Figure 1
My journey starts from my visits to Tate Modern and Tate Britain. Research helped me a lot to look around and play with my ideas to help develop a great concept. At Tate Modern I found myself looking at Jacobean era paintings and comical drawings of. I feel like these artworks have something in common even though they are very different. These findings gave me a different feel and various ideas for my future project. I wanted to take key elements out and expand them. The most intriguing elements were part of collars called ruff. Also, I really liked geometric shape and repetitive pattern on a drawing. Most designers take their inspiration from the past. That’s why I feel this is a good idea to investigate Jacobean era paintings and take inspiration from the key elements or details in order to achieve something completely new and very different.
I wanted to put a poem or a quote from someone about black but did not find the right one. To my surprise black colour associates to everyone as sadness, loneliness, death, fear, danger. I believe that black is the colour of power, strong mentality and elegance. I believe I can show the depth and design even through the darkest tone of the palette. Black is the colour for this collection. I could not think of any better colour than black to accomplish the feel and theme of my collection. Shiny and pale blacks will give the right look to the details. Black is a colour which does not become tedious. The fight between matt and shiny creates a bold statement and therefore modernises the urban feel. This colour selection ties in with the research on Jacobean era paintings and portraits with its dominant use of black.
Figure 2
I realise the importance of understanding the market that I am looking to target which is high end and specifically for a young urban consumer. My main inspiration for the silhouette and details would be first of all from young and trendy people who like to express themselves through their personal taste and style.
Figure 3
Most importantly I would need to consider strong and 3D silhouettes, textile manipulation and details for a young contemporary high end market.
Figure 4
Figure 5
After evaluating my paper samples I noticed that one of my samples can be used as a transformable feature of the garment that could be easily converted from flat 2D to 3D. I believe by using captivating patterns and various textures in details you can create interesting volume and shape to transform dramatically parts of your garments.
The first thing that came to my mind is Japanese Origami techniques which include folding paper into decorative shapes and figures to a 3D object. As an idea I have done some paper origami samples and coloured them in my main colour which is Black. I feel that I finally found my main theme and concept that I want to develop and take further.
Figure 6
Nowadays it is not a surprise that many designers are inspired by structural forms and geometric shapes. Overall, I can describe this trend as an origami. The idea of fabric manipulation inspired by origami came to me when I was working on my paper samples. I decided to work towards this concept which will be focusing on geometric patterns that are able to transform from 2D to 3D.
Figure 7
Junya Watanabe and Issey Miyake compliment the mood for this season. A lot of inspiration was taken from their previous collections inspired by 3D shapes and fabric manipulation techniques. I appreciate the time and efforts that were put into realisation of the collections. I really enjoy this process and my theme. I want to aim for higher and greater results as well as to push my boundaries to the maximum. That is why I am really passionate for this project particularly because it will teach me a lot for future.
Figure 8
Figure 9
My first moodboard came from my inspiration of the Jacobean era fashion as well as my initial research. Apart from these obvious things I wanted to show my high interest in geometry and the 3D feel it gives to a garment. These images already gave me a lot of inspiration for my future work and designing process. I am going to use my moodboards when designing and sampling.
My workshops at university helped me a lot to come up with my final silhouette and detailing ideas. I made this moodboard to show the connection between 3D shapes and exaggerated details. For my collection Honeycomb smocking is introduced in this season as an innovative fabric manipulation technique that will transform your garment into dramatic 3D shapes, giving the outfit a unique texture and dimension. In order to achieve the right texture and shape, thick satin fabric will be used to create structure and volume to the garments. Raw edges without finishing on the details will add an urban touch to it.
Figure 10
Collection “from 2D to 3D� is for those who are not afraid to stand out from the crowd and be strikingly different. The silhouette for the capsule collection was influenced by the natural shape of the honeycomb smocking as well as my inspiration taken from street style clothing, which I showed partly in this collage. Luxury sports wear had a huge influence on me when I was researching urban style clothing. Especially focusing on the fabrics used such as nylon, which is flexible and able to transform with movement. On the other hand neoprene has a very rigid structure which keeps the shapes stiff and creates volume. I took all of this into consideration when creating a wide range of clothing for the young and urban style customer.
