Edie Flynn is a womenswear designer with a passion for details and garments that tell a story. Her work investigates and challenges social issues such as the contrived “selves” we present to the world, the male gaze and the impacts of toxic relationships on our mental health.

Flynn's recent Final Major Project explores emotional entrapment within unhealthy male and female power dynamics by drawing comparisons between contemporary relationship culture and the German folklore of the Erl-King, investigating how traditional folklore can be reinterpreted through a contemporary lens to transform narratives of entrapment into ones of empowerment, thus reclaiming agency through design. At first, the wearer of the garment feels trapped, representing emotional restriction and a lack of control, however after removing the hard outer shell, they discover that the cage around them is soft and stretchy, allowing them to escape from what is holding them back and to question its initial restricting power.