METAL WORK

got my meatl back this week!! and im so happy with it..pictures will follow ones i put it together im really happy with it and the look amazing...check out the toil i did for it...

PRESENTATION

I did a 10 min presentation today! I was so disappointed how it had turned out. I was up virtually all night doing it and it was very tiring. I wasn't clear enough by making the conversation flow smoothly. We had to do it on our finally project and future goals. It was really frustrating because I knew what i was saying and was confident with my future outcome hopes but just didn't get them across. Thankfully the tutors hopefully saw through it.

It is great practice as its almost what you would have to do in an interview situation so it prepares you for the real work. It also teaches how to get your ideas and communication across smoothly to a board of people!
It wasnt as good as I hoped but it did cover everything so I was pleased about that. Last ever so yeah!!

Brochure for final collection

We got to see a sneak preview of our final collection brochure for the college. I liked it allot and felt it was a strong brochure . we each had a tab of colour that would come out of our image and across the page. The colour was determined by our final photo by David lam as they are the ones going in the booklet. I had a gold strip..but felt it wasn't to gold rather a murky green! but its hard to get a pure metal looking gold so had to deal with it! I did look at other pantone colours that were available but decided not to change it

TOIL-FINAL 2 DESIGNS

This sleeve was little tricky until Claudette- a pattern cutting tutor showed me hoe easy it really was!!! I was pleased to now this in my future development of pattern cutting. I feel it works well, but need to be lowered slight and will have stiffening inside to keep its shape

PHOTOSHOOT BACK!!!!

We got our photos back last weds and I was so nervous as I hadn't a clue where other people did have a slight idea what theirs would look like!

I was so pleased with the out come. I loved my shoot and felt it worked really well. Saying that, I would have had more of a full shot as I wanted but he explained it was for the benefit of the cape I have designed, to show that off more. I also wished her hair was tied back but I'm am really pleased with it.

TOIL-FINAL 2 DESIGNS

TOILS of final two desigs, Im happy with both outcomes and I thought they would be harder then I thought! The arched sleeveless jacket was tricky but got it finally. Both I feel will work well the the meduim weight wool i chose to make them out off. I dont need to make the trousers up or the skirt for the designs as I have the trouser pattern already done and the skirt will be toiled straight on the manniquin, as I want it seamless.

MP progression

SKETCHBOOK/FILE

I have been working on my sketchbook and file this week. Alongside this illustrations which I found a style that finally suits me. I like these pencil drawing i did but still needs to be refined. I feel updated with allot things but just a little behind with my sketchbook, so i need to make sure i keep on top of things

MP-Making

I'm a little behind but nothing to be concern bout I feel. As the crash got me a little behind I have decided to come back those things and keep track in my other stages. I feel on top of things. The metal panelling is on course along side the gold work embroidery so i hope it will all be OK. I still have tow more outfits to toil in the week coming so I shall do that as I'm waiting on the fabric form EDGAR.

Metal work- TOIL Cont.Alterations

these are some images that show my final toils for the panels I needed to cut out of metal for my final pieces. I have to toil this twice as the first time wasn't right and the fabricator suggestion some alteration like paneling them slightly thinner ect. I'm pleased with this and will take it to him this week and see if this is better... although he did mention I may need to split the front 2 panels in half as it will look more effect and not clumsy and bulky!!

MP progression

I have recently had a car crash...so had been out of action for a while!! I'm OK and back on my feet.....I have these beads which I have brought from various places to create my jewelry collection. I Also found these washers used for pluming at B & q...gold ones..which are great to create necklaces and bracelets!!! I also a few other bits like badges and materials that i will use in my collection

PHOTOSHOOT RESEARCH- KATTACA

I think this image is great with position of the arm, as mine to has a arm statement piece. the position of the model is something that i like here!

MY PHOTOSHOOT-

DAVID LAM

I was in a car when my final photo shoot was taking place!! I was gutted but was sure that my tutors would of taken care of it. I heard it went really well and and the shoot was successful. I wanted to go for a contemporary strong look. As its very sculptural I wanted a strong pose and look and prefable a full shoot..but apparently I didn't have one as it was best to be taken they way they did it...so i just have to wait. This was some of the images I have showed David weeks before on the kinda look I wanted. My friend Laura was kind enough to show me a company that has amazing fashion photography...KATTACA. these images are very strong and to over the top for me..but the statement and the visual impact is there and they work amazingly with he outfits. I would want to achieve the same principle with my outfit.

