MOVING ON

My first toile review went surprisingly well which i was pleased about so i now just have to move things forward and carry on! Today I started working on a dress that hopefully will be apart of the collection. I made a dress to go with my jacket last week but that was a more simple garment which was made to show the shape, silhouette and techniques that i will be working with.





I used paper again to get the effect I wanted , you can create structure and shape allot easier that way. I am going to stitch this top half together in calico tonight to check the fit then i will be using a more sheer fabric that has stiffness to it so that the fabric fits in with my concept.


I am using Halucination within my concept, the idea of something that is not quite as it seems, false interpretations, weird yet beautiful. So to represent that i am using structure showing a sharp and strong look but with delicate fabric in a more subtle feminine colour. The Outer dress will be masking what is really there (the natural shape of the body) and underneath it I will be using this amazing latex fabric i found in the cloth house to create a bandage tight dress underneath.

Anyway I'm off to go sew! I shall update later

BETTY SHOOT CONT.

So on Friday I spent the day with Alexander Jordan and Miss Carla Grima's legs for a photoshoot that will hopefully be going into the next issue of BETTY. Can't show any of the pics yet of course but here are a couple of shots of two of the Locations shot by Alexander Jordan.

The colours and the lighting on these shots were really beautiful.

Oh what we will do to make sure we can return the shoes unmarked!

SHOOT FOR BETTY

I have just finished packing all the stuff for a shoot i am styling for tomorrow! Havn't had chance to do that in a while so its exciting! I know i am a fashion design student, but i think its so important to explore other areas of the fashion industry to get a greater understanding of all the aspects envolved making yourself versatile and employable!


Anyway I am styling a shoot that will be Photographed once again by Alexander Jordan this time for BETTY magazine. The main focus of the shoot tomorrow is shoes and tights which will be matched with locations and only the legs and maybe parts of skirts and dresses will be shown! I put a quick crop in of some of the tights i have got together, many different colours patterns and textures!

I'll post some "behind the scenes" images tomorrow also i had my first review today! which was scary but went well so i will be writing all about that as well! Right now though i really must sleep!

NEW IMAGES

Alexander Jordan has just sent my some new retouched images he'd been working on from the Femme Fatale shoot we did many months ago. He managed to get some great close up shots which shows the make-up i did really well. I love the stuff we used on the skin to giver her face a good sheen! Any way here are the images...



I adore the one where she is screaming! Remember to check out Alexander Jordans Blog and Website!

GARMENT ONE

Its been a hardworking busy week trying to get my first garment made for my first review next Thursday.


It took me a while to get the pattern made for my sleeves but after playing with the paper on the stand and fixing it around the mold i made splitting and spreading the paper to curve around it i was able to place it onto fabric and sew it together. Below is the final shape of the shoulders i created.




Here is the base of the jacket in paper i used a mixture of flat pattern cutting and draping to create the cut which is the way i normally like to work.


It was a long night sewing the jacket together i was in uni for 10 and didn't leave till about 6 had dinner and sewed my jacket until 3 in the morning! i was soooo ready for bed after that! I thought at first id messed up the shape of the arm holes but when i got to uni my tutor told me to put it on someone to see what the fit was like and she was really impressed with how id done it and told me not to change anything. I just need to practice sewing the shoulder pieces better so its neater and stands better. This is just the first toile so for the first attempt its fine...now i just have to decide what im going to make to go with the jacket.


The lovely Alex Oliver id wearing my jacket in the pics above is a quick snap of the back, you can see its puckering a bit in places where i hadn't sewn in the sleeves that great but that's something that will be perfected before its sewn in any final fabrics. The design may well change and develop as its the very first review we don't make any thing for a few months so at this stage its initial ideas.


