Final Major - Print

N. 21 Fall/Winter 2013-14 | Milan Fashion Week MFW | FashionTV 

The print on some of the designs shown by No21 at Milan Fashion week had a print that reminded me og the print design I am creating. It made me think about the placement of my print and that maybe to avoid an all over print and keep to placement in areas so improve its over all look.

I like the placement and how dramatic it looks when it is placed rather than the print being all over the fabric. Maybe look into minimizing the print on my designs to raise the drama.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6rWYmwvFbw

Final major - fabric

I have visited fabric stores and flicked through websites for a while now hoping that something would leap out at me shouting couture budget  and it has been painful to say tbe least.
I visited a fabric shop on line that supplied cheap muslin. So I purchase some for sampling. Once it arrive I tested starch on it to see how it would work on the muslin. The results were pretty good and I though excellent, I have my fabric however after watching the the first episode of Signe Lagerfeld and learning that couture toiles are made of muslin tbe put my off using a toiling fabric for my collection. I want budget fabrics wih coutue designs made in a way that could be mass produced. Street Couture.
I liked the idea of using jersey/t-shirt fabric, a fabric that is more than often used by high street and perhaps tbought of as cheap. If I used fabric often used by high street and gave it a coutue makeover then I could get the look I am after. So I bought some £1.80 per metre white jersey.
Looking back through my sketchbook I liked tbe look of the scaffolding and weaving styles. I have played around with an old tshirt and I think my results could work within my design development.

Things to do - Design develop around jersey and the above technique

Starching Muslin - How far can you go????

Well after researching how to make muslin stiff, I have decided to start with spray starch. Dylon Starch. I have cut my muslin into 30cm squares and sprayed one so that it was stiffened, whilst keeping one plain, without starch. I then hemmed each on all four sides and folded and ironed it into an origami geometric pattern.
Firstly, the un-stiffened muslin:

It was floppy and lifeless, it didn't hold itself well even after ironing and when stitched to hold its shape it just lacked confidence.
The lines looked untidy at the centre and where all lines met it was uneven and lacked a professional look



Secondly, the stiffened muslin:

If was clean and sharp, it held together well after ironing. It was easier to mould so that the lines met cleanly at the centre and it gave the piece more volume and life.
It would need to be tested on dyed muslin also as there was a slight colour change when starch was added. I would also need to assess how much it would effect the dye and whether it would add to the dye running once I'd gained the pattern desired. I also want to see just how stiff I can achieve and how much starch that would require.

Valentino Exhibition

I have taken a trip to Somerset House and the Valentino: Master of Couture Exhibition - open until 3rd March. The exhibition displays dresses and outfits, designed by the house of Valentino, all couture and all very beautiful, stretching from the 1950's through to the 2000's. It displays many couture techniques along with videos of how these techniques are achieved, along with exerts from the Valentino virtual museum, which can be found at http://www.valentinogaravanimuseum.com/

The exhibition showed a total of 130 outfits, and although they each held a beauty that is un-levelled, my eye was drawn to a collection of outfits that displayed some interesting techniques that I would like to experiment with and see if they could be reproduced at high street level. Techniques that can be affordable for the everyday fashion fan.






Valentino's Haute Couture SS08 pale tulle evening suit with small appliquéd origami shapes, embroidered with tiny pink glass beads.

This idea could be assimilated into my designs, look into making muslin origami shapes that could be appliquéd onto outfit.
Look into playing with size and stiffness.








This Valentino dress, from the Haute Couture SS03 collection, has inserted transparent godets and is finished with beading around the arms.
Its an interesting idea to add a little transparency within the dress, this looks very revealing without allowing the wearer to feel naked. I also like the added beads around the arms, it gives a feeling of delicacy and softness, a little detail in a very otherwise simple yet glamorous design
I could use the idea of having a simple design with splashes of detail, this would enable the design to be beautiful and couture inspired yet keeps the cost down and so allows a high street price tag.

www.instyle.com

I like the detail of this Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1992/93 dress, worn by Julia Roberts to the 73rd Academy Awards on March 25th 2001.

The detail on the reverse of the dress is incredible, the idea of the ribbons the cascade down into a fan of material.

This idea could draw in the concept of structure within building scaffolding, it highlights the lines and brings an additional level to the shaping.

I would also like to look into the lines and how this could be used as it sits well with my theme of caging and scaffolding and structure.

This could also be seen in Valentino's Haute Couture SS1993 dress that uses a technique called budellini, which involves coating wool in a skin of chiffon, like long worms or sausages.
This is something I would like to look into using, but with something that has more body than wool. I have had a conversation with my husband and he suggested using windscreen washer tubing, so he has ordered me 3 metres and I will experiment with it, coating it in muslin.

I also like the idea of creating a collection that looks tactile, that has volume and makes you want to feel it.

Fall/Winter 2007/08

Valentino exhibited many outfits that made you want to touch, unfortunately that is out of the question, but that is not to say its not possible to recreate that feeling.
Fall/Winter 2007/08 had a technique called Paigine, which is hundreds of disks made of organza piled to create a pages of a book effect. This is interesting and could work with the edges of the origami squares that I can create.

