TUESDAY 26TH SEPT- WEEK ONE!
Today I went to the briefing lecture for our first module as a Level 6 Student! This lecture consisted of being briefed on the requirements for this module (FASHION COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, INVESTIGATION AND PROPOSAL) and we also had two talks about building resilience into our studies and on archives. My notes within the lecture that I made were:
- The module will be a self-directed project.
- Primary research: Out and about research such as gallery’s, library’s, events, inspirations when out etc,
- Secondary Research: Online research/ideas etc.
- Needing reflection and critical analysis so blogging.
- HOW/WHY/WHAT/WHEN- documentation in sketchbooks and blogs.
- The work should be investigations and research and will eventually feed as starting points for our FMP (final major project).
- All projects need to link to sustainable practices.
ASSESMENT TASKS
- A portfolio of work.
- Individual research plan/visual research concept development.
These were only the small notes I made within the class however we were guided through the handbook and read through all the requirements thoroughly.
So far, I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed and stuck on what I need to produce and currently have no ideas on what I want to do with this project. However, this is usual for me this early on in a module. I’m feeling excited for the following weeks with all the upcoming workshops however I can’t help but feel a little worried that no ideas will speak out to me as I’m very undecisive. From this lecture I want to re-read the handbook to understand fully and come to a starting point in the module where I can begin being inspired and open-minded on what I want to produce. I also really enjoyed the talks we had, particularly with Sarah about building resilience as it was nice to hear other people’s ways of concurring anxieties surrounding stress at university and ways to be resilient within the project!
TUESDAY 3RD OCTOBER- WEEK 2
Today was the second week of our new module and i was feeling very tired! But i was ready to start the day with the hope of finding an idea on where to start this project. At first we had a workshop with Rachel on ‘The Creative Journey’ and mapping our values. She spoke on the ‘Zone of Genius’ where we talked on what we love to do, what work do i do that doesn’t seem to work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to amount the time spent and what unique abilities i hold. I felt the workshop interesting and it was nice to think about the contributes i make for myself to better my work ethic and the values i think were important me.
The next thing we looked at was IKIGAI where we theres four groups that overlap:
-What the world needs, what you can be paid for, what you are good at and what the world needs.
I was slightly stuck with this so as a joke i thought, I love my bed as its a safe spafe for me and where i feel most at ease! I was speaking to Rachel where she said that i should look into dreams and how that affects us all and the different types of dreams people have. This actually sounded really cool and then she mentioned having a look at ‘The Dreaming Place’ at the lighthouse on the 19th which ive just booked tickets for! This would be great for my primary research as its an immersive experience at Fabrica Gallery where the experience transforms into a fleeting dream. On the website it states that experience includes “beats that pulse Shadows morph and dance with you, salt lamps cast an incandescent spell, and UV light reveals the secrets of this liminal space”. This would be really helpful for initial research on dreams and im really excited to attend. Of course my idea may change but its still good for initial and primary research so im really looking forward to that!!!!!!
I then also had a chat with Jules and Daniella on this idea and listened to my groups ideas as well which was a great chance to hear other peoples ideas whilst also asking any questions i had for this module so now i understand a lot better! Next steps… go this event and see how inspired i get!
Some initial ideas
TUESDAY 10TH OCTOBER- WEEK 3
Today we had a later lecture with Rachel and some smaller group tutorials again like last week. Since last week, im still feeling pretty unmotivated and finding the module daunting as its all so fast pace! I have not set on an idea for this project yet which is making me feel anxious as others seem to have a whole concepts ready however im still thinking hard on what i will do. I have my initial idea of ‘dreams’ which i could really take in any direction e.g i could explore how dreams have inspired other fashion designers or artists work, how dreams can relate to fashion spaces, exhibitions etc. but im just not feeling very connected to the theme so thats making me a bit stuck… I think i will continue researching dreams whilst also exploring other directions.
For this lecture we spoke about sustainability and other topics within that. We spoke about decolonised fashion (transforming the structures and systems upon which the industry was built on), Kantamanto Social Club (a company that participates in a sender receiver residency program) and other similar companies/services such as Trash Club and Well-Being Wardrobe. This was a good lecture where we got to chat to our groups about how we believe the fashion industry needs to change such as inclusivity not only within models but within the actual workers in the industry as its such a competitive one. The tutorial i had with Jules and Dani was very similar to last week. I spoke to them about my brief idea and they gave me some good sources if information which were:
- Carl Jung and ‘The Red Book’.
- Sigmund Frued and ‘The Interpretation of `Dreams’.
- Welcome Trust, London Exhibition.
Some theories i found about dreams are
- Sigmund Freud’s wish fulfilment theory: dreams stem from our subconsciousness wishes.
- Carl Jung ancestor theory
- Biblical theory: dreams are messages from God.
TUESDAY 17TH OCTOBER- WEEK 4
Today was the trip to London for our course where we had the opportunity to visit exhibitions within the city that might help us with our primary research. Unfortunately i could not attend as i had a HCS lecture 9-10am and the exhibition where we were supposed to meet with our course started at 11am which is physically impossible to get to in time because of HCS. Today i was feeling pretty overwhelmed as we had a business hand-in the following day to which i focused on the entirety of the day as i needed to get it done in time. So overall this day was a bit of a flop for me as if im honest, i was heavily distracted and overwhelmed. I want to start fresh tomorrow and start my initial research and expand it further.