My fellow student Dervain Batarlo trying to squeeze into the jacket! Ive managed to get hold of a jewelery student at uni who is going to see if he or anyone he knows can colab with me on producing some pieces for my collection. I have ideas i want to develop using perspex to create jewelery using the sculptures as the main inspiration so fingers crossed that will all work out! I shall keep updated. Any I'm off to get ready for my first night out in god knows how long!! i think i deserve it after all my late nights and early mornings! Going into uni tomo though...on a Saturday!!!

STARTING POINT

So i didnt manage to get up at 6...more like seven, anyway went in a started to drape my jacket properly. I made all the pieces in paper first and measured it all out so the dimensions and lines reflected each other well.

Once i had the body i moved onto the shoulder...

I wasn't too sure how to develope the sleave like my drawing at first getting the measurements and shapes right so it hangs properly without caving or bending in is really hard. After playing with paper I decided to mold the shape so I could drape ontop of it and develop the right shapes from that.


Above is the start of the molding process I had a trip into town to get polystyrene, floral foam and glue and thought id figure it out somehow.

The mess I produced in the process cups of coffee and squash later...

...I got this! I used polystyrene, paper, card, shoulder pads, paper mache and pleanty of tape to produce the shape and now once it has all dried i can mold the fabric around it so I can get the shapes for the pattern pieces then once I sew it together it should stay in this form.

I hope it al works out tomorrow! I have so much to do I cant waste anymore time faffing!!

First Garment

So the collection development is well underway now and i have my first review next week (shit) and for the review we have to have completed one outfit which should show at least our core shape. The toile will more than likely not be used but its all part of the first stage of development.


Above are a few initial designs for some leather jackets i intend to make inspired by the triangular forms used in kaisers paintings and sculptures. This is just the starting point for them ill then take ideas to the stand and develope them on. I am curently making the pattern for this jacket shown below...


Here is a picture of a rough drape i did on the stand to get the right size and shapes of the features. I hope it all turns out ok not too sure if I'm going to like it but hey its just the starting point!


I have also been in talks about a couple of shoots coming up which i shall be styling for with Alexander Jordan, one for his person projects another for Betty Magazine. I'll post more info on them soon and their progress soon. I have also been in talks with my old friend from college Gemma Pallet who is a wonderful graphic designer! she is going to get started on the branding for my collection and website etc her style is totally fitting with mine and i love all her work so Im really excited to see what she comes up with! I love being able to collab with friends! It's so important to use each other and all the contacts you have to push things further.

Anyway I'm going to get some sleep now i have the basics for my jacket, I've set my alarm for six so hopefully i actually get up then!!

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA - A.K.A - DISSAPOINTMENT

I was so excited to check out the new collection by the one and only Martin Margiela at Paris Fashion Week this season and to my disappointment i hate to say it but it was pretty crap!
















The usually groundbreaking label produced something kinda pointless i just didn't get it...I don't know what everyone else thinks but i really was not impressed!

SHEPHERDS BUSH

So collection time has started and fabric sourcing has to get going pretty much straight away in order to find the right sort of thing. Last week i headed to Soho for some fabrics which was quite successful, i managed to find some really nice swatches that were pretty perfect for my collection...


...today however wasn't quite so great. Soho is good but the prices are pretty up there! So normally what i do is; go there to find the kind of thing i want then take the swatch to Shepherds Bush to get a cheaper version! However it sometimes it just doesn't cut it. I mean you can find some nice stuff but everything i found just wasn't right and looked cheap. I just ended up getting swatches for the sake of it to fill my fabric book out but i know I'm not going to want to use any of them. Soho is going to bleed me dry this year isn't it. I need to find a money tree.

SHOWstudio

I was feeling like rubbish today and i thought what better way to make myself feel better than to go to the SHOWstudio exhibition at somerset house, especially when i found out Nick Knight would be doing a live photoshoot! It is a small price to pay for such an amazing exhibition! Students can get in for £4.00 and you are actually allowed to take photos!!! So if you are planning on going to see it and don't want to spoil the surprise do not read on...


