Nearly a week into when I started to get into the swing of things when creating work, I had a sort of off day where I just found it really difficult to get stuck into creating posters/work straight onto paper. I was still feeling creative and didn’t want to let this go to waste so I started to think about other ways things I could do to express making a connection with garments.

My whole project so far has really been me trying to portray the deeper connection that we as consumers need to make with garments in order to value them more. Shopping in charity shops is not only sustainable but it also gives the opportunity to find items and clothing that tell a real story. However, a big part of the problem with shopping in charity shops is that the stuff you find isn’t always as on trend or as fashionable as we would like. That’s why I decided to work on customising an existing accessroy in order to give it a new lease of life. And by doing this I also value this item more than if I had just bought it like this.

I took inspiration for the artwork I wanted to do from a to that I got at some point last year from a small business run by just one girl.  It’s one of my favourite tops ever, I love the print, shape and the fit. Its so unique and fashionable but also reminiscent of the 2000s which is one of my favourite eras for fashion. So my thinking about using this top as inspiration would be transfer the connection and love I have for this particular garment to another.

Image of taken from website:

I started by drawing some outlines of the dragons in the style of those on the top, the bag I chose to paint is just a cheap one that got a couple of years ago from H&M. The fabric was quite tricky to paint as it absorbed the paint quite quickly but it did mean that if I made mistakes it was easier for me to cover them up. I wanted to try and recreate the style of the print as closely as I could and I think I succeeded in this.

The finished bag next to the top:

Overall, this was a good excessive for me to think about broadening how I can communicate different types of sustainable fashion. This is definitely something I want to carry forward, either in this project or just personally. I think this particular bag worked really well because the fabric/material was easy to draw on and it stayed flat when I was drawing on top of it. It’s a good way of creating a new garment for myself, without spending any money or creating any pollution. I also feel like I do really value this bag a lot more than I did prior to this. I think it worked well and I am looking forward to wearing these two things together. This piece has definitely broadened my ideas about the mediums I can use to communicate my ideas for this project, apposed to just flat illustrations and posters. It will be interesting to experiment doing a similar thing on different garments/ materials. It would also be interesting to see how I could maybe display illustrations over the different garments I have found in charity shops.