Kelly Smith, contemporary illustrator

During my research into illustrators, I came across Kelly Smith.

Kelly Smith is an Australian illustrator who specializes in fashion and portraits.

Kelly Smith takes her inspiration from Fashion, Film and Fairy Tale to create a soft, feminine and natural energy within her work.

I personally love Kelly Smith's work; I like her attention to detail as I feel it gives her the ability to capture the likeliness of her subjects. I think her soft shades and pastel colour palette works really well!

Unit 127: Fashion Visualisation

We have now moved on to another brief, within this brief we are looking at illustrators and illustrating ourselves.

I've been looking into a variety of contemporary and historical illustrators, and documenting my research in a file for when I am ready to start experimenting by recreating their work and illustrating myself.

Example of contemporary illustration.
Artist: Cassandra Rhodin

Example of historical illustrator.
Artist: Charles Dana Gibson

The making of my trousers!

For pattern cutting I will be creating a pair of trousers from my previous post about the ASOS Africa capsule collection.

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I began by working out what fabric I would be using. Instead of sticking to organic jersey and traditional african print as I had planned, I wanted to be a little more experimental with the choice of fabric, I have decided that I will use a patchwork coloured silk that is woven so that it appears different colours from different angles.

Capsule collection for ASOS Africa A/W 11/12

Since looking closer at ASOS Africa I have created my own capsule collection that I feel would work for their brand. I designed this collection looking at my previous research into the brand, and research into two current trends; Clashing Patterns and Fabrics, and Androgynous Tailoring.

Above are a few examples of the Pattern Clash trend that I have tried to incorporate into my designs.

Below are a few examples of the Androgynous Tailoring trend.

I will add images of my capsule collection to this post as soon as possible :) 

I would use Traditional African Prints within my designs which would have already been created.

Sustainable Fashion; Stella McCartney

For my new brief I have been looking at sustainable design and how it links in with Fashion. One designer that has interested me is the wonderful Stella McCartney. :)

I was already aware of Stella McCartney as a designer, but hadn't realised she was so eco-friendly!
Many designers today are using and eco-friendly fashion philosophy; to support environmentalism and social responsibility through their designs. Stella McCartney combines her personal beliefs with her Fashion, she is a lacto-ovo-vegetarian and supporter of PETA, in her fashion design, Stella has a no animal policy, meaning she doesn't use fur or leather in her clothing, she only uses organic fabrics.

I feel that by having a better understanding of sustainable design now, that I can appreciate it more. I can now see why it's so important to change the way we think about design and the environment. I think I would like to look at this topic closer, and maybe consider incorporating it into my end of year Fashion Show Collection. :)

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule may also be known as the Golden Ratio or Golden Mean. It is a mathematical ratio that can be found naturally in things like art, shells, architecture, bones, fashion, flowers, the human face, etc.
















I found the Golden ratio quite hard to get my head around and understand at first, but when I did I found it fascinating! Especially how it is constantly being found within nature, because of this I feel it creates a feeling of harmony, and tends to be aesthetically pleasing when used within design.



The Golden ratio is equivalent to 1.618. Below is a video I have found which explains the Golden ratio, as I don't think I would be able to explain it very clearly.

Back at College, new brief; The Design Principles

So first off I would like to apologise for my lack of blog entries at late, I haven't had any internet access, but now I'm back at college it should be a little easier to keep you all up to date. :)


Back at College now, and with that we have begun a new brief, titled Unit 8; Design Principles in Art and Design.


So I thought I would start by explaining the various design principles;
The design principles are tools used to format the elements of design, and they apply to all aspects of design, such as architecture, writing, art, fashion, graphics, etc.


The most commonly applied principles of design include:

• Balance
• Emphasis
• Illusion
• Texture
• Value
• Scale/Proportion
• Rhythm
• Unity

Hussein Chalayan is an example of one designer who applies the design principles to his work. The design principle Balance can clearly be seen through a variety of his designs. He often plays around with symmetry to create a powerful and innovative effect. 

Above is an image of his famous 'table dress', notice how the dress is symmetrically balanced.

