by Shelly Buchanan
About the Designer Shelly Buchanan graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Maine College Art. In late 2008, she immigrated from Jamaica with her family to live in Portland, Maine. Shelly was recently a creative intern at The VIA Agency, a nationally recognized advertising agency, where she worked with a creative team to create print campaigns. She is interested in synthesizing her love for fashion/textiles and graphic design. In her spare time, she enjoys keeping up with the latest trends in fashion and design. cargocollective.com/shellybuchanan
Colophon Special thanks to my family for all their support and patience, Anne Emlein for counsel and guidance and Maine Sailing Partners for donating the fabrics used. Contributers: Emily Koerner, Autumn Frantz, Michaella Casey, Chase Childers, Nicole Waller, Jackie Bonney, Rafael Alvarez, Hank Hughes, Isabelle O’Donnell Typefaces: Variations of the Didot and Futura Printed by Dale Rand Printing Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Maine College of Art 2015 ŠShelly Buchanan 2015 All rights reserved.
To my family: Thank you for your patience and support. This would not have been possible without you.
by Shelly Buchanan
A Tale of Two Passions 10
Design as Foundation
Bauhaus and The Triadic Ballet
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Applying Design to Textiles
The Third Dimension
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Hello, dear friend
My independent thesis project, titled Hello, dear friend, is a further investigation to fulfill my desire of creating work that seamlessly integrates textiles, fashion and graphic design. It is the synthesis of my knowledge of the foundations of design, my interests in both disciplines and my appetite for learning. Despite my limited technical knowledge of sewing and garment construction, my fervent passion for the disciplines are so deep-seated that they have inspired me to take a huge risk with regard to the nature of my thesis project. In tandem with a beginning course to the discipline (Introduction to Apparel) and an independent study with the head of Maine College of Art’s fashion department, Anne Emlein, I have designed from scratch a collection of five garments inspired by the shapes of modular letter forms, constructed from basic shapes inspired by the Bauhaus—that spell “OCEAN”. The process began with the compilation of images into an inspiration board, that would help me to pinpoint my interests at the time. I also did several writing exercises to find out what I’d like to say with my thesis work. I had concerns about the project to say the least, but these exercises were a tremendous help. I had finally found the courage to do what I’ve always wanted to do: to design and construct garments based in a concept I was truly dedicated to and invested in.
A Tale Of Two Passions Hrs. to date
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MAINE RED CLAWS
SU MO TU WE TR FR SA
2 WEEK #
MATERIALS: N/A
COMMEMORATIVE T-SHIRT WEEK OF: 09/14/14
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Antonio Soares behance.net
Hayden Williams haydenwilliams.com
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Fig. 1
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Inspiration Timecards : Week no.2 From left: back and front of card,
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Shelly Buchanan, 2014
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printed on cardstock
LASER PRINTS: 40
Total hrs.
MUSIC LISTENED: Kid Ink, Chris Brown Mosic Nadav behance.net
Ever since I was young I’ve always had a keen interest in the disciplines of fashion and graphic design. As early as the third grade, I can recall thinking about outfits and drawing fashion models in the back of my notebooks. This interest in fashion has been with me throughout my life. It has influenced and inspired me daily, both in my personal life and creative practice. My enthusiasm and curiosity toward the discipline was my primary inspiration for Hello, dear friend. Fashion is not only a source of inspiration for my creative practice, it also plays a significant role in my daily routine. My online presence the constant proliferation of images on the internet have allowed for the ease of access to content related to fashion and
Shelly Buchanan 2014
design. On any given day, I’m constantly clicking or tapping, researching and browsing through hundreds of images from social media and fashion magazine websites. On Facebook I follow a news/ media website page called The Cut. It is dedicated to reporting the latest events in fashion and pop culture, including celebrity and television events almost simultaneously as they unfold. I follow several other fashion website pages such as Harper’s Bazzar and Vogue. These websites share content relating to pop culture, beauty, fashion trends and events such the Paris, London and New York fashion week and a variety of videos and images from designer runway shows. My cellphone and laptop allow me to easily access these websites
Hello, dear friend
at least four times daily. I enjoy looking at and keeping inspired by the ever-changing, evolving trends and current events in the world of fashion. Although the internet is my primary source for fashion inspiration, I also enjoy flipping through the pages of a well-designed book. I recently discovered The Sustainable Fashion Handbook edited by Sandy Black. It is a source book on sustainable fashion and also a compilation of writing by designers, academics, journalists and environmentalists. This book includes case studies ranging from the life-cycle of jeans to fashion cultures and the role of technology in fashion. I enjoy this book not only because of the content but also because of the beautiful photography and the various creative decisions made by the designer. Great attention to detail was paid to the graphic elements. The sustainable fashion handbook also creates an exciting relationship between type and image, with the images in relation to each other and the content with the book’s predetermined grid system. I’m attracted to Graphic Design because of its unique ability to incorporate a wide variety of disciplines. I use my knowledge and enthusiasm for fashion to inspire my work in graphic design. With the foundation of design, I’m able to create well designed pieces that are true to my design aesthetic (simplistic but elegantly designed pieces) and my interest in fashion and textiles.
