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Garry Atkinson April 28th 2012 Final report of Independent Study: Arts of Fashion Competition 2012
Table of Contents Introduction Methods Phase One: Research and Inspiration Phase Two: Ideation and Sketching Phase Three: Concept Development Phase Four: Concept Refinement Phase Five: Final Direction Results Conclusions References
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Garry Atkinson April 28th 2012 Final report of Independent Study: Arts of Fashion Competition 2012
Introduction The purpose of this Independent Study was for me to effectively exercise my skills as a product designer and textile designer in a juried competition. In order to accomplish this, the following objectives were defined at the beginning of this study. Upon the completion of this study, I aimed to: 1. Improve my knowledge base of pattern making and garment construction, 2. Exercise my creative problem-solving skills, and 3. Exhibit sustainable design solutions that will further my skills as a product designer In order to accomplish these objectives, I chose a prestigious annual international fashion design competition called the Arts of Fashion (AOF) competition. The Arts of Fashion Competition’s mission is to “promote and reward creativity and inventiveness; discover emerging talent and facilitate careers; establish enriching contacts and exchanges between different countries, schools and universities; and to foster new relationships between those from different industries and fields” (Arts of fashion, 2011). The theme of this year’s Arts of Fashion Competition was “Transparency”. The competition takes place in two rounds: Round One is the design submission stage, in which participants students design a capstone collection of three ‘looks’ by April 1st for the preliminary process by a jury of fashion professors and a guest professional designer. The selected submissions are then chosen to advance to Round Two. Round Two is the construction stage, in which designers are prompted to construct 2 ‘looks’ or 2 accessories from their capstone collection.
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Methods The design process took place between January 2012 and March 2012 under the direction of the College of Textiles, North Carolina State University. At the beginning of this study, I worked with my Independent Study supervisor, Dr. Katherine Carroll to construct a timeline which I would use to complete the elements of my capstone collection for Round 1 submission. The timeline helped to manage my time and efforts effectively through the project. I met with Dr. Carroll once a week to communicate my design ideas, collaborate creatively, and design a plan of action to complete throughout the following week. For my collection, I design a collection of three men’s garments, as I have always men in interested in men’s apparel design. As a designer and researcher, one of my core goals is to design with a focus on sustainability, and this was also an inspiration in this collection. I explored the possibility of incorporating elements in the garments that could be reused, repaired or were multifunctional. Phase One: Research and Inspiration To begin the design process of this study, I first research designers and garments that exhibit the type of attributes and details that I wanted to create in my garments. I determined in this stage that I wanted to emulate the theme of transparency through my garments by the use of layering fabrics, use of visual effects, and incorporation of trompe l’oeil, ‘an effect that that gives an illusion of photographic reality’, in the garments (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009). In order to gain inspiration, I gathered reference images by researching online and browsing design literature. These images were later used in creating a Concept/Mood board (Figure 1) that represented the inspiration for my collection.
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Figure 1: Concept Board for Collection Strata
Phase Two: Ideation and Sketching After gathering the inspiration for my collection, I began to communicate my ideas visually by sketching. I determined that it would be best to start by visualizing the form of the garment and transition to the materials and prints further into the process. To help with designing for the male figure, I used croquis figures as a foundation for my sketches. In these initial sketches, shown in Figure 2 through 10, I illustrated the use of garment construction as method of creating a layered effect. The negative space of the garments is one way that I aimed to capture the theme of transparency in this initial ideation phase. These looks were inspired by the images seen in my research phase, including Egyptian dress and medieval dress.
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Figure 2: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 1, Atkinson, 2012
Figure 3: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 2, Atkinson, 2012
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Figure 4: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 3, Atkinson, 2012
Figure 5: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 4, Atkinson, 2012
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Figure 6: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 5, Atkinson, 2012
Figure 7: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 6, Atkinson, 2012
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Figure 8: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 7, Atkinson, 2012
Figure 9: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 8, Atkinson, 2012
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Figure 10: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 9, Atkinson, 2012
Phase Three: Concept Development In Phase Three, I generated more ideas about the concept of my collection. I determined that within the collection, each of the individual garments would represent a different wearer. This part of the design process was one which required a great deal of creative thinking. I wanted these garments to all be unique and relate specifically to the lifestyles of the wearers. In order to define these wearers, for which I was designing, I decided to create a fictional scenario in which these three different wearers. I conducted research on class systems within different cultures. From my research, I conceptualized a civilization called Strata, named for its layers, is divided into three classes. Collection Strata features three garments representing each of the
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different classes. The collection was composed of garments 1) traditional garment of the vagrant society, 2) traditional garment of the working class, and 3) traditional garment of royalty. Phase Four: Concept Refinement In Phase Four, I chose three ‘looks’ from my sketches that best fit the concept of collection Str. These collections, shown in Figure 11, were then adapted through additional sketching revisions.
Figure 11: Initial Sketches for Collection Strata: Page 10, Atkinson, 2012
Each garment was designed to best represent the wearer and be functional to fit their lifestyle. Additionally, these garments were designed to differ in levels of transparency. In this transparency concept, the higher the class of the wearer, the more transparent the construction was for the garment.
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● Garment 1, the vagrant garment, features a stealthy look, applicable for a wearer who has a nomadic lifestyle. The hooded, masked element in the garment functions as an urban camouflage and protection from weather elements. The multiple layers are useful for adapting to a dynamic habitat of the wearer. ● Garment 2, the working class garment, features a fully functional look, applicable for heavy duty tasks carried out by the worker. Featuring arm room for moving freely, and compartments for carrying items, this garment is lightweight but has sufficient protection for an active lifestyle. ● Garment 3, the royalty garment, features a gaudy look, befitting of the high society of Strata. This revealing garment is designed for a wearer leads a leisurely life. The luxurious garment is constructed for comfort and to exude a flashy feel.