MP progression

I was really pleased with my line up and after toil on stand for weeks, I was ready to make my final collection!!! I still have toil 2 more outfits and but I feel for my time keeping, im ready to start making, and when I have completed the fisrt lot..I will then start to toil the other two. I have brought majority of my materials but again will have to buy . I feel the fabric I have chose really refects the collection, and im really excited to bring my collection to life..Finally!!!

Research-Metal work- Companies

As Part of my final line up, I'm going to have metal work Incorporated into my work. I need to find a company that will do this for me. I found it very hard as many company's that's use metal laser cutting is for more large buildings, therefore would cost me allot more to get it done. I managed to get a company who is near me to get it done which I'm very pleased bout.

Its called MCS Engineering, Fabrication located in Colchester, Website bellow.

This is the piece I want to get done along with another. I have cut all the pieces in card and then wil give it to them to cut out and use as a pattern.

http://www.fabricationcolchester.co.uk/

TOIL ON STAND- FINAL LINE UP

Trousers with a deep insert side pocket, classicly straight with a crease line. Ankle length

Sleeve with pleat design.

Pleated collar- this was scraped as I felt it wasnt working well

Dress with panelling detail

These are some of my toils I have done in development of my patterns for my final line up.
I think they have developed well, but allot of changes do need to be made to the pattern before a final draft pattern can be created. I find it easier to toil on stand and flat pattern cut at the same time, sharing both disciplines and to finally produce a outcome. I'm pretty impatient, so I have to toil it as I go along!! I feel they area all strong designs to produce confidently. There is one design after producing the toil( the pleated neck collar) that I will not do this and have scraped it in my final line up and have replaced it with another design I like. This was all part of the development process and after producing it, I felt it did not fit in with the line up and it looked out of place. After drawing up a new line up I was pleased with what i decided!

JEWELLERY-Dries Van Norton

I love this jewellery and I'm hoping to do some for my collection. I think this is such an effective way of doing it...using usual shapes and loading on to an black string or ribbon. Beautiful!!!!

More dresse with metal fabrication. I like the shapes created here.

Metal dresses

This is an extreme of what metal can do. Although I like the shapes created i would not want to achieve this look as i find it to bulky and not tasteful enough.

Metal dress- Researching

As Im using metal..I researched aot of pieces that had metal incorparated in the outfit. Its was a hard task to find, as I some inages and outifits I found were very clumsey and not beautifuly crafted.

Its very hard to use metal in a tastful mannor and not make it look very bulky.

This a Paco Rabanne metal dress.

This is beautifully crafted, looking danty and wearble.

I love the use of the metal and how its cut in small squares linked to give shape to the sillhoute

Chains-GOLD!

I found these great snake chains in a wholesale jewerlly shop in Soho. I think the will work really well in my MP as part of my final line up.

Tailoring fabrics

Holland and Sherry are one of the best tailored fabrci merchants in the world. I knew of the at my days on Savile Row and I knew I wanted to get some fabric from there. I Visted there show room on savile row and looked at mixed wool/silk fabrics. To my joy I found the perfect fabric for my collection...(Didnt like the price though!) but worth it. it was a silk and wool..so its was perfect! . I also was looking at House of Edgar . I wanted a Venican wool..with a sheen and there was a black cloth i saw I wanted. This was the best cloth I could find which they stocked!

www.hollandandsherry.com

www.houseofedgar.com

Fabric Research

I went to a number of fabric stores in London in the week. Sourcing fabrics is the best part for me!! I love to explore fabric and material shops to get inspiration. I went to London, Bewrick Street and Soho. There are so many shops in Soho and i can be very hard to narrow down where to look and buy but the key thing is to have a budget and spend wisely. I found allot the stores

to have stocked the same fabric.So its wise to shop around, especially for the plainer fabrics like the silks and linings, it may be cheaper to get wholesale. I went into BOROVICKS, CLOTH SHOP, BEWRICK STREET CLOTH and BROADWICK SILKS. I got alot of samples and it was great o have a large sample collection. This just shows one of the sample range I got from Broadwick silks. This was the best shop by far for me. I found it very inspiring with rich silks and beautiful tones linings.

