Meet your Doppelg채nger
Yulia Tkachenko
The colour Grey
My project started from one decision - decision of colour. From three colours, white, black & grey, I am supposed to pick just one and use it for the whole collection, for all garments, to create a ‘mono’ collection - for me, it was too hard to realise. From the beginning of this academic year I already knew my colour - black. Simple & complicated at the same time, black is a safe colour - it will look stylish & modern in any shape & pattern. Then, during Christmas break, I stopped for a second, do I really want to play safe? No, I actually don`t. I started to look for ideas; I discovered that every colour has a meaning, emotion behind it. With white & black it is simple: light & dark, good & evil. Grey is something more. Something deeper, more mysterious, surreal. Grey is the colour of compromise - being a mix of light and darkness, it is two-sided. Grey is a middle colour, a border between good & evil. Grey is a mirror, a fragile veil between you and your reflection. But who of you two is evil?
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Grey Metal Iron Shine Mirror
Reflection
Doppelg채nger
Cold
After deciding the colour & coming up with the idea of mirrors, I started to look deeper: researching, visiting exhibitions & galleries, finding objects that will feed & give a depth to my conception. But sometimes you don`t need to go far, ideas & inspiration are right before your eyes. So I found two of my objects on the street where I live. One of them was graffiti of an unknown artist; it is a graphical bird made of triangles & sharp angles, a bird drawn in two shades of grey - light & dark grey. Another object you would find anywhere - it is a picture of paving stones, grey squares & triangles connected by cement. My two other objects are absolutely opposite. It doesn`t have any sharp angles or graphics, it is smooth, streamlined shapes - sculptures by Marc Quinn, named the Broken Sublime. Beautiful steel shells with mirrored flesh inside. That was the thing! My objects, starting points of the whole project, are different from each other. There are strict graphics & more artistic flowing shapes, flats & volume - this contrast will help me to build a great collection at the junction of two styles - Urban & Luxury.
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Urban & Luxury
What does it mean to be Urban? How does Luxury look? How do I combine these two styles & come up with fashionable outfits? These questions keep running in my head after the day we got the brief for the project. Back to my roots, back to USSR times in Russia, luxury always meant a lot of gold rings on the fingers & heavy gold chains on the neck, which were showing position in the society of the person and his/her family. These people were proving their status ever ywhere, from grocery shop to famous Russian public baths. For my grandparents it still means luxury. But how will I interpret my background, how will I change the ideals that have been put in my head from early childhood? How can I make it look modern & contemporary? In my collection you wouldn`t see gold, that`s for sure! I was thinking about rich quality fabric, shapes, even colour s make something look luxury or not, & of course, the quality of making. From my present point of view, luxury is haute couture: shapes, length, volume, and colours - I will try to reach the standards that I have in my head from making the garments to final photoshoot.
With the luxury part decided, what should I do with Urban? For me, Urban is a modern lifestyle. Today`s peoples lives have very high speed, high expectations, high levels. Because of i n t e r m i n a b l e m ov i n g & h i g h rhythm of life, people prefer comfort to pretentious, natural colours to brightness. For me Urban style is always inspired by sports wear & movement. The new generation want everything & immediately, they are not accepting complicated, heavy things, today`s winners are something simple, that has a good quality - that is how I see it, that is what I`m planning to use simplicity & comfort. In the end I came up with distinctive features of my future collection between two styles: simple urban & complexity of luxury, no screaming colours, no giddiness of prints, no crazy shapes, only style & quality.
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Somerset House/October 2015
Last year, October, I went to Somerset House to find inspiration & contextual references for my Red Line p r o j e c t f r o m t h e p r e v i o u s s e m e s t e r, a n d , unfortunately, didn`t find anything that can relate to my conception. I was really upset; I still had time & desire to find inspiration. Luckily, there was an exhibition, I had been recommended by a museum worker to visit it. It was Marc Quinn`s exhibition. I have to confess to my shame that I never heard about the artist before & went there only because I had spare time. The idea of reflected objects found me during my visit to this exhibition. The Artist presented his latest sculptures of broken shells made of steel, the shell`s flesh was polished so I saw myself in the reflection… or not myself? The Exhibition influenced not only the mirror conception of the collection; but encouraged silhouettes of intricate shapes of the shells with the colour of the steel. But I didn`t know it yet. I just took a lot of pictures of the broken shells, walked around, then, just left without thinking that these sculptures will became a part of my life for 3 - 4 months. During Christmas break, when I decided ‘to play the big game’ & move from safe black to unstable grey, I was looking for something, something that will ‘make’ my project alive & interesting, and I found my pictures of Quinn`s shells - that was the thing!
