BREAKING BONES / BREAKING BODIESS

BREAKING BONES BREAKING BODIES

Robyn Griffiths Process Analysis Document Fashion Theory Into Practice

CONTENTS CONCEPT BRIEF SUMMER BRIEF CORSET CULTURE KAYAN CULTURE PAST / MODERN SHAPE COLOUR FABRIC TEXTURE FINAL COLLECTION FINAL OUTFIT FINAL GARMENTS COSTING TARGET MARKET EVALUATION REFRENCES

CONCEPT BRIEF The collection ‘Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies’ is a women’s wear collection designed and inspired for spring / summer 2016. The collection has taken influence from the trend Past / Modern which combines elements of old to new. The first culture investigated was the binding of women’s bodies from corsets which began in the 16th century and are still used in the present day. The second culture looks to Kayan tribe (Karen people) more commonly known as the ‘giraffe tribe’ due to the women of the tribe wearing neck rings that over time elongate the neck.

The investigation and research focuses on how both cultures change the appearance of women and the collection has been designed in order to free the woman’s body by the use of exaggerated shapes and silhouettes.

Alterations to the human body are not a past trend as many are still practiced today in the modern world. For centuries women have physically altered their bodies for the sake of appearance. From the 16th century when corsets first became popular up until the present day women still practice in binding and suppressing their rib cage in order to have the appearance of a smaller waist. The collection focuses on the physical damage corsets have caused to the body, for example the breaking of ribs. Looking to the Karen tribe from Thailand a similar idea of changing the physical appearance of women is present. Women in the Karen tribe from a young age have neck rings placed round their necks which over time causes strain on the collar bones and pressed the rib cage down therefore achieving a longer looking neck. The collection Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies looks to both these cultures, past and present to look at the modification of the female form.

The trend Past / Modern works on the timeless qualities of historical and contemporary designs. The concept behind the trend is to showcase ideas that are stripped back and bring together the old and the new.

The trend helped to inspire and focus the collection on the past and the modern changes to the female body.

Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies colour palette ranges from soft neutral browns and camels to metallic gold’s and whitened copper shades.

Colours are inspired by the muted pastels of traditional corsets and also the gold and brass neck rings worn by the Karen women. The collection looks to the details of padding and binding used in corsets and manipulates the shapes to create thick lines down garments to represent the boning used within corsets. Fabric manipulation is inspired by the thick metal rings used within the neckpieces. The layering and repetition of fabric is a new way of seeing a traditional tribal piece.

The collection Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies’ main goal is to create garments that free the woman’s body by the use of exaggerated shapes and silhouettes. The use of oversized sleeves and architecture like lines and shapes show that the garments are not constraining to the body and comfortable to wear. The garments from the collection are conceptual, pieces and would be sold at high fashion prices that represent the detailing, time and effort taken to create the final collection. The collection aims to influence mainstream fashion to shy away from constraining the female body and focusing on fabric detailing and the beauty of shape.

SUMMER BRIEF

The student was given a summer brief to investigate, document and respond to an exhibition they had visited in order to begin the following semesters collection. The student visited the exhibition ‘Head to Head (Portrait Sculpture • Ancient to Modern)’ that was held at the National Scottish Portrait Gallery.

The exhibition showcased a number of portrait sculptures from galleries across Scotland. The exhibition ranged from life like sculpture heads to oversized figures from ancient to modern times. The student was interested and took inspiration from the difference in scale of the sculptures. The student was able to relate the exhibition’s ancient to modern concept with that of the past to modern trend. The oversized and over-exaggerated shapes on display were one of the collections influences for the overdramatic shapes and silhouettes used.

CORSET CULTURE

The student was interested not only in past representations of the female body but also interested in how similar ideas are still prominent in today’s world. Today’s society is heavily involved in what young women’s bodies should look like. Corsets were dangerous to women’s health and caused many long term problems such as disfigurement, heart and back problems. In today’s society corsets are still worn but under a new fad name of ‘waist trainers’. These waist trainers essentially do the same as traditional corsets, by binding the waist the rib cage is physically morphed and the waist appears smaller. Today’s fashion industry is still very much focused on the small waist ideal. The student wanted to take inspiration from the traditional corset but not in the obvious way of recreating the shape. The student focused on the padding and binding used to construct corsets. Taking inspiration from the boning that holds the corset together the student began to focus on line and structure which then lead to the collections strong architectural and lineal shapes.

