Our UTS Graduate Fashion Parade has been moved from the usual date in December to the 31st of October! The thought is quite daunting, however it is also very exciting knowing that we will be done so soon! This means we will have less time to complete our collections and everything has been pushed forward so the toiling process has now already started and looks are being put together. This post is a little update on my research process which outlines my inspirations and some print ideas for my print/textiles based collection.
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| Research Page in my Visual Diary |
These pages show some macro and micro images that I took when I was at the Palace of Versailles and I then collaged them together to create a sense of excess and opulence that the Palace showed. I literally took hundreds of photos of every little detail that I could find such as tapestries, decorated rugs, marble, embroidered chairs, lattice fences, gold encrusted walls, borders on doors and walls etc. These details can be seen in both the above and below images where a sense of aesthetic excess is created. This is what initially inspired my collection by researching Marie Antoinette and her frivolous life in the walls of this Palace. After further research I then began to uncover the rebellious nature of her lifestyle behind this mask of perfection. This allowed me to come up with the concept of illusion and uncovering the realities behind these portrayals of perfection. I will show this through prints that appear three-dimensional such as the peeling walls and photographic prints but are actually two-dimensional in reality.
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| Research Page in my Visual Diary |
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| Research Page in my Visual Diary |
The above image shows a collage of Marie Antoinette's bedhead, a macro shot of a sculptural wall, gold encrusted walls and the Marble that Marie Antoinette's Trianon is made from.
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| Print Development Page from my Visual Diary |
The above image shows some of my print developments which have been created using parts of the photographic images derived from my research into the Palace of Versailles. There are a mix of photographic/digital and hand elements in the prints as I have screen printed and painted layers on top of the original prints and then recreated them into digital repeats. The sense of illusion can be seen through the peeling wallpapers, textural bricks and woven/knotted stripes which also all contribute to the feeling of excess that I am trying to portray. There is a focus on recreating the stripe and geometrics which all can be used to create body illusions through stripe direction. These prints have also recreated my colour palette from the original images due to references from New Romanticism. I revised my colour palette by colour picking sections of these new prints to come up with the following;
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| Colour Palette Page from my Visual Diary |
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| Fabrications page from my Visual Diary |
Fabrications are also essential in creating the roughed up opulent mood to my collection and is generally all about contrast. I am looking to contrast heavier leathers and cottons with beautiful silks to bring through the slightly subversive vibe. I am mostly sourcing base cloths as my collection will be almost entirely print based so it is a matter of varying sheers and opaques and textures. I want to find base cloths that will add depth to my prints and maybe will add to the textural illusions.
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| Drape Workshop - Visual Diary |
In my drape explorations I have focused on deconstructing tailored garments and recreating them in new and unexpected ways. The deconstructed mood is derived from my research of New Romanticism and Punk as a way of rebelling against the norm. I also explored stripe detailing and direction in garments and how paneling can be a way to inform this. I aim to create quite structural and edgy tailored garments with a focus on paneling to showcase my print work.
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| Sketching workshops - Visual Diary |
Following on from the drape workshops, we had a sketching/drawing workshop in order to turn the drapes into garment form. This technique has allowed me to come up with garment ideas that I could not have thought of without this draping process.
It is now time to start toiling the first look!
