Context - 'Costume'

Moschino, menswear SS/16

In my investigation of the 'Dandy' and ideas surrounding masculinity, materiality and the British gentry I found it quite amusing that the recent Moschino menswear collection pulls on similar references. The collection is spritely cross over of King Louis XIV and a retro Tour de France. This retelling of Versaille court attire merging lycra print, coloured fur, ruffles and ornate embroidery makes the Moschino man look like he just stepped out of the set of Fellini's Casanova. This is a very similar feel I have been exploring and could see my work alongside the Moschino aesthetic this season. This collection challenges preconceptions of 'masculine' clothing; is there a need for gender differentiation at fashion weeks anymore? After all 300 years ago dandy's displayed such pomp and extravagance that blurred the lines of gender materiality. 

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Last Supper (After Leonardo), 2013, life-size fibreglass mannequins including a hybrid figure with fur legs and hooves, Dutch wax printed cotton textile, reproduction wooden table and chairs, silver cutlery and vases, antique and reproduction glassware and tableware, fibreglass and resin, 158 x 742 x 260cm

Gallantry and Criminal Conversation (Parasol), Shonibare

I have also been looking at the  work of Yinka Shonibare, a Nigerian-British artist and self-dub 'post-colonial hybrid'. Utilising costume as a medium for exploring the relationship of race and class he re-appropriates colonial narratives and questions preconceptions of constructed collective-identities. Using the traditional Dutch-wax fabrics of Nigeria (introduced by Western colonialism of Indonesia and Nigeria) he produces costumes associated with the British colonial landed gentry, opening up a possibility for alternate narratives. The idea of costume or clothing geared towards a gallery context whilst still existing as a wearable garment interests me and the future of my practice.   

Development - Rochdale

With the addition of the quilting machine this year I have begun to play with the possibilities of the large scale. This initial sample is informative in terms of mark making and thread quality, but I definitely need to work on developing my grounds and introducing more vibrancy with the colour of my fabric. 

initial quilting sample, interesting mark making, but lacking in colour

For this unit I have wanted to expand my textiles skill set, and this began in the dye lab. For two years I have been terrified of the dye lab and these past 2 weeks I pushed through my anxieties of messing up and pushed myself to play about dying velvet. I've come to love dying and see it as an integral part of my project development; my loud and brash colour scheme would be impossible to find in fabric, therefore dying has enabled me to reproduce the exact colours I need for this project. 

dying samples, devore velvets and cotton-mix, very pleased with the rich outcome

Dying isn't the only process I've been getting acquainted with; as I missed the print rotation at the beginning of level 5, I have no experience working within the print room. I was determined to reinterpret the velvet pile of the jacket. Using wax paper to block out the screen to create parallel lines and also developing a Baroque inspired motif on a screen i experimented with devore on velvet. As a lot of my velvet was from random cuts in Abahkans, the composition of the fabric was unknown so most of my time in the print room was spent testing the devore on the fabric to unknown effect. Most of the unknown velvets turned out to be some kind of cotton mix as it just burned through the fabric. I find the slash-like effect interesting and fitting with the aged fragility of the jacket but I don't think I will develop this further as its not desired.

cotton-mix velvet devore sample, experimenting with parallel pile

jacket from Platt Hall, velvet pile and rips in fabric, 2015

cotton-mix velvet devore, accidental slash effects, but interested in the fragile nature of the sample

Referencing my work in the previous unit, I revisited my love of the Multi-head machine to play on strengths already developed. For this initial sample I used the same baroque design I drafted for my print. Stitching out I experienced some issues with the design, which were caused by not rescaling properly on the Ethos programme. I need to refresh and expand my comprehension of the programme to ensure minimum issues arise in future designs. I think this comes down to time-management and ensuring I set aside more time for perfecting my Ethos designs. 

initial devore sampling, pleased with the clean outcome of the print and nice contrast with the rich bottle green dye

gold multi-head design on pink/violet velvet with devore print; not pleased with the contrived pedestrian feel of this piece

In the tutorial just past Mark commented on the design feeling contrived and a bit "boring" compared to my usual work. I think I have got so caught up in exploring more techniques and referencing the Baroque influences that I lost my usual element of fun and folly. I plan on revisiting my strengths and concentrating more on translating these influences through my bold style.