Fall/Winter 1986/87

 Finally there were dresses that used a technique called Drappeggio, a couture technique with chiffon and crepe sild draped on the bias, the draping is done in gathers, with shades of colour to form a waterfall, rippling water effect.

Spring/Summer 1992

and a technique called 'Tappeto di ruches', which is a couture technique of strips of tulle sewn to a bias fabric to create a flat surface of tightly packed ruffles - (all Couture technique definitions have been taken from the guide book given at the exhibition).

All of these techniques called be experimented with to find a more high street technique, something more affordable.

From this exhibition, I will need to do quite a bit of experimenting and research into fabric properties and how colour will work with different processes

Major project update

My sampling fabric has arrived, four metres of white muslin, so I went out and bought a can of starch. I am going to research the fabrics properties and what shapes can be acheived.  I can see what happens to its structure when a stiffening agent is added. I will also dye some too, this will help me understand how intense a colour change would be and it will give me an idea of shrinkage, as making the fabric wet may lead to the width or length shrinking.
I will start tomorrow, and I am looking forward to it!!!

Major Project

I have been considering fabrics for my Major Project.
The themes of my major project are structure, such as in buildings and scaffolding and caging, but also Origami within fabric manipulation. My concern is that this is quite a predictable theme, Origami has been done by fashion students and over done. I want my final outcome to be as far away from the usual Origami outcome as it can be, strive for something new and buck trend.
For these reasons I have been initially looking at satins and taffetas  this is a very obvious choice though and one that would be very predictable. I have therefore been looking into changing a fabrics properties by adding chemicals such as starch or even interfacing, and it has become very apparent that muslin can be manipulated quite easily. Muslin is 100% cotton and therefore also holds the potential to dye well. This could add another dimension to my design process, print. I like the idea of adding print and would love to work within print design in the future, so would be very beneficial to go through the process of print design for my major project.
I have ordered 4m of muslin in white to research what can be produced with this fabric, how it hems, how it can be folded and draped and how it can be dyed and starched.
If i do end up using this fabric I believe i will need an additional fabric that will work with the muslin but help provide another dimension to my work and also help provide additional structure where needed, ordering the 4m sampling fabric will provide me with a sample to shop with, helping make additional selection easier.

To Do:
Shop for additional fabric
Await delivery and then, dye it, hem it, starch it and drape it. Photos, photos, photos!!!! Samples, samples, samples!!!

Professional Practice - the outcome

A Critical Analysis of the Professional Practice Process

In reflection I believe I completed the exercise in the best way possible for me. Firstly I prepared my CV and portfolio so that I was sure they represent me in the best possible way, one is no good without the other when applying for a creative role. It is my belief that when you make your first contact with a potential employer, you need to bare in mind that it may only be the first contact of many before they actual pay attention and consider your requests seriously, it is therefore important to make sure that the impact you leave is a positive one. Maybe I will not hear back from any of the brands that I have contacted, but if I choose to apply for a position with the brand or the individuals that have viewed my submission again, in the future I may be remembered from my previous contacts, and if so, I want to ensure that the memory is positive one. This would require ensuring that the presentation of my efforts reflect me well and that all correspondences are consistent and of a professional standard, including being well thought-out and not look as if I have rushed the work. It is important that my CV and cover letter are creative, honest and well researched, which includes without error. That any work they may see is of the highest quality and reflects my abilities, whilst also showing my potential.

I learned a lot about researching from this process also, about researching a brand before writing the covering letter. This is something I didn’t understand until I followed the instructions and only then as I wrote my first covering letter did I see the importance and the power it can provide you with.

I now understand more about the companies I have researched, companies that I had assumed there was little left that I could learn about them, knowledge that will place me in good stead should I acquire an interview.

When it came to the format that I ended up sending the CV and portfolio in, I spent a long time  deliberating over whether it should be sent be email or by post, if I were to send it digitally, it would turn up immediately, without delay, it is a process that requires no finance to carry out and I can send almost all of my portfolio, however I would be unsure that the email was read or just discarded without any viewing, which is common with unsolicited emails within business. If I were to send it by post I can tailor make the entire package, my CV, covering letter and work can all reflect my creative flare. I can ensure that it stands out by using special paper, or writing style. I also think this process is harder to ignore, however it does have its drawbacks, It require a lot more work and it is very costly for printing.

I decided that a compromise was to send hard copies via the post but to send only a handful of images to each, making sure the ones I selected represent me accurately and that they were best suited to the brand I was writing to, a tailor made package, whilst ensuring the cover letter and CV highlight how my entire digital portfolio could be viewed. Although it is not the way I would wish to send them, it is still, in my opinion, better than emailing; it is more personal, more thought-out and shows an eye for detail and presentation. I think it represents me in a more positive manner. I am happy with the way in which I have carried out the process and look forward to the process when I have completed my studies and am ready to take on the working world again, at the end of April.
Not long now and hopefully this exercise will help as the companies I have contacted are all ones I would be very excited to work for.