For starting point, I went to Dior exhibition at V&A museum for research. In this exhibition, I saw many collection under different creative director. I was really interested in how different designers using their own vision to define Dior’s new look. If we think about it, the elements of new look is quite simple, bar jacket and sunrise pleated skirt, but the details in look can explore Mr.Dior’s definition of fashion and elegance, how big those pads under the jacket can show the silhouette of waist and hips but not too exaggerated, how long is the skirt to the legs is the perfect length, beside this the meaning behind this look was very important to people at that time. In 1947, when Dior created new look, many people were shocked by how much fabric he spent just on one dress. In the case of a quota on the fabric, he still using lots of fabric on one garment, his original intention of design is make women returning to the ideal of happiness in the civilized world, he encourage women walk out of the devastated ruins from the war and return to the tradition of social life. I believe those women can feel confident when they wearing those dresses.Dior Exhibition

For this project, in the beginning, I was a little bit confused about the definition of elegance, because the topic were too general. I decided to ask more opinion from other people, so I went to the Dior exhibition again, I printed out a few survey questions. The reason I want to found volunteers in Dior exhibition is because I think the people who came to this exhibition must be quite interested in fashion, the type of people I was looking for are those ladies who wearing fashionable or elegant clothes. At the end, I found 4 volunteers to answer my questions. The first one( Question and answer please see in sketchbook. Page 10), She allowed me to call her Caroline, She said the element which can represent elegance is the clothes which can cover female's body, that was very interesting, less is more. The second one and the third one were not that interested in my survey, but I still used the politest way to ask them questions, obviously I didn't get enough information. However, the fourth lady's answer was really important to my project.(Details please see in sketchbook. Page 10)

Please see in sketchbook. Page 3

Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/the-gender-politics-of-pockets/380935/ 

Please see in sketchbook. Page 32

Link: https://sewguide.com/different-types-of-pockets/ 

Giorgio Armani could be one of the most famous designer who made men and women's jackets and suits. For me, I do like Giorgio Armani's style, he used his own way to represent elegance, low profile but the material, fitting and finishing was very luxury and perfect. I was very interested in Armani's women's wear, he invented power suit, it makes women feel confident and powerful, in the meantime, it also makes perfect balance between strong women and elegance women. Armani's achievement for menswear was remarkable, he changed the proportion of men's jacket. In July of 1975, Armani launched a wireless unstructured men's jacket, which set off a revolution in the fashion industry. His design is relaxed and natural, the reason I like his design is under the seemingly inadvertent tailoring, the beauty of the human body is faintly highlighted. it has abandoned the boring suit that tight the male body in the 1960s and its totally different from the hippie style which was popular at that time. Three months later, Armani launched a loose women's jackets, using traditional men's fabrics, as simple and soft as men's jackets, but revealing some male majesty. Armani's bold use of materials gave me lots of inspiration, maybe I don't have to use the traditional luxury fabric to represent elegance. Giorgio Armani Power Suit

As a former creative director of Celine who graduated from Central Saint Martins, Phoebe Philo is known as wearable garments. People called her the queen of minimalist. In this project, my aim was to discover practical elegance, I think Phoebe Philo gives me lots of inspiration. The material she normally used was very practical in actual life, like leather, nylon, wool, cotton. And the most important thing is the texture of each fabric were comfortable. I also like the clean and creatively pattern cut from her collection. During the interview, she said she was quite picky about the material and techniques, she said the coat she designed can put in closet for whole life. Celine Spring 2018 Ready-to-Wear by Phoebe Philo

Yves Saint Laurent designed one of my favourite products: Smocking Suit. He want women become more powerful when they wear this jacket, the boundary between sex become not that clear, women became neutral and chic. he created a unique silhouette to prominent female's body. Women wearing trousers instead of skirts, it created another impression of elegance.After decades, when Hedi Slimane became creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, he added his personal style into it, but even make the feeling stronger. So far, in my research, I already had quite a lot designers, what have I learn during the time I writing about this is for all of those brands, Dior, Armani, Saint Laurent, Celine, Chanel, etc, they are very different from each other obviously, each of them has their own style , but in some way they are very similar to each other as well because they are all trying to release women from tight, inconvenient, huge garments. They all redefined women's clothes in their own way. This spirit is what am I looking for this project, I think maybe this could be the basic rule of modern practical elegance. Smocking Suit by Yves Saint Laurent    Smocking Suit by Hedi Slimane

 For understanding the evolution of woman's garment, I want to see the different point between Dior's 60th anniversary and Dior's 70th anniversary. 70th collection is more modern because this collection is inspired by women who travel, the founder Mr Dior liked to travel around the world and bring different cultures into his collection. The reason this collection is inspiring is how the designers express her femininity by using trousers in this collection. Loose trousers and coat, which means more comfortable for women. It inspired me to create a character for this project, because also the hair and make up it is not very formal. This woman is more like a modern woman. It doesn't make them look messy, when they wear those garments they look like stronger and powerful. What I found really fantastic is that Maria Grazia Chruni used a lot of soft material like organza, tulle, silk, velvet but it doesn't make the woman look soft, she looks quite powerful. The technique she used do this, she used gathering in some dresses gives more volume. The techniques, details and finishing of the garment, inspired me a lot for tailoring techniques.

Compared with 10 years ago, 60th anniversary collection, John Galliano was inspired by the Impressionist painters and abstract artists. He created more feminine classic style or look and he also add a lot of rococo elements in this collection, so it makes woman look charming and attractive. A lot of dresses are quite difficult to sit in because of the silhouette. The silhouette is more similar to Dior's bar jacket, so a really thin waist and a large volume on hips and for the skirt part he use a lot of pleat, to make the shape and volume really big. 

In conclusion, I found both of collection amazing, but I can tell the change and evolution of a brand. Christian Dior Fall 2007 Couture   Christian Dior Fall 2017 Couture   

Patrick Demarchelier is my favourite fashion photographer, he took lots of Dior advertising campaign. I found the he can make the boundary between light and dark very well. For different collection he will choose different backgrounds to match the theme. The thing most fascinated me is the poses he asked model to do in each of his photographs. I like the feeling he always add a touch of mysterious in his works. Everything combined really well in each of his work, garments, hair and makeup, the background , the light. His photoshoot for Dior can represent the elegance of Dior, and his works also gave me lots of inspiration for my final outcome photoshoot.          Dior Couture by Patrick Demarchelier. Dior Couture by Patrick Demarchelier

Nick Knight is a fashion photographer, but style of his photography are totally different from Patrick Demarchelier. When the first time I saw his work, I was shocked by his imagination, exaggerated makeup and body language, traditional elegance were not included in his works. However, in Nick Knight’s photo scene, there are often many distorted faces Waving a stick is like a demon. This primitive violence is like a fire Let anger burn to the viewer's heart. Red, white and black.

He also took the Dior advertising campaign before, in his photos, there is no elegant lady,  what have I seen is the model's bronzed strong muscles, white pants and red water like blood. Full of tension and emotion, as if I can instantly detonate my boiling point. Dior Couture 2003 by Nick Knight  Dior Couture 1997 by Nick Knight    Dior Couture 2012 by Nick Knight