A Level Art - Using Fabrics to Create a Picture

The image of the work above is one of my A Level pieces that I constructed with fabric. First I laid out some fabrics and placed a shiny, reflective vase in the centre and painted the composition. Next I redrew the picture but more simply onto some calico fabric and used the key colours from the fabrics to recreate it. As I had previously painted it, it was quite simple to portray it with fabrics, using the painting to give me the reflections in the vase. I attached the fabrics in an applique style with a zig-zag stitch around the outer edge, preventing the fabrics from fraying. I then used organza over the vase part to give the vase its shiny appearance. This worked well because the organza is translucent so you could still see the other fabrics underneath. To finish the piece off I embellished some sections of the fabrics (the ones that were patterned) with beading.

Image from my own camera.

Ting Tings - Standing In The Way Of Control

I absolutely love the Ting Tings' cover of Standing in the Way of Control. Mixed with I've got the Power, it is really inspirational as though to say I'm taking control of everything and I can do this! This is the kind of ethos a fashion design student needs, what with the hard work, time and effort we all put into completing each element of this course. Enjoy! The video is from here.

Mark Ronson and his shoes for Gucci

"Run DMC had their Adidas. Kanye's still the Louis Vuitton Don. So it makes perfect sense that Best-Dressed Mainstay, former GQ Man of the Year and self-confessed "avid sneaker addict" Mark Ronson would try his hand at a footwear collaboration. After bonding with Gucci's Creative Director Frida Giannini over her impeccable musical taste, Ronson has designed a limited edition range of trainers that will be sold exclusively in a new pop-up store, Gucci Icon-Temporary that opens in London on 22 April."

 

These trainers reflect Ronson's style completely. In the picture above you can see one is Polka Dot (a favourite of the musician's) and the other is a stylish grey flannel, these are the two that are unique to the London store. His obsession for sneakers started at a young age and after sharing the same taste in music with Frida Giannini they began working together. The article on GQ's website talks about the joint venture, Ronson's inspirations, his new CD and his style.

Watch a video about the new store here. To read the full article and interview click here.

Paul Smith - Paris - Autumn/Winter 2010/2011

For a little break from revision I decided to have a little look at some of the catwalks for Autumn/Winter 2010/2011. Paul Smith is a favourite designer of mine so I decided to look at his latest collection, which I found was quite inspiring.

Smith has designed a range of garments in both casual and formal style, teaming together over sized coats with modern, sophisticated tailoring. His used of contrasting patterns throughout the outfits compliments the Paul Smith brand well, allowing stripes, checks and patterned shirts to be teamed together without a second thought.

The collection, suitable for a range of ages, is made up of dark, subdued colours with the occasional bright. The reds, blacks and blues are pieced together to give the collection warmth, but also as key pieces that will work with whatever else you buy.

The overcoats are asymmetrical, with exaggerated features such as hoods collars and shoulders. The heavy fabrics have been played with the create the best drape so that the coat sits right no matter how it is worn.

Not only were patterns used with each other, Smith has designed shirts with contrasting collars and cuffs, Jackets with contrasting lapels (mixing some with knitted features) and lustrous and matted fabrics have been used together to create unique, stylish ensembles.

See more of the collection here.

Edgar Mueller

I remember seeing some of the street art by this artist in the newspaper a while back, and I still enjoy looking at his work now.

Edgar Mueller creates a 2D painting on the street, which from a perception point looks 3D. This is a great skill and is truly inspiring. The scale of the artworks are huge, often taking up most of the road or path, using it as his own personal gallery.

Mueller has worked in the UK, Germany and Slovenia, creating caves, waterfalls, lava and ice crevices. Each one is just as breath-taking as the others.

 

People have reacted in different ways to each of these, often believing them to begin with, and even taking part in photos making them more "realistic".

I would love to see one down Briggate in Leeds!

All images are from here.

Nonwovens Nonsense - The Trousers

A few weeks ago, I posted about the second semester's Garment Technology project FASHION: Decoratif, and showed a sample of a jacket front we had made based on a piece from Margiela's current Spring/Summer 2010 collection. We were given a floral jacket, which we decided to replicate in two different ways, and to also make a pair of trousers, to go with both. The deadline for this project was last Friday, however we have been limited in the construction of the jackets so these are not complete for me to show yet, but pictures of all finished garments will be up as soon as possible.

Originally we wanted the trousers to be sonic bonded, but with pressure growing we decided as a group to make them ourselves. The fabric we had chosen for our jackets and trousers was PVC, which we have now found out is a difficult fabric to sew and make garments from, but the challenge was worth it in the end. The trousers have laser cut strips and back pockets, based on a floral net curtain we purchased from the market. Below you will find the construction pages we put together and also a photo of the trousers we took before we put the waistband on.

All Images of Group work by Amy Gibson, Emma Clarke and myself, image of trousers is taken from my own camera

Deadline Week

It's that time of the semester again, the week we all dread (and sort of look forward to it being over) "Deadline Week". This is where hours of hard work go into completing projects that we have been working on for about 3 months. Sometimes we're sick of these projects, can't wait for them to be over and just power through the late hours of the night adding the finishing touches. Other times you can feel satisfied with the work, and just glad that you'll get a good mark that you can be proud of, this is usually when you'll have been really organised throughout the whole semester and put a lot of time into the project. This semester for me, in my Design Development module has been mixed emotions. I was fairly organised, worked hard and planned my time well, however you can never stop the little things going wrong can you? Anyway after a long weekend of non-stop Adobe Illustrator and putting the finishing touches on my work, I am quite pleased with the final result, especially the flat drawings and illustrations which I think have improved greatly from last semester! Here are some examples of my work:

Images of my work from my camera