Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Days 8, 9, 10

On Tuesday when I went back to uni, I had a clear idea of the exact garments that I wanted to make and since I done a lot of stand work over the weekend figuring out how I would make them, I was clear about what I needed to do for the last 3 days of the project.

On day 8 and 9 I focused on making the garments which was quite a simple process even though it took a while to get each piece exactly how I wanted them. On the last day I drew my final lineup made a concept board which I pinned on the wall so when people looked at my work they didn't have to look through my whole sketchbook to understand where my ideas came from.

Deconstructio/ Reconstruction: 4, 5, 6, 7

Over the weekend I did more focused stand work working towards garments that I wanted to make for my final piece. I looked at ways to add colour into the denim fabric so did some textiles samples making the denim into a patchwork and using orange and yellow zigzag stitch to join the pieces. This was really successful and I love how it's turned out so I'm going to do orange zigzag to join all the pieces together.

After this I continued to do lots of work on the stand. This was successful because since I can't make an actual pattern for the pieces I want to make, this helped to figure out exactly how the garments would be constructed. I continued to switch between stand work and illustrating to design so that by Monday I knew exactly how I was going to make the garments

Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Day 3

Today I started to think about my concept. I went to the library and looked at some books on architecture. One them that I found was about an architect called Richard Rodger. I really like his work especially one building called 'The Lloyds Building'. Because of its appearance, lifts, stairs and pipes shown on the outside, it is often nicknamed 'The Inside Out Building'. I really like this idea of have all the clothes seeming to be inside out and the buildings he designs also has lots of interesting shapes and colours that I could use to inspire my designs.
Since a lot of clothes I've used so far are made from denim I decided to look at American Workwear in the 1920s and 30s when denim first become worn. I photocopied a lot of images from book about denim which I am then going to use in collages.

Doing this research really helped because before, although I knew I wanted to used denim, I found it hard to come up with solid ideas to create a collection and felt I needed more than just a material to link my designs. I like this concept because I think it is a real good idea but it's not a concept that needs a lot of time to understand and research and it will still allow for the clothes to be my main inspiration while still giving them a common thread.

Next I made collages joining together my research, some the stand work I'd previously done and illustrations to see how my research could fit in with the work I'd already done on the stand. I then tried to recreate some of these looks on the stand. I found going back and forth with my illustrations, collages and stand work was really helpful for my design process. The collages and illustrations gave me inspiration and then I used working on the stand so I could properly visualise how these garments would look and how they would be made. Today was really successful because I now have a clear idea of my concept which is influencing the design work I'm doing.

Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Day 2

I spent the next day doing mostly stand work and collages. This time it was more refined and developed from the day before. The day before I was just testing things out and seeing what I could possibly do we the clothes I had. Today I started think more about the exact types of clothes I wanted to use so I used mostly denim. I tried to use the clothes in the complete opposite way that they were originally meant to be used. For example I used a pair of jeans to make a cropped jacket which I really love because it's completely unexpected and looks so much like a jacket that if it was made up properly, you would hardly be able to tell they were a pair of jeans.

Next I continued with my collage work from day before but like the stand work, it was much more focused, particularly on denim. I continued to design from both my stand work and collages and I really like where this project is going. I think today was successful because I was able to develop my ideas better. It felt weird not working with a concept and using the clothes completely as inspiration so I'm going to do some research on possible sources of inspiration tomorrow.

Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Day 1

Today I started the deconstruction/reconstruction project. The weekend before I went to a vintage clothing sale to get lots of cheap clothes. Denim is one of my favourite fabrics so I was immediately drawn to denim jackets, shirts and jeans as I like the material and I think it could be interesting to take apart the pieces and put them together in a new way. I also bought some tailored jackets and shirts because there are a lot of pieces that make them up so there is a lot to work with.

I started by doing work on the stand using the clothes that I'd brought in and used them in ways that they wouldn't usually be used (upside down, inside out, jackets as skirts, trousers as a jacket). I really liked this process. It helped me to start looking at the clothes in unconventional ways. I think with this kind of project it would be extremely hard to design just by drawing so I think stand work will be very important during this project.

Then I printed off these photos and started to design from these, thinking about the types of clothes that I could possibly make for a final piece. I also went through magazines and found clothes similar to the ones that I had used on the stand and made collages using these. Today was really successful for me as I got loads of ideas for where I could with this project and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Industry Project: Day 9 and 10

Today I focused on bringing together mine and Paulina's designs to create our collection. We went through all of our designs and chose the ones that we liked the most. We talked about what fabrics we were thinking about using and chose some specific shapes/ details that we could incorporate into our designs so the collection would be cohesive.

Then we developed our designs for about an hour exchanging ideas and going through all the designs that we definitely wanted to use. We put all the designs into outfits, mixing our designs together. I think the collection that we produced shows how well we communicated because even though we didn't design every piece together, all of our designs worked well together and you could hardly tell who had designed what.  Together we decided on the fabrics we wanted to use and which colours would work best. Then we decided who would draw what for the final collection and presentation.

When I got home that night I drew out the final line up and put together the slides that everyone and sent me for their part of the presentation.