KAYAN CULTURE

The student’s investigations into the binding of the body lead to the finding of the Kayan people also known as the Karen tribe, from Thailand. The women of the tribe identify themselves by their brass neck coils. The brass coils are placed on girls when they are aged 5 and over time they appear to lengthen the neck. The student’s investigation and research found that the weight of the brass pushes down on the collarbones and caused the rib cage to become compressed. Physically the neck itself is not actually lengthened the body is just suppressed causing the illusion of a longer thinner neck. Many theories as to why the women wear the coils have been published but one stating that its so that the women look more desirable and attractive from having a longer and more slender neck. The student was able to link this culture to the previous culture and begin to work on a concept that would show how women’s bodies throughout time, in different parts of the world, are physically altered to look more desirable and attractive.

TREND

The spring / summer trend for 2016 is about creating unlikely partnerships with the past and the present. The trend past/modern focuses on creating exciting and fresh interpretations of historical work and representing them in a new and modern light. A timeline is no longer relevant as ideas and artworks begin to create the same ideas and produce the same goals. The student’s collection works exactly to the trend as the historical and present day cultures both represent the same idea about changing the female form. As historical and contemporary ideas come together, current designs intertwine with classical art and exhibitions.

Historical ideas are updated to relate to current events in seconds causing a time line to become irrelevant. By removing the timelines created in history the trend allows the old and the new to collide and produce new concepts. The collection Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies follows the past/modern trend and creates a concept that aims to bring together past and modern cultures and present them in a new and contemporary way.

The collection focuses heavily on overdramatic shapes and bold silhouettes. The long soft curves of oversized sleeves create the idea of comfort and security which contrasts with the box like layers and pointed shapes of other garments. The flared shapes have been inspired by the vertical boning in traditional corsets and the layered textiles represent the repetition of the neck rings worn by the Kayan women. By changing the positioning of layers to different areas of the body such as the sleeves and chest creates bulk and oversizing in other areas rather than focusing on the neck and waist. The collections takes inspiration from the neck and waist shapes from the two cultures and attempts to recreates these shapes and textiles in other areas to free the body and show the beauty of shape and silhouette.

SHAPE

TEXTURE

The subtle shimmer tones create a calm and sensual vibe within the collection.

The matt metallic textures elevate the casual camel cottons, and the subtle glitter stretch materials are highlighted by the refined neutral shades and tones. The layered textures of metallic gold’s and sheer bronze fabric details cause the collection to appear contemporary while still relating to a cultural context. The clean cut rectangle shapes on the neck pieces create a wave like texture due to the light reflecting off the shimmering fabric, the illusion of the fabric creates a transitional mood.

The colours and fabric used for the final collection caused the concept to fully portray the aesthetic the student wanted to achieve.

The colour palette ranges from bold metallic gold’s to soft sheer coppers to represent the brass coils. Shades of bronze and glistening gold shimmer fabrics stand out against the neutral camel and brown fabrics. The colours used are important at representing the modern approach to historical materials and textures. The soft neutral tones highlight the simplicity of the Past/ Modern trend and embody the elegance of the culture theme. The range of warm neutral tones illustrate the past colours of corsets and the strong metallics and bronze shades help entwine present neck coils. The two colour palettes entwine to demonstrate a complimentary collection that represents both cultures. The past and present come together to create a new understanding and create a strong and elegant colour palette. The fabrics used within the collection demonstrate the detailing and textures that inspire the concept and thus the final collection and garments.

FINAL COLLECTION

The final outfit the student chose to develop, design and create was outfit number three from the final line up. The outfit consists of a gold stretch leotard with a high neck and over exaggerated long sleeves that are layered at the finish. Also a pair of flare camel wool shorts with gold shimmer foil panels down the front and back. The final piece of the outfit is a layered neck piece. The neck piece consists of 9 layers of gold foil fabric matched with sheer bronze silk.

The final outfit garments rely on shape and silhouette to portray the message of the two cultures.

The heavy emphasis of corsets on the body was an obvious choice but to free the body the garments shapes had to emphasis other aspects of the body.

The final garment has emphasis on the waist but not by physically harming it or restricting it, the use of high-waisted shorts with pointed flares helps create the idea the waist is smaller, however the shorts are comfortable and non-restricting to wear.

