Worn elegance

My neck piece and styling shoot :)

This was one of my favourite projects we were set the brief from cast creations to create a collection on the theme of "infused" i decided not to look at it from such a literal view and thought up the idea of looking at the city and how there is so much rubbish,tramps and dirt contrasting with the beauty and elegance of flowers "overturned by floral"Thinking about something ugly but making it seem beautiful

Can grunge be beautiful?

To start my project i came up with a list of words that would relate to my theme - Distressed, embellished, encrusted ect. From this came up with the title of WORN ELEGANCE - i felt this title perfectly portrayed the theme with contrasting words .

To kick start my project i started to photograph and draw the city of nottingham, focusing on the cracked buildings and distressed surfaces which i could use for my design sample work. I was photographing things that would generally be seen as ugly .

Inspiration

Maiko Hirohara - I liked the word of hirohara becuase i thought it was really fitting to my theme, instead of using sequins to embellish i could hole punch fabrics to create my own embellishment.

V magazine

I found this article in V magazine - by Marc jacob, I decided to focus on necklines with detailed embellishments, so when i found this it was perfect. Layerd ruffles using different fabrics with different thicknesses, inserting wire into sheer fabric to add structure. Using the same tone of colour but different textures adds lots of surface detail, but doesnt distract away from the fabric manipulation.

Roberto Cavalli

I absoulty love this image, it perfectly deplicts my theme of worn elegance, this dress made out of thousands of pounds worth of beads still has the rough edges and unhemmed seams - worn elegance

Designer research

I choose to look into Alexander Mcqueen as my "company" designer as i find his work quite different to many designers, he uses lots of different surface manipulation, and print techniques. Also as i had completed a workshop in metal i wanted to include this in my design work, i found that metal and hardware were very much on trend. The image on the left from mcqueen, is made from metals to create a futuristic neckpiece.

"Futurist cuts, metal hardware, glinting embellishments, robo chic is the future" (gratzia 22nd feb)

"unhemmed dresses, jumpers with the seams on the outside" (h&m mag march)

"let rip:dont snip frayed edges or iron out wrinkles, thats the charm of this trend" (vogue march2009)

Next i started working on my manniquin working on placement, looking at where would be best to embellish, where would work on the body.

I also tried out different techniques.

This is a sample of drawn thread work i did, pulling threads from muslin, and sewing sections together, to create a lace like structutre. I also liked the idea of mixing the hard metals with the lightweight fabrics

Final samples for cast creations

For this sample i wanted to translate my pigeon drawings in which i used different inks, crayons,chalk and collage so to translate this into my design work, i used a corneli machine which uses a thicker yarn, in a dark grey, which gave a raised surface then i used an irish embriodery machine in white set on the satin stitch so i could have areas thicker than others to add depth and give a 3d look to the feathers, i also hand stitched different shades of grey beads.

Second sample-

For this sample i used alot of cut work and used the irish machine to satin stitch around the cut areas, i embellished with eyelets and my metals embellishments i had created in the metal workshop. I also created lace like areas sewing over some of the holes. I like the placement on this sample , i can image this being used on a dress, you wouldnt have to wear jewellery as the embellishment on this piece is very detailed.

This sample i used drawn thread work technique , and used ink on the muslin and let it drip down the fabric this reminded me of some of the distressed wall photos i had taken, again i embellished with beads.

Final sample

This is my favourite sample, i used many different techniques and medias together, first i added ink to the bottom of the white fabric to add a more grungy edge. I also created my own lace using aquafull dissolvable fabric , using the irish machine , i also deconstructed vintage lace and constructed my own ruffles out of sheer fabrics, built them all up to create texture and added my metal embellishments and hanging beads.