SAMPLE

The point of these samples was to demonstrate how the font would look like printed onto fabric, I would have tried to print this out onto a plane white shirt with these exact designs because it is straight forward and basic which is exactly the angle I wanted to be coming from as these designs were inspired by Kerby Jean-Raymond from his 2016 collection.

The material I would have picked for these shirt prints would have been cotton or a jersey mix so that they can be stretchy and comfortable also would be easy to wash with everyday clothing. I decided to make it look like posters because that’s the esthetics I was aiming for as it is meant to be plain and in your face and eye-catching from a distance.

This links to my project as I would be printing quotes to raise awareness of the BLM and BAME communities that go through Double Bind situations which can cause major mental health problems in the future of Schizophrenia which links back to my project theme of hallucinations.

Kerby Jean-Raymond

P- Kerby Jean-Raymond is known to not be afraid of controversial political topics, I know this because of his 2016 collection ‘Double bind’ where he dissects some of the African American depression. 

E- “Double bind occurs when individuals or groups are simultaneously given conflicting messages or instructions. A successful response to one automatically becomes a failing response to the other. That individual or community experiences the double bind when it is impossible to confront the dilemma, resolve it or opt out. Some researchers assert that children subjected to double bind situations are more likely to become schizophrenic as adults. Jean-Raymond asks: “What does schizophrenia look like for an entire community?” 

E- from the evidence above you can see that the African American community has been subjected to this phrase of ‘double bin’ which in result has caused many of them to have mental health issues and even develop schizophrenia, which as we know is a very unpleasant illness that can effect anyone regardless of age but usually effects the  elderly or retired rugby players or boxers with head traumas. For a whole community and race to feel like this is absolutely horrible. In his 2016 collection, he hosts a runway and on here he presents models in quotas and phrases of people from the BLM protests and one major quote that caught my eye was of the board that had ‘My demons won today. i’m sorry’, this was from one of the main people whom were organizing the protests, they tweeted earlier on that day that quote before they took their own life.

L- This links to my project because it talks about mental health in the fashion and also political scandals that impact the fashion industry and also unfortunately the black american minority because they are at high risk of developing schizophrenia and this can all be connected to y project about hallucinations which falls into mental health.

Kerby Jean-Raymond (2016) Pyer Moss Fall/Winter collection.Medium photo.

Visual Experiment

Visual Experiment

Visual Experiment

P- The visual Experiments I have been doing are inspired by the Charles Bonnet Syndrome. This is because it specifically talks about vision and how there are different stages of deterioration for people with this illness. Like I said previously it only effects people with deteriorating vision but their hallucinations can be vivid but their original eyesight can be cloudy or slightly distorted. My aim was to be able to show the cloudy vision and the slight distorted vision through my experiments with water and paint.

E- I done this because I felt as though this was the best way to visually display maybe what it’s like living with that illness in a way that is straight forward but not simple. The items I used were a medium to large hand mirror with water colour pains and a glass of water with water colour paint and I took a before and after video of the mirror with and without paint in it to show how possibly the people experiencing these Hallucinations can see them as clear as a reflection but when not hallucinating their eyesight goes back to being cloudy.

L- this links to my work as I am experimenting to be able to show people how other people may see their hallucinations which is part of my project theme. I like to think I executed these samples well enough to get the point across.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome

Write about Vision + Hallucinations and create samples with water and mirrors

P- If I managed my time better I would have liked to do a short research on Charles Bonnet Syndrome. This is because, it is specifically visual hallucinations which do not include any other sensation to take place. With that said, this is important because I was researching to see if blurred vision can cause hallucinations and It can. Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a medical condition which mostly effects people later on in life however it can still effect young people. the point in me stating this is because it only effects people who's vision is deteriorating thus leaving them with blurred or extremely blurred vision however their hallucinations can be sometimes vivid.

E- “Many people who suffer from Charles Bonnet syndrome do not consult with their doctor out of fear and embarrassment, as hallucinations are associated with mental illness” From this I was able to interpret that often it is the ‘BAM’ the Black, Asian minority that usually find conditions like these are linked to mental health and therefore will not be taken seriously or overlooked this can well indeed cause a person to feel embarrassed or secluded from their family or culture. 

E- From my explanation above, this is true because it is said that over,”14,000 adults, have had a greater impact on the mental health of people from different Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) groups than white people “ -https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/existing-inequalities-have-made-mental-health-of-bame-groups-worse-during-pandemic-says-mind/ . This proves that there is a very large difference in how cultures accept different health and mental health issues. Unfortunately, because it is like this for so many people under this bracket, it has knock on effects in their life mainly because of a poor support system and lack of understanding.

