Unit X - Superstitions

Presentation and Ideas

As part of our brief, we were asked to put together a presentation discussing out ideas and how we are going to channel them. Three of us from our group decided to put together the presentation, adding pictures of our work and explain how each one of us are bringing something different to the project, however all having the same thread through our work that links us together, the 175th anniversary of the art school. 

For our final idea, we have decided that a film would be the best idea. Each of us have some many different ideas that we did not want to just decided on one that and that would be it. Instead we felt that a film would be more appropriate as we could each show off our skills and research but it would be seen as almost an individual collaboration. 

The film would show us doing our own thing, for example, since I have been focusing on the fashion of the 70s. I will bring my own part into this, but still having the 175th anniversary in mind. The 70s was such a massive time for art and fashion, it was turned on its head and has never been the same since, therefor I wanted to celebrate this. I am going to focus on the fashion and create little garment, possibly shoes, that represent the 70s. I will create these out of different materials and film/take pictures of myself creating them, which will then be added to the film. 

Through as discussion on facebook, this was our final idea.I really like this idea, as I think it brings together all our ideas in an joint project.

Unit X - Superstitions

Research - Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2013

 In the season of Spring/Summer 2013, fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier created a homage to past fashion, focusing on the influential stars of the 70s. Gaultier took sections of each star and what made them great and added his own touch to each one. 

This specific one is based on David Bowies character, Ziggy Startdust. Ziggy was an androgynous, loud and unusual dressed character that Bowie created for the stage, calling him 'a rock star from out of space'.

Gaultier styled his models with the famous red mullet, which makes you instantly think of Ziggy. He also used very heavy make up on a quite masculine faced woman, which sums Bowie up. The heavy blue eye make-up echos that of the 'Life On Mars' video. 

The clothes themselves take so much influence from Bowie/Yamamotos designs however Gaultier puts his own mark on it. The materials themselves are one of Bowies favourites, knitwear. Some of Bowies most famous costumes are knitted. Gaultier has also chosen the garment to be the same cut as Bowies outfits, one long sleeve and only one pant leg, which Bowie favourited. The design channels Bowies risks he took with his fashion, however, the only difference is the model is wearing tights, which Bowie did not. The colour pallete itself focuses on a collection of Bowie and Yamamotos designs, mainly focusing on the reds, with Yamamotos influence of bright pops of colour to break the outfit off. This is all topped off with a huge star shaped bracelet to top of the Ziggy Stardust look.

Unit X - Superstitions

Research - Fashion 

After researching a lot about David Bowie himself, i've moved onto looking at the fashion which surrounded Bowie at the time, to what he influenced and what influecned him. I have begun to look at Kansai Yamamoto and his designs. As he was the costume designer for Bowie during the 1970s. I found a video on youtube of Yamamoto's first catwalk show in London (he was the first Japanese fashion designer to show in London) which shows his influences. 

This video shows Yamamotos first opening outfit to his show. As you can see he is heavily influenced by the traditional Japanese dragons. This is something that he channels through Bowies costumes. Another traditional aspect that he focuses on is colour, this is something thats evident throughout all of his catwalk work, not just his early ones. Yamamoto loves bright and vibrant colours. 

The show its self is almost like a performance, the models dancing and prancing around on the stage. Their costumes open up to reveal bright dragons, almost appearing from nowhere. Perhaps this is something Bowie liked or inspired, being a huge fan of mime and performance art, rather than just letting the clothes speak for themselves. 

Unit X - Superstitions

Zero Waste Lecture

I attended the Tuesday 16th April lecture, 'Zero Waste' which focused on the idea of no waste fabric when cutting patterns for garments, using as much fabric as possible, or using the 

waste fabric to create pockets and embellishments. I have never really done any pattern 

cutting before so at certain points in the lecture I started to become lost and confused as I didn't know what she was discussing, however pattern cutting is something I would be interested in doing in the future. 

The lecture focused on fashion designers that are bring 'Zero Waste' fashion into the limelight. I found the idea of 'Zero Fashion' very interesting as it is something I have never thought about before. I never realised how much fabric is wasted when cutting garments. 

What I liked most about the 'Zero Waste' pattern cutting was the idea that you had no control over the garment, that it controlled you. It made you think about the designs, whether they would fit perfectly or you'd have to tweek something in order to make it fit into the pattern. This is something I quite liked about the idea.

If I had more time in "Unit X' I would like to take this idea further to run alongside of my brief, creating garments with the idea of no waste in mind. 

Unit X - Superstitions

Research

During my last brief, I felt, which was agreed in my feedback, that I did not do enough research apart from basic research that I found on the internet. 

In this brief, I really want to push that idea and spend more time looking into what I wanted to focus on. For example, I have started to watch a lot of documentaries on David Bowie, from his 'Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture' to the critically acclaimed 'David Bowie; Cracked Actor' I found that watching things, rather than researching them on the internet was not only easier but I found that I learnt a lot more from the documentaries and I know that I can trust the information. Due to the recent comeback of Bowie, there has been a lot of information available about him, such as podcasts and radio interviews. Another part of my research was to look through books for photographs and interviews, buying such books as 'David Bowie Is; The Exhibition Guide' to 'Glam Rock; An Eyewitness Account' and even magazines such as "NME; The David Bowie Special." I am finding this way of researching really fun and interesting, going out looking for information rather than just typing it into google and hoping what comes up is useful. 

Unit X - Superstitions

Drawings + Fashion

 I've been focusing a lot on the fashion of the 70s, mainly on the change that David Bowie brought to the fashion world, introducing Japanese fashion to the British public. I have created some drawings focusing on Bowies fashion, but also looking at other fashion icons at the time, for example Debbie Harry, Elton John and Freddie Mercury. 

I have never really done any fashion drawings before and I found it very difficult at first, trying to make the fabric look right, for example leather. After I did my first one, I found that I really started to enjoy it and get into a routine of doing these drawings. I used felt-tip pens to add colour, however not colouring in fully as I thought that the full colour would be too overpowering on the figures, taking attention away from the flamboyant costumes. 

I took the clothes from the 'David Bowie Is' exhibition guide, as I found google images untrustworthy. I decided to draw the clothing on women's figures as, when reading up about Bowie's costume designers, they said that they use a woman's figure on their drawings as Bowie has a very slender figure like a woman. 

Unit X - Superstitions

Progression

After visiting lots of exhibitions during the start of 'Unit X' I have come to realise that there is a connection within everything that I haven't noticed before until I started posting on my blog and seeing all the work as a whole, rather than a sketchbook, blogs and exhibitions.

Having been researching about Paul McCartney and The Beatles and the conspiracy surround the idea that Paul McCartney died and was replaced by a look-a-like. I never researched about the time and culture surrounding The Beatles, only briefly looking to their fans and 'Beatle-Mania'. I never looked into what else was happening at the time, from, news stories, fashion and other artists and musicians that contributed to the culture. Looking though my research sketchbook, I realised that the 'Glam Rock', the 'David Bowie is' and  'Roy Lichtenstein' exhibitions all tie in with the research that I have already been doing. 

The connection being the era that they all were culturally relevant, the late 60's and throughout the 70s. Each artist contributed to the culture at the time. For example, Lichtenstein was creating art work, never before seen, Bowie for creating a new way of joining art, fashion and music into one thing, showing that men and women do not have to dress different, each gender being able to share clothes and experiment. 

This idea is something I am going to take and run with, collecting different bits of research. From family photographs, to fashion, music and artwork. This is something I think I could expand on and really make the most of my project.