London Trip 2 - Sport Vs Fashion

Sport and fashion have never been what i would call a great style mix. 

Personally I'm all about the fashion and could easily leave the sport side of the clothing industry. I don't own a single pair of trainers or tracksuit bottoms and to be honest i'm not that keen to start my collection!

However the 'Fashion vs Sport' exhibition at the V&A di

d open my mind to how the two can be incoprated to make a pretty awesome look. The collection's aim was to show how sports styles can be adapted to make fashion statements and had two angles; street style and lifestyle fashion.

I loved the customizing part of the exhibition as i thought it was such a simple yet effective way of vamping up sports wear. However it was the exaggerated pieces from Westwood and Chanel which grabbed my attention. Westwood had produced pieces which were challenging even the craziest of street wear and which were completely impractical for playing sport in, and Chanel produced lifestyle pie

ces which were stylish, pretentious but wearable, such as the jersey suits and the infamous Chanel fishing rod.

It was these exaggerations and twisted veiwpoints on sports wear that changed my mind on the concept of this branch of clothing. And so im looking forward to creating my own take on this challenge.

Independent PCCP - Shirt Project

At the end of the term we were given the challenge of cutting our own pattern and constructing a short sleeved shirt by ourselves. The tutors were meant to give us minimal help and instruction and it was really a test to see how much we'd learnt and whether we could apply our skills to an independent project.

At first i was really nervous about doing this as my construction skills are still a little tentative but i was fine as soon as i started pattern cutting as this is the area in which i am most confident. Finishing my pattern early meant i could start constructing my shirt with maximum time to complete it, which i really needed.

Although i had a few issues to start with when constructing my shirt, i got into a good pace quickly and had completed most of the bodice within the first day. The sleeves and hem line gave me a little bit of trouble but i think they turned out okay in the end. Doing the collar was a big step in my skill development as it was the first time i'd done this particular part of a piece of clothing and we had to learn whilst doing it and quickly.

I was pleased with the finished product and although i think it could be tidier and some finishes could have been better, i think for my first independently produced piece it was a good effort.

Shakers/ Philosophy Design Project

The Shakers were a group of religious believers who had a very firm and easily recognizable design philosophy. They believe in Form after function and that everything they designed should have a purpose before it was made elaborate. Although it was not the intention at the time, these designs had a kind of simple, clean beauty about which makes them highly desirable even today.

Our Project was based around the strong shakers philosophy and we were to come up with our own philosophy on how we design, dress and style an outfit. I loved this topic from the word go as my design style is prominent. My designs always have a sense of playfulness, of childhood fun and a sense of disappearing into the fantastical and i wanted this project to be the embodiment of all that i feel about fashion and life.

My Philosophy:

I will always be without limits,

I always disreguard the box,

I am personal and impractical,

I am Technicoulour, not black

and white,

I am fantasy,

I am your childhood

Fairytales,

I am couture and art,

and nothing else...

I looked at some of the most difficult items of clothing to wear in the fashion industry such as the corset, the crinoline and ruffles. I used PVC, chiffon and metal bars in my final design to uphold the impracticality element of my philosophy and i used balloons, carousel horses and gem stones to elude to the childhood fantasy element. In my theme boards and research i used images and references from my own youth to make the design more personal which i believe fashion should always be. To me everything you own and wear and design should have a part of yourself within it.

I spent some time looking at a crinoline in the making as my housemate was building one for her costume course, which i found really helpful as its easier to design something once you know how it fits together and works. I also took apart a corset to see if using just the boning from inside would work in my design.

I really loved my final design as i thought it brought together every element that i wanted it to and it appealed to every part of my personality. It was in short, the ultimate fantasy dress.

FOLK DESIGN PROJECT 2

Folk Project - final design

I finally handed in my folk project on Monday and I have to say I was so ecstatic about the outcome. At first I’d struggled with the concept of Eastern European Folk Costumes but after our trip to London I decided to take my design in a completely abstract direction. I used the detailing I loved as the main aspect of my shirt and decided that making exaggerated sleeves, made solely from ribbon and detailing would be more on my wavelength. I started to design huge puffy sleeves out of ribbon, but after I couldn’t find any strong inspiration I moved into a new area.

As I’d felt trapped by the narrow criteria I started looking to pictures of cages and prisons as inspiration and decided that I would create round orbs of ribbon, which would form the basis of my sleeve. As I began to design the orbs I fell in love with them and my whole outfit just took shape.
I paired the shirt, which I’d cropped short, with a simple pair of black short shorts and bare feet so not to distract from the sleeves, which I wanted to be my main focus. In the end I think my design looked amazing and I’m just really glad I don’t have to actually make it!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Photo Shoot

I was lucky enough to sit in on one of the second years photo shoots last week. The promotions side of the course get the chance each year to completely style a photo shoot which includes choosing the outfit, deciding on poses and props and generally directing the photographers.

The shoot I watched had a sixties theme and the outfit was a very innocent, simple white vintage dress and balloons were used as props. I personally thought the whole picture was amazing – it had a youthful, fun and innocent aura and it was a great experience to see what the promotions students do, as I’ve never really considered taking that path before. However after watching the shoot it’s changed my mind a little and I think I’m going to look into it in more detail. I would really love to style my own shoot and to have complete control over how the garment was sold to the customers, as it can make or break an item.

Thanks to Steph who let me watch!

Fabric Sourcing - London

London Trip

The fabric sourcing trip to London was incredible. To be honest I think that sentence sums up the day nicely, but there is reasoning behind it. I love London – always have, always will. I love the atmosphere, the complete frenzy of the people who live and work there, the enormous versions of the shops, the fact that I know the tube routes like the back of my hand and of course the pretty fantastical fabric shops! Seriously I’ve never seen so much fabric in my life – the stores were like the chocolate factory in Willy Wonka, with crazy fabrics exploding out from every corner.

We had to research and get samples of stretch/performance fabrics, which was pretty easy I felt. I picked up the basic Lycra’s and Jerseys and threw in PVC and velvet for kicks; although I can’t ever imagine wanting to wear sportswear made of velvet! The samples were incredibly expensive and the fabric shop owners were obviously not that keen on students but it was completely worth it.

I loved the area of London we visited – Berwick Street – because it was jam packed with loads of retro and vintage shops and once we’d finished collecting samples we had time just to meander through them. We hit Oxford street on the way back to the V&A museum which is always awesome and then stopped off to see the Dale Chihuly sculpture in the entrance hall of the museum, which Sarah had told us about. To be honest, even though it’s incredibly striking, I really wouldn’t want to be working beneath it…

And even though the samples were expensive and we only spent a few hours in the city, I can’t wait for the next trip!

FOLK DESIGN PROJECT

Our next design project is based on the theme 'Folk (costume)', especially that of Eastern European countries. This is a slightly more difficult project for me as i find little inspiration from the idea of folk costumes and would have preferred to take a more whimsical approach to the project by looking into folklore and more abstract inspirations. However, i've started to research countries such as Turkey and Russia and have found some inspiration in the colours and trimmings of their traditional folk costumes, on which i think i will base my design. They use intricately woven/patterned detailing and elborate cuff designs on their shirts which i am going to try and incoporate in my own design.

So far i have simply created my first theme board, so watch this space for updates!