Week 1
24/07/19 Wednesday
Today I beginning to think about this project, this project was really excited to me, because I can decide which topic I want to include in this project. for staring point, I got 3 piece of ideas development paper, I need to had 3 different ideas and then pick up the most interesting one. I was thinking about fabric evolution history, the new elegance style and the change of costume. At the end I choose the new elegance as my topic, the reason I choose this topic has a lot to do with my personal style and my personality.
3 different idea development
25/07/19 Thursday
Today, I had a conversation with Georgia, she suggested me to combined 3 different components in this project, one of them must connect with my future discipline, so bespoke tailoring. And the second one could be the new elegance style, this is what am I always curious about. For the last one, she mentioned about the relationship between pockets and women. In last century, after the war, practical pockets stop appearing on women's garments. At that time, men thought there is no point for women to have pockets, because they don't have to do anything. However, with the development of feminism, more and more women realised that pockets are really useful in their daily lives. But still many people don't want to add pocket on their dresses, they thought it could ruin the silhouette of garments. I was inspired by this talk, I thought pocket could be a good starting point. So at the end of today's class I just settled three components for this project: bespoke tailoring techniques, new elegance look and pocket politics. Timetable for Week 1
Week 3
05/08/19 Monday
During last weekend, I came up a good idea to response my discipline, I decided to created a character for this project, like a muse and to do few bespoke garments for her.
There was a lady who inspired me a lot. Her name is Carolyn Corlett. She was my biology teacher when I doing my GCSE, I usually called her Mrs Corlett. When I just met her in GCSE school, I just felt she’s an easy-going person. But during the period I taught by her, I understand more about her life and personality. She got different identity in her life, she also is a furniture designer, artist, actress, She has ability to handle each one very well. The reason I want to make her become my muse in this project is because she has every elements I think a modern woman should have, she is positive, confidence, kind, strong and diversification, she also has a sense of style in fashion, one of my favourite look is when she wearing a nice fitted burgundy blazer and a really long and loose skirt with some print on it, and black boots with a bit heel. I think she can represent an impression of modern elegance.
06/08/19 Tuesday
Today I went to V&A again for Q&A survey as my primary research, I updated my questions because I though some of them are too general, probably will confused people. So I decided to ask more detail and more personal opinion. I found a small place in Dior exhibition for asking people questions, I believe that those people who went to Dior exhibition has interest in fashion, so they may have stronger point. For me, this was a big challenge, consider I was very shy in front of strangers. Beginning always the most difficult part, it took me a lot of time to ask first lady, Caroline Alleaume, fortunately she was very friendly and patient, she made some very interesting points, like men should learn how to recognise elegance in a woman express in her own way. The second lady I ask for Q&A survey was an English tutor, Polly, she seems not that in the mood talking with me, but I still tried to get as much information as I can. She's not a fashion designer but sometimes she will buy some fabric to make her own garments, so in the whole conversation, she only focus on fabric and material, when I mentioned about pocket policy, she seems unpleasant about this point, she thought pockets going to ruin the shape of garments, she was quite old fashion, but from this conversation let me realised some different view. The third lady was a student, Ellie. She went to exhibition with her mom, I thought it could be a nice contrast between young and middle age generation. However, I was a little bit disappointed because Ellie doesn't have enough experience and she could not understand my question, I think because she was too young to understand what feminism is and how to define elegance. However, when I was ready to give up, I found a middle age lady who looks quite fashionable with her husband.