Here is Hussein Chalayan's 'aeroplane dress', this incorporates asymmetrical balance, and is, in my opinion, very effective.

I had never really considered that there would be particular principles to design before, I think it's interesting to see how these principles are applied to everyday design.

The Fashion Show!!!

So last Thursday and Friday I was working backstage at the Mid Cheshire Fashion Show, and I have to say I really enjoyed it! There was a mad rush to get the models dressed and ready to go out on stage in time, the atmosphere was really intense and insane, but I loved it! Above is a short video I took on my phone of some of the dresses on the catwalk, mine is there too. :)

My dress, the Front.

My dress, the Back.

I'm not going to lie and say I was 100% happy with my dress, but at least now I know what sort of standard to aim for, and what to expect for next year.

Nearly finished!

I have now made the needed adjustments to my dress for the Mid Cheshire College Fashion Show, and was unsure about my original plan's for the skirt. I decided that I would like to gather it all around, and not just at the back.
It's a lot shorter than I have expected, so the model will now be wearing black tight shorts underneath, and I will call it a feature. :)

Here is an image of my dress, this image doesn't show my dress complete, this is just me messing about with the gathering.

The Fashion Show will be taking place tomorrow and Friday, since taking the above picture I have now finished my dress, hopefully everything will run smoothly on the night, and I will be sure to keep you informed of how it goes, wish me luck!

Trip over to MMU :)

First off I would like to apologise for my lack of blog post's.

So yesterday I took a trip to Manchester Metropolitan University with College to see what sort of creative courses they have to offer, and see the work of previous students, and I have to say I was impressed! I have never really considered going to University, but seeing the work of previous student's has really made me think twice!

Not only did we get to see the work of previous Fashion students, but also the work of other students on creative courses. The talent was astonishing.

Fitting my Garment

Today I was finally ready to fit my garment to the model, Lauren Preston. There was an air of uncertainty and nervousness in the room as this was my first time fitting a garment to a model, I sensed that perhaps it was her first time modelling too as she also seemed nervous and shy.

I was relieved to see that my dress fitted well, and only a few alterations will be needed. I will be taking in the sleeves slightly, taking it in at the back were the zip will be and shortening the hem. I will also sew the netting (was underskirt) to the waist facing, as the facing naturally tries to stick up, I feel that sewing the netting to the facing will help to weigh down the waist facing and therefor make it less visible and my dress more streamline.

Its fits! I have asked my model Lauren Preston to bring plain black heels with her for the Fashion Show.

I'm so glad that my dress fits, and can't wait to get it fully completed. :)

Progress!

Since my last post, I have sewn on the embellishments to my front and back bodice, attached the facing to the bodice and attached my circle skirt.

 The diamond shaped embellishments for my bodice were quite time consuming as I had placed some of them wrongly and had to unpick. I also had to unpick some of the facing as originally I had forgotten to leave space for my shoulder sleeve to attach at the back, I have decided not to attach it yet as I don't know the measurements of my model, and feel it would be best to wait till I am called to fit my dress.

I still haven't completed my final garment, however I feel that I have achieved a lot today, and I am happy that I finally have the shell of the garment,  I am finally ready to fit my final design to the model! 

Continuation of the making of my final garment

Today I have been working more on my final garment ready for the Mid Cheshire fashion show.
I have now completed my sleeve, my diamond shaped embellishments, and began attaching my front and back bodice via the strips.

What I have accomplished today.

 I feel that I still have a lot of work to do if I want to finish my dress in time for the Fashion show, however I am happy to see it slowly coming together. :)

Lay Plans for my Final Garment

Today I have been creating the lay plans for my final garment. This is the first time I have created a lay plan, and after today I feel that I have a better understanding of the need for them.
We use Lay plans to cut down on the wastage of fabric. This is very important in industry as every penny counts, as they produce by the masses, even a little bit of fabric wasted could become very costly.
Below are some examples of my lay plans.

Above is the lay plan for the feature on my bodice, I have drawn the same pattern out in tailors chalk multiple times to show how I will try to reduce waste.

After I had completed my lay plans, I moved on to creating my sleeve. I have cut out the pieces, ironed on the interfacing and sewed the strip in place.