London based photographer and now filmmaker Steph Wilson collaborated with RCA graduate designer Sinéad O'Dwyer on her SS20 collection creating a moving image that instills femininity as it captures four different model's bodies with their skin bathing in sun spots and flesh weightlessly bobbing in water.

O'Dwyer pieces are modelled on friends, this year being artist Martina Dolcimascolo. The idea being one of sisterhood, inspired by the women around you. Each piece celebrates Dolcimascolo's figure through using curves and folds in silicone pieces dyed with bold shades of hot colours, from fuchsia to yellow. Dolcimascolo << Seen like this, I appreciate my body as a beautiful object, something worth exhibiting. It’s like when you see someone with oddly-coloured eyes. I see my body like that >>

The relaxed quality of the set, permeates the film, with a crew that's entirely female <<there was such an amazing atmosphere on set >>The director of photography, Josephine Owe, flew in from Sweden, and the likes of artist and friend Agusta Yr Gudmundsdottir among the model line-up. The other swimmers include Pelin Pelin, Ariish Wol, and Amalia Suárez-Pumariega de Nieves.

Wilson << I met Sinead after shooting one of her “Jade” pieces in an editorial and we hit it off immediately. There is such beauty and artistry in her designs and power in the story behind each mould. Her eye for pigment and texture physicalises that vibrancy so well: her pieces are alive! I wanted to create a film that harnessed that energy, along with their sensuality and political poignancy, but through a visual language filled with joy and light.

As a photographer, I focus strongly on similar themes including body politics and the celebration of female sexuality. The tonality of my prints, like Sinead’s pigments, are fundamental to the feel of my work. I think this alignment in our practise meant it was always going to evolve very naturally.

We worked on casting together as we felt it the most important element of creating the utopian, inclusive atmosphere of Sinead’s “world”. An all-female crew only unified this. The shoot day was such a feminine paradise that any photographer or director could dream of! >>

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