Friday 9th June 2017

If I had more time for this project, I would have gone more thoroughly into my project. This includes printing out pictures of all my processes and putting them in my sketchbook and annotating them, updating my journal every day, doing more thorough design ideas, etc. Despite this, I think I have covered doing most things in my journal and explained why and how I've done them. This week, I finished all of my garments. I did more glue strips and sewed them onto the other skirt I had already made to create a longer length. This created a pencil type skirt. When wrapping around the mannequin over the silver underwear, it looked quite stiff and shapeless. After speaking to Julia, she told me to put darts into it at the front to create a more fitted look. Although this was hard due to the glue, I did it and it made all the difference. I decided that I wouldn't try to sew the back of the skirt as the glue doesn't have much stretch, and all zips you would be able to see through. I planned to just pin it to the mannequin and pin it onto Sophia when she modelled for me. I decided to try and see if I could finish creating the stole I had made, but when I held it up to each outfit, all of the denim looked quite dull and less saturated; a massive contrast to the bright camouflage dress I was going to pair it with. It didn't look right at all - especially as mannequins have no hands or arms to carry a stole! I decided against using it as it just looked too much and made one side way too heavy. I spent the week painting my space and painting the boxes that were going to act as podiums for my mannequins. This took a while. On Wednesday, me, Sophia and Ciara visited Wigan to take photographs of Sophia modelling my work. I personally think they turned out really well; I chose a pub in Wigan to model the camouflage dress that had lots of fancy decoration with lots of paintings around. It gave me old fashioned vibes, which suited the Golden Era I've been focusing on. The photographs here turned out really well, however the lighting was so dim in there so some look quite yellow. Ciara helped with this by shining phone lights onto Sophia (we made do with what we had!). To model the glue outfit, I decided to visit a newsagents and have Sophia stand outside the magazine stand. This portrayed the obsession with celebrity culture and the bright, bold, mismatching colours fit in with the skirt and the images of celebrities. These worked out really well too, however when editing I made the contrast higher so the skirt would stand out more against the magazines. For the final outfit, I used a white wall in college to get Sophia to stand in front of so I could edit the colour to try and create a tacky, 2000s magazine type cover. Once edited, these looked really well. I was wary of the white glow around Sophia in the images that maybe gave away she wasn't actually stood in front of a coloured wall, but after asking my peers, they said that the white glow gave quite an angelic look that made Sophia stand out even more against the background. I thought about getting these photos printed but I decided it would be too expensive and I wouldn't be able to afford it, but I decided on printing them out on A3 and splitting them in half so they'd look the size of A2. This worked really well, the line between the two pieces of paper is only visible close up. I mounted them on mount board to give them a flatter, more professional look. Once all my mannequins were up on the podium, I decided to mess around with the spotlights. I decided on having a spotlight on each of the garments, putting all focus and attention on them, as if they were in the limelight. I decided on having an extra podium on top of the larger one to represent a trophy receiving podium almost. This portrayed the "lists" of celebrities that there are such as Z-list and A-list, and that there is perhaps competition to reach the top. They may do this in ways such as being scandalous, which I have portrayed through my see through skirt and backless dress that reaches the top of the bum. Overall, I'm happy with my project. I'm happy with how the garments represent my idea as well as both eras. I think I have made a good dent in breaking down the barriers of mainstream interests being embarrassing. However, if I had more time, I would definitely work on the end of my sketchbook a lot more. I needed to use my time plan more effectively and follow it more strictly, to make sure I would have enough time to do things like print of photos of exhibitions I went to such as the Mary Quant exhibition, print off my own photographs I have taken, try experimenting with more exhibition space variations, and explore many more design ideas.

