Loving these!

McQ Pre-Fall/Winter 2011 videos. 

I've just watched these on the McQueenWorld channel on Youtube and they're great! Sooo unique and very British. A little insight into the lives of four young girls, all giving their opinions or views on fears, dreams and love. Its amazing how their quirky personalities are captured. For me the short clips have a fine art feel to them; they're honest and bold. 

Is it just me or does McQueen get more impressive as the seasons roll on?

Flash back

Last year, on my Foundation Diploma, I did a project based on the female dandy trend that was around at that time. My final garment was a plaid waistcoat made from a pair of cropped trousers and a peach jersey dress. I also made a ruffled neck piece to convey the trend more.
Its similar to the steampunk theme in a way, its old fashioned with a modern twist. Inspiration for my steampunk project came from victorian menswear so a glance back at this shoot might be useful for me. Here are some photos of the look......

Steampunk begins

How would I describe steampunk fashion?  Hmm..... a mixture of corsetry, lace and ruffles, given a harder edge with buckles, chains and studs. Think sci-fi meets the Victorian era, in this fictional world the future has arrived early.

This new project has a live brief, given to us by Phase, a local alternative clothing company. For the project I am required to design and produce a shirt or shirt dress based on the steampunk theme.

I've tried to keep my designs modern while staying focused on the original theme much like garments in the image above. I looked at menswear in the Victorian era and used this as inspiration, emphasising collars and sectioning the sleeves to mimic arm garters. 

When researching steampunk fashion I found these websites usefull:

www.scoundrelleskeep.com

www.bluebanana.com

Improvements

This week I received feedback from a previous college project. One of the areas I need to work on is my illustration skills, so I've gotten myself a sketchbook that I intend to fill with various drawings and illustrations in the coming months. Hopefully this will build my confidence with illustrations and perhaps allow me to develop a personal style I can stick with for future projects.

To start with I'm going to draw from magazines and photos, below are the first two I've done this week. Lots of room for improvement but this is just the beginning...  More to come!

Steampunk begins....

New year and a new pr

BBC Blast Your Label Competition

The brief for this competition was to design a capsule collection inspired by one of three collections at the V&A museum. I chose to look at ceramics and above are the three designs I submitted. My final collection consisted of six outfits which were shown at an event during London Fashion Week September 2010.

My collection explores 1970’s artwork with a modern twist. Glenys Barton’s piece, Twelve Cubes, in the ceramics collection at the V&A Museum caught my attention immediately. I like the simplicity of the piece, its clean lines and striking use of colour. This is where I found my inspiration for a print, the colours remaining the same yet with grey/blue tones to replicate the colour of Barton’s clay.

I came across another work of Barton’s, Figure Group- Monte Alban II, a powerful piece showing two human figures, each at the top of a slender flight of steps. To incorporate this into my designs I used sections of pleats to echo the line of the stairs. I also created a strong solid shoulder that refers to the motionless properties of clay, in contrast to the movement in some other parts of my garments.

Photos of the event can be found here.