Knit

I had never tried knitting before this block. During the two weeks, I learned how to machine knit and hand knit. Well, I say learned to hand knit...I never actually!  I found it so so frustrating, I just could not pick it up.  I think the fact that I am left handed made it more difficult, everything always seems more awkward.  I did manage to produce some machine samples which I am pleased with.  Our tutor Tim (http://www.timothyjamesandrews.com/)was really inspiring, and he let us have a look at his portfolio...he was commissioned to produce a line of knit for Preen and also his work is in Vogue magazine!  It really changed my perception of knitted textiles, as usually I just think of big chunky winter garments, but knit can be produced really delicately and sensitively.

Knit on the catwalk...

Marc Jacobs Autumn/Winter 2012

In the knit workshop...

My efforts...

Catwalk images WGSN

Weave

I really enjoyed the weave block.  I liked the laid back atmosphere in the workshop, the pace of working and found myself really engaging with the process.  I picked it up really quickly and, although it does take a lot of concentration and patience, I am really pleased with the outcome of my woven samples.

Some examples of woven textiles that I find inspiring...

Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2012/13

Pics from class...

My finished samples...

Catwalk images from WGSN

My Favourite Things: The Pathology of Collecting

I never really thought I was a collector.  I have collections of things, like shoes, scarves, belts, jewellery.  I like to keep a memento from trips that I take, so I collect key rings and fridge magnets from each place that I visit.  I suppose I collect books and magazines, as I never discard them, I keep them in a row on my desk.  However all these objects serve a purpose: I wear the shoes and accessories, I have the keepsakes to remember good times on holiday, and I read the books and mags that I have.  

However obsessive collecting is on a whole other level!  Sigmund Freud's theory on the reason why people collect highlights a controlling and dark side to a seemingly harmless hobby, a need for people to have an "object of desire" and linking this to a "collective unconscious" in us.

This video shows people who collect Barbie dolls.  They are obviously adults, so the purpose of collecting them is not to play with them, as you would have as a child, but to simply collect and display them.  

"Possession cannot apply to an implement, since the object I utilize always directs me back to the world.  Rather it applies to that object once it is divested of its function and made relative to a subject"

The System of Collecting

Jean Boudrillard

In other words what defines a collection is something that is not collected for use, but for its sheer being, to be categorised, displayed, owned for no purpose other than to possess it.  

The people in the video talk of having an emotional connection to the Barbie, telling childhood memories of good times had while playing with them, or of possessing a Barbie as having been a 'tabboo' issue for the male when he was younger, which he now feels he can be free of.  They also speak passionately of Barbie's fashion sense and style, personifying her and seeming to be in complete awe of her, almost as if they wish they themselves could become her...

"The singular object never impedes the process of narcissistic projection, which ranges over an indefinite number of objects: on the contrary, it encourages such multiplication, thus associating itself with a mechanism whereby the image of the self is extended to the very limits of the collection.  Here, indeed, lies the whole miracle of collecting.  For it is invariably oneself that one collects"

The System of Collecting

Jean Boudrillard

So it seems that what looks like a fairly simple concept of owning a collection of things, is actually a more in depth reflection of who we are or what we wish to become.

Textiles Environment Design

Before I enrolled at Chelsea College of Art & Design, I researched quite a lot before deciding to take up a place, and one of the main things I noticed was the emphasis that was put on how important it is to be environmentally friendly while studying here and in general when creating art.  Textiles Environment Design is a collective group set up by staff and students that aims to develop a set of practice-based sustainable design strategies that have a reduced impact on the environment.  So while studying here and when I graduate and begin my own practice in designing textiles for fashion I will adhere to the 'TED Ten'...

1: Design to Minimise Waste

2: Design for Recycling/Upcycling

3: Design to Reduce Chemical Impacts

4: Design to Reduce Energy & Water Use

5: Design that Explores Clean/Better Technologies

6: Design that Looks at Models from History & Nature

7: Design for Ethical Production

8: Design to Replace the Need to Consume

9: Design to Dematerialise & Develop Systems & Services

10: Activism

We are living in a culture of vast consumerism and 'fast fashion' with shops like Primark producing endless cheap copies of designer trends.  People buy these clothes and think nothing of discarding them when worn a few times when the next trend comes on the scene. Most of these garments are produced overseas in sweatshops often unethically and using child labour.  This is not the type of industry I wish to be involved in.

My Manifesto

By following 'TED's 10', I hope to become a designer who produces fabrics or garments that will last, that are produced ethically and are kind to the environment.  I will try to the best of my ability, to research and apply alternative methods and practices when necessary to reduce any sort of negative impact on the world.  I will design and produce sustainable textiles, using the safest possible media with no need for waste during production.  They will be recyclable and bio-degradable when possible, and will hopefully contribute towards this cultures decline in 'fast fashion'.