During Christmas br eak, w hen I decided ‘to play the big game’ & move from safe black to unstable grey, I was looking for something, something that w i l l ‘ m a ke ’ m y p r o j e c t a l i v e & interesting, and I found my pictures of Quinn`s shells - that was the thing!
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Natural History Museum/February 2016
It wasn`t my first visit to the museum but it was the first time I saw it in the dark. It was magical! Lighting in the main hall was poor, there were a dinosaur`s bones in the middle… I felt a part of the ‘Night in the Museum’ movie or a Hogwar ts’s student, how incredible that feeling was! I went to Natural History Museum with a clear goal experiment with mirrors. My research lead me to variations of mirrors: broken glass, reflection & distorted mirrors; Natural History Museum was the closest place with this type of mirrors. I must say, it was a lot of fun, I took hundreds of pictures. These pictures will be, not only a great contextual reference, it could inspire shapes for my final garments as well. As example, some of the mirrors showed my body as very long, it might be a great idea for a long, exaggerated, dramatic skirt for one of my outfits!
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Paper/Fabric Manipulation
Visits to museums and exhibitions helped me to understand what I want to reach in the making of my garments. When the time of playing on the stand & sampling came, I distinctly knew what shapes I would like to experiment with. Back to my research, there are sharps and angles (graffiti & broken glass) with smooth, streamlined shapes (seashells). We started with paper, I began to cut a lot of triangles with different sizes & play with them separately or connecting. After awhile, triangles created shapes, these shapes transferred to varied pieces (Pic 13). Then rounded, smooth shapes replaced triangles (Pic 16). The next week I was ready to move to calico, impatience lead me, I couldn`t wait to start shell shapes in massive sizes, I wanted to extend & diminish them, more & more, again & again (Pic 14). Close to the end, I still wasn`t sure which shapes & sizes I wanted to use, it was a hard decision to pick just a few but this selection of different shapes & styles was very helpful during design development, I had a lot of information and examples which I could borrow & play with on the figure.
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Selfridge’s visit/ Diffusion project
Before Chantelle`s class and Selfridge`s visit, I wasn`t really sure what diffusion clothes are & why some d e s i g n e r s h o u s e s d e c i d e d t o m a ke c h e a p e r collections. After walking around the famous brand`s shops we came up with the list of distinctive features of each ‘category’:
Main range - quality - finishing - higher price - piece as a statement - limited sizes - make you feel special more space on the shop flour - unique - manufactured in a country of origin - ‘Grown ups’ clothes
Diffusion - Cheaper - More creative - Brighter - Wider audience - basic - Made in China/Bangladesh/India etc. - Contemporary - Younger - Lower concentration of brand`s identity
Main range and diffusion collections are extremely important in today`s fashion world. In my head I created a ‘fashion pyramid’, which is built of layers, first, fundamental layer, is haute couture. The following layers inspired, based and created as a resemblance of first layer. Second layer is the main range of the famous brands. Third - diffusion collections & independent designers. Fourth are high-end brands. Looking at the pyramid, one question becomes imminent: which niche as a designer do I want to take? I wish it`s the third as an independent designer. I never even dreamed about haute couture & I clearly know that I never wanted to become a brand, which everybody would wear; it destroys all the uniqueness of the garments. I find these two projects absolutely challenging: creating cheaper versions for wider audiences from the garments I just made, how interesting is that? You need to make fabric decisions differently from main garments, design should be slightly different, I think, more brave, more urban.
Trends A/W 2017
After weeks & weeks of fashion shows, now people can clearly see what we will wear next season. As always, after good research I found highlights of Autumn/ Winter 2017, and it surprised me! My collection, built on mirror conception, contains a lot of silver fabric, I was shocked when I found out that most of the designers from fashion weeks were using it! From big names to little brands: Cavalli, Simone Rocha, Opening ceremony, Maison Margiela, Yeezy, Julien David, … designers just extended silver to huge sizes. Moreover, some designers used ‘broken glass’ print! There was something more than silver/mirror prints different variations of capes with hoods, zips, buttons, pockets, embroidery or just simple capes without any detail & decoration. Alexander McQueen, Nicolas K, Ralph Lauren, … a lot of examples I can take inspiration for my cape from. Urban style takes first position for 4 seasons already, the latest A/W 17 season wasn`t an exception. Some collections contained only urban identity, some - just little details. Coach, Rihanna for Puma, Alexander Wang - ‘regulars’ of urbanism didn`t disappoint their admirers this season. A/W 17 season had a lot of interesting, inspirational aspects along with some very boring shows but there are always some designers who make the whole fashion world move & create!
