Classic Tailoring Will Never Die.

Source: RUSSH Magasine

Made You Look.

On the way to London's Portobello Markets.

Sunsilk Competition.

So I found myself in the top 12 finalists for a design competion for Sunsilk, sponsored by Coles. We were required to submit a sketch that was inspried by the Sunsilk products, (and yes, I do mean the hair-care brand), that was slightly avant-garde and full of bright colour. For anyone that knows me well enough they would know that I tend to steer away from neons, fluoros or anything really bright! So this competition was going to always be a little bit of a challenge for me.

I must say the experience has been, and I'm sure will be, worthwhile. We have been able to experience being critiqued in front of panels of judges (nerve-wracking to say the least), and work with makers outside of university.

The final designs will be paraded down a runway after next week, and the winner receives a $3000 cash reward!

The (very basic) sketch of my design that was submitted for the competition.

The blouse underneath the dress will be made from this plum coloured organza silk; and the dress is made up from this neon-pink seude. To maintain the "bell-shape" silhouette, I have constructed a crinoline to be worn underneath the dress!

I will be sure to post images up of the final product, and hopefully images from the show too! And lastly (but not least) ...a congratulations to the other finalists:

Kim Ashlee Ord
Caitlin davies-Forsyth
Rebecca Davis

Rachel Zuch
Danielle Kremer

Kacey Devlin
Jason Widjaja
Peneloppe Allen

Matt Dolan
Fiona Hyojin Kim
Cortney White 

I'm really excited to see how it will all come together!

Etchasketch.

Our last workshop with Armando was sketching. We had one minute intervals in which we were required to get our ideas onto paper in illustrated silhouettes, form and detailing. These are just a couple of sketches of some potential designs...again working with this familiar colour-way.

Image: Sketches from my design journal.

Strummer.

This is where I've been interning... the experience is great and I love working for Edwina Hagon, the designer, so check out her stuff: Strummer.

Image: AW 2011, Sourced from the Strummer website.

Drape Manipulation.

In our workshops with Armando we have been told to focus on a key garment that will be the main features in our collection. Mine will be the jacket - inspired by military jackets from the Russian Revolution and Capes and coats worn by the elite.

Here are some futher design manipulations. Also note the colour scheme; I plan to work with a dark, but very rich, "burnt" colour scheme.. (to be further researched and worked on!)

Reminiscing.

I was just browsing through my documents and came across this second-year photography assessment! This task was loads of fun... it was shot in the shower with a Canon EOS SLR with Ilford Delta 3200 film, and printed by me in a dark room!

Makes me SO excited to shoot my collection at the end of the year...

Model: Tess O'Brien (Featured in blog header too!)

Rad Hourani.

Form, volume and cut will play a huge role in my designing. Rad Hourani has created a collection that not only challenges the 'role' of original garments, he has played with form and volume in a way that I can only describe as inspirational ! His creation of new silhouettes through subversion is something we have been heavily focussing on to assist us in our designing.

Take a look at the video on the website: RAD HOURANI UNISEX TRANSFORMABLE COLLECTION #7

Images Sourced from: Trendland

Fit for A Queen.

Alexander McQueen Double Cuff.

The Drawing Board.

I have just been updating my design journal for the Assessment Two hand-in; continuing to manipulate drape-work into designs. Additionally,we have to source potential materials we wish to use in our collection, so I went around Sydney yesterday to conduct some fabric research. I found plum coloured leather that I fell in love with ... however it was apparently the "last of it's colour" and was guilted into purchasing what was left. I am determined to design around it, as I have simply fallen in love with it.

Tomorrow I am taking a workshop at Birdsall Leather to learn more design skills that I am able to incorporate throughout my colletction (watch this space!)
(NB: I have taken into consideration the ethics behind using leather throughout my collection and am hoping to use leather that is a bi-product of the meat industry as much as I can.)

Top Images: Photographs of my journal. Bottom Images: Inspiration wall in my workroom and the plum-coloured leather I plan to work with!

Cool Hunting.

I can always count on The Cool Hunter to find inspiration.

Fascination Turning Into Addiction.

Design options are endless through manipulation. Further drape work on the form -collaged onto figures for instant design results:

Potential pant and skirt designs.

Fascination with Manipulation.

Using drapes from Armando's workshop and applying them onto figures in photoshop allows me to visualise instant design results. I can see myself becoming obsessed with this way of designing... it's quick and original!

Figure from Chloe's Winter 2012 Collection - My own drape designs collaged over the top.

What Goes Around Comes Around.

Visual inspiration.

Images from the film Dr.Zhivago: Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.

Source: Unknown - Images taken from a book on my phone last year.



