AMBER JACKSON design philosophy
what pieces of work best define me...?
Recurring themes
“Granny Crafts” There is a long, long story about why I like to hand knit, crochet, embroider and occasionally quilt. I feel that when you’ve taken so long to create something by hand, a knitted jumper for instance, it holds something special. Blood, sweat, tears and the occasional swear word makes them more interesting to me than a machine knitted piece (don’t get me started on knitting machines...they are the devil’s work!). I am mostly interested in crochet at the moment.
Big silhouettes with a sucked in waist. I love big clothing be it coats, shirt or jumpers. However I also like the female waist. When I design I usually have oversized shirts but when they’re part of a line up they’re tucked in. I just like how that looks.
1950s America as shown through illustrations, political propoganda, films (not necessarily made in te 50s) and celebrity. I am currently obsessed with 1950’s America. I’m not sure when it started, but it has and I am really enjoying it. Although I’m interested in factual information about the era, I find the “rose-tinted” version much more inspiring. For one example, the beautiful illustrations that I associate with the era show a “perfect” life. Everyone is smiling and its always sunny whcih is certainly not an accurate reflection of any era, not just the 1950s.
The 1950’s saw a huge boom in the interest in celebrities. There was created personas (think Marilyn Monroe) and scandal (Rock Hudson’s sexuality). These cover-ups really interest me. I do love a bit of gossip, even if it from decades ago! There is so much involved in these topics that I haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet! I think this theme in my work is here to stay for quite a while.
Conspiracy Theories There have always been conspiracy theories.Some make sense and end up being proved true. Just look at Edward Snowdon leaking the information about the American government spying on pretty much EVERYONE. I’m definately interested in the theories that make sense, but for my creative work I’m more interested in the theories that are just a bit... far fetched. In my opinion, of course. They make sense to some people. There are so many to name, but I’m currently quite interested in the Roswel UFOs, aliens and “tin-foil hat” people. I’m definately interested in cover-ups and scandals too, so that may pop up from time to time.
Aliens I’d like to firstly point out that I do not believe in aliens. I think they’re great in entertainment however. I’m not a massive sci-fi fan but I do enjoy the odd film now and then. Especially if it has songs to go with it. One alien subject I’m interested in is the Roswell UFOs and how that could be part of a narrative. There is a lot of information on the subject so there is so much that I can get from it. I like how the supposedly real photos show the aliens as you’d expect an alien to look. Slimey, bug eyed, sknny, big headed creatures. But what about alien’s that are disguised? That is something that I think will become part of my current projects because it seems so exciting to me.
historical lingerie A little fact about me; I originally applied to do costume design. But that fell through, so I took a year to do a foundation and decided that I wanted to go back to my first love of fashion. I’m still massively interestedin historial garments though, but in particular historical undergarments. They’re so pretty. But also a bit yuck because of...well, they’re for your...parts. But SO pretty. We all know that corsets throughout history have been very, very tight on the body. So much so that they often caused problems within the body. So, we have the tight corsets, and sometimes the tight girdle too, but then we have bloomers! Massive pants! And underskirts! We have the mix of tight, form fitting (or form changing) and big skirts. Aside from the silhouette, the garments often have very interesting design details that I usually look at in my work but I would now like to incorporate them in the designing stage.
moving forward, leaving behind Every project leaves me with things I want to keep and things that I never, ever want to even think of again. From the last three fashion projects seem to have similar things on the “keep list”. Use more narrative - I didn’t do very well with the narrative in the previous project but I still enjoyed that part. It is something that will keep the designs focused so I will be using narratives again. Crochet - I touched on it in the first year, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Since then I have found new techniques and ideas that aren’t like most crochet fashions that pop up on the catwalk now and then. It is not bo-ho. It is not grannyesque. It is fun. Print - Print is my best friend. I just need to look after it better. I need to really get into it and just do it! I have a lot of ideas but I haven’t got them down on the paper (or fabric in this case).
Embroidery - I would like to have embroidery as a part of my work. Once again, I just need to do it and show my ideas that I do have, but that are pointless unless I can show them to people. Created fabrics - I like being able to make a fabric. I can’t always get down to London fr the nice fabric, and there is limited sources in Manchester. By creating my own it will make the work more personal and much more rewarding. Big Shapes - Big coats. Big jumpers. Big shirts. Big sleeves. Big. If I wouldn’t wear it, then I won’t design it - I know what makes me comfortable so I wouldn’t design something that’s too tight or too revealing. I certainly don’t have the best style by a long shot, but it is mine and it will help me have a design aesthetic that no one else will have.
And these are the things that I never want to ever use again; Menswear - I. Just. Can’t. Do. It. I’ll leave it to those who can. I’ll stick to pretty dresses and flowers, thank you very much. Neatness - I’m not going to make my sketchbook perfectly neat. If I’m too scared to put an image down then I won’t get anything amazing done. I will do a sketchbook in the way that I want, in the size that I want. I will then make nice sheets when I have a good idea. Darkness - In the colour sense and the theme sense. I can’t be dealing with sad themes. I can’t be dealing with dull, dark or earthy colours. I like colour. Machine Knitting - Once again, leave it to those who can. I can do it by hand, but those machines are not for me!