As an example I will use a project I completed, a thirteen-week long project last semester (fall 2104) I titled Inspiration Timecards to illustrate the synthesis of my interests in fashion and graphic design. The initial goal as outlined by the project was to design a series of time cards to record the amount of time and resources spent on each project in the semester. I was interested in tracking my weekly inspirations and combining them with the project guidelines. The result was a series of thirteen time cards — one for each week of the semester that recorded not only the time spent of on each project but also the music I listened to and the resources used, such as number of laser prints and equipment purchased for any given week. Each card was double-sided, the front featured an infographic that recorded the number of hours I spent on a project each day in the week. The flip-side of each card showed the week number and three images of inspiration I had found that week, with the name of the artist or designer and the site where the image were located (fig. 1). By the end of the thirteen weeks, I had collected several folders of images, the number totaling upwards of a hundred images. Over half of that number were images of or relating to fashion design and runway shows. It was then that I realized how greatly my life was inspired by fashion.
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Design As Foundation
...concept of my thesis is the conversion and transformation of two-dimensional objects into threedimensional, wearable garments.
Spring semester of my senior year provided me with a unique opportunity to further investigate my interests in combining both my interests in fashion and graphic design while including the nostalgia of home. I immigrated from Portland, Jamaica, a place of sunshine, warm sea and good weather, to Portland, Maine, the land of long winters and the most unpredictable games of weather hopscotch. The underlying concept of my thesis is the conversion and transformation of two-dimensional objects, that is to say letters that we’re so used to seeing printed out two-dim ensionally on paper or digitally on a screen, into three-dimensional, wearable garments.
Hello, dear friend is an experimental project showing that the foundation of design may be applied to other disciplines, including fashion and textiles. A recent Google search for the definition of design yielded this result: [design is] “purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or material object.” According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Graphic Design is defined as “the planning and projecting of ideas and experiences with visual and textual content.” In my opinion the purpose of any design, whether graphic or otherwise, is to say something or to tell a story. The story that Graphic Design tells is one of communication, of
Hello, dear friend
Fig. 2 Erin Flett, Wool Floor Cushion in Mango or Navy with Leather Zip Pull Wool, 30" x 30" etsy.com
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the successful relaying of a message to a specific audience, most traditionally through the use of typography and images. Erin Flett, an inspiration for me, is currently using the foundation of graphic design to fuel her creative studio practice. She is a local, Maine based graphic designer, illustrator and textiles surface designer. She creates hand-crafted and hand-printed products (fig.2) in her studio and business, E Flett Design in, Westbrook. Erin has been internationally recognized for her bold, eclectic style of illustration. She has won numerous awards and has been published in major magazines such as Country Living and Oprah Magazine. I’m inspired by her because she man-
aged to create a self-sufficient business by combining her passion for graphic design, textiles and illustration. I was introduced to Erin in my junior year and I’ve been interested in her studio practice and business ever since. Similar to Erin, I’m interested in combining my interests into a successful design practice, or someday, a business. It is my hope that by completing Hello, dear friend, I will have a foundation in textiles and more experience with making garments that are inspired by elements in graphic design. This project, in a way, is a foreshadowing of the type work I’d like to do in the near future. Erin has similar interests as me, in that she’s a graphic designer who has broadened
her practice to include textiles. I was interested in Erin’s story so I conducted an over-the-phone interview with her. I asked her if she feels that her graphic design work has had an influence on her surface designs and she stated:
“Yes, absolutely. I think that as a trained graphic designer you start to understand hierarchy, the push and pull of graphic elements, typography, color theory. All those things I learned in school are completely relevant in all design.
