spirits by J a m i e Wo o n
costume design by
Auguste Greiciute Edinburgh College of Art, 2017
hello! Jamie Woon’s song Spirits (2008) is an invitation to break
out from the timetables and routines that we live in, and to connect with the nature and with ourselves from time to time.
Although the song has already got a music video made for it, I have created my personal interpretation of the lyrics - a short story about a woman and a man who meet their childhood spirits and re-connect with them one night in Edinburgh.
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contents Jamie Woon - Spirits (lyrics) Who is Jamie Woon? Synopsis & Story board Mood board & The Concept Research & Development
Magritte and knitting
Inspiration: Fashion
Inspiration: African masks
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Jacket Distortion
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Colour Balance & Character Interconnections
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Finalised designs:
The Man and his spirits
The Man Fantasy
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Wanderlust
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The Woman and her spirits
The Woman Merriment
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Vision
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Finalised costume - Vision
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spirits contents
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Let your heart go where the wind takes it Pure like the raindrops of time Follow the path where it takes you Straight down the line Ladies and gentlemen Surely we’re here in mind Watching our spirits dance On the backs of our lives How can one sit back and dream it I’d have no peace in my life Climbing these walls in an hourglass Prized in our strife And I have seen worlds filled with wonder Lost on my own lonely mile Lessons I wish that I had mirrored Time after time Ladies and gentlemen Surely we’re here in mind Watching our spirits dance On the backs of our lives While we have oceans Rivers that still bring us life Reasons to dance in the moment Hold onto your time Come fill up your souls with our blessings Hold up your hands to the sky Let the whole world know you’re out there High in our highs Ladies and gentlemen Surely we’re here in mind Watching our spirits dance On the backs of our lives
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spirits by Jamie Woon
While we have oceans Rivers that still bring us life Reasons to live in the moment Hold onto your time
who is
Jamie Woon?
Jamie Woon (born 29 March 1983) is
a British singer, songwriter and producer who gained widespread acclaim in 2010 for his single, “Night Air”, which was co-produced by Burial, following his previous independent release, “Wayfaring Stranger”. Woon’s sound and style is described as soul inflected vocals backed by samplers and programming, or a single guitar track.
information from: jamiewoon.com en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Woon
spirits Jamie Woon
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spirits by Jamie Woon:
story board
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continued in the foldout pages
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synopsis A bored man in a dull office suddenly stands up and climbs out of the window. We then see him walking straight into the water at the Portobello beach. The shot jumps and now we see a woman standing in front of the Arthur’s Seat. She starts hastily climbing the mountain as if she was running from something. It starts raining, she slips and we can no longer see her in the shot. We come back to Portobello where the man walks out of the water followed by the two spirits from his past – wanderlust and fantasy. Now the man is dressed differently, as if he has just washed off all of the troubles that he was carrying on his shoulders. He looks more childish. The view jumps back to the Arthur’s Seat where the woman is helped to stand up on her feet by two spirits – merriment and vision. It has stopped raining and the woman is also wearing a different costume. It’s night. The man and the woman meet at the St Anthony’s chapel where they stand watching their spirits dance by the bonfire. Then we see all of them sitting on the edge of the Salibury Crags, watching Edinburgh waking up for another busy day. They are here in Edinburgh, but at the same time they watch the city from above.
spirits
synopsis
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(fold out pages)
(fold out pages)
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the concept The main inspiration was drawn from Rene Magritte’s paintings Golconda, The Presence of Mind, and The Art of Living. While Golconda and The Art of Living have inspired the colour palette, the Presence of Mind inspired the elements of nature to which I connected the two main characters. The Fish represents the Man as he goes to the Portobello beach and the Bird represents
the Woman as she climbs the Arthur’s Seat to get closer to the sky.
The knitted textures in this project represent coming back to the roots, childhood, warmth and simplicity, while the Magritte – like suits represent the grey monotony and routine. Therefore, as the story begins there are only a few knitted details used for the main character costumes in order to set them apart from the grey crowd. However, as the story develops the knit overtakes the costumes and distorts the silhouettes of the suits.