Friday 2nd June 2017

As I have been so caught up over this past week, I decided to make one large entry for the whole week. At the start of the week, I finished off the other sleeve to the denim dress and put everything together. I think it has turned out really well; the tightness of the dress and the puffiness of the sleeves contrast well. How over sized they are emphasises how tight the dress is, emphasising the  hourglass figure of the Golden Age. On Tuesday, I was waiting for my material to arrive to continue creating garments, so I decided to create a denim stole to match the camouflage print dress. This was inspired by the fur stoles that celebrities wore throughout the Golden Age. I cut out blue silk for the lining, cut out wadding for the inside, and then created a patchwork denim top to put all together. After getting all these parts done separately, I decided I didn't want it to look too matching to the other patchwork denim dress. I decided to cut into the stole, and distress the denim. I did this by making incisions with scissors and making them as big as I wanted, sanding them down with sandpaper to try and fray them, and then individually fraying the cuts with tweezers. Although this turned out okay, I would have liked to have them more rugged. I decided I couldn't do this all over the stole as they weren't getting frayed enough, so I decided to cut squares out of denim separately, fray them, and then stitch them on. I think this worked well, however it took a really long time. I didn't manage to get it done that day, and as it wasn't a priority, I decided I would finish it if I had the time. The next day, my camouflage print came. It turned out really well; the colours were bright, it looked slick and the material was shiny and satin-like. However, it seemed quite thick, which made me wonder if I would have problems with draping it. To make sure the fit was right, I made another toile out of white silk/satin-like material I had bought to experiment with screen printing on. This draped really well, as it was quite thin. I pinned it all onto the mannequin and then made patterns from the toile pieces. I then pinned them onto the camouflage fabric, and found a problem. The company had divided both my metres by a big white line in between the middle of them, meaning my patterns couldn't fit on it without being interrupted by the white line. Instead, I turned the patterns around so that the fabric print would be vertical instead of horizontal. Although I would have preferred it the right way, it was my only option and I don't think it was too noticeable. I then pinned the pieces on and cut them out. To double check, I pinned them to the mannequin to find out where the seam allowance would be. This helped a lot, as I found I had left way too much seam allowance and the dress would have been huge otherwise. I used an invisible zip to give a hidden, glamorous look to the dress. Once sewn together, I found the back of the dress was quite hard to drape, as the material is quite thick. I decided that I would just pin it into place on the mannequin for my exhibition. The dress looked really good all sewn and in place on the mannequin, but I felt even with its daring back, neckline, and its bold print, it needed something to make it even more tacky and flashy. I used the silver diamantes I had used to write words on the denim dress to scatter across the white areas of the camouflage dress. I thought this caught attention and looked sparkly and tacky, relating to the 2000s. I chose to put it in the white areas as it was initially the background of the print, and had the most space. The problem with the diamantes is that they easily fall off due to me sticking them on using their own self adhesive; I will leave the ones I have put on now alone until I do a photo shoot and put the dress back up for the exhibition on the mannequin; I will then restick fresh ones as the old ones will have fallen off through someone modelling the dress/it being carried around. I decided to add diamantes fully around the thin strap I had made across the back and the strap attaching the halter neck. I thought this was a subtle yet flashy touch, drawing attention to areas like the back and upper bum, which could be portrayed as scandalous. Next week is my final week, and I plan to take photographs of Sophia modelling my clothes. I think it could look cool if I matched the glue outfit to a newsagents shop, specifically to the magazine stands. The many celebrities on the glue skirt would fit right in against all of the celebrity magazines with their bright colours that directly influenced the skirt. For the camouflage dress, I think finding a bar that looks quite old fashioned would look glamorous and mysterious, with the long gown portraying importance and relevance. The halter neck showing the chest and the length of the dress could portray sophistication. For the denim dress, I think I would like to try photo shopping a background onto the image. After looking through so many celebrity photographs to make the glue skirt, I noticed a lot of them are against a solid colour as the background. This reminded me of the magazines I've looked at, and the bright, bold colours that attract attention really easily. I will photograph against a white background then edit on Photoshop.

Friday 26th May 2017

I have finished beading one sleeve today, and will continue to bead the next one too. I think it looks really effective and subtle. When it catches the light and glistens, I think it creates a subtle, fame, celebrity like effect. As I liked this effect, I decided to buy a range of pink diamantes and scatter them across the denim dress. This turned out really well.

