Student who survived cancer creates clothing range to support others

A fashion undergraduate who survived cancer in her teens has designed a clothing range to support women who are going through the same experience.

Olivia Hodson, 25, has created garments to help female cancer patients manage some of the physical and psychological impacts of the disease and its treatments.

Her designs have been put on show for the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) Graduate Festival 24, which sees hundreds of final year art and design students putting their work on public display.

Oliva, who had blood cancer aged 16 and received four months of chemotherapy, has designed four outfits and made a prototype coat and dress.

The garments are designed for patients who have to wear medical equipment beneath their clothes for months at a time, in order to receive ongoing chemotherapy, and to allow clinicians to carry out treatment without the patient having to disrobe.

They are also made with bamboo fabric which avoids irritating the patient’s skin if it has become sensitive following chemotherapy treatment.

But to the outside world, the garments appear as ordinary clothes and can be worn out and about to allow for patients to carry on with their lives as normally as possible.

“Ordinary clothes can cause cancer patients physical pain,” said Oliva, from Over in Cambridgeshire, who is studying BA Fashion Design at the Nottingham School of Art & Design.

“They can pull on medical devices that patients have to wear, such as PICC lines or chest ports, so wearing normal clothes is impractical. They also can’t accommodate fluctuations in a person’s temperature.

“The clothes that are out there for cancer patients are meant for older people, so wearing them as a young person can make the whole ordeal unnecessarily worse as you can lose your sense of personal identity.

“No one wants to have these issues while they’re going through cancer. As well as the functionality, there’s the stigma.

“It’s unpleasant to have people looking at you and just identifying you as a cancer patient. The best way to address this is to make these clothes completely normal looking.”

The aesthetic of the range is inspired by coral jewellery which was used historically to ward off illness and evil. The design is also timeless, seasonless and ageless.

Olivia chose to stay away from designing garments for mastectomy patients as she felt this part of the market was already well served.

Her coat is oversized to give space at the arms and shoulders for peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) lines to be worn underneath which deliver chemotherapy directly to the heart.

It also helps disguise any possible changes in a patient’s weight which they may feel conscious of. The sides expand as the wearer lifts his or her arms for ease of movement.

Five magnetic poppers are used to fasten the coat instead of a zip or buttons, to help people with dexterity issues or fatigue.

The coat is also designed to feel like a weighted blanket to provide a sense of safety and warmth for body temperature changes.

The lining of the coat is made from bamboo fabric which is soothing to the skin as a common side effect of chemotherapy can be sore, dry and more sensitive skin.

Weaving on the front, back and bottom of the garment provides the wearer with a comforting tactile feel when they may be stressed.

The dress is designed for daywear, not just hospital appointments.

It is made of bamboo jersey and is loose-fitting with a belt that it can tightened or loosened for changes in body weight.

The raglan sleeves allow for a seam which creates an opening for clinicians to access the arms without the patient needing to remove clothing.

The dress features 19 poppers along the sleeves and chest to allow access to things like chest ports or for bloods to be taken. The long sleeves provide warmth to arms so that veins can be found easier.

Access is available to the abdomen area via the poppers which can be useful for colostomy bags, injections, or the examination of lymph nodes.

The dress also covers the ankles for people who have to wear compression socks and protect the skin in case anyone has developed a sensitivity to the sun.

The dress can also be put on without the wearer having to lift it over their head.

“I was so affected by my clothing, but many people have had much worse experiences than me,” said Olivia.

“If you’re restricted in your clothing choices you can only show yourself as an unwell person. There needs to be a choice – that’s the best way to help people not lose their sense of identity.

“I didn’t want to meet people as the person with cancer. I was bald and everything else you expect a cancer patient to be. But sometimes you don’t want everyone to know the problems you’re facing in your life.

“Being seen as a normal person was really important for me - because you still are a normal person. You don’t want to be viewed as the person who has cancer. I didn’t want that to be my entire identity. I didn’t want to be seen as a disease.”

Emma Prince, senior lecturer in Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University, said: “Oliva has taken her personal experience of surviving cancer and used it to inform how clothing can be created to help other women.

“When you consider that one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in our lifetimes, these designs have the potential to improve the experience for thousands of women who will unfortunately face the same physical and psychological challenges of this awful disease.”