One British jewellery designer Lili Murphy-Johnson decided to embrace her female body, and has designed her latest collection inspired by her menstrual cycle.
The pieces, which include red beading sewed into clothing, rings adopting bright rubies and coloured stones, as well as sanitary towel shaped rings might be making a statement with their bold colours, but have since been deemed “inappropriate” content by Etsy.
Murphy-Johnson told The Huffington Post that she was originally motivated after seeing the backlash artist Rupi Kaur suffered for posting her “period photos” on Instagram.
They were later banned from the image sharing social network.
Speaking to The Huffington Post, the 22-year old agreed that although some of her photos were quite graphic, she believes the images she is bombarded with on a daily basis are more offensive that her own work.
“My collection is inspired by menstruation and the frustrating, leaking female body.
“I wanted to create beautiful jewellery out of something that is conventionally seen by society to be shameful.”
Starting with her own body, Lili explains:
“The initial inspiration was my own PMS. The anxiety and irritation was holding back my work and I was struggling to find a concept to develop, so I decided to replicate the symptoms of what I was dealing with into jewellery.”
The young designer has received a mixed reaction to her collection which includes three parts: “Period Paraphernalia, “Blood” symbolised by the red rings, and “PMS” focussing on the hormonal mood swings associated with premenstrual syndrome.
Embracing her femininity, Lili adds:
“Periods should be a normal thing to talk about, but so often we feel embarrassed.”
The designer added that she wanted to celebrate the female form by breaking down the same stereotypes of modern day society’s acceptance of what is ‘beautiful’
“…women in adverts are celebrated and admired when they’re in underwear or dresses and have makeup on and their hair styled. However, if that women is visibly menstruating, I think it would change a lot of people’s perception of her, even though it is a very normal thing for a woman’s body to do.”
Images: The Huffington Post/ Lili Murphy-Johnson
