SHADOW Proposal week 7

Shadow Proposal – Week 7 (This may overlap some of the previous posts..)

‘The basis of the philosophy of clothing and fashion, i.e. the well-dressed person’s inner worth is demonstrated and/or increased by the magnificence of the wrapping which surrounds his or her person’[i]

Being dressed is a way of feeling protected within your surroundings. These surroundings could be touching you or not. Being enclosed or covered is a way of feeling dressed, and therefore comfortable and protected. The idea of wrapping your body is an interesting concept in dressing the form. This act of dressing can be done anyway the person feels. My research has been based around wrapping the body as a form of dressing. To be wrapped in one mode or another gives the sense of being dressed or protected in some way.

The workshops we did in relation to our topic shadow have directed me to look at this Shadow in a very different way; which leads me to a series of ideas that I have based my research for this studio around;

Can the Feeling of compression or touch on the skin be a shadow of the wrapping/dressing, not just the physical marks?

A shadow – A feeling (or imprint) after an action; this could be physical or psychological.

A shadow has been made by the material onto the body – but if it doesn’t leave a physical imprint on the body can you still feel that it has left you feeling imprinted somehow?

Does a Shadow have to be seen or could it be only felt by the wearer; as it is a consequence of an action it necessarily isn’t seen.

Is a shadow like the aftermath or result of an action?

Can a memory or reaction be a shadow?

The exploration of Shadow in relation to the above questions has given some key words to focus on during this project for my research, assessment and outcomes;

Wrapping

Skin

Imprint

Compression

This project has shifted away from the initial shadow research and is focused on the feeling of compression on the skin or material and whether this can be a shadow and does it even need to be seen? Or just felt. This can be done through many different ways but this project is focusing on medical methods of body wrapping:

§ Dressing the skin; wrapping wounds and healing the body through wrapping. This is looking at sectional wrapping as well of healing which may contradict other modes of wrapping in this research. Also looking at how he body changes – feelings the wearer may have before/during/after the experience

§ Mummification – the process of mummification is a fascinating way of dressing and the different techniques used through this ritual can be implemented into my experimental works.

§ Religious and cultural practices – such as Chinese foot binding and ancient Egyptian head binding. How these alter the body and consequences from the way these wrappings have been performed. Dressing in veil; how bodies are concealed for religious and cultural practices.

Through research into these different practices I will be looking at how it affects ones self and what factors contribute to this; in relation to Shadow (skin imprinting: a result of compression on the skin.)

• § Time
• § Physical vs. psychological imprints
• § Natural vs. unnatural marking
• § Types of compression and application
• § Pain

Throughout my exploration I will be looking at compression via wrapping the body, trialing different ways to achieve this and essentially implementing this into garment outcomes. Further research into this topic will help define my outcomes but effectively will directly relate to the experiments with wrapping/compression/body. Research into Medical practices will help with wrapping techniques, fabrics, colours, transparencies and compression for outcome development. I would like to look at using elastic and stretch materials in conjunction with binding and wrapping techniques throughout the developmental and toiling process.

A shadow workshop earlier in the semester using light and obstacles has motivated research into transparent materials, looking at densities and layers on the skin. The layers and grades of transparency create an interesting effect using light; in the same way as a x-ray would transfer information, this will work well with the medical idea I am working with.

Alongside the garment outcomes I will produce a series of images that define my research – using my outcomes but also experiments with the body using methods of wrapping and skin imprinting.

Development of project and outcomes: Firstly researching in 2d looking at techniques and history of body wrapping. Then applying these techniques to the body to initiate design development (also alongside 2d development from imagery). Using skin imprinting research and history of medical materials to influence fabrics, drape, silhouette, also using elastic to design garments – highlighting compression. Research into these areas more thoroughly will help determine exactly what I will be producing or how I will go about this and whether this will be refined.

Artists Christo and Jeanne Claude relate to my research, however their work is about altering the environment rather than wrapping itself. Their techniques are similar to what I have been researching but in a bigger scale.

Fetish and bondage trends used in Herve Leger (s/s 09) and Rodarte (s/s 09) although are not directly related in research still have an interesting design aesthetic that related to wrapping and the body.

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[i] Gell, A 1993, Oxford Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology; Cultural Forms, Wrapping in Images;Tatooing in Polynesia, Oxford University Press