The origin of the Spectre Dress
#hatfest #aperiodic #transpride #fashion #math #openuniversity

So the origin of the spectre dress is relatively mundane and silly. Following a rough period of early transition (I started in 2022) I felt like I was finally starting to hit my stride and could feel my confidence growing. I'd purchased a trans pride-themed dress from an Etsy seller earlier in the year which had been attracting a lot of positive attention, and since I consider my transition and my journey through mathematics to be intimately related, I wanted to combine the two.

Originally I wanted to contact Stefan Pautze [http://pautze.de/] and use a colour variation of one of his designs (rough version pictured), as I've always been a huge fan of his art and I'd also met him in-person at the exhibition in memory of Uwe Grimm in 2022 where we hit it off. At this point it was still just a kernel of an idea, nothing concrete. But then two things happened in a short span of time. Hatfest was announced, and the spectre tiling was discovered about two weeks later. The idea for the dress instantly crystallized, and I got in contact with the same Etsy seller who did my pride dress to ask about a custom design. (0/8)

One of my highlights of #hatfest was getting my monotile scarf signed by David Smith, @csk and Chaim Goodman-Strauss. Now just to track down Joseph for the whole set 😜