PHOTOSHOOT!

I collaborated with a group of amazing people –

Caitlin Jane McColl (photographer)

Elisa (hair and makeup)

Phoebe Jacobs (model)

The shoot went so well! I cant put any photos up yet obviously but they will be great (I hope)

And Phoebe was amazing and we didn’t need to direct or really do anything.

Although I started this design development thinking that I wouldn’t create wearable garments I am so happy with the way the turned very fashion-ish (if that makes sense?)

This is my last post for the semester as i am finishing up my folio! Ahhh only 3 days (since i volunteered to go on tuesday rather than wednesday....

Finishing up!

After a week of mad final-making I have finished the collection (unfortunately I could only fit in 4 finished garments not 5 like I had planned – plus the ribcage mannequin)

Here is some working process:

Trialing the neck line and armhole with lining

Some final photos from the basic block pattern:

Basic dress pattern: using boing and a silk suiting with polyester lining (fully lined - SO DIFFICULT)

Same dress - Basic dress pattern using a silk to contrast the previous garment

Very happy with the outcome – the fabrics really make a difference, im glad I spent so much time looking for the perfect combination.

The green is so horrible when you look at it on the roll… and then it makes for pretty cool lining!

Contrast

GARMENT 3: Structured dress.

Using the same process as the earlier garments, I have chosen a bodice pattern and extended it to fit the length of the ribcage.

This is fitted to the same using extra fabric to create pattern pieces. This is re-worked in the pattern stage to add in the extra volume.

The collection uses contrasting fabrics and techniques to highlight the silhouette and process of tailoring to another form. I have chosen to bone this garment to emphasize the silhouette reference.

This has a very similar pattern to the previous dress but is constructed in a different manner which changes the outcome completely.

I am hoping these garments still work together as a cohesive collection.

I would like to use a drawstring in the hem of this garment to pull in the shape a little.

Process and Context.

Using a basic dress pattern for the second garment I have added volume for the dress to fit the rib cage – using a fitting method that I learnt in corsetry.

This garment is toiled and recontextualised back to the human form.

- Again using rope to pull the dress into an interesting shape that flatters the body.

There is alot of extra fabric here which i was worried about and i wasn't sure how to use it...

After trialling some ideas I have used a drape and pinning method to bring this garment back to a form I am happy with.

I would like to hand sew tucks together where pieces meet to hide the volume similar to a sewn in tuck, but obviously the garment is still shows these voluminous qualities with movement

I haven't ditched the drawstring idea for this garment but i am using it to pull in the waist - i thought this would make the garment work well with the ribcage bodice block

I am using bright green and purple lining for the collection and this will be seen from different angles of the dress with movement and at the armholes. This follows on from my research into the ‘hidden garment’ that was explored in earlier projects. This gives a nice juxtaposition to the nude outerlayer.

Some Toiles of the ribcage in paper before moving into the aluminum. in hindsight i probably should have done i toile in a galvanised iron because its cheaper than aluminum but i ended up just fixing the ribcage instead of making a totally new one.

I like the drape of the ribcage in the paper, i incorperated this into my design development but i felt it was too obvious as a design for the collection, i wanted the collection to be quite minimal and subtle in the way it was informed by research, my work tends to end up like that...

Initial ribcage ideas and how this would sit on the body:

My proportions ended up being quite accurate and sat on the body a lot like this drawing!

Some earlier research into materials - i initially wanted to use this pleated material with dissolvable outerlayer which dissolved into the polyester and created and held a form such as this below....

3rd toile of the basic ribcage block:

The georgette compliments the drape well

I have relocated the drawstring to the hem and centre back seams for the final which pulls the garment up to a nice silhouette on the body rather than using the drawstring through the centrefront.

it has been a long time....

Collection Developement:

I have been busy with the collection for the past few weeks and neglected my blog a fair bit! plus i am staying with my parents and they have awful internet, im pretty sure its dialup...

My work has shifted a little more from my initial place earlier in the semester but I guess thats what happens….

After working on my ribcage mannequin I started my pieces – tailoring to the ribcage.

I began working by creating a ‘basic bodice’ for the body. This was then moved to the human body, then changing the fit to work within this context

Basic ribcage shape moved to the human body:

Experiementing with making the garment more visually appealing for the form using drawstrings and buttons so the garments has more than one purpose.

Splitting seams of the basic block to create arm holes.

Draping different fabrics on the form, trying to capture the cage with tucks.

2nd toile of the basic ribcage bodice:

Using just one string to change the shape of the entire garment on the human form.