I have to say i think this is the best fashion exhibition i have been to its got so much to see and many different interactive parts its so much fun! I LOVED IT! The first room was a mirrored room which i got quite excited about.


Above is a massive Naomi Campbell that has doodles and messages written by people online or in the exhibition projected onto her.


Top models including Lilly Cole were asked to leave voice mails throughout fashion week on what they were doing which you could listen to through these phones.

All the worlds top supermodels kisses on glass with there signature!

Ohh my fav Janice Dickinson's lips!! and Aggy's too.

Andy Warhol style screen tests of models asked to say their name and stand in front of the camera for two minutes. You'd think it would be kinda boring to watch someone stand there for a couple of minutes but it was really interesting and sometimes funny (Janice Dickinson)

I love these images.


Garments including designers including Galiano, Margiela, Yamamoto and McQueen. Patterns for these garments can be found online, printed off to scale and pieced together to make your very own version.


Pugh's, McQueens and Margiela's work.

Here is the stairs up to the model casting room where you can record a casting that is uploaded onto SHOWstudio.com and so many people will be picked for a shoot...

Here is my wonderful housemate Becky Davison trying out (making a fool of herself)

...and finally here are a couple of snaps i took of the live photo shoot with Nick Knight shooting for Vmen... yes that actually is Nick Knight!

COLLECTION INSPIRATION

I have been waiting a while to post up the inspiration for my concept as you knowwww i wouldnt want anyone stealing my ideas and all! Sooo im still in the middle of finalising and writing up my concept you know all the deep shit we have to include and what not. But ill put up the visual references I was inspired by so you can get an idea of what it will start to look like..

Just before Summer there was an exhibition at the Wilkinson Gallery called 'Hallucination Engine' already with that title i knew i was going to love it. The gallery was showing all work by an artist called Tillman Kaiser and basically it is from there that i got the theme for my final collection.


Kaiser produces mixed media paintings and space like sculptures which to the eye look strong and structured but is simply made out of cardboard and tape! Anyway Kaiser takes aspects from everyday life and puts them into these amazing geometric, abstract paintings.



He uses toned down colours but even so they still have a dark futuristic edge to it with images like eyes and insects worked into them. It is this along with a concept I'm developing to do with the mind and emotions that will depict my collection. EXCITING.


I chose my two favourite paintings whiped them onto photoshop and cloned different parts of them to get the colours. They really are not colours i would ever think i would have gone for but for some reason i really love this combination. The colours are pretty muted but together mixed with the black and white (i have to have a contrast and a dark side) from the sculptures they appear quite vibrant and fresh! By looking at these paintings i can trace off shapes to incorporate into my designs.


Above are some fabrics i picked up the other day from the cloth house. These scans really cant do them justice but they a really beautiful fabrics. The top ones are this really nice Organza which is pretty crisp and holds its shape really well so its great to produce structured garments but with a sheer light more delicate feel to it to reflect the false look of sculptures below. The swatches on the bottom include a grey jersey and my favourite this weird latex stuff which some how doesnt look tacky at all but could look really cool used in the right way.


The Sculptures above are really spacy looking and is great for getting shapes and inspiration for some really cool jackets i will be taking this shapes and ideas and playing with paper on my stand to create some striking silhouettes and techniques.


Finally above is some different black and white fabrics to fit in with his sculptures. I think i will consider using the white leather at the top its so nice and soft and has a really nice patent shine to it. Its about £70.00 per skin though so i hope my jackets don't take up too much fabric...eeekkk.

So that is the ground work behind the inspiration for my collection I'm so excited to get working on it and im really liking how the concept is coming together so far! Its colourful and fresh but at the same time dark and edgy just how i like it! Wow anyway i think i will leave it there for now! It was really hard trying to explain that in as many little words without blabbing on and boring you and im feeling really ill with a cold so if it doesnt make much sence illl blame it on the fact im sick and im tired.

Hope you all like. I'll keep you updated.