Using the research and draping we did in the first week, we began developing our designs independently and in a series of workshops- I particularly enjoyed the textile workshop, in which I worked mainly with denim and some knit to create textile samples by weaving and knotting strips of fabric; I then used these, along with collages to develop some of my ideas.
Through out this project I enjoyed the workshops (draping, paper manipulation, textiles and collaging) and I found they they provided a range of starting points for design development. However, as it was pointed out to me during group crit, there was not enough evidence of my initial research into artists and designers using the concept of decon/recon in my work- looking back, I completely agree with this as although there were some elements in my final outcome, over the two weeks I had become more focused on just the garments and features I had brought in, without considering how to draw upon my research (for example in draping). Another criticism was that my collages were abit boring, and it would have been better if I had incorporated materials other than just images, such as tracings, drawing or even bits of fabric. I quite enjoyed the use of collaging so I will definitely think about how to create more interesting collages in future projects.
My final outcome was made up of mismatched pieces of various old jeans, with some contrast stitching between the sections to link to my research into the tradition of kintsugi (destroying imperfect porcelain objects) and the Japanese art of using gold to join fragments. As I used old denim to create my final garment, I felt that it had quite a vintage look, so I decided to look into vintage and antique stores to do my photoshoot in. I ended up doing the photoshoot in an little antique store I found in Kingston, as it had so much character and so many interesting things crammed into it- I found that a couple of large old mirrors were also quite effective to have in my photos as it meant you could see both sides of the garment, one face on and one side as a reflection in the mirror.
an.andycaptures 