Hem:

PROPOSAL/OUTCOMES: Death and Decay

A contemporary method of body sculpting using a unconventional ‘body’ for informing garments; then recontextualised to create abstract clothing….

The exploration of Mass burials and genocide in relation to the studio Death and decay has given some key components from the initial cultural research and burial garment that has influenced how my research and design development as shaped:

• Decomposition: Using research into bones and decomposing of bodies in mass to create ‘bodies’ and shapes
• Continuality of garments – translating this into design with long lines and shape to give a flowing feel to the garments as if they can be attached to one another
• Community – Garments work together as a collection or group
• Layers – Garments are layered, showing the overgarment (uniformity) and the undergarment (Personal/hidden)
• Systematic / Uniformity – Using elements of uniform and consistency through the undergarments
• Unidentifiable (bodies and spirits)
• The hidden garment – fabric and shape highlight a personality and character under the clean surface
• Colour Palette - Using a monochromatic palette that will work with the plain outerlayer, however textures and material themselves will be predominate in the collection. A monochromatic palette will be dominate through the research and some green and navy tones (possibly)

OUTCOMES: Garment Components

I have primarily worked the skeletal system to create a series of objects that will become the mannequin for the collection. Disproportion, exaggeration and repetition have been used to create bodies that which garments will be informed by in silhouette and shape. This collection is then brought back to a fashion context; being worn on the human form.

The Layers:

The Hidden Garment – This is a garment is the under-layer. Materials have been chosen to as a character or personality which then juxtaposes the outer more minimal/clean layer. These are quite soft delicate fabrics that are informed by the ‘body’. Techniques such as corsetry, drape and decorative techniques may be implemented into this research.

The Overgarment - this is derived from the research into mass graves and uniformity. Using this idea to create overgarments that are clean and systematic structures that hide the personality, which is apparent in the garment below. The textures and colour beneath the overgarment are unknown to the onlooker but only the wearer. These garments take a more architectural shape that contrast the softer under layers; the overgarment is more like a stronger skin.

PRESENTATION:

Secondary outcomes will be shown, some on and some off the body. Depending on results, fabric could be taken away from the ‘body’ and worn as a separate piece on the human form.

A series of images will accompany these outcomes to show the process used to create the final outcomes and a book will be created to capture the entire process of research through to the final outcomes.

Relevant and interesting design designers and methodologies:

Comme Des Garcon:

The Lumps and Bumps collection 1997 s/s

Working away from the body using unconventional shapes to inform garments that are then put back onto the body – the lump and bump cushion forms are taken away and the garments drape onto the body.

http://fagcity.blogspot.com/2009/10/lumps-and-bumps.html

Issey Miyake: Pleats please

Using pleating to create shape in the negative space around the body, making this become more relevant.

Junya Watanabe - Techno Couture

Pleating + Drape = amazing.

Viktor and Rolf:

The dipped in gold collection was quite an interesting way of time and sculpture are used in a fashion context..

Unconventional Body Objects: Phuong Thuy Nguyen

http://loosefriends.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/phuong-thuy-nguyen-4-600x805.jpg

Christian Dior:

Capturing the shape of the body

Balenciaga: silhouette

Looking at new methodological approaches in relation to silhouette and form that has been brought back onto the body.

Le Chou Noir evening cape, Cristobal Balenciaga, fall-winter 1967, photograph: Hiro Studio, left; cape ensemble, Olivier Theyskens, fall-winter 1999, photograph: Firstview.com

Andy Goldsworthy:

An artist that I thought was quite relevant to my work, he is informed by or evokes the passage of time. Working natural materials to create intensely personal artworks “movement, change, light, growth, and decay are the life-blood of natural, the energies that I try tap through my way” TIME by Goldsworthy. Sometimes the outcome of a work is actively anticipated and other sculptures are completed with no other certainty than that the elements, the growth of plants and trees, or the intervention of people or animals, will determine their futures. Revisiting a piece to discover its progress or fate is as important as making the work in the first place.

Essentially TIME is a huge part of my work as my ‘garments’ change and have different stages that also work with time, and progress or fate becomes the most anticipated part of the outcome.

5 lun*na menoh:

Drawing on clothing design as inspiration, Japanese-born artist Lun*na Menoh’s playful creations subtly reveal sobering themes of alienation, loss, and decay

Lucy Mcrae and Bart Hess:

I find their mediums so interesting, especially in relation to the body, again they are playing with time and it is very much a momentous outcome, never being able to create the same the again. Time plays a crucial part in the creation of this as it does in my work when the overgarment becomes malleable and your work is set on a timer, there is no time for mistakes.