Locating: Intentions / Research Part 2

Developing my initial research of the jacket I began to deconstruct and reconstruct narratives for the jacket whilst also exploring motifs, colour and mark making. Through abstraction of the jacket's velvet base and floral design I played with my illustrative style in a way I could translate into stitch. Playful illustration and use of collage to build up the rich texture I loved on the jacket whilst also rewriting the possible life of the jacket. I can already see my graphic work translate well on the multihead, whilst I plan on exploring devore print to rereate the layering effects of my drawings and fragility of the jacket. The element of 'Dandys' is a key interest at this point, as I explore what kind of 'man' could have wore the jacket; the materials and techniques challenge traditional ideas of 'masculinity'.

illustrated narrative sketchbook pages, 2016

abstraction of jacket pocket, 2016

mark making motifs, 2016

LOCATING: Intentions / Research

To kick off the Locating unit we underwent a trip to Rochdale custom archive to gather visual inspiration and generate initial ideas. I found the archive quite bland and uninspiring, but as an 'out-ward facing' approach was important for this unit I used the research gathered in Rochdale as a starting point for further exploration of costume details and textiles.

floral embroidery on dress, Rochdale archive, 2015


section taken from door frame, collage of influential figures, inspiration for jarred narratives and 'collaging' storylines, Rochdale 2015

To kick off the Locating unit we underwent a trip to Rochdale custom archive to gather visual inspiration and generate initial ideas. I found the archive quite bland and uninspiring, but as an 'out-ward facing' approach was important for this unit I used the research gathered in Rochdale as a starting point for further exploration of costume details and textiles. Following this I went about my own research in the beautiful Platt Hall archive where I became fascinated with a green, velvet gentlesmans' jacket from the 18th century. The Rococo style floral embroidery is obviously visually interesting, but the parallel velvet pile was what really interested me; the contrast in texture from the green velvet to the mustard and purple weave revealed below, and the fragility of the worn away areas of the jacket really inspired me. I'm very interested in the stories the jacket has to tell, and as narrative was a key aspect of my practice underpinned in the last unit, I'm key to build on my 'retelling' and 'appropriating' of narratives in this unit. This experience has highlighted the benefit of dealing with archives and objects in further developing my practice.

key point of interest - Rococo floral embroidery on green velvet jacket, Platt Hall, 2015

Intentions: Evaluation

The Intentions unit has been an insightful project for me. On the whole I personally found the open-ended nature of the project quite foreign as we have become so used to working towards a very prescribed brief set for us. I struggled a lot in the first few weeks as I was very unsure about what direction I wanted to take my work in, I was unsure about what to research and what to translate into sampled work; I then realised the one of the purposes of the project is that there is no definite end product we have to define. By playing and taking risks we start to develop a language as artists and designers, and I feel in my last few weeks I finally began to embrace the element of play, and immersed myself in a variety of techniques, building my skill set as a designer.

possible sleeve cuff detail

I am relatively happy with the elements I have explore din my work, although I feel much of it could have been developed further given more time, or perhaps better time-management. A lot of my time in the first few weeks was spent worrying about what to do instead of just throwing myself into the work and letting the concept find me. The elements of 3D explored through embroidery have perhaps paved the way for development in future projects, as I enjoyed engaging in play with use of wire and pintuck.

wave like structure adding depth to print and laser cut pieces

My digital skills in the Ethos programme have gained a great deal of confidence of the past few weeks and I feel my illustrative work is well translated in this medium. I would like to continue working on my knowledge of the programme over the next few projects and although I took risks using the water soluble fabric I am curious to see where I can push the multi-head stitch, particularly in incorporating both illustrative Ethos with my structural explorations.

My context has been a bit confused over this project, as I began with the Intentions of possibly installations for a gallery/festival context, but after conversations with tutors it started to shift to a more fashion lead context. I am interested to possibly pursue the grey area between clothing and space, in a more art-lead design of textiles for the body. I think had I researched more of a context for my work to apply to, I may have been able to propel my work further on in development for this unit but this is definitly something for me to consider over the next few weeks and to begin to cement in the Locating Unit.

possible accessory idea

I feel the body of work I have produced for Intentions is evidence of risk-taking and play and I fell as a designer this project has given me the chance to explore a style and aesthetic personal to me.