I really feel like it’s an amazing foundation for me and personally, I don’t know if it is completely a requirement, but I think that’s the luxury of my own personal business.” Erin Flett
Erin also states “ultimately, graphic design is the foundation for what I’m doing.” I was very interested to hear Erin’s response on how to bridge the gap between textiles and graphic design. She does this by becoming her “own little machine” with the ability to do not only the hand printing and illustrations but also all aspects of designs including the branding and identity work, ads, store website, photography look books and other printed material. Her advice to me was if I wanted be successful in combing my interests was to “establish getting a normal job in graphic design or in a company that does graphic design and apparel.” I value her advice as it is a viable option for pursuing a career in graphic design while fulfilling my interests in fashion and textiles. Overall, Erin’s insights were great to hear but the advice she gave me that was the most influential was the last thing she said to me:
Hello, dear friend
“I think really believing in your own aesthetic and never compromising your own design capabilities or aesthetics just to fit in or to sell. Be true to who you are because honestly, everyone of us is so different and unique that we will create a unique item or a process. You just have to keep focused on your own hand and not be distracted by other people’s work or other people’s successes or failures. You should really stay on your own path because you can get distracted. You need to keep focused on your own journey whatever that may be. It may lead you down a completely different path. Just be open to whatever your path is. I think, is the best advice.”
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Bauhaus & The Triadic Ballet
Fig.3 Oskar Schlemmer, video stills from The Triadic Ballet, 1926. johncoulthart.com
A historical source of inspiration for Hello, dear friend is the Bauhaus and Das Triadisches Ballet (The Triadic Ballet), a complex choreographic and costume design theatre production by Oskar Schlemmer in 1924. Figure three are still images from a video of the performance. The Bauhaus school was founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany. The principles and the teachings of the Bauhaus brought together artists and craftsmen who preferred simplified forms, geometric shapes and functionality in design, craft, architecture and typography. Practitioners of the Bauhaus style embraced a synthesis between arts and craft media and techniques and experimentation. Like the practitioners of the Bauhaus, my project is avant garde in nature, it is a process of learning and exploration into my two areas of interest. The shapes of the letters are inspired by geometry and the Bauhaus characteristic of using
rudimentary elements. Circles, rectangles and triangles were used to construct the letter forms to create my garments. Oskar Schlemmer, a German artist, practitioner and employee of the Bauhaus school, was also a source of inspiration for my thesis project. In 1923, Schlemmer became the head of the Bauhaus Stage workshop until 1929. He thought the theatre provided a perfect opportunity for the synthesis of the arts. He designed costumes for the Bauhaus Theatre and for his own work. The Triadic Ballet was Schlemmer’s experimentation with his interest of three-dimensional figures in space, of geometry and dance. According to the author of Oskar Schlemmer Study of the Triadic Ballet written in 1924, Paul Paret states that the performance consists of “twelve scenes performed as solos, duets, and trios by three dancers in eighteen costumes…” (fig. 4). Schlemmer’s costumes are fabricated from paper mâché, padded foam-like
Hello, dear friend
Fig.4 Oskar Schlemmer Das Triadisches Ballet, 1924 gauche ink, photomontage from Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity
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material and metal consisting of basic shapes, and asymmetrical design. Schlemmer’s costumes are sculptures on the human body, restricting and dictating the dancers’ range of movement. For example, in Schlemmer’s gouache and mixed media art work, (fig. 4) the foreground figure’s (the abstract) body is divided asymmetrically in unequal parts of dark and light, and wields a bat. Half his face —which is divided down the middle by dark and light — is obscured by an oversized head-wear. The costume and props are restricting in nature with the added fact that the abstract’s stylized front leg doesn’t bend. Paret states that The Triadic Ballet “emphasizes his costume designs and, especially, his rationalized conception of the body’s movement in space.” The Triadic Ballet was a feat of experimentation and ingenuity and I was inspired by it because of the fact that Schlemmer
did not shy away from curiosity and experimentation but embraced it. Fashion design is tasked with telling the story of a concept, not through type and image but through the human body. By using the three-dimensional, kinetic characteristics of the human form, an artist or designer may tell a story with the materials, techniques or concepts while also taking into consideration the dimensions, how a pattern changes in relation to the proportions and scale, and movement of the body through space. The costumes in The Triadic Ballet were designed to tell the story of movement or lack of movement of the body in relation to form, structure and shapes. Similarly, the story I wish to tell with my garments is one of the transformation of two dimensional objects on the three-dimensional structure of the human form.
