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Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Day 3
I was painfully aware that this day would come, we had to start drawing!!! And not simply drawing anything but actual clothes!!! This is the part that I feared most (and the reason why I will most likely never be a world famous fashion designer...)
Although we would continue with the visual research, we moved on to focus on different elements of the dress we were about to make: details, colour, texture, shape.
Taking the images we had chosen we had to make them into clothes, nothing easier than that!!! I put enormous effort into trying to transform the images of winding dark stairs, hieroglyphs and shells into pieces that could be worn, and all this on a blank sheet of paper. Somewhere very far away in my mind I was beginning to become slightly more aware of the silhouettes, shapes, folds along the body and the way details curve when placed as different part of a dress. But that was very vague and still in my mind, very far away from the sheet of tracing paper in front of me...
Although we would continue with the visual research, we moved on to focus on different elements of the dress we were about to make: details, colour, texture, shape.
Taking the images we had chosen we had to make them into clothes, nothing easier than that!!! I put enormous effort into trying to transform the images of winding dark stairs, hieroglyphs and shells into pieces that could be worn, and all this on a blank sheet of paper. Somewhere very far away in my mind I was beginning to become slightly more aware of the silhouettes, shapes, folds along the body and the way details curve when placed as different part of a dress. But that was very vague and still in my mind, very far away from the sheet of tracing paper in front of me...
Day 2
We had access to the fantastic library collection of St. Martin's so I decided, for a change, to make good use of the resources available to me. I went there to get to know my way around the bookshelves and all the amazing collections of books. As I read through the beautiful books about fashion history I found out that Marie Antoinette had a Minister of Fashion (Rose Bertin) and that the first designer "couturierre" was Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishmen who moved to Paris and in the 1850s was the first to start putting labels with his name on the dresses he made. His studio was on 7, Rue de la Paix. I came accross an interesting definition by Poiret, who said that "the designer puts him/herself into everything she does". I am no more able of looking at the simples plastic bag without thinking about the person who put something of themselves by elongating the handles just this much longer or who made the print that went on it...
Class started and Ian said we are going down to the library and were going to spend the next hours on the second stage of our design process, putting together a "visual palette". This contains images, colours, textures, details that we associate with the theme we are working with. For this purpose, designers have these massive books for "visual stimulation" which contain anything from pictures of nature, art, sculpture, woodcarvings, photography, anything that helps you visualise what you connect with the theme. This is the first stage of fashion research and it continues throughout. At this stage it is important to NOT start with ready products (that is why we are not looking at fashion yet) in order to build a more abstract tone, which would make a more unique and inspiring fashion story. You should go through this process with as open mind as possible, keeping traits and images, not discarding anything at this stage because "it does not fit with the rest". We started taking pictures as well, to try and keep as much record of the work done, as it is very useful to be able to go back in the design process.
Class started and Ian said we are going down to the library and were going to spend the next hours on the second stage of our design process, putting together a "visual palette". This contains images, colours, textures, details that we associate with the theme we are working with. For this purpose, designers have these massive books for "visual stimulation" which contain anything from pictures of nature, art, sculpture, woodcarvings, photography, anything that helps you visualise what you connect with the theme. This is the first stage of fashion research and it continues throughout. At this stage it is important to NOT start with ready products (that is why we are not looking at fashion yet) in order to build a more abstract tone, which would make a more unique and inspiring fashion story. You should go through this process with as open mind as possible, keeping traits and images, not discarding anything at this stage because "it does not fit with the rest". We started taking pictures as well, to try and keep as much record of the work done, as it is very useful to be able to go back in the design process.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
DAY 1
I was late, as usual, so running up the stairs did not really get the chance to breathe in the creative air of St. Martin's...
On day 1 I met Ian, a designer and a tutor with the best of British sense of humour, lightheartedness and professionalism.
I also had to draw the person sitting opposite me on an A3 sheet. I had not drawn since 6th grade and that means I was not good even then... the task was to fill the sheet and focus on the details. Opposite me was a beautiful Chilean woman with thick eyebrows and voluptuous lips, wearing black and almost no jewelry I focused on her watch... I think I did not do such a bad job with the pencil but when we had to fill the back of the sheet with the same face but focusing on the shadows using black chalk it was a catastrophe ...
New words started to pile in quickly. I learned the difference between a sketchbook and a layout pad and that there are oil and chalk pastels, but the chalk ones are better... And I learned that fashion design starts with a story and that themes are central to the making of every collection.
It struck me that the beginning of a design creative process is strangely familiar to me. You start in front of a blank sheet, which is what you try to avoid at any cost. You then identify your theme and work from there, focusing on concepts, images, ideas and the threads that connect them. You break the concepts down and try to see what thoughts they provoke in you. The end result is way down the line which will be formed on the basis of the initial ideas, research, the different threads that emerge and disappear and all this broken through the prism of your own creativity. Almost the same as writing a paper...
On day 1 I met Ian, a designer and a tutor with the best of British sense of humour, lightheartedness and professionalism.
I also had to draw the person sitting opposite me on an A3 sheet. I had not drawn since 6th grade and that means I was not good even then... the task was to fill the sheet and focus on the details. Opposite me was a beautiful Chilean woman with thick eyebrows and voluptuous lips, wearing black and almost no jewelry I focused on her watch... I think I did not do such a bad job with the pencil but when we had to fill the back of the sheet with the same face but focusing on the shadows using black chalk it was a catastrophe ...
New words started to pile in quickly. I learned the difference between a sketchbook and a layout pad and that there are oil and chalk pastels, but the chalk ones are better... And I learned that fashion design starts with a story and that themes are central to the making of every collection.
It struck me that the beginning of a design creative process is strangely familiar to me. You start in front of a blank sheet, which is what you try to avoid at any cost. You then identify your theme and work from there, focusing on concepts, images, ideas and the threads that connect them. You break the concepts down and try to see what thoughts they provoke in you. The end result is way down the line which will be formed on the basis of the initial ideas, research, the different threads that emerge and disappear and all this broken through the prism of your own creativity. Almost the same as writing a paper...
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