Final Major Project
Specialist Technical skills
Materials:
- fabric
- plastic
- wool
- any sort of material is able to be used in textiles
Fashion and textiles skills:
- artistic and creative skills
- knowledge of texture, patterns, dyes and yarns
- an understanding of colour, shape and form
- knowledge of design-related software
- good communication, presentation and negotiation skills
- to work to deadlines and budgets
- problem-solving skills
- good organisation and planning skills
- to pay attention to fine detail
- to keep up to date with new textile design developments
- practical craft skills
process of fashion and textiles
There is quite a long process with fashion and textiles and this is the process if you were using fabric to create a piece/design.
- Step 1: Fibre production.
- Step 2: Yarn production.
- Step 3: Fabric production.
- Step 4: Pre-treatment.
- Step 5: Dyeing and printing.
- Step 6: Finishing treatments.
- Step 7: Manufacturing, transport, sales and retail.
handmade sketchbooks
This is work i did in a handmade sketchbook over half term. I like these because i explored a range of textures within backgrounds and sizes. I think i could have done better with some of the works by using different materials. I will use this to inform my work as the project goes on.
Victorian Fashion
this is a mood board focused on my sub theme which is Victorian fashion. I would like to focus on the female outfits over the males because they're a lot more interesting and detailed. I will use this to help inform my work for this project.
I have also made a separate mood board to focus on female headwear during this time. They have lots of different styles of headwear and they're all really interesting. I will use this to help develop my character design work.
I also looked at fabrics and patterns used in their clothing during the Victorian era. They used a lot of lace and plant like patterned materials I will use this to help when I'm creating character designs and I'm focusing on the clothing.
victorian research
Upper class
Defenition: ‘the social group that has the highest status in society, especially the aristocracy.’
Synonym: Aristocratic, noble, noble-born, of noble birth, patrician, titled, blue-blooded, high-born, well born, elite, upper-crust, high-class, exclusive, county, upmarket, top-drawer, top-people’s, classy, posh, snobby, gentle.
Etymology : Upper-class status commonly derived from the social position of one's family and not from one's own achievements or wealth. Much of the population that composed the upper class consisted of aristocrats, ruling families, titled people, and religious hierarchs.
Antonym : lower class
VICTORIAN FASHION
' Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s. The period saw many changes in fashion, including changes in styles, fashion technology and the methods of distribution. Various movement in architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts as well as a changing perception of gender roles also influenced fashion. During queen Victoria's reign there was a huge advancement in technology so things like sewing machines and synthetic dyes were made. Clothing could be made more quickly and cheaply. Advancement in printing and proliferation of fashion magazines allowed the masses to participate in the evolving trends of high fashion, opening the market of mass consumption and advertising. By 1905, clothing was increasingly factory made and often sold in large, fixed-price department stores, spurring a new age of consumerism with the rising middle class who benefited from the industrial revolution.'
WOMENS FASHION
During the victorian era womens fashion was very limited. They mostly wore some form of dress as all times. They would wear dresses in the day along with corsets and under pieces they were higher class if they were lower class they would just wear a dress. As for evening wear and nighttime people of a higher class would change into another dress for evening wear/dinner and would then change into a nightgown to sleep in. People of lower class would either stay in the same outfit constantly or would swap between a couple different ones.
MENS FASHION
As for mens fashion it was all quite limited but because of how strict gender roles were back then they had a little more range than women had they had a few different styles of suit and also had different outfits for more activities. they would also carry canes a lot of the time.
Arthur Hughes
Arthur Hughes was a British artist during the Victorian era and he was a part of the pre-Raphaelite group. The group was made up of pre-Raphaelites which are members of a group of English 19th-century artists, including Holman Hunt, Millais, and D. G. Rossetti, who consciously sought to emulate the simplicity and sincerity of the work of Italian artists from before the time of Raphael.