L- This research links to my project on Hallucinations because it allows me to explore more into the vision and gives me the opportunity to create samples that allow me to be more creative in my approach. Also because the, the Charles Bonnet Syndrome specifically talks about the eyesight when Hallucinations happen and how the different ways people can see their hallucinations

Illustrations

The first Illustration of the white and black print illustration was inspired by Alice Kettle this is because I wanted to use the concept of lines from her use of thread, I interpreted it  would best fit my project in this way. In addition to that the illustration below is of designs that of two different shades of blue, this is because the illustrations were inspired by Craig Green.

 The illustration that had print on it would have been, a soft light material with the fabric of satin which would make the right hand side of the garment would be more Flowey and more prominent on the side. For the two shades of blue Illustration, they would have been a denim fabric making it more heavy and durable in a sense that it would be a material that last long with out any colour transferring in wash as denim is a naturally blue colour. 

I created these because, I can link them back to Craig Green’s concept of communal fashion as people in the millinery have camouflage print on their uniform and their team mmates also have the same ones just the same way nurses and doctors have different shades of medical coats and caps to identify their status in the hospital which links back to my colour scheme for the shades of blue, also to my project theme. 

Craig Green

Image above is from After life concept ss20 Menswear by Craig Green

P- I looked into Craig Green to further find out about his concepts of uniforms , utility, religion and afterlife as I believe these concepts can be linked to my project theme of Hallucination because the concepts fall in line with the emotions that are attached to hallucinations, I say this because most effects from having hallucinations are emotional and mental which is why I felt these concepts were suitable in visually showing how emotional bondage may may look like in design form. 

E- In an article that I read Craig Green stated that,“ they have an aspect of their work that’s about making something out of nothing or making something ordinary interesting,” he was referring to  was a survey of the work of Peter Fischli & David Weiss, at Tate Modern in 2006. Among the works on display was the Swiss duo’s landmark film The Way Things Go involving mundane objects bin liners, candles, wheels, balloons in a surreal choreography largely involving them carrying out the exact function they were intended for.

E- The reason Craig has these concepts is because while he was growing up his mum,” was a Brownies, Guides and Scouts leader so there was always arts and crafts in the house – as well as immersion boilers and plumbing materials.” This lead him to have quite interesting concepts, one being the after life. Craig does not focus on extravagant presentations rather simplicity which i feel has a stronger impact on his audience, I say this because If Craig was to have extravagant/flashy designs it would be overwhelming considering the strong concepts he’s showing in his runways. Personally my favorite part of his work is the he shows repetition in his garments to really get the communal concert forward as people who wear communal clothing the being uniforms or everyday clothes are not all the same but are very similar in appearance.

L-The concept of Communalism and after life are two complete different things that fir with my project theme as someone may feel as though having hallucinations can be a religious gift to allow them to look into after life while others may feel stuck and forced into a pattern. 

Alexander McQueen Hologram Technology

P-  Alexander McQueen was known for having a shock factor to most of his runway shows, for example in his very first runway show in 1993 he presented the models in blood and bruises and also very low cut and see through clothing. After continuing to research on him I found the infamous runway where they projected a hologram of Kate Moss onto the stage. This lead me to relate it to my final piece as i projected images onto my final outcome. 

E- “ In 2006, Kate Moss became the first human hologram to be featured as a part of a major fashion show. Alexander McQueen presented the 3D rendering of the supermodel as the finale of his ‘Windows of Culloden’ show in Paris.” https://thecurrentdaily.com/2019/10/01/7-ways-fashion-brands-are-harnessing-hologram-technology/  

E- Watching the Hologram performance on the runway I saw aspects that related to my project theme of hallucinations such as the main one of the hologram itself being possibly used to show the differences between reality and fiction when hallucinations take place. Also the team that worked on bringing the hologram to life stated that the idea was to “use keystonning and distortion to trick the eye” https://www.creativereview.co.uk/alexander-mcqueens-kate-moss-hologram/. I also noticed that McQueen uses quite a bit of feathers on his garments which gives of a sense of purity but combined with the hologram created a distorted presence instead which can be interpreted into hallucinations 

L- If I had used my time more efficiently and if I had more time i would have used this research sooner. This links to my project theme as i can link it back to false reality and the distortion to play tricks on the human eye is another aspect that links back to my theme of hallucinations, as what you are seeing is not there which is why they saying goes, “your eyes are playing tricks on you”.