Based on my theme and further research I started sampling and experimenting with various fabric manipulations. Most of all, I like the honeycomb smocking technique. I really like the texture and voluminous that it gives to the fabric. It dramatically transforms a flat piece of fabric into an artwork. I really like this idea of creating beautiful and unusual textile texture by using simple fabrics like cotton or satin. My sampling method will give the future outfit a luxury but at same time very contemporary look. I am planning to work on different scale, firstly making pattern in paper and then look how it will look on the mannequin. I hope this will give me interesting and creative design ideas, besides really obvious and boring ones.
Figure 11
At this point I feel that sampling and testing will be the only choice to get an idea how this sample could look like on the body. I really like the upcoming silhouette already and I feel that it reflects my theme on objects going from to 2D to 3D. I can see this detail as a part of garment, which could dramatically transform it into luxury and unique looking piece. The collection I am designing definitely will be for those who are not afraid to be a centre of attention.
Figure 12
At this particular stage I think it is very hard to actually start designing clothes and make thousands of variations of garments. It is hard for me, as I am still not sure how to position it on a garment and where exactly, also the scale and size of the pleats. Furthermore it is difficult to calculate how many meters I need only for the honeycomb pleating.
Figure 13
In order to help myself to get an idea of the size and the silhouette of the fabric sample that I am going to make first I spend time on my pattern for it. I started from a bigger scale from which I will start to do smaller ones later. The pattern itself was very tricky as I had to calculate how wide each honeycomb should be. In my case it is 7.5cm I came up with this number by making few calculations. The whole piece was 122cm wide and 154.5cm long with 1 S.A. all the way across. 120/15=8, so on a pattern each honeycomb will be 15cm. 15/2=7.5, which means that I have to show a connection within the pleats after every 7.5cm.
After finalising my quick design developments, I found one garment most appealing out of all of them. As a first outfit I wanted to make an oversized coat with very long sleeves with slit detail. To give this coat an urban feel, I will stitch my 3D honeycomb sample all the way down near the opening. It will create volume and a floating silhouette which I quite like. For the second garment on this outfit I will make a relaxed fit jersey dress with a pleated weave pattern on the waist band which will be separate from the dress. This design feature will transform an oversized sporty dress into luxury garment. In this outfit I want to achieve casual but at the same time very contemporary and urban look where the most appealing thing would be the 3D details. The coat would be definitely a heart and soul of the whole collection.
Figure 14
The garment construction of the coat took quite a while, the most time consuming bit was the pattern. My idea was to have coat without a separate collar piece. I was creating my own pattern by working straight on the mannequin and tracing this shape after onto my pattern. I am trying to enjoy this process and to remember everything that I have done so that I can easily repeat it in my chosen fabrics. My toile also helps me to choose a second garment for the outfit. I can definitely say that toiling is always useful. Figure 15
Garment construction for the second garment was easier in way that the pattern itself was not complicated but I still needed to make some changes when I was toiling. I like the tunnel detail with string on the neckline. I need to think carefully about the actual fabric for it, because a very heavy and stiff fabric won’t give me the right look that I want. That is why I am not 100% happy with my toile. But I know that if I will find the right fabrics I will make it work.
Figure 16
My first toiles were ready within two weeks. I am very pleased with the shape of the coat and I am really happy that I managed to get the pattern right. As a big piece of 3D sample take a lot of time to produce I only managed to do half scale. But I am planning to use this sample all the way down the coat.
Figure 17
The dress itself does not give the right look. First of all, because of the main colour distraction of the dress, this should be black, not green. Secondly, the gathering details that were my initial idea was decided not to be used as I did not like the aesthetic look of it. It makes my garment look a bit bulky which I really do not like. I was really trying hard to get the pattern from my initial fine line drawing. Overall, I like the upcoming shape and silhouette. I will take all the concerns and fails into considerations, to make my garments better in my purposed fabrics.
The manufacturing process for the coat was very smooth. I really enjoyed working with my chosen fabric. The only one tricky moment was because of the thickness of this fabric it is extremely hard to iron it but apart from that it is perfect for a winter jacket.
Figure 18
The process of making a dress was very smooth as I really enjoyed working with my chosen fabric which was a blend of nylon and jersey. It was so much easier to make my final garment than my toile that was made in jersey fabric which I was really straggling to sew on the machine.
Figure 19
Figure 20
The belt for the dress was a complete failure when I tried to do it in PVC leather using my domestic sewing machine. Despite these awful distorted stitch lines, it didn’t look right and the way I wanted it to look like. After finalising my outcome with my tutor we decided to experiment on the construction in order to achieve similar results. After cutting individual strips of leather it actually looked great and I was very pleased with results.