Hughes work consisted of paintings and illustrations. The one on the left here is one i really like. In the piece there's a woman (Ophelia) standing against a tree it sort of reminds me of Adam and eve in a way with the fact there's a woman standing against the tree sort of reaching for something. i think this piece has a sort of fairy-tale feel to it Hughes has used colour to help with this, the colours used for Ophelia are light and pretty which contrasts to the background which is quite dark and dull colours her dress and the fact she has flowers in her hair and in her hand reminds me of some sort of princess. He has used acrylic to create this piece and he's created a lot of textures using the brushes and colours. He has created a sort of lacey texture within the piece and has created a few rough parts like the tree and the bottom of the dress looks quite rough but there also a lot of soft parts within the piece like her hair and the top of her dress. I will use Hughes work to inform my work by exploring with textures when drawing my characters and their clothing.
Natalie Vladimiroff
Natalie Vladimiroff is a fashion designer from Australia who makes sustainable fashion for women. She focuses on colour and textiles in her work which is obvious through her outfits. In the photo on the left she has used plastic bags to create this. Vladimiroff has used bright colours in the piece which you can see in each part if the outfit id say the orange on the skirt especially stands out above the rest. the colours make the outfit seem more joyful and adventurous to me it gives off a fun vibe and i like it. Vladimiroff has also contrasted the fun bright colours with white bags and newspaper. The contrast really makes the colours pop out. I will use Natalie to inform my work by creating a piece using plastic bags and ill focus on making a certain colour stand out from the rest of the piece.
Vladimiroffs work is done with a lot of planning and detail. She has used an old vintage tablecloth and plastic bags to create the piece on the left here. There's lots of texture and colour in this dress and i really like it. I also really like the shape of the dress I think the way its sort of layered looks really good
Tatyana Antoun
Tatyana Antoun is a fashion designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Her work explores social restrictions forced upon the youth in Lebanon in a string of illogical ideals. A lot of her work is heavily influenced by 80’s power dressing and the Club Kids of New York during the 90’s. I quite like that as it involves a lot of colour. She displays her research for her work through collages, pop up sketchbooks and sketches. I really like the way she does her research i think its really creative and effective. It creates a lot of ideas in a bold and colourful way its pleasing to look at.
Since Tatyana is a fashion designer she uses a lot of texture in her work. I do think its really interesting that she keeps that within her research as well.
She uses a lot of colour in her work as well it gives off quite a happy and positive vibe with the amount of colour that's used and I like it i would like to maybe use this in my work.
She also uses some like in her work a lot of jagged and sharp lines however she also uses quite curved lines at times too.
i really like Tatyanas work and i would like to do research like she does.
plastic bags
In 1933 the most commonly used plastic, polyethylene was created by accident in a chemical plant in England. It had been created in small batches before but never enough to catch someone's eye. After seeing its potential, it was secretly used by the British military in world war 2.
In 1965 the first polyethylene shopping bag was created which began to replace cloth and paper in Europe. In 1979 plastic bags began to spread to the united states and all across the world. Companies started mass producing the plastic bags rather than using cloth and paper ones.
In 1982 the two biggest supermarket chains in the USA switched to using plastic bags. Then by the end of the decade plastic bags had practically replaced paper bags all over the world. In 1997 a sailor discovered that mass amounts of plastic bags had accumulated within the worlds oceans. It was called 'the great pacific garbage patch' and it was very threatening to marine life.
in 2002 plastic bags were banned in Bangladesh due to the fact they were a key factor in clogging drains during flooding. Other countries also followed through with this shortly after. In 2011 it was estimated that around 1 million plastic bags were consumed every minute.
In 2018 the UNEP found out that 127 out of 192 countries have enacted some form of national legislation to address the problem with plastic bags. They also were trying to find new ways to tackle plastic waste. In 2020 the world recognised the massive plastic waste problem and in china they started strengthening national plastic pollution control. Around this time big companies started to use less plastic bags and have started to use plastic bags once again.
ethics of the fashion industy
There are many ethical issues within the fashion industry. They have always been the same and haven't shown much signs of change throughout time. For example child labour is a massive part of the industry child labour is so the companies can icrease income by employing children they wont have to pay them as much as they would have to pay an adult so child labour is extremely common in the fashion industry for that reason
There's quite a few health and safety risks involved with fashion. as most clothing items are made with cotton there are a lot of ethical issues involved when using pesticides while cultivating cotton. Pesticides are dangerous to people and the environment it can lead to quite severe things including animal death.
Animal cruelty is also a part of the fashion industry. For centuries animals have been used as a fashion statement animal skin ad fur is used to create multiple fashion items a lot of fur is used for coats, scarfs and accessories. Skin is commonly used on bags and shoes.