09/08/19 Friday
Today I had a one day project, basically, I had to pretend that I have to finish this project in today. I have to be honest, this makes me quite nervous, but in the same time, I was really curious myself about what can I make in such a short time. Consider the time was not enough for me to make pattern and do the sewing, so I decided that go to vintage shop see if I can deconstruct few garments and combine them. I went to a vintage shop which called Resurrection Boutique, the staff was very enthusiasm, so I decided to ask her a few questions from my Q&A survey, from the conversation with her, her answer were quite interesting, when I ask her if she wants a pocket on her dress, she said women shouldn't have pockets, man should have pockets, women should have purse. This opinion was totally opposite with what I trying to express in this project! But I do appreciate this experience, this makes me realise that some people may have absolute different opinions about same thing, Once I finished my questions I bought 3 piece of garments, one white shirt, one black sling dress and one long black evening dress. Because the time was too short, I decided to use the simplest elements and the most original colour black and white. the fabric of sling dress was crepe, so it was easy to achieve the texture Mrs.Corlett likes, bias cut. This one day final outcome mainly designed by those key words my character provides, long vertical line, make people looks taller, not too tight. So I removed the sleeves from the shirt, because I thought long sleeves will make people looks shorter, but I cut the cuff off and sewed them onto shoulder as decoration. I cut the top part off the sling dress and combined with the shirt, I placed it just right under the bust, I thought it will make the shape more fluid. At the end, I think I can get some idea from this project, like what kind of material is easy to get draping texture.
Timetable for Week 3
Week 6
26/08/19 Monday
During last weekend, I started to do the pattern for final outcome. However the cashmere was thicker than I thought, so I have to use sewing machine to fix the place of pleat. After that, I had my first problem, pleats made the waist part thicker than I imagined, so if I want to put the invisible zip on left side, I need to stitched it over 4 layers of cashmere, so I may have chance to broke the zip or even I stitched successfully, I may not close it. So I decided to place it at the back, thanks to the technique I used(pleat) and cut on bias allowed me to decrease 2 centre-metre at the back. The second problem is, I may made a mistake about the length of the sleeve. I couldn't match with the notches, so I used sewing machine to pleat the top centre a little bit, so I am not only can match the size of sleeves, I can also create a beautiful pleat details on shoulder.
28/08/19 Wednesday
After I finished the top part, I let my friend Hayley to put it on, so I can decided where should I put my skirts on. I used a white pin to marked the place. I don't want to stitch the skirt on the top. I want it be detachable, so it would be very practical. However, I don't have time to put hook on top, I can only use pin to fix it. I do want to improve this if I have more time. (More details please see in sketchbook. Page 39--48)
29/08/19 Thursday
Today is photoshoot for my final outcome, I asked my model(Hayley) just do very normal makeup, because I want people can wear this in their daily lives. I also asked Hayley to wear black boots, this was inspired by Mrs.Corlett, because black boots were important from her signature look. For the poses, I got inspired by fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier(In my research), I don't want very exaggerated poses, I want the natural pose to express the different texture of this garment. I realised when I pull the zip at the back down, it's going to show beautiful colour of lining and it makes strong contrast with the cashmere.
Timetable for Week 6
Final Evaluation
Evaluation
For this project, my aim was understanding the definition of elegance and questioning the stereotype of elegant women in people's mind. When I look back my proposal, I said I want to use some practical material for my final outcome, for me this was a big challenge, because I need to use the material that people normally won't connect with elegance to make a garment which can represent new elegance look. In the beginning, I was very concerned about the topic could be too general and the boundary of elegance are quite blurry, but I found a breakthrough point, the pocket, I found the connection between the pockets and the definition of women's clothes. So I developed this idea as an important hint for this project. I always want to make this project relate to my future discipline, bespoke tailoring. So I created a modern female character which inspired by my own experience, and I hoped that my final outcome could be a unique garment for this lady. This character greatly affected my design development and final outcome. As additional inspiration, most of my research were based on the personality of this character. For response my theme, in my final outcome, I turned some traditional techniques into modern way, but still kept some sprite of tradition. Time management could be the main difficulty during this project, consider I need to discover more skills and I need lots of time for my final outcome, so I need to change my time schedule quite often, but I still tied my best to arrange them in properly way. As an evaluation of this project, I am please about what have I achieved and discovered during this journey, I do feel successful about this project, because this was the first time that I set up my own brief and have great time and space to express my ideas. From this project, what have I learn was not just about the technical issues, for example, in my primary research, I need to interview strangers about their opinion, I do get a few refused, but for me this is also another kind of development, I learned how to communicate and how to develop a simply element further into design developments. I think this project can makes me more prepared for my BA course and all the technical skills I discovered in this project I would want to try if I can develop further during my BA study.
