Process Analysis Document

Process Analysis Document (P.A.D.) Manuela Soliz Capsule Collection (E19CA/CB) Square Whole Year 3 BA Fashion Heriot-Watt University

OVERVIEW Even before the concept of this project was ‘born’ I was drawn towards the whole idea of the surrealist movement, how we can free ourselves from logistics and see things in an abstract, surreal and unconscious way, unlocking the power of our imagination.

Once the brief was introduced I started to build my ideas and tried to relate them with the objective of the course but at the same time I stayed with an open mind to start my research and see what else could come along.

The main focus of the Capsule Fashion Collection 1 & 2 (E19CA and E19CB) project was to combine luxury fabrics with a sense of urban wear to produce a contemporary capsule collection that could display our own way of thinking as fashion designers.

Fig.1 Author’s illustration

RESEARCH I started my research during the first weeks of January 2016. My plan was to go to see as many places as I could before deciding the final concept for this project.

I went to different places, such as the Saatchi Gallery, the Courtlaud Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Mwwuseum, Tate Modern and some smaller galleries.

Fig. 2 Photos from the Museum visits

I had my mind open to get influences and be inspired in all of these places, but an exhibition at Tate Modern gave me the final concept and the added a major impulse to my work.

I first saw this image of one of Pablo Picasso’s paintings, The Weeping Woman. In his particular painting, the painter refers to the effects of the Spanish Civil War in a singular image of a woman suffering. This painting made me think about the idea of looking at something and seeing beyond what it is.

Fig.3 The Wipping Woman by Pablo Picasso

But it was with a Phyllida Barlow sculpture that I finally got the trigger for this project. The untitled:upturnedhouse 2 is a sculpture made of painted wood panels that are built up to form an irregular structure. The house exists in abstract form, it is a familiar object which has been distanced from its practical function. The materials used are also deceptive, the elements that support the structure appear to be concrete but they are in fact wood covered in cement.

The irregular and unbalanced way that the piece of art is displayed is also something that caught my attention. The sculpture looks like it is about to collapse at any minute.

Fig.4 Untitled:Upturnedhouse 2 by Phyllida Barlow

Fig 5. Author’s illustration

CONCEPT After doing research in museums and art galleries as well as ideas generating from other sources including the internet and stores, I finally had a starting point for my concept.

The sculpture of Phyllida Barlow gave me shapes and the idea to begin my designs. The unbalanced and irregular forms, mixed with the abstract concept behind this piece of art, were enough for me to start my brainstorm.

I started looking into square shapes and distorted images. I searched for images that connected the idea of illusion and non-uniform objects, and how I could translate this into a garment. This is how I came up with the name of my project ‘Square Whole’.

Fig.6 Project Moodboard

INFLUENCES As a designer you have to let yourself be inspired by everything. Whatever is around you has to trigger your mind to think outside the box and let even simple things help you to build an idea Besides the sculpture from Phyllida Barlow and the surrealist idea, architectural elements and different objects were a few of the aspects that helped me build this collection.

Fig.7 Author’s inspiration board

Another great influence for this project was the 1990s. Music always had a great impact in my life and as a child born in the 80s, I was a teenager during the 90s when the grunge scene was making an impact on the world. I remember that in that time Nirvana was my favorite band, while Winona Ryder and Kate Moss were my idols. Pleated skirts, flannel shirts, bomber jackets and band t-shirts were part of my wardrobe.

But we are far from the 90s now, even if it’s cool nowadays to watch ‘Clueless’ and have Dr. Martens. We all want a contemporary and modern twist, rather than simply going back to our mum’s attic and grabbing our old clothes to wear them again.

Fig. 8 90s moodboard

COLOUR On the brief that we received for this project, we had to choose between the colours black, white and grey. At first I leaned more towards the grey colour, because you can play with the different scales of grey, but in the end, when I went to do the fabric research, I always ended up looking for the darkest shades of grey which made me be more attracted to black and also made me reflect on the whole idea of my project.

The feeling of nostalgia brings a lot of emotions including sadness, and what better colour to represent it than black?

The sadness that I look at is not just about the time that went by, but also the moment that we are living now.

Things are happening nowadays with the speed of light, what is new today is old tomorrow, yet it looks like nothing new is happening. For me it feels that the world is going numb and everybody is just passing through.

Black can well represent this dark period that we are experiencing and also is a great colour to represent the A/W seasons.

