OVERALL.

This project has been one hectic sleepless whirlwind which will definitely be a project to remember. The theme I chose was something that I have enjoyed progressing with from the beginning, looking at all the different ways that I can branch off from the Valley of the Dolls because the topic of fame and misery is so wonderful to work with.

Things that have influenced me immensely in this project would have to be looking at Damien Hirsts work in general thanks to my tutor who gave me the useful advise of looking up Hirst which I feel has definitely moved my research and project successfully forward and for the better which has lead to most of the decisions which all relate to my final outcome; things like creating the burn samples out of the plastic bags pushed me towards burning the chiffon for my final piece. I took some of his books out from the library and found his work so diverse and worked amazingly well with the different themes in my project from the flesh to the diamonds, trash to pills which have all inspired my work in different forms. 

Everything I done from sampling to organizing my sketchbook I have done by reflecting on my blog and sketchbook, even sketchbooks from past projects which always inspire me with new ideas and things to progress my project on with. This project has had me working back and forth attempting to create new and unique outcomes which I feel I completed  well enough for this project even though I did struggle with ideas at different points of the process but in the end created many different paths towards my final outcome.

Throughout the project I definitely did panic about the way my project was going and whether it was consistent enough throughout, and if I was going to finish on time; but somehow I managed to pull myself together and work even harder and work in a way that suited me better. I done this by completing two sketchbooks to enable confusion on my behalf; one for research and the other for fashion illustrations which I feel has strengthened my body of research all in all as the pressure to keep both books to a high standard was on. Also creating my garment seemed to challenge me greatly, seeing how I managed under pressure with no sleep and heaps to do was just an experience I will learn from as I initially gave myself two weeks to make, but with my time management being slightly off; I was only left with a week to make which put me behind but I managed to soldier through with the help of many cups of coffee. 

This whole project really was an eye opener for me as I have endured so much from creative blocks to having to resew a simple top five times, but it just shows that patience is key sometimes and things will eventually flow to you. I am impressed by my own ability to learn how to use a new software I had never even touched before to create a fashion film in just over a day to creating simple mouldy fruit. Overall I am pleased with my project as a whole as I feel the theme is strong as well as the final outcome with it; I will always see the project as unfinished but nevertheless completed to the highest of my ability and hopefully makes sense to others as it does to me.

Shoot Me

My favourite part of any project always always has to be the actual photoshoot and editing process afterwards, I just get this weird joy of knowing that its the final step and I get to edit it the way I want and finish it the way I want. The photoshoot in its self was amazing as I got to hire out an old chapel which had so much character to it and had a small platform also which worked amazingly for my theme, it just felt so easy to be inspired by poses to do and backgrounds to take advantage of, I absolutely loved shooting. My model was amazing also and I think it definitely helped that she does acting as she was perfect at acting all possessed for the fashion film and the shoot too. The only shame about the shoot is that my garment didn't show up as much as I hoped which is real shame and I'm not sure of what I could've done to prevent it but all in all I'm certainly excited about the whole outcome.

                                      

Cut, Sew, Stress, Cut Again

Making my garment this week was something I really struggled with especially since the stress started early on when I went to buy my fabric, to not pre burning my fabric which held me back. All sorts of things went wrong through my week of making but I still managed to finish in time for the photoshoot which was what mattered for me, even if I only had about 12 hours of sleep in total. 

As I had decided on previously, I wanted to use the pinky nude chiffon however when I got to Rolls and Rems, there wasn't enough of the colour I needed which then meant I had to go for the neutral nude, which was annoying since I really liked the pinky tone. 

Once I got home I begun making right away, having to cut out each pattern twice to have enough strength to hold the piece up especially with the burning and embellishments. But already I had made a mistake in cutting out the skirt pattern before burning the fabric because it shrinks once it gets bubbled up therefore I had to hit the fabric shop again for more chiffon and this time start by burning up the fabric before cutting. Because the skirt was long and needed three patterns to make the skirt, I had to burn up three large strips of fabric which took me all through Eurovision to finish where I ended up with a bruised thumb by the end of it because I was using the lighter all night in order to do so. When I finished creating the burnt and bubbled fabric, I sized it up with the paper skirt pattern and in some places had to add more fabric but that wasn't a problem. 