As the costume design for music videos are normally oriented in the current fashion trends, my designs were also strongly influenced by it. The costumes were designed with environmental sustainability in mind – the machine knitting technique allowed forming the yarn into the pattern shapes that were needed, which helped to avoid any additional offcuts and waste. While the distorted suit parts of the costumes are designed to be made using suit jackets that are second hand.
spirits the concept
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distorted reality:
Magritte and knitting Rene Magritte (1898 - 1967) was a Belgian Surrealist painter. The re-occuring theme in his works - a “ready-made-citizen” in a surrealistic context, really suited the story of the music video - two common people suddenly meet their childhood “spirits” in the forms knitted mascots.
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Just like the orange circle head in “The Art of Living”, knitted texture intervenes the reality by distorting the suits. Similarly like in yarn bombing, the knit reclaims the sterile and cold reality and brings the playfullness back into it.
spirits Magritte and knitting
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Sketches from the Textile View magazine No 115. Auguste Greiciute
inspiration:
fashion costumes in the music videos tend to reflect and accentuate the latest fashion Therefore, various trends. details such as transparent panels, blown up shapes, distorted classical silhouettes and flared panels were drawn Usually
the
from the latest fashion collections as an inspiration for my designs.
spirits inspiration: Fashion
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inspiration:
African masks The lyrics of the “Spirits” song say: “And we watch our spirits dancing/ on the backs of our lives”. I wanted to present spirits as the symbols of freedom and when it came to thinking about how their faces should look, I naturally looked into the African masks. Usually used as a part of various rituals they are associated with ceremonial dances.
spirits inspiration: African masks
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continued in the foldout pages
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jacket distortion:
collage and sketches
One of the techniques used to develop the silhouettes of the “spirits� was collage. Arranging panels of a suit jacket pictures of various sizes allowed me to find silhouettes that would distort
human body and yet be suitable for people to wear. The sketched parts of the collages symblise the knitted panels of the costumes.
spirits jacket distortion
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jacket distortion:
draping second hand suit jackets The costumes were designed to be made re-using second hand suit jackets. To see what silhouettes can be achieved using the panels of those jackets, I draped their cut-up pieces on a full scale mannequin. making my finalised costume I have combined the silhouette developed using the collage technique with one developed draping the jackets on a mannequin. To make my When
final design I used the same
jackets used for the development.
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spirits jacket distortion
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final illustrations:
colour balance and character interconnections I have arranged the colour palette to clearly reflect the
connections between the two main characters and their “spirits”. The subtle knitted details used
in the man and the woman’s costumes later on repeat in their “spirits’” outfits. However, their transformed costumes are also inspird by the “spirits” that they meet to emphasize the influence that they have on them. Therefore, the finalised character designs will be presented in two groups: the man, in his work and in his transformed costume, Wanderlust and Fantasy, and the woman, in her work and in her transformed costume, Merriment and Vision.
spirits colour balance and character interconnectionss
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final illustrations:
the man and his spirits
The dominating colour in the man’s group is orange. The triangular scarf hem detail and a diagonal hold pattern on the man’s sweater expands and overtakes his costume after the transformation, as well as the spirits’ costumes.
The spirits are inspired by the marine theme patterns on the underwater creatures, early sea explorers and star navigation. These details reflect back on the man’s costume ater the transformation.
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spirits’ inspiration in the foldout pages
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spirits final illustrations: the man and his spirits
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(fold out pages)
(fold out pages)
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textile samples suit fabric
diagonal hold knit (cotton snd wool)
triangular hem (cotton)
spirits final illustrations: the man
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spirits final illustrations: wanderlust
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final illustrations:
the woman and her spirits The dominating colours in the woman’s group are off-white and blue. The transparent stripes and french knots seem to expand and repeat on the “spirits”. The
outfits
of
the
spirits
were
inspired by the mountains and birds. Therefore, the light yarn tasles
and the repeating semi-transparent frills represent the wings and the feathers.
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spirits final illustrations: the woman and her spirits
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textile samples suit fabric
frills knitted into base (cotton + nylon)
striped knit (cotton + nylon)
spirits final illustrations: the woman
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spirits final illustrations: vision
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finalised costume:
Vision
Model: Torya Winters
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Photography: Laurence Winram Auguste Greiciute
spirits finalised costume: vision
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spirits finalised costume: vision
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