www.broadwicksilks.com

www.borovick.com

www.clothshop.com

This is the GREAT Alexander Mcqueens Last collection. Yet again he demonstrates absolute genius with creativity beyond any ones imagination. Hearing his death whilst in Paris was devastating. I just couldn't believe it. But unfortunate this is the harsh realty of the world of fashion. He was defiantly one of the biggest inspirations in my life when it came to fashion. I was fortunate to meet him. His last collection was a great link to my final major project. He used allot of gold embroidery and gold work. I love his use of colour , its very regal and rich.

This is Karl largerfield's SS10 collection. It has allot of metal work moulded to the cloth to give a great edgy look! I love the use of the metal. It look sophisticated with looking bulky. It is beautifully cut on the dress. I LOVE IT!! I feel I can realte to this collection to mine. As I am too using metal. This gives me inspiration for how I could use metal in my collection.

DISSERTATION DONE...

As much as I hated writing my dissertation...I loved writing about it. Savile is the heart of me and it was like a journey for me and I learned allot on the way. I have always had a problem with writing essays and now that I have completed the most important one so far to date... I can evaluate how I was. I needed to slow down and check each stage. though tutorials, i got told I was too descriptive in my manor of writing...like a documentary! i had to evaluate the research I had found.

I also was lucky to have had first hand research on my dissertation by getting interviews with influential tailors like Ray Stowers(below his website). I found this to be so helpful but also was hard to do book research as I knew allot of stuff first hand experience. Having worked there for 2 years... it was allot different to what books describe it.

As I was writing, I found all the feelings that I had when I was on the Row, coming back. I didn't realise how much I missed the place and now know I defiantly want to go back and finish my trade off. I want have a trade behind me and always felt passionate about it. The dissertation helped me in so many ways and gave me a purpose on what i believe in.

COLOUR STORY

this is my colour story that has given me my pallet throughout my MP collection. It stemed from Gherys building and Zaha hadid. The images below are my favorite pieces by the architects. Gherys Gold building it beautiful assembled creating rich tones of gold and the harshness of Hadids building inspires me for crisp clean, slick lines and tones on black.

SHOPS AND SIGHT SEEING!!

This has to be the highight of my trip to Paris. To the Flag ship store of Chanel!! OMG- it was stunning , stylish and classy. As I went in... to my left I saw beautiful picture of 'COCO' in her younger days...as I walked through ....there it was THE MIRRORED STAIRCASE!

I had to hold every inch of my strength in to not run up those stairs. The staff were lovely and the store just was so immaculate.

PARIS!!

I went to PARIS last week for Indigo..and it was amazing! it was nice to go with uni friends and Paris is always lovely to see.
Working on the stand at Paris was amazing to show off our work. great experience and it was nice to see what other colleges had done. There was a diverse interest in what clients wanted on my days on the stand. Some really knew what they wanted and did not look for anything else, and some just wanted a bit of everything, construction , print etc. Our stand I felt was much looked more polished and clean. other college stands looked like a college stand where ours looked professional!
Although my work was not the best I had done, it didn't get shown on the stand as much as i wanted it to be, but the first day I did actually sell something to my surprise! It just proves that although it wasn't my best work, someone else took interest. design really depends on the individual... and I'm not basking on my sale but SHOWS that it really doesn't matter if its an objective view on your work..everyone has a view and option.

You can see the scale of how big it was...and this is just one part!!

DESIGN IDEAS

Just a snippet of my sketchbook initial ideas. Relating all ideas to architecture and fashion. I also looking at gold work and how I can incorporate into my work. As I was at hand and lock I will try to use some of my contacts to see how much cost would come up to for gold work embroidery.
Im tryng to stick to clean lines but bold structures. Ineed to refine these ideas into more sophistated designs but feel its a step in the right direction in what I want to achieve in MP.