FMP Week 7 Day 3

Final Evaluation

I feel that I chose a successful title in the fact that it pushed me intellectually and conceptually. It was interesting and easy to apply to the body which I enjoyed.In my opinion, the most successful area of my project was the research stage. I was able to collect a lot of high quality references through photography and sketches. I then successfully consolidated said research through more drawings, layering and repetition.
Parts of my development stage was successful as the experiments helped me push my ideas forward in terms of designing. Experimenting with sheets and duvets really helped me develop my ideas in terms of silhouettes. The work shops I competed on the stand also helped push my project forward and also allowed me to consider different prints for my designs. However, I felt I lacked experiments not in relation to the body. This is something I need to bare in mind and improve on in future projects.
Something I will take away with me is the importance of peer reviews. In one of my group tutorials, I was collectively told to produce a mood board. In doing so I was able to conceive a clear and concise direction for my project. Certain images were helpful in terms of initial influence and they inspired the tone of my sketch book as well.
One of the most helpful suggestions was in a one-to-one tutorial when my tutor suggested I added in some contextual resources. He proposed I refer to Comme Des Garcon’s Lumps and Bumps Show. This was an absolutely perfect reference as it completely tied in to my thinking process and made my development much clearer. He also suggested Galliano’s Construction Couture Show for Dior. This also allowed me to add another element in to my development process. Additionally, it got me to consider more about the details and construction of my own designs.In terms of designing, I feel I need to apply much more intricacy and many more details. I tend to concentrate on the silhouette and feel that in order to succeed in my future course/career, I need to practice designing the details. The final outcome of my project highlights the negative space around the body. I used a thick duvet which had plump and broad qualities to it. This allowed as much negative space to be highlighted as possible.
As my title was ‘the unobserved’, I wanted to include another element relevant to this concept in my final garment. Consequently, the lining is the part of the design with the most detail, however, it is hidden underneath the garment.So that my final piece looks as effective as possible, I allowed the lining to be brought into the outer part of the garment around the neck line.Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of the outcome that I could have improved on. I felt that my final outcome was not as a high a quality as I am capable of. It was more of a draft garment as an example of the concept. In retrospect, I should have started looking for fabrics and making it much sooner to give me more time to create the correct pattern and hand stitch it more neatly.
Again, this comes down to poor time management. This project has taught me how crucial it is to stick to deadlines as when the work piles up, the quality of your work can decrease as you try to catch up.

FMP Week 7 Day 2

Final Week

Photoshoot / Fashion Film

Today I took part in my second photo shoot. In retrospect, I feel that I could have personalised the set a bit and could have been more creative. However, due to poor time management, I was strapped for time. The photo shoot took quite a while as I had demonstrate to my model the particular poses I wanted her to do. I wanted certain positions that would show the garment at its best and also to share my title - the unobserved.

Today I also worked on and edited my Fashion Film. I feel that parts of the film where successful e.g. I liked the way I edited it to slow motion and black and white. However, there were also unsuccessful elements such as that fact that I should have used a better quality camera as when I edited the film to slow motion, the quality of the images were reduced.

I like the fact that it is an hour long - I feel that this ties in to the concept of the unobserved. We are constantly unaware of the unseen and unnoticed and the length of the video highlights this fact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUWUnU8L26Q

FMP Week 7 Day 1

Final Week

Photoshoot 1

Today I embarked upon my first photo shoot. I only got a few shots that I liked so I have planned to do another one tomorrow. The successful aspects of this photo shoot was the dramatic look of my model's face. I had the help of a Photography degree student, therefore the camera used was to a high quality. The definition of the images was very good and the lighting used was perfect.

However, one of the reasons that this photo shoot was not as successful as I had hoped was that it was difficult to get my model to produce diverse poses. This consequently did not allow the images to convey the form of my garment. I wanted the final imaged to see most of the garment and the way it had been made. Most of the images were of the same pose and at the same angle. I wasted images  at a range of angles and with a range of poses.

My thinking makes sense as I am a theorist. Theorists are perfectionists and are fussy about how they do things. Therefore, tomorrow I shall find a different set and think of different poses to tell my model to do in order for my garment to perceived in the way I invasion it be.

FMP Week 6 Day 3

Development

Today I was reaching further and further to my final design of the garment I was to make. I was bearing in mind the amazing Lumps and Bumps collection of Comme Des Garcons. However, I wanted to highlight the negative space in a more distinctive and subtle way.

I liked my experiments with the duvet as they influenced my final garment a lot. However, I feel that I could have produced many more informative designs. 

My friend Nina said that I should add more colour. Next I will try and incorporate more colour in to my work.

