Christopher Markquart

Christopher Markquart

Collection

Bio

With craftsmanship, intention and obsessive details at the heart of his design philosophy, Christopher Allyn Markquart focuses on curating a wide variety of skillsets while specializing in leatherwork, tailoring and hair work. Collaboration is a key part of his creative processes, finding it consistently leads to deeper and more meaningful discoveries within his work.

Video: The Dressage Habit is designed to reveal pathways of connection between the horse and rider. Drawing upon distant yet familiar relations by studying a range of historical and modern horsemanship, the collection is designed to have a sense of familiarity or nostalgia. By observing my mother and other individuals’ relationship to their equine partners, I aim to draw out the nuances of these inter-species dynamics. Seeing a world through research, conscious, and informed choices was an integral part of recontextualizing and separating dressage away from its militaristic and patriarchal roots without ignoring its origin. Thus, allowing others to see themselves within an otherwise exclusionary sport. The collection naturally evolved into a “study of relationships”. Requiring myself to further examine, not only the horse and rider relationship, but the relationships I needed to create, curate and sustain because of this project. The Dressage Habit was only possible due to my personal belief that fashion is at its peak as a communal practice.
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Throughout the making process it was important to create garments utilizing my skills to the fullest. Tailoring, leatherwork and hairwork were all key choices that allowed me arrive at unique silhouettes. I was constantly challenging and pushing what I was designing through what I understood within making.

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