Character | Final Designs and Evaluation

[Final Collage designs]

Overall, I'd say this project was definitely my weakest so far, I liked the inital ideas but I feel the time constraint really affected my overall product. I would have liked to produce samples, and perhaps even a garment but unfortunately I could do neither. However, I think the whole idea and design ideas were extremely cohesive with Maddie's promotion project, which was one of my initial aims. 

I was not at all happy with my final designs, I feel they were extremely basic and completely different from how I usually design, which is perhaps why they went so badly. 

I think I had moderate stand work within this project, but if I were to make a final toile, more experimental stand work would be needed, perhaps in a simpler fabric like calico for more shape emphasis. I felt my print work was strong and I liked the colour scheme that came out of the prints. This project was definitely held back by my biggest weakness; time management, and it will be something I will definitely address and massively improve in the FMP. However, I don't feel this project was completely negative and I feel I have made a more successful attempt at each two week project. Minus this last project, I felt each 2 week project was stronger than the one before and I was improving certain skills like quick drawings and stand work. I would have liked to combine my prints into final designs, altering scale and pattern within the simple coat style. Ditto with the unitards and onesies. 

I know I work best when I can get into a topic and focus completely on one thing, so I am sure that the problems I came across in this project will not affect me in my final. I would like to include some promotion work in my final project, photoshoots and lookbooks for example to lift my work and make it more rounded. 

This was the first project since the Industry project that I 'collaborated' with someone on, working with Maddie was really helpful, as she was a week ahead of me, she inspired much of the work I did. As she isn't design, I could have taken this project anyway I wanted, which gave me quite a lot of creative direction. I'm not sure how well I pushed myself on this, and if I were to do the whole project again I would alter the character to produce a slightly more challenging idea. I am definitely not happy with the result of this project, but I feel it has helped me know how to improve and also to push myself to the best I can be. Simply feeling disappointed in the result will force me to not stop at this 'minimal' result I produced. 

Character | Design Development

Losing nearly the whole of last week and the end of the week before to portfolio prep and interviews has really taken it's tole on this project. I have a final interview on Thursday, so will have to finish this project early on the Wednesday. Unfortunately this means I will not be able to do any of my printing as I need all the time to finish the project off, but I have chosen materials, and fabric samples that I would use if I had the time.

For the printing, it would be done onto either a silky textile or a neoprime, The neoprime would keep the print strong in colour and also provide a structure to work with. Known for it's use within sportswear it is a perfect material for the girls superhero outfits. The silk is the ideal girlie lining, a mixture of sexy and pretty, keeping their 17 minds at peace and letting Todd, the man of both their dreams admire them.

Using some of my stand work, I have developed my designs to the coat and outer layer of the garment. I think these work really well and have that bad girl attitude I wanted to convey. Taking some of Maddie's photography I will incorporate her images into my designs to further them still.

[Maddie's photography] 

[Initial designs]

As you can see, we both had a similar idea about the colouring and styling of the two girls. I like how cohesive the photography was with the designing it showed that Maddie's character's had a strong personality that we both tried to get across the same story. So far I like how the designs have come out, the lycra with the overcoat is exactly how you picture a superhero, but more wearable. Fashion hero, if you will. the pink hair brings the sassy 17 year old into the mix. With these designs, as they were pretty much still initial designs, simply from the later stand work I decided to not add colour yet.

The superhero girls outfits were meant to be a modern version, sort of a feminist but also ditsy 17 year old everyday outfit; with a flare. The flare however was not going to be a cape, as that is far too obvious. But keeping to that floaty shape I felt the layering and oversized coat gave a similar shape. Over-emphasized collars in certain drawings drew attention to the neck and collar of the figure; a feminine feature. Sexy but strong. Within my later stand work this was an idea I tried to get across, The two fabrics worked well within this. The soft gold crepe showing the feminine soft ditzy side, and the white mesh showing the stronger feminist saving the world side.

Character | Prints

[Selection of prints]

Continuing my combination of girlie and superhero, I made a few digital prints from my previous watercolour picture of Adventure Time. I edited it on photoshop to create a few more colours and effects like glow and invert. This neon/fluorescent colour palette works well with the two girls. Bright and silly at the same time. Unfortunately last week was cut short by an interview meaning I had no time to get any of the above prints onto fabric, but this is something I hope to manufacture after the project ends so I can add it to my book. As I have interviews tomorrow and Wednesday, I am worried this project will be slightly lacking, but I will try to catch up on the weekend. However, I am really pleased with how these prints worked out, and I am excited to put them into some designs. 

Returning back to the mannequin for some actual shape I have used two materials; a gold (very superhero) crepe fabric with a different colour back, and a white mesh-like fabric. Using both these materials I created a few bolder shapes onto the mannequin. Hoping to make my designs a bit more conceptual. Due to the nature of this project, the aim of the clothes being designed would be like a superhero suit for the two girls so it needs to be wearable, comfortable and easy to move in. Due to England's grey and changeable weather, I think this should include some sort of over coat. This will be something I hope to bring into designing. The girls, at 17 are becoming women, so will need to feel both attractive and confident in the clothes. the mix of the overcoat and tight undergarments will help achieve this compatibility. The mix of the two materials would be perfect as it is both flashy and stretchy with movement and structure. Mixed with the prints as interior textile and the white on the outside, this sportswear-like idea could be both fashionable and practical. Every girls dream!