Thursday 25th May 2017

Today, I experimented with what words I could gem onto my denim dress. I chose between:

“That’s hot!”, a Paris Hilton quote

“Bible!”, a quote often said by the Kardashians to prove they’re telling the truth about something

“Not Guilty” a phrase I have created myself, after hearing people mention my project is about guilty pleasures. This gave me the inspiration to write “Not Guilty”, as the whole point of my project is about not being guilty of liking cheesy, mainstream things. 

I went with the phrase “Not Guilty”, as I think it had real meaning to my project. It additionally sounds like a news headline, as if there has been a scandalous court trial. I have placed the gems on the dress today, as they have their own self adhesive, however it isn’t the best so once I have got images of people modelling my garments and the dress doesn’t need to be touched again, I will replace missing gems. It looks so 2000s and tacky. The diamantes are flashy and reflect light, creating a sparkly look that grabs attention. I chose to do the font in bold, all capitals, to make it easy to read and stand out.

Wednesday 24th May 2017

The glitter in the glue I did yesterday has now tried. After doing so many strips of it, it pains me to say I think I prefer the glue on its own. It looks much cleaner and more 2000s, as the glue what I have put in looks quite grainy instead of sparkly. I plan to do more clear ones to use. I have started sewing the beads onto the sleeves of the denim dress, and had no idea how long it would take. I definitely may need help with sewing them on. 

Tuesday 23rd May 2017

After buying glitter yesterday, I experimented with it today and created lots of glue lines that I could start to use. I will make a skirt out of them, a pencil one, inspired by the Golden Age era. I have also started the sleeves for the denim dress, pink frilled tulle ones, beaded all over. I ruched each layer for the sleeve and then layered them, creating a puffy, frilly look, inspired by Katie Price’s wedding dress. Jake, a peer, suggested that I could possibly make arms length gloves instead of sleeves. Having thought about this and how glamorous and Golden Age it would look, I decided against the idea, as they may look quite odd if they were made from frilly, oversized tulle. I also liked the idea of sleeves as my other two garments are sleeveless. Today, I spoke to Stefan about where I could take photos for my project. He suggested The Magnet in Liverpool. After researching this, it would be a perfect setting to take photos of my garments. An old fashioned bar with a stage. I could take photos here depending on when i would finish my garments and if the model/models would be free to go there. I also started screen printing a sample today - what a nightmare. The process is so long, having to wait for it to dry to print over the top. I would have been silly to do this all over fabric.

Monday 22nd May 2017

Today, I made the denim dress fit Heather. I sewed it all together and even after trying it on myself and it being quite tight, I think it looks really good. I will trim all of the seams on the inside so it’s much smoother to wear and less tight, and maybe it won’t rip when I try it on then! I plan to sew back up all of the rips I made and tidy up the dress. After deciding on a garment involving the dried PVA glue entrapments I have made, I have bought some glitter to do experiments with putting glitter in the glue. This has been taken from the glittery, sparkly, flashy look of the 2000s. When thinking about what photos to use in the glue entrapments, Phil gave me a lot of Golden Age celebrities to look at that I didn’t know about. I have decided to just use images of celebrities in the glue and not my own images, as I feel they have much more relevance and are iconic figures. They could look quite magazine like, with lots of bright colours repeated next to each  other. From previous samples, I feel like the glue perhaps enhances the colour in the photos, as they all look quite bold and bright.  

Sunday 21st May 2017

Like I planned, I made the skirt longer today by adding an extra row of patchwork across the bottom. Hopefully, it should fit Heather much better now. This has taught me to always make things bigger as it is much easier to take it in/shorten it rather than make it too small. I plan to sew it all together tomorrow.

Friday 19th May 2017

After thinking I would be able to get the denim dress all done today, I tried to fit it to Heather and it looked way too short. To fix this, I will take it home over the weekend and create another line of patchwork to add to the bottom. Sewing the top and bottom must have took a lot of length off. Other than this, it is looking how I wanted. I will add an invisible zip to the back. A problem that may occur with the denim is that a lot of the denim used in the patchwork isn’t stretchy, and some is. This has meant it has been quite hard to get flat, meaning it may not be flat when it’s tight.

