Friday, April 30

TRUE FALSE / FAKE REAL

Once the dust had settled, I took another look at my collection...
Mi madre taught me to never use the word HATE, because HATE means you wish something were dead.

Well, I strongly did not dig what had synthesised so far.
Back to the drawing/designing board, which isn't so bad...

I've been sketching over what I already have, and have achieved a much more organic result.
This song - and only this song - has been my soundtrack.
True false, fake real
True false, fake real
True false, fake real

I know you know I know
I know you know I know

True false, fake real
True false, fake real

Saturday, April 24

Carlee Fernandez - Bear Studies

"For the 2004 Bear Studies, the artist became a player in her creative petting zoo. For two-and-a-half months, Fernandez practiced moving with a bearskin on her back and a bear head over her own. Although the experience neared performance art, the artist maintains that Fredrik Nilsen's photographs of her during the experiment are the culmination of the project. The images are startling and modern, while also recalling traditional mythologies and folktales. The subject alone of Fernandez's medium is provocative, and her work gains even more symbolic heft when she adds her own naked body" - Artkrush

Ultimately I'd like to reflect the "beautiful absurdity" of Fernandez's taxidermy within my own "Teddy Girl" coat, and explore garment proportions the photographs inspire.

Tuesday, April 20

Paper People

After many countless nights of sleep, romantic dinners skipped, seven glue-sticks drained and - most scary of all - twelve litres of Coca Cola consumed: I've got my final designs! Well, five of them anyway (I've decided on a draped evening dress for my final outfit, but I have NO idea how to draw drapes... I can barely draw a t-shirt)

I drew up some technical drawings on paper, chopped them up and laid them on top of each other. This also allowed me to experiment with different combinations of the garments, and to be sure there is consistency in shape and proportion across all the pieces...

Friday, April 16

Toile - "Teddy Girl" Coat

I've officially begun the toiling stage! I thought I'd start with a garment that I knew I definitely wanted to include in my final collection: a winter coat. The silhouette has been inspired by teddy bears - round with a very high (or no) neck. I want the coat to be quite wearable and "Brisbane winter" (which really isn't very wintery at all) appropriate, so the length will be above the knee. I made the toile in half-scale to avoid wasting fabric and time...

First, I traced the front & back of dart-less dress block, and altered the pattern to make the shoulders higher/slopey-er (not to be confused with sloppier)

I quickly knocked it up in calico, and gave it a go on the half-scale mannequin (with a bit of stuffing pinned on its shoulders)
Front
Back

I really like the "clean-ness" of the back silhouette, but really didn't like how the shoulder pulled around the neck... So I went back to my paper pattern, and drew in the alterations:


Then I sewed up another toile from this new, altered pattern:
Front

I drew directly onto the toile to get an idea of the collar shape, and the armhole placement:
Then I unpicked the garment, and drew up another pattern using the calico pieces a guide:
And sewed it up again:
Front
Back

(I enjoy how the studio progressively gets darker as the photos continue - yes, it takes me all day to make one little toile. Oh dear!)

I want the jacket to capture the "mood" and overall loveliness of this shot - doesn't it remind you of being a kiddy? Hmm, perhaps I'll incorporate the tartan and skin-tight hoods they're sporting... Time will tell!

Monday, April 12

KFB301 DESIGN STUDIO vs. BSB123 DATA ANALYSIS

One of the various challenges that comes with the dual Bachelor of Business/Fine Arts (Fashion) is the constant switching between left and right sides of the brain... Sometimes it's difficult to see the merit of clipping magazine images compared to writing a business proposal, or how investigating statistics of the macadamia industry in Venezuela (seriously) will help launch your label. But by far the trickiest part is manoeuvring yourself and managing limited time amongst four seemingly unrelated subjects - ALL of which are demanding MASSIVE pieces of assessment within the SAME TWO WEEKS! Argh!

However, the other day when I flipping through the enthralling pages of my Data Analysis textbook ("Business Statistics"...pick it up if you need a good sedative) I found myself applying many of the exercises to my favourite thing...
And I'm going to share it with you.

I've been having a bit of trouble choosing my favourite bits and pieces which will eventually become THE COLLECTION. How do you select your best bits? It's a "Sophie's Choice" situation (aha! See at what I did there?) What if there's too many dresses, not enough skirts? And I only get 6-8 outfits to represent my EVERYTHING! And that's where the contingency tables I've been learning to do in Data Analysis comes in! I had a look at four of my favourite local labels who presented at the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and jotted down the styling choices they made for their Autumn/Winter collections... I focused particularly on labels that had to condense their entire collections into one or two dozen looks (thus being relevant to my collection of six to eight outfits). This will hopefully help select from all my designs a well-rounded, harmonious, edit collection.






See? Maths and tables and things ARE exciting..!
P.S The image sources are all linked, and I put together the animations

Sunday, April 11

Prints, how I adore thee!

There's nothing better than a good print! However, searching far and wide for an original/beautiful design harmonious with my collection (+ already in existence + printed on lovely fabric) has come to no avail. So! I'm developing my own trinket-y prints to harmonise with my collection..!

These defining prints from past seasons started my love affair with all things graphic and a little bit nutty:

Print from Jeremy Scott's A/W 2006 Collection "Food Fight"
Print from Jeremy Scott's A/W 2007 Collection "Happy Daze"

Print from Mala Brajkovic's "Morski and Friends" Collection (unknown year...2007?)
Giles' decapitated Bambi print, from his Spring/Summer 2008 Collection and on Lily Allen
Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2009
Christopher Kane Spring/Summer 2009
Proenza Schouler Spring/Summer 2010
Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2010
...so pumped to get started!

Wednesday, April 7

REGROUP / REFOCUS


Whiteboards are a wonderful, magical thing... After a couple of days of banging my head against the proverbial wall, I realised that I am the sort of designer who craves boundaries of sorts. But since my concept allows me to design almost anything - pieces inspired by barbed wire to optical illusions to manure - I took to the white board! After going through all my initial research over and over, I jotted down my favourite reoccurring and harmonious themes - and now I'm excited about designing again, huzzah!

I perused through my original images, and have selected a few to keep the mood going:

Shot by Benny Horne for "RUSSH Magazine"

Shot by Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello for "Numero Magazine"

Alberto Seveso's Liquid Art

Shot by Mario Sorrenti for "V Magazine"

Bottega Veneta backstage (from Love Magazine's blog)

Simon Lekias photography

Lina Scheynius photography

And if you're looking for beautiful/modern lullabies, you can't get any better than Angus and Julia Stone.

Monday, April 5

Trends - Autumn/Winter 2010/11

I'm obsessed with the sixties.

Last year, my swimsuit project was inspired by André Courrèges, and I forecasted the future fashion of 2020 by looking back to how the sixties looked forward... oddly lyrical, no?

My buddy Michaela always makes fun of me because of my mod-silhouette-loving ways... Well! When Riccardo Tisci, Giles Deacon and I have our space-age tea party, she's not invited.
From left to right - Giles, Hermes, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy

"Reflecting both the minimal and 60s trends this season, be inspired by Courreges’ back catalogue for retro-futuristic silhouettes" - From WGSN.com

Saturday, April 3

Trends - Autumn/Winter 2010/11


"Camel tones give a luxurious yet timeless look to outerwear and a minimalist aesthetic to dress silhouettes" - from WGSN.com


Chloe and Prada backstage (from Love Magazine's blog)