Shear Wristwear

2004

The inevitable joint of a leather bracelet, normally “out of sight, out of mind,” is exposed and used as the framing device in the Shear Wristwear to redirect the wearer’s sensual focal point to the hand. In one of the bracelet’s advertising materials, traditional notions of sexuality are further challenged through provocative photographic imagery: the bracelet is worn on a masculine arm holding a bundle of horsetail reeds, which obscures any clear indication of gender. Meanwhile, the model’s protruding shoulder blades disrupt the viewer’s expectation of seeing female breasts, questioning our preconceived ideas and desire for gender confirmation and sensory pleasure.

Constructed of belt-weight leather, laser-cut and packaged with its “off-cut”, which is typically discarded, this object is displayed in its flattened format and blossoms into its three-dimensional form when assembled and worn.