About this book PERSONAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES It is my aspiration to challenge a narrow model of beauty and use Fashion as a platform for political and social debate. As the female world seems to approach the total unanimity of body hatred, this project aims to celebrate and encourage positive alternatives and the work of subversive art directors, fashion makers, stylists and magazine editors who are representing beauty in all its shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicities. It is implicit that broadening that current unattainable ideal of beauty has major cultural implications and dependencies but perhaps commercially viable alternatives and a shift in consumer culture might encourage a more radical change.
Fashioning reality: Ageless, anatomy of a dream.
MAINSTREAMING ADVANCED STYLE Can Fashion Media be a catalyst to promote more positive representations of Age? What is it like to age in an anti -aging culture? Is fashion having a senior moment? These and other questions are the subject of my visual exploration . My Sketches are simple drawings , splashes of colour, traced thoughts to capture a moment , an idea and frame a concept or an emotion, reflections on a journey towards a better understanding of Cultural Representations of Later Life and celebration of mature fashion icons.
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What’s in a sketch? My sketches are simple drawings that capture the essence of an idea or a stream of consciousness. They serve to catalogue my thoughts as I go through my design process. But first, let’s take a step back and consider the genesis or essence of the sketch. When we think of an idea, we can represent it in a few ways, much like when we communicate person to person. We communicate with others verbally, visually, and orally. Since designers come up with tangible solutions to design problems, our primary method of communication is visual. Sure, I could write an essay explaining, in very minute detail, every facet of an idea, but it would be even easier for me to explain it using a simple drawing or sketch of that idea. By Spencer Nugent
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“For me, drawing is an inquiry, a way of finding out — the first thing that I discover is that I do not know. This is alarming even to the point of momentary panic. Only experience reassures me that this encounter with my own ignorance — with the unknown — is my chosen and particular task, and provided I can make the required effort the rewards may reach the unimaginable. It is as though there is an eye at the end of my pencil, which tries, independently of my personal general-purpose eye, to penetrate a kind of obscuring veil or thickness. To break down this thickness, this deadening opacity, to elicit some particle of clarity or insight, is what I want to do.” Bridget Riley
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“I start every collection with one word,” Ms. Kawakubo says. “I can never remember where this one word came from. I never start a collection with some historical, social, cultural or any other concrete reference or memory. After I find the word, I then do not develop it in any logical way. I deliberately avoid any order to the thought process after finding the word and instead think about the opposite of the word, or something different to it, or behind it.” Rei kawakubo
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