The next day we did our group presentation in front of the class. It went well but we had to rush a lot to finish it in the morning. I think we were too focused on our final outcomes and left the presentation till the last minute so I don't think it was as good as the work that we produced.

Industry Project: Day 8

Today was the photo shoot for the promotion students. The first thing I did was try the dress on Maria, our model, so I would have enough time to make any adjustments before the shoot if need be. Luckily it fit her perfectly but when I saw the dress on I realised it looked a little plain and Ella agreed as well. I saw that she'd done some beading samples for her sketchbook and asked if she could do some on the dress as well. I think this really brought the dress to life and made it look more Pradaesque because of the extra embellishments.

The promotion students needed a lot of help setting up for the photo shoot so the whole team helped to set up.

While we waited me and Paulina talked about our ideas for the collection and showed each other the work we'd done over the weekend. Since neither of us had finished our 15-20 designs we agreed that we'd have them done by the next day and then we'd start to put it together into a collection.

Industry Project: Days 4, 5, 6, 7

I spent the weekend focusing on making the dress for the photo shoot. On the Friday I went to Shepherd's Bush to get fabric. I ended up going for a thick jersey in a deep turquoise colour. I made a toile of the dress first so I could check that the pattern I had made would work. When making the pattern I used calico to drape it as i didn't know that I was going to be using jersey. It was a good thing that I decided to make a toile because the dress turned out way to big and this have me the chance to fix the mistakes. Once I'd made the dress. I did more designs so I had some ideas to show Paulina but unfortunately because I spent most of the weekend making the dress, I didn't get as much design work as I would've liked.

Industry Project: Day 3

Today I focused on designing, focusing on garments which had a lot of texture and that could incorporate some of Ella's textile designs. Using my research I isolated shapes that were interesting and then experimented with using them in lots of different ways. I also used my fabric swatches in the drawings so I could see how different fabrics could work together. I did this quite a lot because Prada is a brand that likes to use contrasting materials, colours and pattern so I felt that it was important to do so my designs would fit in with the Prada aesthetic.

Me and Ella were constantly aware of what each other were doing during the day which was important so we could make sure our designs worked well together. Once she had made some knit samples, I used those on the stand and started to think about different ways I could use them in designs. Then I did some quick sketches next to the photos so I could begin to express my ideas on paper and get them out of my head so I could show them to the rest of the team.
After showing Ella some of my initial designs, we decided together on the ones we liked the most. Then I drew them out clearer and show them to the rest of the team. Since we'll be using the design in the photo shoot, I felt it was important that the whole team agreed on the design. I also thought it was good to get a some more opinions on whether my designs were Prada enough. Luckily, everyone agreed on the same design

Next I spoke to Paulina, the other womenswear designer in my team and we spoke about how we were going to present a final line up. We decided that we would each come up with about 10-15 outfits/ designs over the weekend and on monday we would start to think about mixing our designs together to create approximately 15 look collection. For the rest of the day I continued to do some rough sketches and began picking out the ones that I liked the most and want to develop.

Industry Project: Day 2

Today I felt like our whole group really came together as one and we all had a clear idea of what we want our final outcomes to look like.

At the beginning of the day we discussed what we wanted our themes to be. One theme that stood out to most of us was drag queens, especially in the 70s/80s. I decided to focus on one of the most famous drag queens, Divine, who completely turned drag on its head by coming out as this trashy, punk queen with a filthy sense of humour. The two promotion students weren't really keen on the idea of drag queens so we decided to incorporate the themes of 70s glam rock, focusing mainly on David Bowie, and also Andy Warhol and the Warhol Factory, which is a place that all of the muses we've chosen to look at often frequented.

Then we decided that the designers would go to the Prada store on Bond street and collect fabric samples while the promotion students stayed behind and did more research on Andy Warhol and start thinking about what ideas they had for the promotional side of this project.

I think our research trip today was really useful. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the Prada store but it was great to be able to see the clothes close up and touch them to get a feel of the fabrics. I took lots of notes on the style of clothes, types of fabrics they used and the aesthetic that Prada has.

It was good going to the store before fabric shopping because it gave us lots of ideas about the types of fabrics that we wanted to get. Because there were four of us we were able to get a wide range of fabrics. In the morning we had started to think about a colour scheme but hadn't really decided on anything specific. As we got more fabrics we saw that we had started to develop a colour scheme of turquoise, cobalt, bright orange and fuschia. It was good that the designers all went fabric shopping together because although we are doing our own project it is important to make sure our work is still cohesive.

When we got back to Ravensbourne we discussed what we had all done and realized that our group a really strong, cohesive concept. I felt that everyone had done their part and because we'd spoken in the morning about our ideas when we came together our ideas were really cohesive.

The promotion students had spoken to John and realized that it was really to get the photo shoot done on Tuesday so they had enough time for post-production. This means that I have to work really hard over the next few days to get my designs done and make a garment for them to use.

When I got home I put all of my research on Prada and our themes into my sketchbook. I made some collages which started to give my some ideas for designs and I started to draw some initial designs so the promotion students can see what type of garment I could be making and begin to think about styling. Tomorrow I'm hoping to do some work on the stand and carry on designing.