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!