The process initially started when I was flipping
through a copy of Steven Heller’s 100 Things That Changed Graphic Design. I came across the Mondrian day dress by Yves Saint Laurent. I started sketching and playing with rectangular shapes and what they would look like when placed on different parts of the body. After looking at my sketches, I realized that the negative shapes made by the rectangles were reminiscent of letter forms. That sparked the idea of creating garments that referenced letters. It was perfect, I had found a way to combine both fashion and textiles with reference to graphic design. Hello,dear friend was also inspired by the ocean, specifically the Caribbean Sea, which surrounds Jamaica. In the fall semester 2014, I was inspired to create knitted textiles inspired by the ocean, so it felt natural to continue working with that theme for my thesis project.
Lower Left: Mondrian dress collection, Yves Saint Laurent, Autumn 1964. Below: Initial sketch inspired by Saint Laurent
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After deciding to work with creating garments that looked like letters, Anne suggested that I looked at letter stencils to get an idea of how the letters could potentially fit onto a human form. I did some research until I discovered the 2015 Resort Collection by the Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. I was drawn to her work because of her beautiful letter patterns and the ways she used them to complement parts f the body.
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Lower Left: Letter stencil I was inspired by to create sketches of letters on the body. This page: 2015 Resort Collection by Mary Katrantzou.
I was inspired Mary Katrantzou so I started to experiment with using Adobe Photoshop to visualize letter forms on the body (adjacent). I did so by superimposing a letter, in this instance, an uppercase “K”, with found image of a female model. I played with the scale, orientation and proportion of the letter in relation to the body. I then took this idea to pencil and paper and sketched different letters on the body. The sketches on tis page are of the letter “O” (left) and “P” (right). I thought about the anatomy of letterforms themselves and how they could related to and could complement the human form. For example, the vertical part of the “P”, could be the length of the arm, and legs of the letter “M” corresponds with the two human arms. The placement of the letter could be so that the legs of the letters are placed on the arms and become sleeves.
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Left: Photoshop image mock-up, variations of the letter “K” This page: Sketches of letter shapes on the body
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From left: Sketches of letter shapes on the body: “A” with “e” letter pattern, interlocking “E” and “F”, M” and “X”.
I was introduced to Oskar Schlemmer’s (Bauhaus Prac-
terns. These letters would be geometric and modular,
titiioner) Das Triadisches Ballet (The Triadic Ballet) in
inspired by the Bauhaus. I researched and found
my Inro to Apparel class. I watched as Youtube video
abstracted letterforms that were created by combining
of ballet. At first, I thought it was quite strange, a half
simple geometric shapes. I researched geometric
hour long silent video of ballet dancers dressed in
shapes on the body and discovered the graduate the-
odd costumes and moving almost mechicanically. By
sis work of Valeska Jasso Collado. In very interesting
the end of the video, I was so confused that I had to
ways, she twisted and sculpted her materials to fit the
watch it again. It was after I got over the weirdness of
body. I did some sketches of the letter shapes on the
it all that I started to see what it’s really about: shapes
body. I quickly realized that needed to be physically
on the body and how they allow for and restrict the
working with pins, needles and fabric. It was than I
movements of the body. These shapes were basic
got the idea to use a Barbie doll to help me see the
geometric shapes that were combined with each other
letter shapes on a form. I cut out the shapes of the five
to create colorful, fun costumes that were constructed
letter shapes (O,C,E,A,N) and played with them on
from non-conventional materials such as paper-maché
the doll; snipping, pinning and sewing as I saw fit.
and metal. After watching the video, a light bulb
The process was fun and soon after, I had created the
went off: what if my garments were constructed using
shapes that became guides for the pattersn I used to
the shape of the letters themsleves as sewing pat-
construction my garments.