Visual Narrative Presentation

The first slide I presented showed images and scenery that I have used that inspired my narrative. I included images of blurred vision, double vision and tunnel vison; all things that can occur when people experience Hallucinations, I added these images because I feel as though they convey my narrative well and help push my narrative forward. As you can see I added an image of an illusion, this was to represent the feeling of dizziness. which is an aspect I intent to look into as I continue to do research on effects of Hallucinations to the brain. These images are all seconds hand images and are not from WGSN, but rather google as I could not find suitable images from the WGSN website. I specifically used dull/dark looking images and one with parts of colour because I wanted to have two visually different slides but both connecting, I done this because I want to explore only using dark/dull tones in a portion of my samples to bring forth two different views of Hallucination. I say this because having hallucinations is often presented as a colorful and as a sort of out of body/ this world experience but i want to explore the side that is more troublesome and traumatic. I plan on showing this in my sketchbook, by Using Alice Kettles artwork as inspiration i intend to have distorted/displaced samples/images in my sketchbook. 

For my second slide, I Included images that demonstrate where I got my inspiration from. I felt it was important to include Gareth Pugh as his work is one of the best that and designs largely influence me as well as Craig Green idea of Communal dressing. I wanted to have these designers because they all explore patterns and lines that can be manipulated, even though Craig Green isn’t a designer who focuses on mental health the idea behind his brand is on communal dressing which I can interpret in a different way to allow it to link to mental health/ hallucinations. Another reason as to why I chose to use these images is to show the different textures of each garment and to communicate that i shall be trying to explore these different textures and techniques. 

 I also included celebrities such as Lady Gaga as I did not want my influence to be solely based around designers. Also because of reputation Lady Gaga once had made people question here sanity I felt it was acceptable to add her into this as this can show the development in someone’s mental state which falls in line with my project theme of Hallucinations.

Alice Kettle

Alice Kettle is famous for stitched textiles a powerful medium which to explore culture heritage, journeys and displacement. Alice Kettle is also a professor of textiles Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University. I am fond of how she uses displacement. You can see by her artworks/ projects that she has a unique approach where she is confident in exploring mixed medias.

I’ve noticed that she layers her stitching to create a sort of displaced look. I say this because in the image above in the form of a face you can see she gathered the thread to disturb the white fabric that was used for the background. I plan on recreating some of her work in accordance of my project to coincide with a sense of distorted vision which occurs when one experiences hallucinations. This relates to my Project because of the aspect of displacement, and how she uses the thread to create movement and from a still image which I goes in line with Hallucinations as this can be a vision issue with people whom experience hallucinations.  I do not just plan to recreate her artwork, I shall also be creating my own samples to give visuals on how hallucinations can be perceived.

This research helps me move my project forward as i now know to create samples that display layering with stitching and also to create mixed media samples. By this, I’m hoping to widen my sampling and not to only have paintings and designs.  

Sample:

Recreation:

1st August 2021

Reference List

Very Well Mind. Available at:https://www.verywellmind.com/optical-illusion

Fashion History. Available at:https://www.Fashion-history.lovetoknow.com

Drug Rehab. Available at:https://www.drugrehab.com/addiction/drugs/lsd

Savage Thrills. Available at:https://www.Savagethrills.com/artdesign/gucci-hallucinations

ABC News (2016). Available at:https://www.Abc.net/new/science/2016-03-14

Neuroscience. Available at:https://www.Neuroscience.stanford.edu/news

The art story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/dali-salvador/life-and-legacy

The current diary (2019). Available at: https://www.thecurrentdairy.com/2019/10/01/7-ways-fashion-brands-are-harnessing-holograms

Creative Review. Available at: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/alexander-mcqueen-kate-moss-hologram

Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipeddia/wiki/alexander-mcqueen

The Guardian (2015). Available at: https//www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar//07fierce-feathered-fragile-alexander-mcqueen-life

Craig Green. Available at: https://www.Craig-green.com/pages

We Present. Available at: https://www.wepresent.wetransfer.com/story/craig-green/

Catwalk Yourself. Available at: https://www.catwalkyoureself.com/fashion-biographyies/gareth/pugh

NHS. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditons/charles-bonnet-syndrome/

Better Health. Available  at:https://betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatment/eyes-charles-bonnet-syndrome

Rethink. Available at:https://www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/living-with-mental-illness/wellbeing-physical-health/black-asian-and-minority-ethnic-mental-health/

Mind. Available at: https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/existing-inequalities-have-made-mental-health-of-bame-groups-worse-during-pandemic-says-mind/

Fashion Network (2016). Available at: https://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/pyer-moss-fall-winter-2016-collection-double-bind-takes-on-mental-health,657237.html

Evaluation

For this project I have been looking at Hallucination and everything that falls under that bracket of hallucinations I have researched scientifically reasons as to why people may hallucinate and also medicinal reasons, traumatic reasons etc. I was passionate about this topic as I’ve stated it is something that fascinates me and that i have experience with.  I wanted to express that having hallucinations does not automatically mean that you are mentally unstable of sick , but it can be something wonderful and memorable, which is rather different from how i started my project. This is because after doing research on famous artists, designers, creators i soon realized you can learn a lot from hallucination and you can have good experiences with it which changed my look onto it regardless of my own personal experiences.