After finishing off the top layers of the skirt I had to move on to the other layer underneath. It was a last minute decision on adding makeshift petals but I thought it would be a nice way to include the floral influence from before and I also thought it would be a nice graduation of colour as the nude was looking slightly bland, and the blue petals on the underskirt seemed to work really well. Looking back at it now I wish I had added more petals because it doesn't seem to show through when on camera but I still think it's successful appearance wise in reality. After both layers being done I managed to get it all sewn up 5/6 time, again making mistakes because of the sleepless nights but I managed to sew it up facing the right way in the end and managing to add the zip also. So after two days I had created a skirt (with no sleep in-between) which I was quite impressed with and loved how it flowed to the ground. 

The top shouldn't have been so hard to make, but again without the much needed sleep I managed to mess up quite a lot until realising how easy it was all along. After working that out I had an assembled and sewn top, and all it needed now was jazz it up with a lot of gems, keeping in mind the shoot was the next day. Luckily adding the gems to the top didn't acquire that much brain power and I was able to sit through and bejazzle the top as much as possible before the shoot. My aim was to get the whole top covered in the gems but just in case I didn't make it i scattered the gems down in sections in different places that wouldn't look odd if I hadn't finished in time, which happened to be the case in the end.

The skirt was made to the highest possible standard and I am more than happy about the quality of it as it was everything I hoped it to be and I'm happy that I started off with it as it's my favourite piece and represents my theme perfectly. The top however I'm not too pleased about since it was unfinished for the shoot but I hope that I can finish it on time for assessment. Overall the making process was tough on my sleep deprived head but I think I got through it well considering and think it still looks like a great two piece set as they both compliment each other piece well, and if I manage to finish the top it will be perfect I hope.

Own photography

Final Collection

This final collection is almost a representation of the initial colour scheme I was going to use beforehand keeping with my current ideas and I tried to do this through the use of paint and textures which again graduate into the more neutral pinky palette.  I like how bold the collection looks with just the colours and embellishment and without having to use a wacky design although it would have been more interesting but I'm still happy with the collection I have created. The only thing I would say that could do with some work is just my fashion illustrations which I need to master but apart from that I feel I'm ready to create my final garment with all these different inspirations.

Dummy Details

I have drawn up some rough but thorough designs which I am contemplating about between the two of which will be more suitable as my final design but I'm pretty confident in the both of them as they are quite similar but are different technical wise. I have also chosen to use the pinky nude chiffon colour for my final garment as I think it will be a great colour to compliment any skin tone and its more of a richer colour compared to the more neutral nude.

Shapes and Flats

From the collage silhouettes I tried to adapt some of the shapes and develop them in different ways from both on the stand to then creating rows of design developments which help with the selection process later on. My shapes are all simple but I've never been someone who creates bold and extravagant designs so I'm still keeping to my own, but maybe that's not good as I am still in my comfort zone design wise but definitely not with creating a more 'feminine' piece with the gems and glitter; so again balance is vaguely there.  

From the design development process I chose some of my favourite designs and created uncomplicated flats which went well together and I changed round some details from the designs also. By the looks of things I seem to keep leaning towards a midriff combo which I feel will be slightly modern and way from dress territory slightly. Plus practicality wise separates will be a lot better for the gradual deterioration as the burning technique will need its own attention so maybe these design are more practical. I have decided that the garment will begin sparkly and great at the top and then deteriorate down to the bubbly holey mess at the bottom. I did flirt with the idea of creating maybe another garment with the same aspect but flipped around starting bad and getting embellished but looking at my time frame and having to find an extra model seems difficult, but it's an idea I would like to consider.

Cash Converted Trash.

These messy samples I created were for the joy of involving some house hold found garbage that I thought would look great as crazy samples mixed with the usual cheap but sparkly gems which I have so many of, so the more samples the better I thought. I used everything from food packaging, fruit peels, cardboard, video-tape tape strips, newspapers, anything I could find really with the helping of dollops of paint and masking tapes at some point to create these large messy samples.

Again these samples look great and interesting but nothing that I feel 100% about yet, but I doubt I'll know till I get to the final hurdle. But looking at these layered samples I know I want to create a double layered skirt since the fabric is light and will need the support but also I like the thought of maybe adding a contrasting 'something' on the bottom layer, but I'm not too sure of what yet.

All own sample photography.