Week 2
29/07/19 Monday
Finished the first draft of the proposal. In my first draft I didn’t put very clear idea of what I will do for the next step. I also the boundary of practical elegance is very blurry, because I didn’t mention what kind of material I will use. On Monday I realised my bibliography is not enough, there is no book or visiting places. After Georgia seen my draft, she pointed out that my aim was not clear and it will confused people. so I have to decide what is the idea I try to express in this project.
My first draft of the proposal
06/08/19 Tuesday
After I had a tutorial with Naomi, asked me ‘how can can I push this conceptually?’ I said I want to explore what it means to be elegant today. She suggested to make some contrasts from pocket and no pocket. Find a traditional and modern path. So then I found more articles about pockets. I realised that some of the garments I saw in the Dior exhibition were made in the last century, when this brand just start, the shape really fits to the body and is really tight. It doesn’t really have much space for a woman to move around. Since the time changed different designers more modern elements into each collection. Timetable for Week 2
Week 4
12/08/19 Monday
Today was the first progress tutorial for this project. During the tutorial, I realised I need to spend more time on my workflow, my research and critical practice were not enough, and it was a serious problem for my next step, I need to try my best to catch up. Georgia set up a few task for my next step. For my sketchbook, I also need to do more design development and start draping experiments, so that I can try more shape and more different material. From this tutorial, I realised that I need to speed up and keep recording my each process. The situation was quite negative and I was really concerned about myself. There were only 2 weeks left, I may have to change my time table for next fa=ew weeks.
14/08/19 Wednesday
During yesterday class, I was asked to do an interim poster to show my theme and what have I done so far. It was my first time to use Indesign, for me, I like clean and tidy layout, so I decided this poster into a few different part, I put some some my work from last week one day project, and a few image of inspiration. I also draw a quick illustration for my work.
16/08/19 Friday
Week 5
19/08/19 Monday
The focus point of this week was making final outcome. First of all, I had to make sure in the beginning what the general silhouette is - I took this information from my primary research questionnaire - the character who I would like to wear the dress. The long vertical line is inspired by art deco buildings, a long straight line - some art deco buildings have distinct edges and corners and I took that element and applied to the dress. For the top part of the dress I will use cashmere and silk because there will be a contrast between the bottom element of the dress which will be nylon and leather. Nylon and leather are both practical and strong materials - because the area of the dress is large and this part of the dress will have contact with other surfaces. The materials hold the shape - and the interfacing will hold the shape. When people sit on the pocket at the back, it means the person can sit on the pocket and then stand up and the dress will still hold its shape. The main colour I will use for the top and bottom is navy and the lining will be teal. This inspiration comes from Art Deco uses tones of colour that are cold tones and my colour palette which inspired by Mrs.Corlett's paintings.
21/08/19 Wednesday
Self-assessment and Hat project
Today I did self assessment task, I need to see how was my progress so far. It has been a week past since the last progress tutorial, I did catch up some work on my workflow and sketchbook, but after I checked by following the list, I still found 5 section which I need improve. After that, I had a hat project, each different hat represent a kind of thing. For example, red hat means the thing I was worried about in this project. After this task, I felt my thought was clearer than before, because I realised the thing I most concerned about. I still have chance to solve it.
23/08/19 Friday
Once I finished pattern, I started to making toile, I didn't use the fabric when I do draping experiments, I think the texture was too soft and too thin, not enough to hold the shape of garment. So I decided to use thicker cotton. To achieve same effect, I also used bias cut for toile. I have to finish toile today, so I can start my final piece during the weekend.
Timetable for Week 5