All my research was done via the internet where i was also to get any images i required for my work. I done all my experiments in my sketchbook which will be handed in physically. I am happy with the outcome of the dress as I feel I did not have high expectation for it but it turned out as i wanted it to be just with small differences.

In this project I wanted to achieve Mental health awareness in the main  form of Hallucinations, my aim for this project was to plan, compile and edit a sketchbook of project work along with a final outcome to explore and clearly show my chosen narrative. I done this by researching some of the causes of hallucinations and how they can impact someone's mental health and the different ways some cultures and communities react to mental health. From this I was able to find inspiration fashion designers who focus on mental health which influenced my designs and illustrations for example my illustration that was inspired by Craig Green. Along with using different verity of skills such as, pattern cutting, CAD, garment construction and print. In addition to deciding on a narrative of Hallucinations I went on to adding research and samples into my sketchbook that related to my concept. 

Majority of my samples where from my own time outside of lector hours, this is where I was able to create sample paintings in my sketchbook and samples from weaving hoops and the dissolvable stitching paper also my illustrations. If I managed my time better I would have liked to make digital illustrations, this would  have been helpful as it would have enabled me to show a more wide verity of skills and also would have allowed me to have different patterns or pictures on my illustration and show me how my final garment would look as well as a complete design. 

For my Personal brief it focuses on ‘Realm’ which questions mental health and religion, I wanted to look into this more which made me come across the ‘BAME’ minority, here I found that facts that people in the BAME minority do not take mental health seriously and this also helped me find Craig Green concept of communalism and religion etc, also another fashion designer by the name of Kerby Jean-Raymond which was a BLM activist as well as an upcoming designer who is known to not be not shy of political topics. My research led me to create illustrations, one illustration had printed lines onto them and the other with two shades of blue on both illustration. This led me into creating samples of D.I.Y dye on clothes to link to Kerby Jean-Raymond which if I done before would have linked yo my final piece. Although I did not completely state the focus of my final piece I feel as though it is justifiable because I was not too sure which direction my project was heading in which I was alright with as I had just started my project.

In terms of practical skills, I’d say I have many ideas but not so good exaction plans for me to farfel the tings I want to do. I say this because, It is evident In my blog that I am capable of researching things to help push my project forward but coming up with sample ideas that help progress my project theme has proven to be rather difficult. I say this because I found It hard to create samples that correctly portray what I wanted. The progress I’ve made with the skills I've been putting to work our my illustrations, weaving and my design skills. I feel this way because from the start of the year until now I would not have been able to design clothing from the top of my head but currently I can say that, that is not longer an issue of mine however there is still room for improvement. Mostly I am happy with my capability of using a sewing machine, as I sewed the fabric together of my dress, i required a bit of assistance with the sleeves as I was making mistakes and had to get them fixed. A weakness of mine would be getting side tracked and distracted and my time management, this is something I'm working on because for this reason its why I’m late or not keeping up with tasks that I should be keeping up with and not able to create all the samples I want to make.

My final piece has links to designers such as Alexandre McQueen and Kerby Jean-Raymond, I say this because my final piece has projected images/patterns onto it and I kept the colour of the dress as white specifically so that the projection can be more noticeable. Although my project does not focus on sustainability my fabrics were ones that can be reused or recycled. I planned on using Organza on my sleeves but soon realized after feeling the fabric it would not accommodate the elasticity i required to be around the arms therefor I settled on using elastic. For the esthetics of my garment I chose to keep it very simply but effective by projecting a colorful sunset coloured picture onto the dress as my final garment I chose tis because no one lese in the class had thought of doing this also because I knew I did not have much time to paint anything or print anything onto my garment. therefore I chose this because I knew it would still be effective with the time I was working with. 

Overall, I am content with my work even though I know my work could have been better and more work could have gone into it if I used my time wisely. I have decided to take this module as big learning curb, meaning I have realized after having to retake this module that I am passionate about fashion and need to do more to show that in my work in order to be able to return next semester. I am practicing my sewing skills as I have now got a sewing machine to practice on, I am hoping I’m skills can improve over this summer break before returning so that I can be on the same level as everyone else in my year. I am really happy with my pattern cutting of the sleeves of my dress as I feel those turned out to be the most that resembled my actual designs, I would like to also start practicing more doing more digital illustrations and learn more on garment contraction all things I can start looking into before I return to University.

