Surrealism

To design a skirt with a surreal influence was actually quite a challenge. When you've got no limitations it becomes difficult. I struggled with mine because of the time constraints and my mind got blocked. I panicked. I thought I wouldn't have enough time to do something crazy so I stuck to something simple. The skirt itself is pretty nice but I'm not too sure if it's surreal enough. I hope so for the sake of my grade. I tried to think of big gathers to make the skirt big and bouncing. It didn't turn out quite as big as I wanted but still pretty cool. I enjoyed the fashion illustration part of it. I'm not too imaginative so it was difficult to think of an interesting pose for my model. But I received a book called '100 Years of Fashion Illustration' by Cally Beackman, as an early Christmas present. I was told to open it early in case it helped me with my course! And it did. It gave me some inspiration and ideas of poses instead of the simple straightforward hand on hip one. I thought it turned out ok but I definitely need and want more practice.

Front View

Side View

Fashion Illustration

Barcelona!

So just the summer there I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona. It was amazing to see the architecture on every single building, there was not a boring brick in sight. Unfortunately we went on a Sunday and all the clothes shops were shut. I managed to look in the window of the Chanel store and the Cartier store window. Although I didn't get to experience the fashion I was more than happy with the architecture. The streets are beautiful, picturesque. We visited the Sagrada Familia which was amazing. There was a museum inside which displayed Gaudi's steps when designing the building. The details in the stones and the carvings are unbelievable. The construction is on going and the trucks and forklifts inside the church ruined the abience slightly but it was still brilliant.

Granny Takes A Trip

So another assignment we had was to do a photoshoot entitled 'Granny Takes A Trip'. Our inspiration was taken from the store with the same name. We picked a vintage outfit complete with wellies as there was about 3 foot of snow and went to a little church and small river just outside a town called Stow. The snow made the photographs all the more beautiful. We were quite lucky with the natural light as it gave the photos a more calm and soft feel. No one in my group wanted to model so I took one for the team and modelled. Thankfully the photographs turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

David Downton

 This one has got to be my favourite. The colour is beautiful and the texture created for the fabric is so feminine and delicate.

David’s commercial client list includes: Tiffany & Co, Bloomingdales, Barney’s, Harrods, Top Shop, Chanel, Dior, L’Oreal, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine and the V&A Museum

I discovered David Downton when researching for a project. His work excites me. Every time I see one of his illustrations I feel inspired. Inspired to draw, inspired to create. They are magnificent. His use of line, is so simple but so intricate and delicate. The colours are barely there but they make the picture. It's actually got me very interested in Fashion Illustration and I would definitely like to become better at this.

Pop Eats Itself

We got a presentation from Tim London about how fashion and music are combined. To go with this our assignment was to collect images of bands with a strong style from the 60s, the 80s and present day. It was interesting to see similarities between certain bands through the decades. The Mod style made popular in the 60s by the Beatles and The Who also appeared in the 80s with bands such as Madness. It is also popular among musicians nowadays such as Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. So it would seem Pop does Eat itself and each generation is heavily influence by the previous.

First Assignment

I thought this was interesting because I've seen so many peices of art and thought my little brother could do that but I suppose The meaning is an the eye of the creater.

This is an image from the Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali film L'un Chien Andalou which has scarred me for life.

So the first half of 1st Year is almost over. 1 exam and a skirt to make and thats it. It's been weird. You go through periods of having absolutely nothing to do, to having loads to do and stressing out. So for CSS we had a sketchbook to keep, with different assignments every week. I'm quite sad I've finished it because I enjoyed doing it. Our first assignment involved a trip to the National Galleries Surrealist Exhibition and to compile 4 pages of our thoughts on the Surealist movement and the exhibition. I thought it was quite weird and creepy but I think it was influential and important for the art world. I thought the movement was all about breaking boundaries, not comforming to the set rules in society. The reason behind the art is great and ground breaking however the art itself is creepy and verygraphic at times however you can't help but admire it.

My new Blog!

Hey. So this is the first time I've made a blog and I don't really have a clue what I'm doing so stick with me and it might get better. I want to make this blog about fashion, my course and other things which inspire me. Hope you like it.

Coleen X