London Street Style

I have been set the task of taking some street style photos which capture pattern for my print class...These pics where taken in Covent Garden on a very cold snowy day...

Great mixture of pattern here with the colourful horizontal stripe on the skirt, chequered blazer and bright tartan scarf

Fab Liberty print Nike high tops

This girl matches her Aztec print leggings with a monochrome scarf & Rolling Stones printed tote bag

V cool guy keeping warm in a vibrant stripy zipper

Military Fashion Details

My task today is to curate my own exhibition after visiting the National Army Museum in Chelsea.  I found this museum quite fascinating, and a little overwhelming at just how much army-related memorabilia it housed, and the task of narrowing down my findings to a personal exhibit of just a few items, as requested in my uni brief, quite challenging! Well here goes....

MILITARY DETAILS IN FASHION

The relationship between army attire and fashion today

This exhibition aims to show the extent to which the fashion designers of today rely on early military costume as a source of inspiration for their collections.  Year after year the military 'trend' appears on the catwalk spanning all four seasons, and the key details are usually always the same: the trench coat, the military jacket, the turned up collars, the brass buttons...It is quite remarkable how close the actual designs of the past garments are to today's pieces, and the comparisons will be exhibited clearly.  The collection of items are mostly from World War 1 and World War 2, and are contrasted alongside images from designers who use the military theme regularly in their works, including Balmain, Alexander McQueen and Burberry.

Looking at the details of the army clothing and accessories in particular, the exhibit will explore the difference in purpose of each element in the designs, for example how a button detail in the military jacket would perhaps have had a functional use in the past, whereas today it might be added for an aesthetic reason.  

"When the late‐twentieth‐century fashion editor Diana Vreeland called uniforms “the sportswear of the nineteenth century,” she was describing useful adaptations: examples of the cavalry to riding apparel, braid as reinforcement and decoration, plastrons and double‐breasted chests as double protection for the heart, and even romantic sashes that served by necessity to carry the wounded from the battlefield."

Richard Martin, and Harold Koda: Swords into Ploughshares, 1995

This is an officers uniform from the first world war.  It is mainly in the colour khaki with details in brown.  Pay close attention to the texture of the fabrics: the finely pressed cotton shirt, the smooth tweed-like coat and the rigid quality of the tie and rope trim.  The outfit is belted in the middle with a thick leather, and a small pouch attached.  Each element here serves a purpose: the colours are to blend in, camouflage tones...the shirt pressed to perfection to convey discipline and care...the rope to hold up a holster for a gun possibly...the belt to hold the outfit together and help with attachments over the shoulder sash.

These are images from Alexander McQueen's Autumn/Winter 2012 collection.  The male wears an outfit strikingly similar to the first exhibit...the same pressed, khaki shirt with tie, the trench-type coat, the tweed texture of the trousers and the leather detailing of the gloves...all in the same palette - greens and browns.  The female is in an almost identical overcoat, with matching pocket size and position, boxy-like silhouette, and cinched in at the waist with a thick leather belt.  Though the purposes are clearly different...these are obviously designed purely for fashion's sake; the colours to fit in with the current trend, the fabrics with this seasons texture and the belt to show off the female figure.

This is an army Sargent's uniform from 1815.  Mainly red with white trimming and a touch of yellow at the collar and cuffs.  It is a short jacket with detail on the shoulder and has many buttons with the British army crown on them.  

This is Balmain Spring Summer 2009.  This was a huge hit on the catwalk and inspired various high street copies.  It literally takes the same details of the original Sargent's jacket and brings it into the 21st century.  Everything is there: the shoulder embellishment, the braiding stripes down the front, the multiple buttons, the collar and cuff detailing and it keeps to the same shape and silhouette.

Here is a typical trench coat from the late 1800's.  It is made from heavyweight material to shelter the body from the terrible conditions in the trenches at war.  It has large lapels that touch the shoulders when closed over, parallel buttons running down either side at the front and is the right length to practically cover the whole body.

Above are images of designs by Burberry.  This is the classic trench coat with all the exact same detailing as the army overcoat, however this is no surprise as Thomas Burberry actually designed the original trench coat and his first commission was to the British army!

"The trenchcoat, made first and continuously by Burberry of London for Boer War and World War I service for officers needing protective cloth, closings, and latched wrists and collar, has become a basic of dress for both men and women. Its origins in officers' coats are remembered in name, but many today might more readily associate the coat with glamorous espionage andHumphrey Bogart in Casablanca, even as contemporary fashion specifications for most trenchcoats include vestigial D‐rings (designed for hand grenades) still worn by modern suburban commuter‐warriors."

Richard Martin, and Harold Koda: Swords into Ploughshares, 1995

The National Army Museum

Richard Martin, and Harold Koda, Swords into Ploughshares, 1995