Figure 21
Because of the interesting honey comb shape on my sample that will transform from 2d to 3D, I had to do some decorative garment fastenings shop research.
After spending some time to evaluate my findings, I decided to use more unusual fastener which is a big safety pins. I believe that these household things can give my garment the right industrial look I was aiming for.
Figure 22
Figure 23
For the second outfit I wanted to integrate my 3D sample into the sweatshirt making it very dimensional. The pattern for the sweatshirt has some similarities with coat. It has same sleeves with the slit cut. Also, I am going to make sweatpants that will fully reflect my interest in urban clothing. The pants will be high waisted with a “tuck&fold� band detail. I really wanted to achieve a luxury look for young and fashion conscious people that will be both comfortable and look cool. The chosen fabrics were decided to be a representative of the urban luxury wear.
The manufacturing process was similar to my previous outfit. The honey comb pleat on the sweatshirt was the most difficult to prepare but because I already had done a lot of samples it turned out to be straightforward. I had to calculate the amount of fabric needed for the pleat by multiplying 16x4=64 and then divide it by the number of rows.
Figure 24
Figure 25
When I was preparing pattern for the pants I wanted to achieve a slightly loose shape with the skinny leg at the bottom. The waist band was calculated by multiplying the waist measurements on the size of each row. The sewing process was very difficult but the final outcome was worth it. Two chosen fabrics work very well together even though there were some difficulties with the attachment of the waist belt.
Figure 26
This final project for me was very exciting and at the same time very challenging. I tried hard to push my boundaries to the maximum in order to break the emotional wall that was always distracting me from being creative, innovative and original. The whole concept was to show how fabric and textile manipulation can transform the garments dramatically. I was working a lot on sampling from the beginning to find something intriguing and thrilling to work with. The honeycomb pleating works perfectly with the idea of expanding and exaggerating shapes, making them 3D. I put a lot of effort and time into realisation of this 3D project. There were countless time consuming sampling jobs that were put into every piece from my collection. Every sample was carefully calculated and made to perfection. I believe that I have done a great job in manoeuvring both the technical aspect of making the garments to the high end market and showing my ideas through digital platforms. I feel so proud of myself first of all because I have done it all and my sewing skills improved dramatically from the beginning of the course. This project taught me a lot and I will use this knowledge in the future.
Figure 27
Websites: https://uk.pinterest.com https://www.wgsn.com/en/ http://www.vogue.com/ www.style.com/ www.doverstreetmarket.com/ www.tate.org.uk/ https://mypatchwork.wordpress.com www.sew4home.com
Imagery: Fig.1 – author’s own digital work, created using Photoshop (18/01/16) Fig.2 – author’s own digital work, created using Photoshop (1/02/16) Fig.3 – urban street style, at: http://www.phoenixmag.co.uk/ (Accessed on 2/02/16) Fig.4 – urban street style, at: http://www.phoenixmag.co.uk (Accessed on 2/02/16) Fig.5 – author’s own pictures, paper sampling (21/01/16) Fig.6 – author’s own pictures, origami (25/01/16) Fig.7 – Issey Miyake SS2015, collage created using Photoshop (1/02/16) Fig.8 – Yuki Hagino SS2013, at: https://uk.pinterest.com, (Accessed on 1/02/16) Fig.9 – author’s own digital work, created using Photoshop (1/02/16) Fig.10 – author’s own digital work, created using Photoshop (1/02/16) Fig.11 – author’s own pictures, fabric manipulations (28/01/16) Fig.12 – author’s own pictures, fabric manipulations (28/01/16) Fig.13 – author’s own pictures, pleat pattern (28/01/16)
Fig.14 – author’s own digital work in Photoshop (1/02/16) Fig.15 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (11/02/16) Fig.16 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (19/02/16) Fig.17 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (19/02/16) Fig.18 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (04/03/16) Fig.19 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (10/03/16) Fig.20 –– author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (18/03/16) Fig.21 – garment fastenings, At: https://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk (Accessed on 07/03/16) Fig.22 – author’s own pictures (18/03/16) Fig.23 – author’s own digital work, created using Illustrator and Photoshop (01/03/16) Fig.24 – author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (11/04/16) Fig.25 – author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (11/04/16) Fig.26 – author’s own pictures, methods of manufacture (14/04/16) Fig.27 – author’s own picture, behind the photoshoot scene (21/04/16)