FMP Week 6 Day 2

Development

Today I focused on the silhouette of my garments. To do this, I developed on the work that I produced on the sand using paper. I felt that this workshop was successful in the fact that I made sure I explored the use of my shapes on every section on the body. Thus, allowing my design process to consider all potential areas of design.

The unsuccessful elements would be the fact that I feel that I did not utilise this work shop to its full potential. As I am a theorist, I have a methodical approach and therefore would have preferred to chronologically explore each stand composition. However, I did not do this and relied on groups of images to inspire my design process. I do not feel positively about this but had to do this with what time I had left.

I unexpectedly layered the images on top of each other. I felt that this was effective in most of my sketch book pages but I feel I could have developed individual compositions further.

Retrospectively, at this point in my project, I would have done a lot of things differently. I would have introduced a different medium into my work, for example, at the point I feel that I should have started to design with coloured ink. I feel that this would have brought in another aspect of colour and shapes. Next, I want to include imagery with references to duvets. This will influence my final garments.

FMP Week 6 Day 1

Development

Today I focused on the construction of clothing. I am glad I did this as it was an exercise which helped me cosier the form, placement and design of potential details. I referred to John Galliano's couture collection for Dior. I felt that this exercise was successful in terms of allowing me to practise including these in to my work. However, in retrospect, I should not have spent valuable time doing this. I should have been completing more final designs instead. I can see how I preferred to do this though because I am a theorist and theorists like to pay great attention to detail. I can also see how this was a down fall in this circumstance as it slowed down my project. 

FMP Week 5 Digital Print

Digital Print

This is my digital print. It captures the otherwise unobserved moments of the development of my project. In some ways it was unsuccessful as the image does not merge together and it is a repeat. This was not my intention but again because of poor time management and planning, something unexpected happened. I meant to only digital print one large image but if I did this it would have been too pixilated for my print to have looked professional. Therefore, I decided I did not have enough time to redo my intended print. Thus I had to compromise and so I produced this repeat.

I was happy with the outcome as although it is a repeat, it still looks spontaneous and not too linear. Additionally, I get to include more of my sketches which makes the print look more unique and detailed.

I am also pleased with the colours that it includes. I am going to decide whereabouts I am going to place this print on my garment next.

This was the first time I had digital printed and I found the process very appealing. I was inspired by producing a print and want to produce many more in my future courses. However, I need to make sure next time I save my image in the correct format so that the product will not be unclear and pixilated.

FMP Week 5

Development

This week I had a one-to-one tutorial with my tutor. He looked through my book and said it was very important that I had some contextual references. I know that I am a theorist, so I had to make sure the first stage of my project was complete before I added the next stage. However, it was definitely time , sketch book wise, to start considering some contextual resources. I had already researched Rachel Whiteread and had been very influenced by her work. Therefore, I added some images  had collected from the library into my sketch book.

In addition to this, my tutor also suggested to me some collections to look at. This suggestion actually influenced my work very much so. He suggested to research Rei Kawakubo's Lumps and Bumps collection for Comme Des Garcons. This was so inspiring as her designs completely engulfed the negative space surrounding the garments.

He also told me to look at Galliano's 05/06 show for Dior where he very much concentrated on construction. This also was very interesting to me and made me plan my action for next week. Due to my research on Galliono's construction collection, I would sketch the details of clothes.

Retrospectivly, I can see how I was inspired by this as I am a theorist and prefer to be intellectually stretched within my work, therefore, considering the construction of the garment heaped push my project forward.

These idea's by my tutor were unexpected but proved very very helpful in terms of inspiration. I applied them to much of my stand work and referred back to them many times in my designs.

FMP Week 4

Development

As a theorist, I prefer to evaluate the soundness of my idea before sharing them. Therefore, I produced a critical study of a potential digital print and experimented with it before I produced some designs. I demonstrated this by exploring the size of my image and also by repetition. I enlarged and minimised the image to create different compositions. I felt that this was successful as when I cut them up it allowed me to imagine how the different pieces would look on the garment.
However, the element that I didn't find so successful to this investigation was the illustrations. Although they were experimental and informative about the potential print ideas, they were not very informative about the details of the garment e.g pockets and linings and fastenings. I feel I need to work on this element in my designs in order to communicate better.

FMP Week 3 Day 1

Development

Today I made a real effort to transfer my research into my designs. I feel that it was not entirely successful. I hate the third page of designs as they look like a 10 year old could have done them. I am just about pleased with the first page as I managed to apply the shape of the compositions of my stand work into the designs. For the stand work, I printed large photos of my research in London and moved and positioned them around the body. I feel this worked well as it incorporated the idea of the unobserved into the silhouette of the body. To improve on developing my ideas,  I should have drawn more detailed designs exploring the imagery on the garments. However, I am still pleased with the development of the shapes around the body. Additionally for this work shop I misunderstood the brief.  Fortunately, it worked to my advantage as I got to do the workshop again and could still use my initial work.