Mentor.

Chloé Pre Fall 2010

Chloe

He said She said:

A collage from my journal.

From Fantasy to Form.

Armando's drape workshop #1:

Creating drapes on the stand that are informed by our visual inspiration: making shapes and silhouettes in 5 minutes to challenge our design process.

Quick Drapes on the form to create new and interesting silhouettes.

With a quick manipulation on Photoshop, collage and sketching, fast and new designs are created.  

Blast From the Past... (or just last year).

We just had our first drape workshop with Armando - I LOVE draping. I much prefer draping to flat pattern making because I can instantly see if something works or not with the fabric I am using, and because I can be slightly impatient, I enjoy seeing the instant results of something in front of me. But before I go too deep into that - it just brings me back to our third year Women's Wear assignment, where drape was heavily used throughout the project. I feel this is where I really realised what my style and potential was. I loved translating my research into draping... and finally into a range that I was proud of. This is the jacket I made myself that was inspired by the claustrophobic notions of a straitjacket. I am still yet to get them professionally photographed, I would like to do that over the Easter break!

Muse: Luke Harkness in Straitjacket. Photographs by Nick and Julian May.

"Breakthrough" Collection: Woolen Jacket with leather trim and belts.

Fashion Hayley...

Our guest lecturer today was Blogger Fashion Hayley. She informed us about how her boost into the fashion world was all thanks to her blog: Fashion Hayley, and how her connection with the fashion industry is through her online communication. It was inspiring to hear from someone who's career took off based on honest popularity. She described to us how the world of blogging can be brutally honest but that that is the beauty of it - that the communication is instant. I really enjoyed her talk today - and fell in love with her Romance Was Born cape!

This is Hayley: Image from her blog.

Redemption: A New Revolution

For our Research and Conceptualisation subject we have designed a poster that embodies the mood and portrays our conceptual objective, visually. The working title of my collection (not the thesis) is "Redemption: A Brand New Revolution". The following points are the aims and objectives I wish to fulfill in producing a collection.

• To design and create a contemporary womenswear collection.
• To create a subversion of uniform and garment association (i.e. what it meant to wear a certain piece of clothing and the image associated with it) focussing on the historic period of the Russian Revolution 1917.
• To look at how a civilization was separated through ideals of uniform; focussing on the stigmas attached to wearing specific uniform or traditional dress. (Researching the regimes implemented by Tsar Peter the Great). 
•  Altering the rules and regulations surrounding uniform and garment association that existed within this particular time frame. 
•  For example:
• Borrowing connotations from the silhouette of a military jacket but choosing a fabrication that is emblematic of the elite, such as velvet. 
•  Designing a dress with features specific to the elite, but using fabrications and details from peasantry lifestyle: leathers, raw cottons etc.
• As a consequence, creating the message of breaking the traditional rules.
• Supporting the message of the people during the Revolution: a message of revolt and rebellion against the rules implemented.
• To design and create a contemporary collection that tells the narrative of a society morphed together through battle and revolt.
• Focussing on the shooting of the Romanovs as a point of reference in order to be specific rather than generic:
• The brutality involved
• The juxtaposition of social class extremes involved
• The diminishing of an extravagant lifestyle
•  Drawing influences of colour from both historic and contemporary influences; e.g. photographs, artwork, interiors and details in lifestyles other than dress. 
•  Creating the subversion of uniformic qualities focussing on the period of the Russian Revolution.
• To achieve subversion I will be changing the rules of implementation.
• Exploring the notion of being “stripped back” from total opulence and luxury.
• Using these inspirations and bringing them into a modern timeframe to make them wearable and contemporary.

This is the Poster: I advise you click on the picture to enlarge, and then zoom in if you wish to read the text!

Perfection.

On my research journey of Russia (and all things Russian related) I found this YouTube video of Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel Pre-Fall 2009 collection preparation.... It is devine, and although I plan to take a more stuctured aesthetic in my Final Collection this is very inspirational.

If Pictures Could Speak..

...I'd have my entire thesis done by now!
I love that pictures can visually give us so much information and inspiration.

Images photographed by myself.

Image sourced from the internet: Russian Peasants during 1917.

A Lost Dynasty.

As mentioned in the previous post, we are encouraged to build up a narrative to inform and inspire our design decisions. I have been thoroughly researching the shooting of the Royal Romanov family. The royal family had been in their hiding home for several months before they were sentenced to death, and around midnight on July 17th 1918, the family was woken up in and ordered to put on their clothes, and head to the basement where they were shot brutally by a firing squad.

