from Dolce and Gabbana to The Land of Narnia

I love being inspired by things from my childhood, I have a major obsession with anything that will take me back there so Narnia was perfect inspiration for this project. I wanted to combine the sexiness taken from the brand of Dolce and Gabbana and the fantasy and magic of Narnia.

Design Assisstant

I'm being a design assistant to a 3rd year (katherine) for 3wks.

Wednesday 27th April
I found it a little daunting at first but Katherine is really nice and gives v.good advice and is really easy to talk to. =]
I did a few simple tasks on the first day such as getting threads to match the fabrics used in Katherine's collection, finding look books and i traced around a pattern that Katherine had already completed so that it was flat rather than folded up. 

Wednesday 4th May
I really enjoyed today I was introduced to different areas of the college by Katherine which i found really useful, such as jewelery, print, digital print, photography. I loved sitting in on the fashion photography and it gave me ideas for my own work and made me think not just of what I'm making but of how what I make in my own work can be presented to the public...... 
I really liked seeing how Katherine had combined the making side of Pathway B with branding. 

Wednesday 11th May/ Thursday 12th May
Today was a little less busy and wasnt needed too much I went to the photoshoots again to see what happened which I found really interesting. However...I helped as a little extra on Thursday, I scanned all Katherines sketch book sheets into the computer it didnt take long and it gave me an opportunity to see the work leading up to the collection.

Shop Report

When doing the research for the shop report it brought to my attention just how poor the quality of clothes on the high street are, although this may have been because I started in Harvey Nicks.

Primark or...

Harvey Nichols

I've looked at designer clothing before, however, looking more closely i realised just how the garments are finished to absolute perfection and how amazing the fabrics are. Not only the quality of the fabrics but how light weight they are too. The shopping experience is to make you feel special and valued as a customer, there was little out on display to give the feel of exclusivity. Where as, in the high street in shops such as Primark and H&M the products were rammed out trying to get as much out as possible in the name of "fast-fashion".

Drawing Elective!

The drawing elective was not an altogether enjoyable experience...however...once I found what it was I liked about drawing I found it easier to take in my own direction...People watching!
Sitting in a cafe with a lovely cuppa tea, a sketch book and a pencil...

Unsuspecting Busker!

Drapey Drapey!

Creative Approaches to Fashion!

The artist I chose as my inspiration was Thomas Heatherwick, an architect. I was drawn to his work as I could imagine transforming his architecture into clothing, I'm quite literal so the ideas i had from his architecture I could experiment with easily.  

I used gathering and pleating to interpret his work and get inspiration. I used light weight fabrics to cause a draping effect.

 Here are some of my experimentations. =]

Fashion Illustrators

Cassandra Rhodin - fashion illustrator
(google image search) 

Cassandra Rhodin - Swedish fashion illustrator. Love the big eyes that have a moodiness to them. The faces are what attracts me to them. Love the sultry look and the awkward bodies.

Laura Laine - Fashion illustrations
(google image search http://www.lauralaine.net/)

Laura Laine - Finnish fashion illustrator, i love these illustrations, they look so strange and different and yet to me even though they are strange and different the clothes are still the focus. Her illustrations have been used for big names such as YSL, Tommy Hilfigure, H&M and Zara.

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.