Thursday 18th May 2017

Today, I have experimented with glitter glue I had left over from the camouflage sample. I experimented with it on pink satin, a fabric I had left over from previous units. I thought this was appropriate as I hope to use a satin-like fabric on my floor length dress I’m making. I think the glitter glue turned out well and created a tacky look, however I’m unsure of how hard it makes the fabric and what it would do when draping. I have now almost finished the shape/base of the denim dress, I just need to sew together and tidy it up. It looks really effective. Planning my second garment, the floor length gown, I have ordered fabric from a website today with my print on. This will save me a lot of time in comparison to screen printing, and will also look much more professional and slick.

Wednesday 17th May 2017

I have peeled my glue samples off today and cut them up finely and stitched them onto fabric, like Stefan suggested, to create a fur- like effect. Maybe I have cut them too chunky, but I feel like they’re too thick to create a soft, luxurious look. They look quite harsh and hard. However, I do like the combination of bright colours. This could lead me to use the strips of glue with mixed images in as the colours look really effective together, almost reminding me of the bright, mixed colours in celebrity magazines. I have tried some more glue samples and done plain ones, and ones with diamantes in. This could look quite flashy and tacky, relating to the 2000s and fame. I have hemmed the top today to create a neat finish to the patchwork, and I think it has really brought it all together. I have finished the front of the skirt today and plan to do the back of it tomorrow. 

Tuesday 16th May 2017

Today, I have tried to get the top I have made to fit to Heather. I am finding this quite hard as it is hard to pin into the mannequin after measuring Heather as they are two different sizes. I have put in two darts to give a more fitted look. I have also created a lot of the skirt today too. I didn’t realise patchwork would take so long! Remembering my chat with Stefan about creating a fur-like material out of the shredded glue idea, I decided to make some glue samples to cut up tomorrow and try the idea. Phil came back to me today about my exhibition and said that if I wanted them all rotating, I would need to buy two more motors and it would cost £40. After spending so much already on my project and will be spending much more on the garments, I’m unsure whether I want to buy these as I can’t afford to. I think I will stick to having them stationary on a platform and will play around with ideas.

Monday 15th May 2017

Today, I carried on working on my denim garment. I have now created the full top piece which I will go on to hem and make neater and sew up any ripped patchwork bits. So far, I think the contrast in the colour of denim makes the patchwork stand out well and emphasise the effect. After a chat with Stefan where I told him I was quite inspired by the fur stoles the Golden Age celebrities used to wear, he looked at my glue samples I had done and suggested if I shredded them really finely I could almost create a fur-like fabric with it. I will experiment with this. I have spoken to Phil today about my exhibition. I have imagined a rotating platform with all of my garments on. After speaking to Phil, I realise this may not be possible, however it may be possible to have the mannequins with my garments on individually rotating. This idea came to me as I feel like if they were all rotating with a spotlight on them, it could look as if they’re on show and almost quite materialistic, another trait related to celebrities. I will think about if I just want to have the mannequins hanging and rotating instead.

Friday 5th May 2017

Today, I sketched a quick design of another shape I could use for one of my garments. After being inspired by Rei Kawakubo yesterday, I could enlarge areas on the garment such as the breast, the bum, and the hips, in contrast with a tight waist. This could portray the hourglass figure of the Golden Age, whilst also portraying the link between celebrities and surgery. It could show the excessive surgery celebrities are often seen as having. Using the old toile I made to create a shape for my first garment, I added shapes to the chest, hip and bum to see what it would look like. I didn’t think it worked out well with such a tight dress, as the shapes just looked stuck on. If I want to continue this further, I think I would need to find a way to make the tightness of the dress flow more into the bumpier shapes. Thinking about other ideas, I also experimented today with a technique I learned in high school. I bought an A1 plastic wallet and spread PVA glue across it, and then placed images of celebrities and my own photos I have taken in the project in the glue. Leaving this to try will create a see through effect, with the images being trapped inside the glue. Hopefully, this will look like images in film roll as I have placed the images vertically with all of them being the same width. This could create a Golden Age look as I relate film roll to the era.