I found this montage of videos from movies that have been made about the shooting of the Romanov Family. I find it helps to be able to understand and feel the order events when you can visualise them. This YouTube video gives viewers an idea of how brutal the shootings were.

Within the collage in the previous post below, there is an image of a decayed room: that is the actual room that the shooting took place in.

The significance behind this attack is that they were the last Romanovs; a dynasty killed off as an act of revolt and rebellion.

What's in a Narrative?

Armando, our mentor, keeps encouraging us to create a narrative that will inform our designs: a story that we can fall back on for inpsiration, or a character that will tell us who we are designing for... a muse. Essentially, my narrative will be drawn from the people and characters found in the Imperial period, before the Russian Revolution, such as the Romanov Family.

The Romanov Family was brutally murdered as a result of protest and revolt of the working class during Imperial Russia 1917...I want to create a mood that embodies the anger of the working class mixed or moulded with Royalty during this time; as if to create a "taking over" or "swapping" of social order.

This narrative is yet to be pushed further, however I created a collage of a woman I could imagine would capture the mood I intend to portray.

Collage from my design journal.

Working Title.

In our dissertation subject we have been focussing on our Dissertation (or Thesis) Proposal. After four drafts, on the proposal alone, I have finally come up with a Working Title. "Working" suggesting that, yes, it will most probably change or evolve. So far, I'm confident with how the research I have done will influence and inform my design decisions - and although it is early in the peace - I can already see my signature style shining through.

The working title for my Thesis is:

'Uniformity and Revolt: The demarcation of society through uniform and dress, and how it separated an entire nation during the Russian Revolution'.

I recall Vicki saying in our first lecture that if we are not happy with our proposal or our thesis then something isn't right; let's hope that my confidence in this is a symbol that I'm heading in the right direction!

Music to My Eyes.

These videos flawlessly capture the connection between music, dance, acting and fashion in a seamless and simply perfect way. There is a story within the films that is simplistic, yet beautiful, without the use text or any explanations. I find these videos awesomely inspiring and would love to do something similar with my own work; for my own inspiration.

Lou Doillon for Vanessa Bruno

Vanessa Bruno ft. Lou Doillon

Point of Interest...

As mentioned in an earlier blog I am interested in the lifestyle of people and their way of living. Through further research I came to the conclusion that I wanted to focus on the lifestyles of both peasants and royalty during the Russian Revolution, for my final year collection. I'm particularly interested in the Romanov Family during this time (1917) and their brutal attacking. Pushing this idea further I am hoping to challenge the notions of dress within social divisions during the revolution; what defined classes, indeviduals, employers and/or soldiers, royalty (and the list goes on)?

I will further expand on this post - but for now just keeping it updated!

The Romanov Family

Anastasia, Age Six

Ballet Russes...Canberra Style.

Over the summer break I decided to take a day trip with my Mum, (who needed some convincing), to Canberra to see the Ballet Russes exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. I had previously taken an interest to the Russian lifestyle so I thought this may further inform my design inspiration...Or at least I was hoping it would as I wanted to make the three and a half hour car trip down there (and back)worth it.

And it was.

The gallery exhibited costumes from the Ballet Russes that were designed by a collaboration of musicians, artists, dancers and fashion designers in order to make these stories and musicals come to life. Initially I was stunned at how small people were at the turn of the century...but then I was quickly distracted by the amazing silhouettes in the costumes... over-exaggerated sleeves, shoulders and detailing. In addition to this, the use of colour was outstanding, (keep in mind these costumes would have faded over the years as well). As these garments were designed for stage - everything had to be more exaggerated, bigger and bolder. The interpretations of people within social classes during these periods was very informative, and sometimes humorous, not to mention the attention to detail and fabrication... velvets, leathers, beads, silks, furs.

I bought the book.. and because I couldn't help myself I bought a book on Tsars throughout the Imperial Court.

This was truly inspiring, and well worth the trip! Not to mention I had a fabulous lunch on the water - I'll definitely be going back there!

Le Pavillon d'Armide, Madame Thamar Karsavina & Aldolph Bolm, 1909

Cloak from a costume for a harpist: Cotton, wood, paint and metallic thread. 1909

Images from the Ballet Russes website Gallery:

http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BalletsRusses/Default.cfm?MNUID=2

Journal work and visual inspiration.

X Marcs the Spot.

I really love and appreciate the immediate sense of lifestyle and reality within the Marc by Marc Jacobs campaigns. There is a relatable rawness within the images that makes them instantly attractive. It's as though the images are telling a story of the people within the photographs; an intentional detail the designer most likely wanted in order to tell a story about his designs.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Advertisements.

My attitude towards this year...

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it... and I shall move the world."

- Archimedes