Just these alone is bad and people need to realise how damaging the industry really is and we need to change it for the better.
fashion museum bath
During the Easter holidays I visited baths fashion museum. The museum has lots of items of clothing from as early as the 1600's. I mainly focused on the Victorian gowns they had and looked at the designs on them to see if there was anything I wanted to try use on my dress. The two on the left i really liked the wedding dress was really pretty but it wasn't what I wanted to use for my piece. The nightgown on the right was also really pretty and I really like the frills on the dress however I wasn't looking to make a nightgown for my work so I went to focus more on more extravagant gowns.
The dress above is the one i have decided to focus on. I really like all the little details like the frills, layers and bows. I am going to use this dress to inform my work by trying to incorporate parts of the dress onto mine. I would like to try and add frills or layers onto my work and also maybe small details like this dress has i.e. the dots and the bows. I think my trip to bath fashion museum was really informative and helped me develop ideas for my work.
Presentation Techniques
Thierry Mugler: “Couturissime” exhibition.
This is Thierry Mugler's "couturissime" exhibition. He has used a lot of colour when presenting these pieces as it seems to have a theme behind it. I think the background colours and patterns fit the theme well it gives off a mythical and mysterious vibe it sort of looks like a set for a movie. I probably wont be doing any sort of background like this but i was thinking a background made of rubbish could be really cool.
The MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp
These are from the MoMu fashion museum in Belgium. This exhibition contrasts to the previous one i looked at. The background on these is plain and doesnt have a lot of pattern or detail to it unlike muglers one. Out of the two i definitely prefer the first one as theres a lot more to look at but for my exhibition ill probably go with a more plain background like this to make my piece stand out from the background.
The met gala
The met gala is a sort of fashion show/party celebrities attend every year. There is a theme every year and you have to come dressed according to set theme. There is an exhibition for some of these outfits that are worn at the met. The background for those is quite plain but sort of in the middle as they sometimes play around with textures but they never really have patterns and such like the first one.
There's also a "red carpet" at the met where celebs will enter the venue while showing off their outfits on the red carpet. Its not an actual red carpet every year sometimes they change it to pink or maybe even white and the background usually consists of some bushes and plain walls along with paparazzi.
i think the background here is really effective as it really makes your attention focus on the outfits than anything else.
sustainability
collage fashion
Im looking into experimenting with some collage so i going to make collaged dresses on some models on paper. I will use these photos as inspiration for some of the work.
Sustainability
I did some research into sustainability to learn more about what it is. Here are some quotes from what I've learnt.
“Sustainable fashion was first introduced into contemporary culture by the hippies, who prefer locally-grown, handmade, and pesticide-free products. Second-hand clothing was also worn by hippies, rejecting the mass production culture that dominated America from the 1950s.”
“The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) was founded in the Netherlands, the largest alliance of its kind in the industry. The CCC is driven by their mission that everyone working in the global fashion and sportswear industry should be able to enjoy, exercise, defend, and improve their human rights at work and in the community.”
“The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was formed. The standard was created as an internationally recognized textile processing standard for organic fibers, ensuring high quality, safe, and sustainable organic fabric for end consumers. A GOTS label will be awarded to companies whose products contain a majority of organic natural fibers, except leather products.”
“The UN formed the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, consisting of UN agencies and allied organizations; whose knowledge and expertise will form coordinated actions to halt the environmentally and socially destructive practices of the fashion industry.”
“The Detox My Fashion campaign by Greenpeace, was launched to challenge major clothing giants to take responsibility for pollution caused by their supply chains, as well as to secure commitment from them to eliminate discharges or hazardous chemicals by 2020. The campaign paid off. In a report by Greenpeace in 2018, all 80 companies that participated in the campaign achieved significant progress and are well on their way in the detox process.”
“Common Objective (CO) was founded towards the end of 2016, thanks to investments raised by the team behind the Ethical Fashion Forum. CO serves as a network of resources and connections for sustainable working methods, making it easier for brands, manufacturers, and suppliers alike to work in the most sustainable manner.”
These have helped me learn more about my project so i can have a better idea of what im doing and so im more aware of sustainability within the fashion industry.