Power Play is a self-published editorial project that interrogates the intersection of costume, character, and performance in sport. The title, borrowed from a tactical term used in games like hockey or rugby, evokes dominance, strategy, and exploitation of advantage—core themes in both sport and fashion. In this project, I co-opt these associations and weaponise them against the very traditions they belong to.
This isn’t simply a publication about sportswear. Power Play explores the performative nature of sport, the spectacle of the body, and how fashion can exaggerate, destabilise, and reclaim space within traditionally male-dominated sporting arenas. I use sports aesthetics not to glorify their function, but to subvert them—revealing their theatricality, their codes of masculinity, and their potential for sensuality and rebellion. Structurally, the publication follows the rhythm of a sporting event: Pre-Time, Half-Time, and Full-Time. Each section focuses on a specific sport and the stereotypes embedded within it, using editorial storytelling and styling to warp, reframe, and reclaim these narratives.
Pre-Time: Wrestling – Intimacy as Tension
Set in the hyper-physical, homoerotic world of amateur wrestling, Pre-Time explores how raw physicality can exist at the edge of discomfort. Inspired by photography that emphasises softness within aggression—bodies locked in holds, sweat-soaked skin, and vulnerable expressions—I present masculinity as something performative and unstable.
The styling heightens this discomfort: minimalist costumes suggest nudity without revealing it, forcing attention onto gesture, proximity, and emotional charge. The goal was to make power feel awkward, fragile even, asking the viewer to consider where dominance ends and desire begins.
Half-Time: The Changing Room
In Half-Time, the setting is a gritty, outdated locker room—traditionally a male-coded space of camaraderie and aggression. Here, I deliberately insert fluidity and spectacle. Styling choices THAT undermine the rigidity of the space.
This section challenges gender binaries, asking: what happens when sensuality infiltrates the sacred space of sport? I wanted the visuals to feel slightly absurd, almost mocking the inherited seriousness of sport.
Full-Time: Cricket – Cleanliness Corrupted
Cricket’s aesthetics are synonymous with purity, tradition, and restraint. The all-white uniforms, the ceremonial quality of the gear, and the sport’s colonial legacy provided rich ground for disruption. Here, I inserted androgynous into the narrative—not quietly, but provocatively.—a direct visual challenge to the masculine authority the sport exerts. I juxtaposed the sport’s reserved elegance with gritty, anarchic styling, using chainmail to parody protective gear and push the contrast further. This section speaks to the absurdity of cricket’s strict codes and the gendered rules embedded within its culture.