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From left: Two costumes from The Triadic Ballet, garment from Valeska Jasso Collado’s graduate collection and my initial sketches of combining geometric shapes to create letterforms.
This page: Sketches inspired by the techniques of Valeska Jasso Collado’s graduate collection. Adjacent: Inspiration mood board on my studio wall.
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This garment was constructed using the parts of
the letter “E�. The placement of the letter parts on the body references the anatomy of the letter itself. The center part of the garment that forms the top front and extends through to the back is the vertical stem of the letter. The three other parts are placed accordingly: The upper part of the letter was placed at the top of the garment to make the collar, and the other two placed on the center part, one higher than the other, to represent the middle and lower parts of the letterfrom. The final garment remained true to the form and colors established in the sketching phase.
Adjacent: Original pencil sketch of “E” garment and Photoshop edit to add color. Below: Process shots from creating “E” garment (from left) doll mockup, paper pattern of dress form, muslin, model at initial fitting, and final garment fitting.
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This spread: Final “E” garment.
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Adjacent: Photoshop edited version of “A” garment sketch Above: Doll mock-up Right: Illustrator vector drawing of final garment
On the adjacent page is the Photoshop color edition of my initial sketch for the garment made from the letter “A”. The letter was consisted of an upright triangle with a small triangular shape subtracted from the center, lower edge. In order to it the shape to the doll, I made a slip in the middle of the shape, to accommodate the body. The shape was flipped upside-down, the lower edge was now the top. I wrapped the two adjacent points to the back of the doll and the lower point upwards and around to the back. I sewed all three parts together to create the shape in the sketches. The creation of the garment was quite time consuming and took a lot of trouble-
shooting and invention. For example, I had to figure out how to create the garment so that it had enough structure to support itself. I tried quilting the vinyl and canvas, eventually I decided to use both the vinyl and trampoline fabrics by adhering them together to create a sturdy, double-sided fabric. Also, the colors of this garment changed several times before the final was decided. At first, it was white and green, then black on one side and white on the other. Finally, I was inspired by the colors and shapes on racing sails. I created a vector drawing of the letterform with the triangular shapes often found on these racing sails.
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Initial fitting for the “A� garment.
This spread: Final “A” garment
Adjacent page: Original pencil sketch of “O” garment This page: Doll mock-ups for the “O” garment
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The garment based on the letter “O� changed
considerably compared to my initial sketch. The shape I used for this letter was a circle with a twenty inch radius. I cut it in two unequal parts, the smaller would be the top; cut two smaller circles to accommodate the arms, and the larger is the bottom. It would gather in the front. Both parts would
be sewn together at the sides and have a closure in the back. I decided to change the orientation of the entire garment, after spontaneously trying on the top half vertically instead of how it was originally. Suddenly when placed vertical on the body, it was like a new garment, which I preferred. The two parts are sewn in the back but open in the front.
Adjacent page: Nicole wearing original top part of “O� garment, Hank wearing piece that will become of final garment
Final “O” garment
Adjacent page: Original pencil sketch of “C” garment and first Photoshop version This page (adjacent): Initial fitting (below): second edited version of sketch
I would have to say that the garment that changed the most dramatically throughout the process was this garment. The initial idea was to use two of the letterforms to create an outer-wear garment. After trying to make this idea work without any luck, I then decided to use only one “C” shape out of neoprene and a mesh fabric. I had intended to place the shapes on different parts of the male body to create a dynamic piece. After almost finishing the shirt, I thought this idea wasn’t working. The turn around for this garment was when I took a break to work on the “O” garment. I was using two semi-circles and I simply decided to try it on. I put arms through the two circular holes I had cut, then wrapped it around and closed it in the front. It was that simple, I had discovered the final look of the garment. I also changed the model from male to female.