Week 8

In the last stretch of the project I feel I am truly experimenting and taking risks within my materials. Following the exploration of ethos on water soluble last week I pushed to produce a larger scale version; unfortunately I lost the original water soluble face sample as it has gone missing from my pin up wall, and to add insult to injury I have misplaced my memory stick holding the ethos design. As annoying as this may be I can only look at it as a slight bump in the road and a learning experience to ensure my work is backed up, and that any important samples are not left alone over night. The larger version of the face has a lot of impact and my improved Ethos design gives additional sturdiness to the stitch, whilst keeping the ghostly feel of the previous sample.

Ethos design on water soluble, larger scale

Ethos on water soluble; I am very much interested in exploring the stitch as an entity/object in its own right

My examination of structure properties using fabric lead me to creating more faggoting pieces in hessian but also combining embellishment details previously explored to add colour and texture and feed back to the festa vibe I was hoping to achieve. The boring brown tubes are adorned with copper foiling, hair pin fringing of various yarns and threads, and some thick tufting. They took quite a while to complete due to the variety of techniques involved, and I was not entirely happy with the outcome as I believe them to be hideous pieces, I’m just unsure if they are ‘hideous good’, or ‘hideous bad’. I feel it is important to appreciate the ‘ugly’ in my work, and although they are not pretty I feel they raise questions about form and texture that can further inform future projects. The tuft elements I was not happy with as it became quite a dominant line, but I no to attempt a smaller stitch in the future.

tube-like forms, although unpolished have a lot of character 

Returning to play with the idea of hairpin stitch and tubular structure, I went back to the early drawing of the parallel lines as my ground. Using pin tuck and wire I have created an interesting texture and movement, and although it was near impossible to stitch across parallel to the horizontal lines on the slippery scuba, the messy, non-uniformed style of the lines created a whole other wave like quality which I feel is ultimately more interesting. Applique of the laser cut pieces added another layer to the print, but in future I would cut smaller pieces, yet this is all informative for future explorations in the material.

playing with elements of print, laser cut shards, and structure using wire and stitch

and wire I have created an interesting texture and movement, and although it was near impossible to stitch across parallel to the horizontal lines on the slippery scuba, the messy, ununiformed style of the lines created a whole other wave like quality which I feel is ultimately more interesting. Applique of the laser cut pieces added another layer to the print, but in future I would cut smaller pieces, yet this is all informative for future explorations in the material.

Week 7

My work this week saw me explore the idea of a tubular structure further, but this time much less of a direct representation of the firecracker. Using sublimation print on polyester felt I experimented the possibilities of parallel pintuck stitch to create structure, whilst also playing with embellishment ideas on top the print in replicating the movement and composition of the fragment pieces in one of my earlier drawings. Hair pin stitch was something I though was quite naff in our lesson with Nigel a few weeks ago, but after playing with how with yarn densities and qualities, and creating depth with varying lengths, the outcome became something quite Catalonian inspired and I’m excited by the depth it gives to the piece.

hairpin embellishment adds to the 'explosive' aesthetic

pin tuck stitch got me thinking about a ribbed sleeve, and a possible context for these tubular forms

Continuing on with my flirtation of the Ethos machine, I feel like I have full immersed myself in risk taking on this machine by stitching the lady’s face design on to water soluble fabric. The time it takes in altering a digital design plus the set-up and stitch-out time and effort, it was a gamble as I wasn’t sure how my figurative marker would hold up once the fabric was washed away. I’m pleased with the result of the face, as my bold, blocky ethos design has now gained an eerie, ghostly quality similar to a lace design. Straight in satin stitch do not hold with out supporting stitch around it, and some of the elements of the design bulked and warped which, although did not work to plan, still are interesting in the shapes they have no become. Mark has suggested I play on a bigger scale with the Ethos on water soluble.

Ethos design on water soluble (before I lost the sample) 

This week, due to a friend unable to make a laser cutter session I took their place, which I used as an opportunity to play with the fragment elements in my earlier drawings and produced a collection of ‘shard’ pieces with holes which allow me play with them and hand stitch applique. I am unsure if I will use all of these pieces in my work, but it was good to refresh my skills in CAD and in the laser room, whilst opening possible ideas for the future mixing laser cut pieces and stitch.