The stretch fabric clings to the natural curve of the woman’s body showing the beauty of curves and lines. The final outfit allows the female form to be shown in its purest form without the physical restriction of a fitted garment. The gold stretch fabric is light and soft on the skin and creates a second skin like look. The high neck of the leotard relates back to the Kayan tribe neck coils but is not tight or uncomfortable to wear as it sits loose around the neck. The neck piece garment focuses heavily on creating shapes that match the female body. The rectangular layered shapes naturally curve when placed on the woman’s body. The bulk of the neck piece creates the shoulders to look bigger and broader emphasising the idea of different shapes and proportions. The large neck piece takes attention away from the waist but also causes it to look smaller and the body to look out of proportion.

FABRIC MANIPULATION

LEOTARD

The student researched and developed multiple patterns and toils to get the correct fit, shape and size of the leotard. The leotards neck, due to being in stretch fabric will not sit in a structured shape and will instead drape. The student wanted to further develop this by adding length and width to the neck to create draping. The student found that the fabric folding over on its self was appealing and fitted with the design concept. The leotards sleeves were developed on multiple times to get the shape correct. The garments original sleeves were below the knee but after further toiling the student made the decision to shorten them. Once the shape and fit of the garment was finalised the student layer the end of the sleeve to look as though the sleeve is doubled and dropped. By top stitching over the sleeve ends it causes the garment to have sharp sleek shape and finish.

The shorts for the final outfit proved to be the most difficult and were developed and toiled multiple times. To begin the shorts were to have an elastic waistband so that they could be easily pulled on. However after the student toiled the elastic waistband for the shorts it did not have a sharp shape finish and did not reflect the design theme of strong architectural shapes. After a final toil had been created of the shorts the student felt like the shorts were too simple and could have reflected more on the culture themes. This caused the student to add the gold foil panels into the front and the back of the shorts to reflect the boning used within corsets. While the final shorts were being finished the student had turned up the hem 2cm, however after placing the shorts on to the mannequin the student believed that the shorts hem was too curved and instead should be straighter and come to a point. This led the shorts to be finished with the blind fell machine which caused the shorts to achieve a strong straight finish

SHORTS

NECK PIECE

The student carried out multiple experiments of toiling on the stand when designing the final neck piece. During the design development stage the student wanted to interoperate heavy layering of fabric but was unsure of how to achieve this. To begin with the student layered multiple pieces of fabric around the neck in uneven sizes. The layering and fabric manipulation proved to be successful as it created a strong look.

The student decided that to fit with the rest of the concept and final collection that the layers of the neck piece should be straight and exact. Thus causing perfectly matched repeated lines that when placed on the body naturally curve and shape to the female form.

COSTING

The final garments produced are created and constructed using a wide variety of expensive fabrics and finishing’s. Due to the garments being large in shape, for example floor length sleeves, and also many garments consisting of many layers a large amount of fabric will be used in the construction of the pieces. Therefor pieces in the collection will have a high end price range from £100 to £300 so that the expensive fabrics can be used.

The collection has a target market of young adults that are culturally aware, fashion forward and unafraid to voice a message through the way that they dress.

The concept ‘Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies’ main aim is to create a fashion forward and culturally aware high fashion collection. Through the large amount of research into multiple themes the collection was able to come together and be part of the global mash up project. The multiple themes of binding of the female body through past and modern times have led the collection. By interpreting the two separate cultures of corsets and the neck coils used in the Kayan tribe the collection has a strong meaning and message behind it. The trend Past / Modern and also the summer exhibition ‘Head to Head (Portrait Sculpture • Ancient to Modern)’ have had a large influence on not just the colour palette and fabric choice for the collection but also the shapes and silhouettes. The collection ‘Breaking Bones / Breaking Bodies’ shows the female form in a new light which will hopefully inspire people.

EVALUATION

REFRENCES A short history of the corset (1939) Available at: http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/korsett/korsett. shtml (Accessed: 14 October 2015).

Foote, K. (2014) ‘Ethical travel: Thailand’s Long Neck women | epicure & culture’, Culture, 11 March.

Available at: http://epicureandculture.com/thailand-long-neck-women/ (Accessed: 19 October 2015).