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Final “C” garment
Adjacent page (from top): Scrap paper from process Doll mock-ups, before final This page: Final garment on dress form
Without a doubt, this garment was by far the most
difficult to resolve. Unlike the other letters, I didn’t figure out the final shape of this garment until the very last week of my thesis project. I’m not sure why but I found it very difficult regardless of my numerous doll mock-ups and sketches that I made. The way I resolved this garment was by changing the shapes that I used to create the letter form itself: from two triangles, to three rectangles. It was only until I made
the decision to stop fighting against the nature of the letter that I found the solution. All I had to do was simply to accept the letter for what it is and treat the garment as such. The final garment is made of three rectangles the intersect each other at different places, similar to the letter. A very valuable lesson I learned from creating this garment was that sometimes I embrace things for what they are.
This spread: Final “N” garment
This spread: “O” “C” “E” “A” “N” garments
Applying Design to Textiles
Fig.5 Illustrator vector drawings of “O” garment
The idea of designing a system of guidelines to be applied across several items is very common in graphic design. This may be seen in identity and branding projects, where a system is created and applied to media such as a website or online presence, dynamic media such videos, printed collateral, images, stationery, etc. This system may be a logo, a specific typeface, colors, a certain look or feel that distinguishes and identifies a brand or company. I’m using this exact principle of creating systems and applying it to fashion and textiles. I’m excited to explore the application of the principles of design to both disciplines. Letters are the foundation of all written language, I’m using my knowledge of letter forms to support a foundation in fashion and textiles. Similar to the graphic design process previously explained, I’ve created is the use of letter forms as the shape of my garments, and draping these shapes on the human body to create unique wearable garments. The design process in creating my garments was not
unlike that in graphic design, the basis of which is essentially problem solving. I was constantly inventing solutions in order to communicate my concept. For instance, designing a book entails numerous print outs and experimentation with typefaces, sizes, colors, images, constant troubleshooting and layout adjustments in order to reach the desired result. All the creative decisions I made with regard to the materials, techniques and colors relate to my concept, comparable to my graphic design process. I went through an intense material exploration phase. I explored and experimented with a variety of materials (leather, microfiber suede, quilted foam, felt, upholstery materials, canvas, silk and cotton linen) before I decided to use sailing fabric (rip-stop nylon, vinyl, trampoline material). I chose to use functional and robust materials, sail fabrics, to reflect the rudimentary and utilitarian nature of letter forms. The process has further developed my ability to come up with creative solutions to the problems I encountered.
Hello, dear friend
“...functional and robust materials, sail fabrics, to reflect the rudimentary and utilitarian nature of letterforms.�
For instance, I figured out that I could use double-sided tape to hold the nylon and vinyl in place instead of using pins that damaged the materials. Even after I had made my decision about the fabrics, I had to make multiple samples experimenting with the combination of fabrics and colors. I also had to figure out the sewing machine specifications; stitch sizes, type of sewing machine, thread tension and color, that corresponded with each material combination. It was also a challenge to resolve how to adhere two different fabrics (vinyl and rip-stop nylon) so they appeared as one. It was a process of constant testing and adjusting until I reached the desired result. At the end of this phase, I decided to use three colors, similar to the primary colors of the Bauhaus and the Triadic Ballet, except my colors were neon counterparts (yellow, blue and pink) and my materials were relevant to the concept of the ocean. The graphic design profession requires that one be proficient in design applications such as Adobe Photoshop,
InDesign and Illustrator. My proficiency with and experience in using these applications have been useful in aiding with the visualization of my garments. Photoshop has been a useful tool in my sketching phase. I used the program to experiment with adding color and textures to pencil drawings created and scanned into the computer. Another program I utilized was Illustrator, before I physically started to construct several of my garments, I used Illustrator to create vector drawings of the basic shapes and color combinations. My knowledge of these design programs proved to be very important in helping me to see how the garments might look. Without going through the timeconsuming process, and possibly wasting materials, I’ve implemented a technology not traditionally associated with fashion and textiles to visualize more concretely my ideas in regard to colors, shapes and proportions. Fig. 5 shows my implementation of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in my garment construction process.
