Fashion, Art and Culture

After the first Fashion, Art and Culture lecture dating from 1850s-1930s there were two subjects which interested me the most; The Gibson Girl and Flappers. The Gibson Girl because, although she started off as just an illustrated character, she was still very influential to women and that puts me in mind of the magazines today and how I sometimes feel women can be so fickle and self conscious, this had clearly always been the case. However, I also liked The Gibson Girl for the glamour that she had and the independance she was seen to have, although created by a man. http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Gibson_girl

The Flappers I liked because they were all about having fun and at the time they were shocking, it gave women independance, and although the fashions were glamourous and in p art feminine, they also lost their femininity by flattening the bust and dropping the waist line which to me proved that a women could be sexy without being obvious. I love that the flapper was seen as rebellious and mischevious. http://byricardomarcenaroi.blogspot.com/2010/02/20s-quickstep-charleston-yiddisher.html

After the lecture we were put into groups and asked to make mood boards, mine was about The Gibson Girl. The group split up two stayed in college doing book/internet research and drawings from this whilst the other four first of all went to leeds market to source fabrics which represented the colours and materials that were used and then went to Leeds City Museum to source further information and found a series of postcards of The Gibson Girl. We then met back as a group and collaberated all our information, arranging it onto the mood board and then presented it to the group. I liked that we could go out and find different things and weren't just confined to one room and I also felt that the group worked well together.

Subjects from the other two lectures on Fashion, Art and Culture were; Make do and mend. I liked the idea of re-using clothing and re-using things which have a story behind them, I felt I could relate to it as I like the things which I own to have a story and am reluctant to throw away my own things so that I can pass on a story in a way.=] I was also interested in how resourceful it was and when we were put into groups to have a go at make do and mend ourselves I really enjoyed it.

Swinging 60's - Youth! Accessible to the masses! It interested me how fun it was, it was more a lifestyle than just the fashions.

Loved Punk, brought working class values to the masses.

Kind of a twist on Make do and mend, but for the young.

Had a message of anarchy which I took and related to the politics of today for my final piece.