Haworth, A., Picklap, J., Rodulfo, K., Leal, S. and Real, E. (2008) Please set me free. Available at: http:// www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a1400/kayan-long-neck-thailand/ (Accessed: 14 September 2015).

Innes, E. (2014) The ‘giraffe women’ of Burma who wear brass rings around their necks. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2609467/Pictured-The-giraffe-women-eastern-Burma-wearbrass-rings-necks-sign-beauty.html (Accessed: 14 October 2015).

Keng, H. P. (2006) Long Neck ring wearing. Available at: http://www.huaypukeng.com/info_rings.htm (Accessed: 12 October 2015).

Salen, J. (2008) Corsets: Historic patterns and techniques. London: Batsford.

Sparks, L. (2005) The basics of corset building , A handbook for beginners. Burlington, Ont.: Eagle Press.

Steele, V. (2003) The corset: A cultural history. United States: Yale University Press.

Summers, L. (2003) Bound to please A history of the Victorian corset. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

The Kayan - Thailand (no date) Available at: http://vanishingworldphotography.com/kayan-tribe.html (Accessed: 6 October 2015).

Waddington, R. (no date) Indigenous peoples of the world — the Karen. Available at: http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Karen (Accessed: 22 October 2015).

Wallpaper*, adamschallau.photoshelter.com, flickr.com, stores.ebay.com, Babble, carolina-connecticut.tumblr.com, huamao.tumblr.com, monclertopus.com, supertacular.com, stylebistro.com, flickr. com, stylebubble.co.uk, weddbook.com, flickr.com, vipfashionaustralia.com, wishflowers.tumblr.com, Vogue, lucycorsetry.com, metmuseum.org and maghali.tumblr.com (2015) Breaking bones. Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/chrisrobyn/breaking-bones/ (Accessed: 14 September 2015).

Citations, Quotes & Annotations (Waddington, no date) Wallpaper*, adamschallau.photoshelter.com, flickr.com, stores.ebay.com, Babble, carolina-connecticut.tumblr.com, huamao.tumblr.com, monclertopus.com, supertacular.com, stylebistro.com, flickr. com, stylebubble.co.uk, weddbook.com, flickr.com, vipfashionaustralia.com, wishflowers.tumblr.com, Vogue, lucycorsetry.com, metmuseum.org and maghali.tumblr.com (2015) Breaking bones. Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/chrisrobyn/breaking-bones/ (Accessed: 14 September 2015).

(Wallpaper* et al., 2015)

A short history of the corset (1939) Available at: http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/korsett/korsett.shtml (Accessed: 14 October 2015).

(A short history of the corset, 1939) Foote, K. (2014) ‘Ethical travel: Thailand’s Long Neck women | epicure & culture’, Culture, 11 March.

Available at: http://epicureandculture.com/thailand-long-neck-women/ (Accessed: 19 October 2015).

(Foote, 2014) Haworth, A., Picklap, J., Rodulfo, K., Leal, S. and Real, E. (2008) Please set me free. Available at: http:// www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a1400/kayan-long-neck-thailand/ (Accessed: 14 September 2015).

(Haworth et al., 2008) Innes, E. (2014) The ‘giraffe women’ of Burma who wear brass rings around their necks. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2609467/Pictured-The-giraffe-women-eastern-Burma-wearbrass-rings-necks-sign-beauty.html (Accessed: 14 October 2015).

(Innes, 2014) Keng, H. P. (2006) Long Neck ring wearing. Available at: http://www.huaypukeng.com/info_rings.htm (Accessed: 12 October 2015).

(Keng, 2006) Salen, J. (2008) Corsets: Historic patterns and techniques. London: Batsford.

(Salen, 2008) Sparks, L. (2005) The basics of corset building , A handbook for beginners. Burlington, Ont.: Eagle Press.

(Sparks, 2005) Steele, V. (2003) The corset: A cultural history. United States: Yale University Press.

(Steele, 2003) Summers, L. (2003) Bound to please A history of the Victorian corset. Oxford: Berg Publishers.

(Summers, 2003) The Kayan - Thailand (no date) Available at: http://vanishingworldphotography.com/kayan-tribe.html (Accessed: 6 October 2015).

(The Kayan - Thailand, no date) Waddington, R. (no date) Indigenous peoples of the world — the Karen. Available at: http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Karen (Accessed: 22 October 2015).