Fig. 9 Project Colour Board

SILHOUETTE The decade of the 90s was a great part of my inspiration for this project, the ‘spirit’ of the grunge decade also influenced me to build my silhouette and helped me to imagine how my customer profile could be.

I didn’t want any fitted garments, I wanted a lose silhouette almost shapeless something that could fit either a male or a female. I was looking through baggy garments, not necessarily oversized, but comfortable shapes.

My silhouette was also influenced by the young target audience that I was looking to attract, being young women who are just starting their professional lives and who haven’t quite discovered how to mutate their school wardrobe into a professional one.

I wanted to produce something minimal, inspired by the 90s with details that would connect my inspiration with the Phyllida Barlow sculpture.

Fig. 10 Project Silhouette Board

FABRICS At the beginning of the project I carried out some fabric research, but never with my concept in mind. I went to different fabric shops to search for different materials. Once I got my final concept, I went again to do some more fabric research.

Because of some of the other projects in the past, I already knew that while some fabric may look good, they don’t ‘work’ very well depending on what you want to do.

The garments would have to relate my concept with the concept of the brief, which was to mix luxury with urban wear, also I needed to have in mind that we were designing for a autumn/winter collection. In the end I chose different fabrics for each garment and two fabrics to use for details and finishing for both outfits.

For the first outfit, I chose cotton drill as the main fabric, and cotton organdy and a wool rib for finishing and details. As for the second outfit, I picked satin cotton and fake leather as the main fabric and again cotton organdy and wool rib for detailing.

Fig. 11 Fabrics (from left to right, top to bottom): Satin Cotton, Cotton Drill, Fake Leather, Cotton Organdy and Wool Rib

TEXTURE AND SAMPLING The fabric choice was influenced by the sampling that I did. I started to develop the project using paper to see what kind of shapes and details I could make.

The Phyllida Barlow sculpture presented many wood squares attached to each other in a irregular way, they are not the same size and sometimes they are overlapping each other building a 3d shape.

When I did the paper samples I cut out some squares to build something related to the piece of art.

After many tests in paper it was time to choose my favorite and also the most realistic ones to transfer and sample in calico. Some of the paper samples represented my idea in a good way but once I transferred that idea into fabric it wasn’t so easy.

Fig 12. Experimentation process, paper sampling

Fig 14. Experimentation process, paper sampling

Fig 13. Experimentation process, paper sampling

For example, to cut out square shapes in fabric you need to think how the finish of the corners would look. It’s easy to cut a lot of squares in one piece of paper but how to do it in fabric is a different thing.

For every square that I wanted to make I would have to cut a different piece and attach them together at the end. I didn’t like this effect because I thought it would look like a patchwork and it wasn’t what I was after.

As mentioned before, the sampling influenced me a lot in my choice of fabrics, I wanted the square details to be different from each other and because I couldn’t use a different colour other than black, the see through cotton organdy would help me to play with different shades. Meanwhile, the other main fabrics would give me the structure that I needed to hold the squares in their shapes.

Fig15. Fabric Sample

Fig16. Toile process

Fig17. Author’s illustration

DESIGNERS To build my silhouette and my collection I did some research on brands and designers that I thought that could help me relate my concept with my garments. I also looked for designers that have a similar customer profile to mine.

Acne Studios, Vetements and J.W. Anderson were the main ones that I looked at as an inspiration for my project. Their last collections present this mix of lux and urban wear that I was aiming for.

Fig18. Designers inspirat

tion (left to right, Acne Studios, Vetments and J.W. Anderson)

MAKING Once I had finished my samples I was already sure about my silhouette but I wasn’t very sure of what to make, so I’ve started my design development. I looked once again at my inspirations, my moodboards, my customer profile and my fabrics to see how they would all link to each other and how that could be translated into garments.

I did many drawings of different garments to see how they could be combined and how they would look in a whole collection. From these designs I chose two to start the toile process.

Fig 19. Design development process

Fig 20. Inspiration Board

OUTFIT 1 My first garment was composed of two pieces; a top and a skirt. For the top I wanted to design some thing with the shape of a t-shirt but in an irregular way, with different proportions at the front and at the back.

I used the blouse block size 8 adjusting the length of the front and the back making one longer than the other. Also because of my square detail I divided the front into four pieces. I wasn’t sure about the back part, I thought it would be too much if I put a detail on it, so in the end I chose to do a simple back with a seam in the middle.

