I never hated the uniform because it represented my family, and especially my grandmother, who owned the school. She was the one who handmade the uniforms in the early days when the institution was still small. My whole fashion journey really started with her. That made me think, “what would my grandmother have designed if she wasn’t bound by the societal norms of what a school uniform was supposed to look like? What if she had been free to treat the uniform itself as a creative canvas?” This collection is my way of reimagining that. It’s about channeling her creativity through my own eyes and finding balance between the discipline of the uniform and the liberation of Friday colour dress. Not a collision between the two, but a coexistence that plays by the rules. It’s a vision of what uniforms could be if they were fun, expressive, and liberating. In other words: what if every day felt like Friday colour dress?”