Thursday 4th May 2017

With the help of my friend Luke, who specialises in Graphics, today I made my camouflage print seamless on Photoshop, meaning I can repeat the pattern over and over again without an edge. I couldn’t begin to explain it here, as I was confused doing it on Photoshop, but I split my original print into four sections and edited it somehow. I think it has worked really well. The current colours of the print are inspired by Louis Vuitton’s iconic coloured monogram print. However, when I looked into the print and copied the colours directly, there are so many of them it was unidentifiable. Instead, I just took the pastel colours from the print and based the camouflage around them, with a white background. As well as these colours, I experimented with bolder colours that I have taken from the celebrity magazines I’ve looked at, such as hot pink, royal blue, bright yellow, white and black. I actually thinks this flows really well, and looks really effective and attention grabbing like I hoped. I have started layering each coloured layer on Photoshop and thresholding them, ready to be put onto acetate to screen print. I personally think this will be too time consuming to use, but I will try and sample anyway. I have also been really inspired by Rei Kawakubo today, in light of Monday’s Met Gala dedicated to her. The shapes she creates in her brand Comme des Garcons really stand out and don’t match the human body. This could be something I could look into more as I think it could be quite interesting to create a shape that portrayed this stereotypical hourglass figure of the Golden Age. I could perhaps exaggerate this within a garment. 

Wednesday 3rd May 2017

*GROUP CRIT*

After my chat with Julia about how I could transfer my print onto fabric, I decided to drive to Abakhan on my early finish to go and pick up fabric to experiment with screen printing on. I could also use the fabric to experiment with creating toiles. After a journey to Bolton that seemed far too long, I eventually got two metres of fabric. Both white, and both silky, one just slightly thinner than the other and less satin-like. The thinner one may drape better. I will continue to work on my camouflage print before testing out screen printing onto the fabric.

Tuesday 2nd May 2017

Today, I have finished designing one of my final garments. I’m going to create a mini patchwork denim dress; it’s going to be strapless and have a straight neckline. The neckline was inspired by the Golden Age era, showing the chest and shoulders, creating a glamorous, elegant look. I chose to use patchwork denim after sampling it and it working really well; it represents the excessive use of denim throughout the 2000s era. I was specifically inspired by Britney Spears’ and Justin Timberlake’s 2001 American Music Award outfits, where they dressed head to toe in patchwork denim. Their outfits were glamorous however, with the denim being worn via evening gowns and suits. The dress I’ve designed will have pink tulle sleeves, frilled and beaded, inspired by Katie Price’s wedding dress she wore to her wedding with singer and media personality Peter Andre. The frilled layers and beading in the sleeves will create an extra, bedazzled touch that represents the tackiness of the Noughties and the over the top feel that grabs attention, a vibe that celebrities may look for. The sleeves will be off the shoulder to continue the exposure of the chest and shoulders,  creating a Golden Age, elegant look. Across the front of the dress, I plan to have text (text I haven’t decided on yet) written in diamanates. This is taken from the slogan trend of the 2000s combined with the diamantes frequently used throughout the era, creating a tacky look. I hope to take a quote that reflects my intentions of breaking down the barriers in the fashion and art industry that restrict mainstream interests. I could do this by using a quote from a celebrity. I have also thought about how I could transfer my camouflage print onto larger fabric today; my options are screen printing, applique, and getting it professionally printed. After speaking to Julia, the Textiles teacher, I think perhaps getting it professionally printed would be a good idea as it wouldn’t be as time consuming and would have a more slick, professional finish to it. I will still experiment with these techniques to make sure. I have also created a halter neck toile today, just to experiment with the halter neck shape.This shape was inspired by the Golden Age trend of halter necks, especially with a low v-neck. This could be portrayed as quite revealing and sexual, a factor celebrities are often related to to try and gain fame. It worked out really well, and I’m hoping to maybe pair it with a longer skirt to create an evening dress; perhaps with my camouflage print on.