For the skirt, I wanted to make a long straight one with details in cotton organdy. When I first did the toile, as I hadn’t put any opening at the bottom, the length made it difficult to walk in, so I changed the pattern and added an opening at the back. Also my first idea was to do the waist band with elastic, but because the cotton drill wasn’t very stretchable, I had to change the waist line in my pattern, so I put two darts at the front to give a better shape and a zipper at the back.

I didn’t have many problems with the first garment, just some minor changes along the process. The outcome was very much similar to what I was expecting.

Fig 21. Flat drawings outfit 1

OUTFIT 2 For my second garment I first decided to do a dress, a top and trousers.

The dress was full of square details but in different ways, I divided the pattern into four pieces, two at the front and two at the back.

During the toile process I noticed that I had to be really careful when both of the pieces at the front and at the back were being attached to each other, so as to avoid it looking uneven. Also, for the opening I was planning to put a zipper at the top on the back part.

When I actually made the dress with the real fabric, the details didn’t look the way I wanted, even though I was careful when I attached the pieces, they didn’t behave the way I was expecting.

The collar part also didn’t look good with a zipper at the back, so I changed it to a turtleneck. As a result, my dress looked more like a long t-shirt than in fact a dress. I didn’t like the result, also the top that was supposed

to go underneath didn’t show off the details as I wished. With that problem, my first reaction was to just make a different top to go underneath, but eventually I wasn’t pleased with the dress at all. So I changed the outfit. I decided to do a sweatshirt and cape to go on top.

Fig 22. Dress for outfit 2

The sweatshirt was a plain one with the same satin fabric as the trousers, cotton organdy on the sleeves and I also used the rib as finishing. The cape was made of fake leather, with the square details at the front. To complete the outfit I made culottes trousers with a square detail at the bottom. I was inspired by the baggy trousers we used to have in the 90s, but with a more contemporary look.

Even though my main idea for this second garment changed, I was much more pleased with the final result. It was a more minimal look than I had imagined at first but it made more sense for the concept of the collection than the other one.

Fig 23. Flat drawings for outfit 2

FINAL THOUGHTS For this project I ended up making five different garments that can be easily exchangeable with each other and still look like part of a collection. During the entire process I had some problems and there were moments where I got completely stuck, and every time that happened I had to take a step back and reexamine my whole research to see how could I do something different. It wasn’t an easy process but I managed to finish and be pleased with the final outcome.

If I could, I would do it differently, maybe choosing different fabrics, maybe I would take more risks with my designs or even change the whole concept. But in the end this entire experience is a learning process and it helps you to grow for future endeavours.

BIBlIOGRAPHY Illustratrions and Images Fig.1 Author’s illustration 2016 Fig. 2 Photos from the Museum visits, Authors own photography, January 2016 Fig.3 The Wipping Woman by Pablo Picasso, Author’s own illustration, January 2016 Fig.4 Untitled:Upturnedhouse 2 by Phyllida Barlow [Online] ( Accessed date 24/01/2016) http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jan/14/louise-bourgeois-spiderwoman-star-new-tate-modern-gallery Fig 5. Author’s illustration 2016 Fig.6 Project Moodboard, Author’s own illustration, January 2016 Fig.7 Author’s inspiration board, Author’s own illustration, February 2016 Fig. 8 90s moodboard, Author’s own, February 2016 Fig. 9 Project Colour Board, Author’s own, February 2016 Fig. 10 Project Silhouette Board, Author’s own, February 2016 Fig. 11 Fabrics (from left to right, top to bottom): Satin Cotton, Cotton Drill, Fake Leather, Cotton Organdy and Wool Rib, Author’s own, February 2016

Fig 12. Experimentation process, paper sampling, Author’s scketchbook, February 2016 Fig 13. Experimentation process, paper sampling, Author’s scketchbook, February 2016 Fig 14. Experimentation process, paper sampling, Author’s scketchbook, February 2016 Fig15. Fabric Sample, Author’s own photography, February 2016 Fig16. Toile process, Author’s own, February 2016 Fig17. Author’s illustration, Author’s scketchbook, February 2016

Fig18. Designers inspiration (left to right, Acne Studios, Vetments and J.W. Anderson), Auth research [Online], Accessed date 04/03/2016 http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows Fig 19. Design development process, Author’s own illustration, March 2016 Fig 20. Inspiration board, Author’s own, March 2016 Fig 21. Flat drawings outfit 1, Author’s own, March 2016 Fig 22. Dress for outfit 2, Author’s own, March 2016 Fig 23. Flat drawings for outfit 2, Author’s own, March 2016

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