Kimberley Horvath

Using the brand C.P Company, I decided to base this project around firefighting. C.P Company is an Italian Sportswear brand, who takes inspiration from military uniform and workwear. Using C.P Company, I was able to apply my concept of firefighting, and I was able to produce an innovative menswear collection based upon historical and modern day firefighting. My main inspiration comes from heritage with my grandad being a retired firefighter, who served from the 1970’s to the early 1990’s and my dad who has been been a firefighter since 2000.  Having listened to my dad and my grandad speak about their experiences in different generations of firefighting, it is understandable that firefighting was a very male dominated career,  where as in todays society, the fire service have produced equal opportunities with gender equality. Historically, firefighter PPE uniforms were designed for men, being a double breasted, tailored suit. The tailored suit is often associated with masculinity and importance, but isn’t associated with fire safety and protection as it is in the modern day. Reflecting back on this kind of uniform, it is very hard to believe that this protected firefighters from severe injuries. The modern day firefighters have highly protected PPE, which has come away from the double breasted, military styled uniform. It is a more practical and technical silhouette that is designed for both males and females. The firefighter uniform is highly recognised and is a symbol of importance and protection within communities. From listening to both my dad and my grandad, firefighting has always and will always be a highly rewarding, yet unpredictable job. When producing this project, I have taken C.P. Company’s philosophy and technical fabrics, as well as firefighter safety and uniformity into account. I have put both research points together to produce a project and collection that shows the collaborations of the modern and historical firefighter and different materials and fabrics that firefighters use as protection, such as foils, foam and water.