Final Garment

For my final Garment I decided to keep my dress plane white and the puffy sleeves to represent clouds. I thought this would be a good idea as I wanted to project images onto the dress that i felt would fit the project behind the dress being hallucinations so i chose a colorful cloudy sky for my dress and I think it really made the dress look much better than how it previously was. I got this idea because I did not want to stain the dress with painting it or adding ink or printing onto it so i got advised that if i did not want to do that I could always project an image onto the dress. I feel like if i gave myself more time i would have been able to do more for my project and design something more dramatic and eye catching but i am still happy with the garment i was able to produce but i have learnt my lesson to not procrastinate. It would have been better if I was also able to buy more original fabric which maybe would have progressed my project even further. 

After doing more research I can point out that my choice of projecting patterns/images onto my garment  have been inspired by the runway that Alexander McQueen hosted by projecting Kate Moss in the glass cube.

 What went well was that the colours themselves looked great on the garment and i loved the mix of colours that you could see. Also the sleeves of the dress were the part of the garment that looked mostly the way it was meant to from the designs i made for it.  However, what could’ve gone better is I could have used different material for different parts of my garment for example on the sleeves if I used elastic as I planned you would been able to see a clear change in materials and the sleeves would have been more flexible. Also in the firs picture of my garment where it is plain and you have a front view of the dress, if you look closely you can see that the stitching on the dress is not straights or in place and is actually flapping off close the the Centre of the dress. I feel this is because of my choice of fabric, as you can see the fabric at the front of the dress is more thin and satin rather that the majority of the dress which had a heavier fabric.

Pattern cutting

Here I was pinning down my pattern cut pieces onto my fabric so that I can prepare them to pin together once cut to take to the sewing machine. while I was doing this I was measuring each end of the paper to make sure I would not have any creases. 

I pattern cut the lower half of my dress like this because I wanted it to be a bit more flowy at the bottom. 

 At this stage I was pattern cutting the lower half of my dress on the first picture above. I separated each pleated part of the lower half because I knew in order for the bottom to become flowy I had to have spread out so that I could sew correctly to get the outcome that I wanted.

 For each gap I measured 5cm between each to make sure it was as accurate as I could get it so I used a ruler and before i started doing this i pinned down each corner of my paper onto the fabric I wanted to cut out on then i tapped the top of it onto the table in order for it not to move which helped me quite a lot i also decided to tape the bottom because i soon realized that it would move after cutting each section. 

 For the picture below the top one you can see I was getting assistance in holding down my pattern cutting piece of front, back pieces as I was struggling to pin it down myself but the process was the same as I done for the lower half of the dress.

Sample

For this sample I was experimenting stitching onto the see through dissolvable plastic paper, I was in the process of recreating one of Vincent Van Goughs paintings of ‘Silent night’ however it was rather difficult because the thread that I had was too thick and would pull on the sides of the plastic paper which made the paper loose and caused the thread to droop down off the plastic which is why I unfortunately ended up not finishing the sample but I still wanted to show what I had done so far regardless if it was not finished. 

After this I ended up creating more painting samples that I submitted already the first time I had done this module. The point in this sample was to show mixed media as I wanted to add cotton onto it to make it more un-realistic to show the the two differences between reality and hallucinations which I can link back to my project.

Pattern cutting

In this workshop lesson I was pattern cutting the basic layout for my dress, I started off with the final design which is a mid length tapered from the waistline. the arms were puffy with elastic from the forearm down in three sections to create a puff in each section of the sleeve. I decided to do this because of my research on Salvador Dali when I found one of his artworks of   “ Three Sphinxes Of Bikini, 1947 by Salvador Dali”

I must say I was not completely happy with final design, reason being my design ideas were all up to standard but I feel like I settled for a more basic design that what I would have intended. However despite this I was still think I made it work with the idea that I had in my head. My choice in the style of the dress is very theatrical but It was very me and linked to my project.

I stated I felt as though I settled for the design for the sole reason that I simply did not manage my time properly and I was not ready to admit that at the time but now I recognize that it was a big mistake an if I was able to get my time management sorted then I would have been able to create a better design. The reason as to why I chose to do a final design like this is because I knew it would be least time consuming as at that point I was going against time and still wanted to be able to make it out with a final garment regardless if it was not like my original idea.

Here is where I started to pattern cut the sleeves of my dress, I had to measure 5cm between each gap to make sure i knew how thick I wanted the elastic to be, I made the markings on the second line of the sleeve to show where the elbow would be.