I was really happy with the second page of designs, however, I feel that my final collection will concentrate more on a simple silhouette and will not have so many complications going on. I am a theorist so I prefer to consider all my options before making a decision. I feel that this is both a good thing and a bad thing as it is time consuming but my final decision is a carefully considered one.

FMP Week 2 Day 3

Research Week 2

Today I collated some research from when I visited Castello Sforzesco Museum of Ancient Art in Milan. When I was there, I took a tour of the ancient castle and visited the museum inside of it. I am glad that I included it in my research as there were many unique pieces that very much express an unobserved element. In addition, I came across something that was fascinating and heavily influenced  a concept I intend to involve in my final garment. In the 14th Century, some of the ceilings of the rooms had been delicately painted. However, as the trends changed, they were repainted and repainted. Many centuries later, there was an earthquake and the top layers of the ceiling crumbled away. Thus, the underneath painting was revealed to people who never knew it was there. This is a perfect example of my title as what is now a treasured piece of art and history was once completely unnoticed and unseen.

This concept has heavily influenced my thinking involving my final collection. I potentially want the lining of my designs to be full of intricate and detailed drawings. Therefore, an essential piece of the garments will be mostly unobserved. However, I also want part of the lining to be seen somehow. This is an unexpected theory as I only thought of it when I began to develop my research.

Retrospectively, once I had thought of this concept, I should have spent time developing the print for the lining and investigating potential designs and print. Due to my theorist style of working, I felt I had to finish exploring my research from the Serpentine Gallery.

I will attempt to show the process of my thinking later on in my sketch book. I am behind most of my peers in terms of development. Therefore, next I shall start developing my research into experiments and shall relate them to designing garments on the silhouette of the body.

FMP Week 2 Day 2

Research Week 2

I decided to visit the Tate Modern so that my research was reliable meaning that I have collected information from many different sources. Within the museum, I visited many exhibitions including Harry Callahan's. There were four rooms dedicated to Callahan's post-war photography.

The most successful aspect of this research was when I concentrated on the negative space of a conceptual sculpture. This influenced me to repeat the shapes I made and also layer them. I feel that now I need to use these shapes and incorporate them into potential garments.

However, I really feel that although this added to my research, my sketch book does seem some what repetitive. Thus, I feel stuck in a rut and feel that I am not moving forward in terms of getting closer to my realisation.

It is clear that this stems from my personality trait of possessing a theorist style of learning. A theorist needs to attain all the information he/she needs in the initial stage before being able to move on to the next stage. Nevertheless, I also feel that I am doing a good job of collecting high quality research and feel that I am nearly finished. I feel I have a good base to refer from and become influenced by.

I have unexpectedly been inspired by the linear shapes in one of Harry Callahan's photographs. I feel that I should photocopy that particular drawing of the photograph using the negative application on the photocopier.

Next, I am going to think about potential experiments and developments. I feel that I should begin designing much more and a major goal would be to start to introduce colour into my designs. However, I do find this really hard to do let alone succeed at.

FMP Week 2 Day 1

Research Week 2

In the Easter holidays, I visited Milan. I viewed this as an excellent opportunity to capture images describing 'the unobserved'. I used this day to gather and organise the information I collected from my trip.
A concept within my title is negative space. Particularly, I am interested in the removal of the positive space that we notice and concentrate on unconsciously. Not only am I interested in that but also the addition of the negative space which we, as humans, very rarely think about. I intend to bring this 'negative space' in to the forefront of our minds in my designs. Consequently, when observing Milan, I photographed many places and things which were common to photograph. However, within my development I have removed or deleted the positive space and highlighted the negative space.

This I have found this approach to my work to highlight my theorist style as I am exploring the associations and interrelationships between ideas, events and situations. I feel that my concept is a successful one as it is inspiring and motivating me to expand on my ideas. I have included references to Rachel Whiteread in my sketch book. Whiteread also aims to highlight the negative space in every day objects and activities. What's more, I feel heavily influenced by her use of materials to turn empty space into solid, physical sculptures. She uses unusual casting materials such as rubber and concrete.

I found it difficult to make the visible distinction between the negative space and the positive space obvious in my research from Milan. I feel that I need to rectify this in my future development pages as it is important that this concept comes across in my sketch book. I will do this by leaving more space to highlight these areas and by maybe adding more layers. 

In retrospect, I feel that I added a potential fabric sample too early in this stage of research. However, the surface of the buildings in Milan really inspired me and reminded me of foil. This was also a reference to much smaller areas of negative space.

