Outfit 1 Professional Image...

 

I am so pleased with this picture taken by David Lam of my first outfit. I love how all the blues and blacks work well together and the burst of red from the lips and beret. 

I've decided as my theme is Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, I am going to make my collection be about evolution through the life cycle of a person. Many of the items I looked at for shapes and textures were animals stuffed for taxidermy and placed inside glass boxes and jars. I thought even though these are really beautiful creatures, I still felt a bit sad that they are dead. And it got me thinking about how they are placed to be put on show forever in a glass case, imprisoned forever, even in death. The last outfit will be based upon this premise, and the first one will be about creation and birth and purity. The outfit pictured is outfit 3. Half way in the middle of the cycle, metamorphosing into a new creature (caterpillar into a butterfly). Everything about this outfit has a half and half feel, the dip dyeing, the gold on the mussels, transforming into something new. It is still quite pure but something is changing...

Secret Vintage Fair Colchester...

Last Saturday I took part in helping the Secret Vintage Fair with their fashion show. The location of the fair was amazing, Colchester Castle and it was so busy it really got everyone in the mood to shop for some vintage! My role was helping with the organising where I helped design mood boards for the trends we would be showcasing in the fashion show - cute & kitsch, Spring/Summer 2013 monochrome and wedding/evening wear. I also helped with the dressing back stage of the fashion show. It was my first time doing this, it was extremely hectic and crazy! But it was also a lot of fun and I would do it again!

 

cute & kitsch

monochrome

 
wedding/evening wear


cheeky tiki


finale

Thanks Secret Vintage Fair (Janine, Lucy and Claire) for the chance to included in this great event!

Experimenting With Dyes and Bleach...

From the old white sheets I received from the hospice I have been using them to create prints on. These prints have been inspired by butterfly wing patterns and bird feathers. I have created these prints by simply drawing straight on to the fabric with dye and then adding bleach in places. I have also used wax on some samples so I could get random and unexpected lines and cracks. I really enjoyed doing this and found myself with quite a few samples as I thought of different way to create different effects and looks. Some times I wet the fabric before I placed the dye on to the fabric. This inspiration in techniques came from experimenting on paper first. I created some the paper samples in the same way as I have the fabric ones, by wetting the paper, painting the bleach onto the paper first etc. I really liked the random and unpredicted results that I received from both the paper and the fabric experiments which led me onto trying the prints on a larger piece of fabric.


This led me on to my second outfit, draping on the stand and using foiled doilies to try and make garment shapes.

 

Outfit 1

Outfit 1 of 6 is finished and photographed. For a while I felt like I wasn't making any progress but now I have a feel of the materials I have and the look I am going for I hope it will become easier and quicker. I also managed to embroider a beret before the photo shoot which I am really proud of as I love to embroider and considering last year I had never done the technique before.

(The photo shoot pictures are from my phone so they quality is a bit rubbish but can't wait to see the professional pictures!!)

 

 

The embroidery on the beret was influenced by the shapes of feathers and the patterns on birds. I really like it as it connects all the aspects I have in my final major project; military, birds, embroidery, feminine, up cycling.

 

Thank you to David Lam photography, MAC makeup and Feathers hair, as well as my model Abbie! 

Inspiration... Susan Waller

Susan Waller...

I've recently come across a designer called Susan Waller on Pinterest and I just loved her work. Her inspiration came from light filtering through a weeping willow tree and collecting shells that had different lines and structures. I felt like her work connected to mine because the way she had applied gathers and pleats kind of reminded me of my skeletal images from my initial research. They were almost like rib cages and spines displayed on the body with draped fabrics. I love the way there are different strengths of pleats on the same outfit too sometimes, like some are really small and crisp whereas others are bold and slouchy.