Unit X - Superstitions

Final Ideas

This photograph is of some of my shoes that I made. I was hoping that I would have a collection of shoes in the exhibition showing all different designs and techniques. After rushing and panicking, I started decorating my shoes, which in turn ruined the shoes. I think that the amount of stuff I was using on them (glue for the glitter and the water for the brusho) might have added too much to the shoes and made them collapse. Luckily, shown in the previous photographs, I took lots of photographs of my shoes, in really good light, which shows the different techniques I experiment with. After looking back over my work, I have realised that the photographs are maybe stronger than the shoes them self and this is what I wanted to exhibit instead. After a tutorial with Nichola, we decided that the photographs would be the best decision.

Unit X - Superstitions

Final Piece Photographs

These are some photographs that I have taken of the shoes that I have created. In order to link all of our groups work together, about the dark side of things (hence the name superstitions) I decided to show the dark side of the 70s reflected in my shoes. I created the shoes in very bright, garish colours to reflect the good times of the period, but photographed them against the dark, cold, wet pavement in order to reflect the bad side. 

I will leave the shoes outside in the rain overnight, or for as long as possible, in order to see how they rot and change in the rain.

                

                                  

Unit X - Superstitions

Final Idea

These photographs show the design process of my shoes. I decided that it would be best to use technique that were effective and did not take a lot of time (as I underestimated the time it would take for the mod-rock to dry) I thought that the use of brusho paints would work very well as the results are almost instant. It also links in with my 70s theme, as the brusho paints look very tie-dyed when applied to anything. What I liked about these paints was that you had no control over what happened with them, just the colours. I thought that the best way to get an effective tie-dye pattern would be do add the colour outside in the rain, making the paint bleed together. This worked very effectively, however again it meant because the shoes were wet, it would again take a while to dry them off. 

Another thing I decided to include in my decoration was glitter. Glam Rock was all about adding glitter to almost everything, almost masking certain things to make them seem that much better. I used mainly red, purple and blue glitter (as these were the main focus of colours that I picked out from my drawings. The glitter was very easy too apply, however, I feel it may now look quite childish. 

Unit X - Superstitions

Final Piece Production

These photographs show how I began creating my shoes. These are pictures of the first stage of the shoe. Taking casts from an actual shoe, then cutting off the cast. I found the use of mod-rock very effective, however, it takes a lot of time to smooth over the holes to make it look neat. I've mentioned this in other posts. Overall, if I had more time to create the shoes, I would experiment with the different types of materials available in order to see which one worked best.

Unit X - Superstitions

Samples

These are some videos I created whilst making my mod-rock shoes. I decided the best way of getting a good shape to the shoes was to take a mild from an actual pair of shoes then cut the cast off it. This method worked quite well, however, the mod-rock take quite a while to dry, only being able to do one layer at a time, therefor the process is quite lengthy. 

There was another downside to creating these shoes, with the mod-rock being so thin, the shoes took quite a lot of layers to give them stability. When taking them off the shoe, they broke quite easily, which was very frustrating. 

Unfortunately, these videos could not be used in my film, as I filmed them on my iPhone (I wasn't told they had to be in a certain format) 

Unit X - Superstitions

Research and Final Designs

After focusing on the idea of 70s fashion, I thought that making a garment in time would take too long and would be too time consuming as it is something I have never done before. I decided to look back though all research I had done and decided to focus on shoes. My idea would be to make a few pairs of shoes, differing from small shoes to large ones.

 I will then decorate the shoes using different types of materials, from beads and glitter to feathers and fabric. I will take all the different fashion statements from the 70s and incorporate them onto my shoes, for example tie-dye. To make them, I will use mod-rock in order to give the shoes stability and to hold the decorations onto the shoe.

Unit X - Superstitions

Research - Bowie Inspired Fashion

 Dries Van Noten, Fall 2011

Dries Van Noten's fall show, 2011 channels Bowie throughout their men's garments. Taking the 'Thin White Duke' character that Bowie played as influence. Just like the Gaultier show, the model has be styled with the red, slick back hair that Bowie sported at the time. The suits are quite baggy and high-waisted, something that Bowie favourite. The palette being unusual, with beige suits rather than the favoured black and grey suits. 

Prada space-age spring 2013

These shoes, designed by Prade for their s/s 2013 catwalk show, echo the fashion of Ziggy Stardust. Opting for silver and red colours, almost a space like theme, connects well to Ziggys 'rockstar spaceman' persona. The high platforms and chunky soles show influence of Yamamoto and his Japanese background.

Russian Vogue

The model Alana Zimmer has been used many times in Bowie inspired fashion shoots (being used in the Jean Paul Gaultier s/s13 show) poses for Emma Tempest in tailored suiting and separates from Gucci styled by Camilla Pole. The heavy eye make up channels Bowie, the bright eye blue eye shadow and highlighted cheekbones, again finished off with bright-red hair. The blue suit screams 'Life on Mars' styled in a feminine way, again something which Bowie favourite (as he has such a feminine figure)

Kate Moss for Vogue (May 2003)

Kate Moss has said that Bowie is one of her icons, having done photo shoots with him throughout the years. This specific shoot, Moss wore some of Bowies most famous outfits, from his blue 'Life on Mars' suit to his knitted jumpsuits and his later 'Thin White Duke' suits. Whats interesting about these photos is that, if you did not know these were Bowie's costumes, they look like women's clothes, very feminine and fitted garments. Whats interesting is that when Kate Moss wore these outfits, they has to be taken out by at least 6 inches on some because they were too small for her, this shows how petit Bowie's figure was.