Phase Five: Final Direction In Phase Five of the design process, I advance into presentation of my final concept, creating technical drawings, detailed illustrations, and swatches of the materials and fabrics used in the garment construction. My process is detailed in the following sections:
Technical Sketching Once the collective was finalized through sketches, the construction of the garments needed to be defined through technical sketches. Prior to this study, I was not experienced in technical sketches, which are used for technical specifications used for apparel production. Dr. Carroll supplied me with instructional reading materials to educate myself on this process. To learn the process of creating these technical line drawings, I sat in on a tutorial Product
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Development course taught by Dr. Carroll, in which students were taken through the technical sketch process step by step. After the educational preparations, I was able to convert my concept sketches to technical sketches. Material Selection Materials in their study were chosen based on comfort, functionality, and the cohesiveness of these elements within the theme of transparency. Materials were both chosen for Collection Strata by sourcing available fabrics at the College of Textiles, and by developing new fabrics through textile design and digital fabric printing. Sourcing A portion of the materials were sourced from fabrics that were provided by apparel lab’s resources in the College of Textiles. These fabrics included athletic fabrics useful for the functional parts in the garments. Another portion of the fabrics were leathers sourced from waste fabric from a local business. These leathers were of use in the construction for stability and strength of garments. Material Development Additionally, some fabrics were designed specifically for use in the garments. These textile designs were created using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, creating trompe l'oeil images that were inspired including light photography, Victorian architecture plans, and the interior of electronics and human anatomy, with a steampunk influence. These textile designs were then printed on cotton sateen using a digital fabric printer, which uses nanopigment inks for printing the design. Example of these fabric designs are shown in Figure 12 and 13.
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Figure 12: Fabric Design used in Collection Strata
Figure 13: Fabric Design used in Collection Strata
Rendering To complete the presentation of Collection Strata as a capstone collection, the final garment designs were rendered in illustrations. To create these images, I used a combination of pen drawing and digital painting, and digital rendering using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. These renderings incorporated the final color selections, material selections, garment designs, and a hand drawn background image which represented the conceptual environment of the wearers. Swatching To represent the materials used in the garments, I designed and developed a material swatch board which featured swatches of each of the fabrics applied in the garments. These garments were applied to the presentation board in a method that allowed the viewer to clearly see, touch and feel the knit, woven, and leather materials used.
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Results As a final step in this design submission stage of Round 1, I presented the elements of my collection. These submission items included the following items, which are discussed in detail in the Results section: ● Mood Board (Please see Phase One and Figure 1 on p.3) ● Written Concept of Collection Strata (Please see Figure 14) ● Illustration of the Plan of Collection Strata (Please see Figure 15) ● Illustration of Garment 1 (Please see Figure 16) ● Technical Design of Garment 1 (Please see Figure 17) ● Illustration of Garment 2 (Please see Figure 18) ● Technical Design of Garment 2 (Please see Figure 19) ● Illustration of Garment 3 (Please see Figure 20) ● Technical Design of Garment 3 (Please see Figure 21) ● Fabric and Materials Swatches (Please see Figure 22)
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Figure 14: Written Concept of Collection Strata
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Figure 15: Illustration of the Plan of Collection Strata
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Figure 16: Illustration of Garment 1
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Figure 17: Technical Drawing of Garment 1
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Figure 18: Illustration of Garment 2
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Figure 19: Technical Drawing of Garment 2
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Figure 20: Illustration of Garment 3
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Figure 21: Technical Drawing of Garment 3
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Figure 22: Fabric and Materials Swatches
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Conclusions The objectives of my completion of this Independent Study were to: 1.
Improve my knowledge base of pattern making and garment construction,
2. Exercise my creative problem-solving skills, and 3. Exhibit sustainable design solutions that will further my skills as a product designer Overall this Independent Study was successful in achieving these objectives. After submitting my entry to the Arts of Fashion competition, I was very pleased with the knowledge I gained in this project, and the way that I applied this knowledge. The skills that I learned and used were specifically geared towards the fashion design process, including materials selection, textile design, gathering reference images that are effective in facilitating my design process, and effective presentation of my design concepts. My entry was not successful in being picked to advance to Round Two, the garment construction stage, which limited my progress in this competition. However, I learned a great deal about the integral steps that are needed to take my design from the sketching stage to the construction stage. I was overall pleased with my performance in the competition and I can see myself constructing the garments for my portfolio with the proper guidance as my knowledge in pattern making and garment construction grows with experience. In my design process, I was able to effectively exercise my creative problem-solving skills. In developing the concept of my collection, I was able to create an interesting scenario for the wearer that related closely to the garments I designed. I was able to design garments that were functional for the wearer, based on his lifestyle. In creating the garments, I was able to create fabric designs that accomplish the trompe l’oeil designs that I set out to create.
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To accomplish my goal of exhibiting sustainable design solutions, I was able to create garments that have the potential to be multifunctional for the user, adaptable to weather, for comfort, and for an unpredictable, active, and leisurely lifestyles. I was able to use materials in my sourcing process that were available in my local community of the College of Textiles and from waste from a local company. This reduced my waste generated for this project, cut down on costs, and kept my environmental impact low for this project. In this project, I think that I could have improved my design by incorporating more practically transparent elements in my collection to push the theme of transparency further to improve my chances of advancing.
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References 1. Arts of fashion. (2011). Arts of fashion competition 2012 - "transparency". Retrieved from http://www.arts-offashion.org/AoFCompetition/2012/pages/AoFCompetition2012.html 2. Houghton Mifflin Company. (2009). The american heritage dictionary of the english language. (4 ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/trompe l'oeil