Character | Stand Work

[Seam stand work and designs]

Due to using all last week for my detailing project, meaning I would only have two weeks to complete this, I decided to get straight into mannequin work. I find it easiest to come up with designs when I get straight onto the mannequin as it forces me into drawing from what I have created. As I had only researched so far I decided it was best to start with seam work on the mannequin to get a few initial designs. As well as this, I started designing some prints from the adventure time comic, using both print and watercolour to create these bright childlike patterns. This was to keep the idea that the two girls are growing up yet still have these immature idea's like loo-rolling their enemies houses. 

[Adventure time print]

To keep within this contradictory idea, I started brainstorming what kind of outfits these girls would like. I started by thinking probably t-shirt and leggins combo, but mixed with the superhero theme I was drawn to the jumpsuit or onepiece. So keeping to basics, from my seam designs I drew classic t-shirts with different collars and seams.

[Stand work and designs]

Also using a simple and quick collage technique I cut out body-tight jumpsuits using different necklines from the mannequin work to produce a small collection of how the prints would look when put onto a body. 

Character | New Project

This new project is character driven, the aim being to create designs based entirely on a made up character. For promotion the aim is to create a styling project and photoshoot but as as a design student, I have paired with a promotion girl and have used her character. I will include her photoshoot images to help create my designs. This is the first collaboration project I have done, and although we will be using the same character we will not be working together. It will simply be two outcomes of the same character!

Her character is defined in the images below

"they're inspired by beetlejuice, winona ryder, ghost world the comic, princess bubblegum and marceline from adventure time" - Maddie

So using Maddies character I created a few mood boards; seen below.

[Various mood boards from Sketchbook]

As well as moodboarding the inspirations Maddie set I decided to look at the artist approach to 'superheros' so I looked into futureistic, modernist and minimalism in fashion. The above boards were what I created. I wanted to pick out some colours, textures and mainly shapes to begin working on as moving from inspo to design is normally the hard bit. Hence the more I mood board, the more I have to work from.

The main things that I picked up on were the dreamy nature and movement of a superhero, for example the speed, the bright colours and lights, and the structure of the pieces. From architectural designs equaling strength to the floaty soft shapes of the female body. The surrealist artwork I felt fitting in nicely too, as these two girls were extremely average, but wanted this abnormal life. This extrasuper power. This randomness is something I will focus on, empowering my character in the unexpected.

Detail | Final Designs

[Final Designs]

As stated in the previous post, I decided to keep in theme with the collaging into my designing. I felt it was really successful, and as it was from stand work I knew it was possible to make therefore helping the designs become more realistic. To go with these I designed a basic flat drawing which could easily be adapted to create the finals. 

Using my earlier colour palette, I enhanced it to make it brighter but kept to the basic colours of blue, purple, pink and yellow. Royal colours, if you will. As it was daywear we were designing for, I decided on outerwear. Embellished jackets and coats as a final 'collection'. I really liked how these turned out and with more time and pattern cutting help I would have loved to have been able to make one. The detailing I felt was really experimental, but also quite obviously Edwardian which was what I was going for. The buttoning detail was able to push really far as it was such a simple detail and I enjoyed placing that on various places in both the stand work and in designing. If I could go back and add in things, I would include some button sampling work as I know it is possible to do on a sewing machine, I would also get some button samples. I was happy with my amount of stand work, I think I created far enough to be able to produce good designs that were make-able but also interesting. 

I absolutely loved this project, possibly my favourite short project to date. Unfortunately I would have loved more time but this was not an option. In the time we were given, I feel I produced a good amount with developed designs. I think my illustrations have greatly improved since the beginning of the project and my creativity within standwork has also improved. With this project running alongside all the interviews and portfolio reviews, I felt I wasn't able to handle balancing the two and could have produced more work if they were not at the same time. This is a problem I need to handle better as it will prepare me for industry. However, I am pleased with how it turned out.

Detail | Mannequin Development

 

[Initial mannequin designs that inspired the toile]

[Toile]

After deciding on a plain idea for a top to focus on the details, I picked the main details I decided I liked the most. The buttons running down the garment, the detachable sleeves and the high collars with big lapels. I took into account all three of these ideas when making my toile and also some of my previous mannequin work. The angle of the seam on the previous work was a little difficult to create with more material so I opted for a more straight-line seam down the front, but kept the down facing lapel. To modernize the look, I added a lapel facing the other way on the other side. If I were to make this for a final I would increase the size of these lapels a great amount to over-emphasize them. 

The sleeve I drastically changed shape of, however I kept the two piece aspect as I thought this added something with the pleating. I switched the way round it was down and added the classical detailing of the buttons the whole way down it that was used so often within Edwardian clothing. As another modern feature I added an over-sized hood and over-sized buttons at the backhand side. This over-sized mixed with the miniature buttons gave a twist on the Edwardian detail seen so much, it placed focus on that particular detail and gave it a new lease of life. The layering; as opposed to being horizontal as seen in the Edwardian dress skirts, I switched to vertically going across the garment.