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Showing my classmates my progess on thesis work
The Third Dimension
Fig. 6: Mondrian day dress Yves Saint Laurent, 1964. Fig. 7: Garment from Jasso-Collado’s collection
Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008), a French-born fashion designer has played with the idea of taking a two-dimensional object and transforming it into a three dimensional wearable garment. Saint Laurent’s dress (fig. 6) not only was inspired by but was a direct translation of Piet Mondrian’s most iconic paintings. The dress described earlier is one of six in the Mondrian Collection of the 1960’s (p. 20).
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saint Laurent “demonstrated a feat of dressmaking, setting in each block of jersey, piecing in order to create the semblance of the Mondrian order and to accommodate the body imperceptibly by hiding all the shaping in the grid of seams.” Not only were the dresses skillfully created, they were also revolutionary in all areas of design including
Hello, dear friend
graphic and fashion design. Saint Laurent’s dress collection demonstrates the idea of transforming the two-dimensional into the three-dimensional wearable garment. I’m working with the same idea in my thesis. I’m taking two-dimensional letters, shapes cut out of vinyl and trampoline material and transforming them three-dimensionally. Valeska Jasso Collado is a contemporary Bulgarian-born fashion designer whose graduate thesis project was based on a similar idea. Jasso Collado worked with unconventional materials such as latex, metal and foam to create a collection of avant garde garments. She was inspired by the work of the Memphis group — Italian design and architecture group who uses unconventional material such as “printed glass, celluloids, fire-flake finishes, neon tubes and zinc-plated sheet-metals – jazzed up with flamboyant colors and patterns, spangles and glitter.” I was inspired by Jasso Collado’s work because of the experimental nature and my interest in using unconventional materials. I also enjoyed the way she used basic shapes, like circles and rectangles to construct garments that are dynamic and visually striking, not to mention colorful. Fig. 7 shows a garment from her collection;
it is a peach cylindrical skirt that was structural at the bottom hem, because of the sturdy material she used as a lining, it resembles rubber flooring material. It was gathered at the waist with a blue band of fabric, there was also a thin band of blue on the right side of the skirt extending from the waist to the bottom hem. The top is a bright yellow, boxy, cropped top with a straight line of color (the peach color of the skirt) extending from the back, over the shoulder to the model’s mid chest. Jasso Collado’s garments were my inspiration for making small garment mock-ups on a Barbie doll that I bought. I cut the shapes of the letters and experimented with the placement on the doll. The “O” garment on page forty-two) is a mock up I created with felt, of a circle (the letter O) that I made holes in for the arm, and a slit horizontally across the center where it is gathered in the front. The edges of the circled were closed in the back. I used this technique of draping the letter shapes on the doll to figure out the final form/shapes of my garments. The process of working with the shapes and the body helped me to realize how much a two-dimensional shape changes when it is in relation to the shape and proportions of the form of the body.
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Bibliography Bergdoll, Barry. Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2009. Champa, Kermit Swiler. Mondrian Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. Dabrowski, Magdalens. “Geometric Abstraction”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000—. Accessed February 11, 2015. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/geab/hd_geab.htm (October 2004) Heller, Steven, and Ve Vienne. 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2012. Lemoine, Serge. Mondrian and De Stijl. New York: Universe Books, 1987. “Yves Saint Laurent: ‘Mondrian’ day dress (C.I.69.23)”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000—. Accessed February 11, 2015. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/C.I.69.23 (September 2014)
I had not known that the skills I had been learning in graphic design would be so instrumental in helping me to finally create the type of work I’ve longed to create. By utilizing my knowledge of design elements — letterforms, color theory, contrast, etc.— I’ve implemented these foundational design elements and applied them to the discipline of textiles and fashion. My desire to investigate the integration of design principles and elements has given me a new outlook on design as a whole. My perspective has changed in the way that I don’t just think of text and image as graphic design but utilizing fabrics and other materials, with a predetermined intention, in my opinion, is graphic design as well. I’m currently in at a point in my studio practice where I’m ready to take my interests to a higher level. It took me a while, but I’m finally here. Hello, dear friend.