NAW

OK, so this may not be entirely about fashion but here's my friend Nathan aka NAW. He's a very talented rap artist who definitely deserves some recognition. I guess he does kind of link to My fashion degree as I once made him a pair of green trousers for his birthday :) Don't forget to take a look at his various freestyle videos on you tube: NAWSWORLD

Enjoy ;)

Second Brief

Ok, sooooooo....I have definitely been neglecting my blog, but to be fair life has been hectic. I have just finished and handed in my second brief of my first year fashion degree. I'm pretty pleased with my final outfits so I shall give a brief run through of how they have come about.
We where given Japanese fashion as a starting point and as I've always been fascinated with origami i decided to take the 'traditional Japan' route. I looked into origami but couldn't really find anything that hadn't already been used to death in fashion... until I came across origami tesselations. They are another form of paper folding but on more of a 2D plane than regular origami. This was new to me and I quickly became obsessed, so I had to use it. Here's an example:

I sat down and worked out some different ways of transferring this folding technique to fabric as it does not have the same qualities as paper. I also had to contend with the fact that our brief specified that we had to combine denim and jersey, not the easiest task. Finally I came up with the idea of using thick bull denim as the shapes normally produced by the folding, sewing them onto the jersey in the right places and then folding the jersey around the denim. The stiffness of the denim helped keep the shape in the jersey. A bit of topstitching to hold it down et voila. Also I used some thinner denim and just folded it like the paper and topstitched that down. I loved both techniques so I made sure I used both in my two final oufits. The outfit on the left (below) was based on a triangle tesselation design. I tesselated stretch denim to create jeggings and carried on the triangle theme in the t-shirt.. The dress on the right was a combination of hexagons and triangles, applying the denim to the jersey before folding. Once again I carried on the triangle theme by giving the dress batwings which create triangles when the arms are stretched out. The colour scheme was based on a purple Japanese flower.

You can't quite see the detail in the trousers so here's a close up:

I loved making these outfits. The tesselations were tricky because the angles and measurements of the shapes had to be spot on, but it was definitely worth the time and effort. So thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed. xoxox

First Brief

 Well I have completed my first Brief for my fashion degree and am pretty pleased with the outcome. The brief was titled 'Experimental Toile' i.e. mock up. As it was our first brief they didn't want us to spend a fortune on fabric so we just used plain calico. You can't really see all of the details in the pictures so I've added my schematics board to show you.

Fresh flower dress

I have been doing some research for an essay assignment that involves comparing two pieces of art. As i am on the fashion degree I went down the route of symbolic fashion designs. Here's what i am starting with...

This dress is just brilliant, made by Alexander McQueen for spring/summer 2007. It is made with real flowers that were stuck on just before she walked the cat walk. The flowers were falling off as she walked leaving a trail behind. Lee Mcqueen said "Things rot. It was all about decay. I used flowers because they die". For such a beautiful creation this dress has such a morbid concept, it really fascinates me.
I think the late Lee McQueen was a genius and all of the creations that he left behind are proof of that.

Some more art work

This is another painting i have done using the same technique with watercolour as the last one. i'm very happy with it and really want to do some more...

Illustration

 As part of my degree I have been doing a module on Visual Language. This is an illustration i did from an image in a magazine. I love to use water colours so i have been experimenting with different methods. Here's the outcome...

E.G.

Here's a designer that has heavily influenced my current project for my fashion degree. She is a relatively fresh face on the fashion scene named Emma Griffiths and has set up a label named E.G. She uses pannelling in a very striking way as you can see for yourself. I am also very jeallous that she has worked with Alexander McQueen!
The label designs for independant women with an elegant and strong attitude. Strong, clean lines are evident all the way through her collections as well as attention to detail. I'm very impressed.