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Process of making
I`ve got a feeling that my making process came too early, I wasn`t ready, wasn`t prepared. I knew what I wanted to see as a final result but all things were only in my head, I didn`t know yet how it will really look, and more important, how I will make it. On the first day I felt lost, didn`t know where I should start; but the decision came quickly, Jill asked if any one wanted to see the process of making a hood that was the answer! I wanted to make a cape with a hood for my first outfit & Jill just pushed me to the right destination. I planned to make a simple cape from one piece of fabric but it looked too mundane! So I made sleeves & pockets, it was an absolutely new version of the cape. On the first day the toile of the cape was ready. Next day I spent making a dramatic ‘mermaid’ skirt. The main thing that influenced me was a seashell where there are shells, there are mermaids! On the second day the skirt & top were ready, outfit №1 was completed!
When the time of making from the real fabric came I was panicking. I knew my shapes, sizes, patterns were ready but I missed one huge thing - fabric decision. After showing my toile to teachers, all of them said that now chosen fabric would dictate what I will produce & how it will look - it scared me & holed back for a week, I visited different shops & markets but couldn`t find anything. I was really frightened to make a mistake and fail the whole collection, project & my future diploma! But week after I learned another helpful life lesson don`t be afraid to ask, share your doubts. My question just saved all my work! We had a long chat with Justine, trying & sampling different fabrics, answer was around - felt! Felt is perfectly holding my shapes & creating exact silhouette as I wanted, moreover it`s very soft, urban & perfect for autumn / winter collection! My making process moved from the dead point & it worked perfectly. Felt is a very comfort fabric to work with, it even works with my silver mirrored fabric, it was a bless. First outfit was ready in a week!
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The second outfit, even if it is only two garments, wasn`t easier to make. The time I started it, we`ve got Diffusion project and I was trying to catch up with all things at the same time, which wasn`t the best bit. From the planning & drawing of my second outfit I knew what I’m supposed to make but after creating a toile I understood that it is not fitting to my conception & A/W season properly! During reading week I tried different things: played with my designs, changed first fabrics choices & in the end I came up with the final thing! I wanted to create a contrast with hard, thick fabric & light, sliding materials, so I created big, thick jumper from knitted, volume fabric with silver elements to fit my concept & very light wide trousers which look amazing together! I was so pleased because both garments came out exactly how I wanted them to, I loved the materials & how they worked together.
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In conclusion I just want to say that I am so happy. Long weeks of designing, creating & making garments in a nervous atmosphere are finished but I will miss them. Two years went so quickly. Last four months were very intense & hard for me, I was rushing to finish everything on time, sometimes forgetting to stop & look around; my final result, my collection is finished and I can`t believe that I`m writing these words right now. I am so proud of my work & so grateful for the experience that I had. Everything went perfectly, collection, photoshoots, presentation & I really hope that after the final fashion show I will have the same feeling, I can`t wait to present it to the people & see if they will embrace my doubled faced, Doppelganger concept!
Bibliography Pic 1 Cover picture. Author’s own photography. Taken 03-02-16 Pic 2 Somerset House. Author’s own photography. Taken 09-11-15 Pic 3 Cricklewood lane. Author’s own photography. Taken 17-02-16 Pic 4 Somerset House. Author’s own photography. Taken 09-11-15 Pic 5 Cricklewood lane. Author’s own photography. Taken 17-02-16 P i c 6 http://news.nike.com/news/nike-tech-pack-returns-with-a-lightweight-collec tion-tech-hyperfuse Accessed 23-01-16 P i c 7 http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2015/07/03/ralph-and-russo-couture-show-pre view-paris-autumn-2015 Accessed 23-01-16 Pic 8 Somerset House. Author’s own photography. Taken 09-11-15 Pic 9 Somerset House. Author’s own photography. Taken 09-11-15 Pic 10 Natural History Museum. Author’s own photography. Taken 16-02-16 Pic 11 Natural History Museum. Author’s own photography. Taken 16-02-16 Pic 12 Natural History Museum. Author’s own photography. Taken 16-02-16 Pic 13 Author’s own photography. Taken 12-02-16 Pic 14 Author’s own photography. Taken 12-02-16 Pic 15 Author’s own photography. Taken 12-02-16 Pic 16 Author’s own photography. Taken 12-02-16 Pic 17 http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2016/ready-to-wear Accessed 18-02-16 Pic 18 http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2016/ready-to-wear Accessed 18-02-16 Pic 19 http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2016/ready-to-wear Accessed 18-02-16 Pic 20 http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/autumn-winter-2016/ready-to-wear Accessed 18-02-16 Pic 21 Author’s own photography. Taken 18-02-16 Pic 22 Author’s own photography. Taken 18-02-16 Pic 23 Author’s own photography. Taken 18-02-16 Pic 24 Author’s own photography. Taken 18-02-16 Pic 25 Author’s own photography. Taken 09-03-16 Pic 26 Author’s own photography. Taken 09-03-16