Louise Skehan H00108995 Fashion 3 Commercial Portfolio
Once Upon ATime...
An Taobh Eile An Taobh Eile:- Translation from Irish meaning The Otherside The womenswear collection An Taobh Eile aims to combine elements from both urban and luxe style to create a one off and unique high-end collection, for Spring/Summer 17. The collection should encapsulate a youthful urban look while also maintaining a luxurious and high-end feel. Fabric choices should be carefully considered as well as garment finishes and fabric manipulation, keeping the market place in mind while meeting these standards. Inspiration for An Taobh Eile comes from a number of different places. As a starting point students were asked to gather a collection of inspirational images visiting art and fashion exhibitions and galleries and to creatively explore these images. The Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2015 and Another Minimalism - Art After California Light and Space in the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh were visited. Retrospective by Maree Hensey at the RSA exhibition was a particularly inspiring piece. Retrospective is made with glass containers filled with metal objects, burnt paper and ashes. This piece conjured questions full of mystery. Why were these objects put here? Who put them there? What do they represent? This piece provoked thoughts of Alice in Wonderland and the mysterious bottles filled with potions, such as the iconic bottle labelled ‘drink me.’ Though Retrospective had quite a dark energy compared to the positive and upbeat world usually seen in fairytales so a more gothic Alice in Wonderland like the Brothers Grimm version was explored. This in turn inspired a gothic fairytale concept, combining the fun and mystery of fairytales with a darker gothic influence. It also inspired an underlying theme of mental illness and things not being as they seem. The other side of the story. An individual might look fine but beneath the surface they are suffering deeply from an ‘invisible’ illness. This also links in to the psychedelic nature of Alice in Wonderland as some individuals may turn to alternative coping methods such as drugs to escape the harsh reality of life and into a world of illusions. A visit to the Holland & Sherry mill in Peebles also forms an influencing factor on this collection. Looking at things such as manufacturing method, types of fabric Holland & Sherry produce, the high quality, colours, etc. Rather than using basic Holland & Sherry fabrics, new ways, using fabric manipulation techniques will be explored to represent Holland & Sherry’s fabric, reinventing and remastering their fabric. Fashion of the 80’s was also briefly explored to help round up the collection. Looking through the Universities Vogue archives shapes and silhouettes from this fun decade influenced the final line-up of An Taobh Eile and also fit in well with the urban theme, garments such as bomber jackets encapsulate both urban style and vintage 80’s.
An Taobh Eile
In all Darkness there is light, In all beauty there is ugliness, In all happiness there is sadness, Every rose has thorns...