Although my sketches are effective, I feel that a detailed drawing will allow me to focus in on particular features and characteristics of my photo references. Therefore, in my next pages I will produce a more detailed critical study.

FMP Week 1 Day 3

Research Week

I chose to visit the exhibitions in the Serpentine Galleries for the base of my gallery research. This was because when I was researching which galleries to visit, the exhibitions which they were displaying excited me the most. I was drawn to investigate sculpture in art as part of my research as I found this to be most relevant to the theory of negative space.
I am a theorist. Therefore when carrying out the tasks I set for myself I am methodical and structure my work with a clear purpose. I have organised my research into Haim Steinbach's compositions and Martino Gamper's compositions. Theorist's set clear objectives for themselves which I have done in terms of my approach towards my research. I have photographed the pieces which particularly inspire me and then I have begun to build these concepts in to garments. I feel that this was successful because my designs were both influenced heavily by my research and were very relevant to my title. However, when looking back over my sketchbook, I feel that I could have produced more garments inspired by my gallery visits and developed my designs further.
I included charcoal which was unexpected. I feel I need to enhance my skill using this sort of medium but I did feel that it gave the effect I wanted to achieve.
Additionally, I feel I have improved my sketchbooks from the last projects as I now am not too neat. This allows my thinking process to be much more visible and clear.
Next I am going to utilise this research into data that could potentially push my design ideas forward. I will do this through more sketches and I also want to introduce other materials in to my work for diversity.
One of my peers commented that she like the way I use the double page as one page. I do too because my ideas flow better but I also feel I should spread my work out more to allow for more development of individual references.

FMP Week 1 Day 2

Research Week

Today my main aim was to gather appropriate visual references from the world around me. I was really happy with the moments I happened to capture. As I was walking around London, I was taking photographs of the people, places and things I would normally not notice; the unobserved. At the end of the day I selected what I felt were the most dramatic images and then started to explore them through sketches and overlaying. I felt this method worked well as it allowed me to concentrate on specific shapes and images I would other wise have ignored.

As I have a theorist approach to learning, this system worked well as I prefer a systematic technique and a sequential method.

The element to this research which I did not think was successful is that my photographs only came from the people and places in London. I would rather a mix of data, ranging from different areas to make my project more interesting. I plan to go to Milan in the Easter holidays and therefore, this will resolve the issue of only collecting references from the same places.
Although I developed my data in terms of sketches and drawings, I feel that I could have developed my images using the photocopier. At the time this did not come to mind but in retrospect I think playing with size and repetition would have produced some interesting compositions.
I am intrigued to know if I could develop these images into some sort or repeat print so I shall incorporate the photocopier within my work at a later date.
My tutor told me she thought my drawings worked well so I plan to carry on with these drawings within my sketch book. I plan to produce rapid sketches as well as more detailed drawings.

FMP Week 1 Day 1

Research Week

The main task that I set for myself today was to gather visual imagery from the library. I set out to create a mood board to collect some initial concepts and images relevant to my title. I wanted to do this for initial inspiration and also for something to refer back to along the process of this project, in case I ever lose my way. My project title is very general therefore the directions I could take my investigations are quite extensive.

I chose black and white images. I felt that this worked well because the goal of this mood board was about initial concepts. Therefore, choosing colourful images I feel would take the attention away from my abstract intentions. Although, I do feel my previous work has lacked colour so I am planning to incorporate colour in to my future work.

However, I did not feel the layout was successful. I feel that I should have allowed myself a double page of my sketchbook so that each image was more isolated and thus effective.

I also feel I was too picky about which images I chose as it took me more time that I anticipated. I was happy with the amount of images I gathered but also feel I could have collected more.

In retrospect, I should have made notes of the books to include in my bibliography. However, I have learnt from this mistake and will now make a note of every reference I use in order to create a successful bibliography. 

I felt that I succeeded in collecting images that were dramatic. I unexpectedly also included drawings. The unobserved elements to drawings did not arise in my thinking so it was interesting when I included them in my mood board and it is something that I plan to investigate further in my project.

To conclude, I will continue to utilise visual references and inspiration but with a much more compendious approach. I shall leave space in between each image and will think about incorporating specific colours in to my research.

Next, I plan to gather some primary research by photographing 'the unobserved' in my day to day life. This is due the that fact that, although it is valid, I am aware that this initial research is secondary and I am excited to produce original data.

I am a theorist so I prefer a sequential approach to problems. I also like to understand the assumptions, principles and rationale upon which things are based. Therefore I am anxious to explore my options through my research in regards to the concepts and theories relevant to my title.