Grace Johnston began her college career as a fashion design student at Virginia Commonwealth University. But, she says, “I transferred out of the Fashion Design department because I felt that it limited my creative abilities. I guess I see myself more as an artist than a fashion designer, though I make clothing all the time and have since I was ten. Clothing, garments, and the body are my main focus here in the sculpture department. I want people to see clothing as art, not just something that you wear to cover yourself.” And, as the first-place winner of this year’s Uncommon Thread Wearable Art Show she did just that. The show featured two entries by Grace: “X-Travagant X-pansionism”, a snug, floor-length gown with a retractable peacock bustle inspired by Marie Antoinette, and the winner, “Curtsy: Exoskeleton”, a short, hourglass-shaped frock constructed of wooden hoops with a lifting mechanism. Though the “peacock dress”, as Grace refers to it, has won prizes in the past, the “curtsy dress” is actually an artistic mistake reworked for entry into Uncommon Thread. “I wasn’t pleased with the project,” says Johnston, “because it was just an inanimate object, not something that actually served a purpose.
