On the first day of the two week project we were all briefed with the task. To me the idea of the project is to be as experimental as possible in using old clothes from charity shops etc. to create new garments. I think this project is relevant to the present day as it is important to be sustainable and protect the environment in any way possible. Fashion and Textiles are one of the main polluters and it is important to change this and be more aware of the harm the industry is causing.
Day One was all about experimentation and documentation. I enjoyed taking apart the garments as its unconventional to destroy something that already has a purpose and neatly stitched seams. It took some time for me to start using the bits and pieces in more unconventional ways such as using the top as trousers etc. but I think cutting them into sections and deconstructing the shape so it did not look like the original garment helped. From this I wanted to develop further so started extracting shapes and using different media such as paint, watercolour and fineliner to create new silhouettes. I also then looked into designers Margiela and Hood by Air who both have ready to wear collections consisting of deconstructed and reconstructed pieces. I love the way Hood by Air also deconstruct the idea of genders in their SS16 collection, they go against social norms and have a male model with breasts and wearing heels.
Day Two was split into 3 workshops. The first was textile based, scanning parts of our deconstructed garments into Photoshop and photocopying them at different scales. I enjoyed playing around on Photoshop with all the prints and textures, however, I wish I had deconstructed garments with more patterned print on it as most of my fabrics were black and block colours. If I was to do this again I would make sure to collect a range of different garments with different patterns and colours. The second workshop was using all the separated section of the garments. This was a useful workshop as I had to work in 3D and then sketch the shapes down into 2D. My garment sections consisted of different fabrics with a range of properties such as stretch and texture so it was interesting to experiment with the fabrics and combine the textures. The last workshop was using pattern paper with traced sections from the garments. Even though this was also in 3D, I found it very different from the second workshop as paper is a lot more stiff and harder to manipulate. Therefore it gave more structured silhouettes and shapes.
Day Three consisted again of 3 workshops. The first workshop of the day we were partnered up with a fellow peer and tasked to combine photocopies of components such as pockets, sleeves, collars etc and pieces from our deconstructed garments to create new designs and shapes on the stand. This, as before when partnering up with someone else, is interesting as I got to see how someone else works. My peers work had a lot more textile pattern than my own so I was happy to be able to work with patterns instead of block colour as when sketching from the stand I had to think about what was on the fabric as well as how it draped.
Workshop Two we were instructed to use our fabric pieces to create new textures and patterns. My favourite textile I created was where I wove a thick black velvet fabric and a burnt orange, knitted fabric. I like the contrast in colour of this sample and think if it was repeated and made a lot larger, would be an even more successful piece.
The last workshop was focusing on developing these textile samples into garments incorporating them with our own style of illustration. This was useful to know one way of developing workshop work and to see how it could be manipulated into a garment. Towards the end of the session we asked to draw a FLAT as it is important that the atelier know the measurement and how to create the design.
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