Week 4

Print - I quite like the idea of using print on what will be the Empathy dress. However I feel the eye would be drawn to the print, rather than the purity of the structure.

Having spoken to the print technician (Mika), I have decided in this instance to drop the idea of print as I feel there would need to be more than one dress.

Photo Shoot - I have booked a make up artist and hairdresser for the 14th of November from the Academy of Makeup. I will be working with Paola, as she seems very knowledgeable and she has some interesting imagery on her website.

An external exhibition -  I feel would be a real spring board. This needs to be considered carefully, so the space and timing i.e 1st Thursday will entice a wide audience. Both Jess (fellow MA student) and I are thinking of exhibiting externally. An external exhibition seems really important as I feel my work needs the space and time for viewers to really engage in a more inviting ambiance.

The shapes - are taking longer than I anticipated, or I am working slower than I anticipated. I thought I would have completed all three shapes by the end of this week. I now feel I should be calling them sculptures or embryo's as they seem to be taking so long.

The Final Cut Pro. - A stout moving image of the 3 previous structures would be a nice addition to the final structures. This will depend on the quality and quantity of the images from the photo shoot. I will need to arrange a meeting with Dominic Montaque to see what he feels would work with the images I have.

Week 3

Fabric Research - The chances of finding what you're looking for is a lot easier if you are able to narrow down the types of fabrics you're looking for.

Fabric Forum: An exhibition held in South Molton Lane. This was a really good show. It was small enough to get round quite quickly, but big enough to offer a various selection. The size and location I think dictated the type of fabrics represented. High end and quality. A sign of the economy meant minimum orders were 1m per facbric.

I normally buy all my fabrics from the Italian agent, which happens bianually at LCF. The choice is amazing ranging from wools, jersey's suitings and the prices are really reasonable for the quality. Hense I am going to wait for this date before I decide.

Business cards - I have had the same business cards for so long that I realise it is really me; my hand writing minimal. I am going to possibly change the format on the back, possibly a second colour. As much as I love the monochrome, I may introduce a red.

Madrid Trip - A surprise trip to madrid came up this weekend.

Perfect weather. I managed to visit 3 exhibitions.

Cornelis Zitman. The sculptures were so amazing, cast in bronze. The definition of all the female contours were amazing. There was a piece which could have been the embryo for my dome dress. The 2nd was Yves Saint Laurent 'Guia de Visitantes' and the third was the  'Human Bodies' Exhibition.

Cornelis Zitman

Cornelis Zitman

FTM411 FASHION EXPLORATION AND PRACTICE

I have selected Fashion exploration and practice this module, as I feel the previous module FT410 Negotiated practice needs to be continued in order to have a full range and clarity to my concept, ‘Absurdity and Acceptability .

The outcome I am aiming to achieve in this module is to produce a further three installations which will be a development from the previous module.

On reflection I have decided to use furnishing fabric as I feel some of the fine quality fabrics I used for the previous pieces were too delicate.

Week 2

I know from my last body of work that I wanted or rather needed to continue with the same concept. I felt like I had stopped mid flow almost without a conclusion or proper ending.

The more I sketch, the more I seem to want to. I know I will have to chose 2/3 designs only, but it seems I can't edit or select. Each one seems equally important or even more attatched to the previous body of work.

I need to think what aspect of my concept I would like to represent in my theory. I know this will be a challenge as I sometimes have difficulty in writing and expressing my thoughts on paper.

I need to start researching fabrics for both of the structures

•  Design Development 

 I have spent  a whole day developing design ideas  from my initial ideas. I feel I have developed the ideas to the max and am ready to start pattern cutting, once I have shown Sian next week.

• Fabric Research 
  I have found some amazing furnishing fabrics in cotton, silk and wool.
  In Liberty’s I have ordered samples.  You only get a small piece for colour matching. I am really excited as they are beautiful, they have a luxurious shine and finish they just ooze luxury and some how seem more appropriate for an installation / garment, which is one option. The second is, Italian agents that come bianually with a wide representation of fabrics from Italy and Paris.

• Organise Assistant I now have a new assistant, who is a 2^nd year BA student Ayumi 

• Start on foundation shapesWe will be allocated support staff on a Tuesday so I have prepared two basic to be toiled.

• Look at availability of: Models, Photographer, Make up Artist, Hair Dresser.I have identified two of the models I intend to use for my presentation just need another four.
  Hair Dresser, Make up artist still waiting for a confirmation. The Photographer who I would like to use is away on a project until end of October.

• Research possible venues to exhibit work externally there are two possible places I may be able to exhibit at; I should have an answer by the end of next week.
  

I have also asked Sian Harris she has said she too will look at possible venues we could use as it would be

promoting UEL. The place in question is near Stratford so that’s a little further west.

 
-Blog to be updated

-Sketch book/ pages  - ongoing

-Theoretical written work on going

-Victoria and Albert Museum

-Postmodernism exhibition, I thought parts were really interesting 

-The Museum of Everything at Selfridges

 

Sian at my tutorial had said there was a possibility of doing a shoot/ video clip using my pieces on a rotating platform which sounds amazing. The shoot is to be used a promotional clip for UEL, how amazing would that be for my website.

Week 1

We were given an outline of the three possible options for this module. I have always known I would go with the fashion option.  This is a very self directed module.

Presentation photos

FT410 Negotiated Project

The view upon entering the exhibition space

Absurd-Acceptability: The Exhibition

The day started off with a a few hick-ups- which at the time seemed like the end of the world was approaching.
1. One of my models ended up being stuck in Portugal on another job. I managed to find a replacement model, Hannah, even though she was a slightly fuller figure than the dress was fitted to. Being in jersey the dress still fitted and worked.

2. The hairdresser, the two other models all running slightly late.

3. The order of sketchbook being arranged and rearranged over and over and over.

4. The photographer deciding a photoshoot on another day would be better.

I felt the presentation and the exhibition went well. All my effort and hard work aswell as all the effort and hard work of the team i had helping me along the way seemed to have paid off.
everything just came together on the hour. I feel I have had an eventful yet successful journey on this module. I am now excited and looking forward to taking on the board the next stage of the journey, which i believe will be a natural progression from where i am at this point.

Special thanks to Zowie, Sian, Tess, Rosemary, Charlotte, Maria, Mark, Dave, Craig, Zule and Balv.

Here are some photos taken at my MA Presentation private viewing of Absurd-Acceptability, which took place on Friday 9th September in the AVA.