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!

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.

ROMANCE WAS BORN

THERESE RAWSTHORNE

KAREN WALKER

TV

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

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!

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.

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

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)

From JAK & JIL BLOG

$TOLEN

Remember when I wrote about this guy..? It turns out his trading is a lil’ bit illegal! “The 47-year-old man in question is on suspicion of breaking animal wildlife laws, launching an investigation by the police on where the animal was killed and stuffed” (from cocoperez – hate him, but his blog is updated obsessively) The arrest is part of a crackdown on illegal trade of endangered species. The arrest is part of a crackdown on illegal trade of endangered species.

One of the many reasons to keep sourcing faux fur for my collection...

SHOWstudio's Synaesthesia - London, UK

In 2006, SHOWstudio - a fashion website founded and directed by photographer Nick Knight - explored the new frontier of “fashion audio”.

The website invited digital artist Daniel Brown - in collaboration with sound designer (and synaesthete!) Nick Ryan - to orchestrate an interactive web-series in response to on a stunningly delicate S/S ’06 Balenciaga jacket (above)

To see the result, please click HERE

When I was recently in London I visited the SHOWstudio Shop, an art gallery-cum-dealership which displays and sells one-of-a-kind fashion creations. The lovely girl who worked there had a chat to me about the Balenciaga jacket project, and mentioned that SHOWstudio were looking to do more explorations on fashion’s relation to the senses this year ...if Nick Knight’s into it, I’ve gotta be on the right track right?!

She was also kind enough to explain all the works to me, even though I obviously would never be able to afford any in a millionbajillion years... I hear you ask: "Who does that scary shadow inside belong to?"

THIS GUY!

Nick Knight

Tiger

2009

Created for S/S 2010 Alexander McQueen PUMA campaign. He was a big fella...

Michael Howells

Squid

Bull

2007

Created for the set of the A/W 2007 Christian Dior haute couture show at the Chateau de Versailles. These papier-mache heads covered those of classic marble statues

Tacheles - Berlin, Germany

Today Michaela, Vanessa and I braved the snow to venture out to Tacheles - a dilapidated (read: bomb damaged) yet enthralling artist colony smack-bang in the old Jewish quarter of Berlin.

After a former life as a department store, Tacheles became an illegal squat for artists shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has since flourished, sheltering up to 100 Berlin-based artists during the peak months.

After climbing the leaky and creaky stairs, we stumbled the work of Dutch photo-collagist Tim Roeloffs...

He gained recognition in the fashion industry when he collaborated with Versace to create some photo-montages to print on fabric for their A/W 2008 collection.

Tacheles is a must if you're visiting Berlin (but after Mic spotted some shady dealings going down in the hallways we decided to call it a night...)