WEDNESDAY- WGSN RESEARCH
Today i thought i would continue my research for this project. Usually for each module since first year i start my research by taking a look at WGSN. WGSN is a trend forecasting site that predicts up and coming trends within fashion, beauty, food and drinks and much more! This website is really effective as they cleverly predict future trends as well as future consumer types. When researching WGSN, although i dont know if it will directly help me this project yet, looking at consumer research is always beneficial as it allows me to learn what type of consumers will form in later years which is especially beneficial if i ever want to create a service or brand in general life or even for this project.
My findings of the new consumer types were:
–THE NEW NIHILISTS: ’faced with chronic emotional turbulence and disillusionment, this cohort is finding new meaning in a seemingly meaningless existence’. Strategy- make it equitable.
–THE REDUCTIONISTS: ’ this cohort is trading networks for communities. Determined to combat loneliness and rebuild their daily in-real-life interactions’. Strategy: prioritise conscious convenience.
–THE TIMEKEEPERS: ’ This cohort is rallying against snippet culture, in the hope that time well spent is a daily ritual’. Strategy: time is currency.
–THE PIONEERS: ‘experimenting with entrepreneurialism and new ways of living, while combating societal hurdles. The role and purpose of physical and digital space sits at the epicentre of their focus, as they reimagine what it means to exist, connect and be cared for’. Strategy: focus on flexible touch-points.
As well as researching consumer types, i looked at a singular trend forecast named ‘Restorative Realms’. The name of it really intrigued me so i checked it out and it was basically a prediction about how sustainable the fashion world will become and in this case they were talking about sustainability when making patterns. They also stated what type of sub-trends might come from this such as space raver, dark folklore, soft monochrome etc. The findings are detailed better in my sketchbook but overall i found WGSN really interesting to see the different types of consumers they predict will occur as well as trends they are forecasting. If i choose to perhaps create a service or brand or anything that will create consumers for my fmp, then i will definitely come back to WGSN to do a deeper research.
THURSDAY 19TH OCTOBER- PRIMARY RESEARCH
I was advised by Rachel to attend an exhibition for my primary research. This suggestion stemmed from my interest in exploring the theme of ‘dreams.’ The event consisted of a combination of digital art, music, and discussions. However, my friends and I only purchased tickets for the nighttime portion, named ‘Who’s Still Dreaming,’ where a DJ called TARIK ELMOUTAWAKIL and another named MARTIN GOYA played a mix of psychedelic techno and EDM.
The event took place in a church, which I found particularly cool where they had a projector displaying captivating visuals in the background. Among these visuals, my favourite was an animated eyeball that seemed to roam around the room. Other visuals included video games depicting ethereal galaxies, abstract shapes, and patterns that were somewhat elusive. The ambiance was good due to the fairy lights, fog, and salt lamps surrounding the DJ booth where altogether this did create an atmosphere that seemed dream-like and surreal.
The venue also featured fabrics with distorted faces hanging around the room. Unfortunately, the artist behind these creations wasn’t credited, but I found them intriguing despite their unsettling appearance. To me, these distorted faces seemed to mirror the unsettling aspects of nightmares, which tied in well with the theme of dreams.
Overall, the evening was a unique experience. From a creative perspective the whole night was really inspiring due to the lighting, different pictures hanging around the room and the overall ambience as stated previously. I kind of assumed before coming that the ‘dreaminess’ of it would be achieved a lot more light-heartedly however i think it was actually really dark therefore i would assume it was more of a representation of nightmares. I think that is my main insporation from the night and to maybe start my research on the dark side of dreams. However from a tipsy 20 year old girl perspective, it felt like i wasnt real. I have never been to a place where it had middle aged people dancing to techno with their feet out and spinning around super fast but it was still a great experience!! As well, there were a lot of technical difficulties with the projector and music stopping half way through the set for about 5 minutes. Other than that it was a good night!
However this has solidified my theme for the project: Dreams!
TUESDAY 24TH OCTOBER- WEEK 5
Today i had my CRIT formative tutorial where it was an opportunity to show my sketchbook and work so far as well as looking at other peoples work. I showed my sketchbook and ideas with the group despite not completely knowing what direction i want to take this project. i showed them my findings on WGSN trend forecasting as well as some research ive done on creatives whose inspiration stems from dreams such as Iris Van Herpen’s ‘Lucid dreams’ collection and Gabriella Salonga’s 3D digital artwork where she creates images based on her own dreams. My CRIT was with Emma and whilst she really liked my idea’s and research so far, she could tell i wasn’t 100% into it at this moment in time. She created a really useful diagram that showed the type of steps we should be making where we start with a base idea, explore other ideas from that idea and then refine the findings into one new end idea, ready for our next module of making our fmp. The diagram helped in the sense that although i feel really overwhelmed and behind, i am at the stage where i should be. Emma opened up my idea where we spoke about night time in general that stemmed from speaking on dreams and how we both agree our bed is our safe space. She said to start thinking/exploring things i enjoy myself that relates to dreaming so i think that is something i should start thinking about. Although Emma’s advice was really useful and something i will explore, im not sure about the theme of ‘comfort’ or ‘safe spaces’ as i feel like ive touched into that theme in other modules within second year and therefore would like do explore something completely new but i definitely want to attempt to explore it regardless.
TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER- WEEK 6
Today i had my 1-1 CRIT with Rachel. Since last week i have conducted some experimentation that didn’t go to plan and have done some research on other designers and artists who have been inspired or taken inspiration by dreams. This is all shown more thoroughly within my sketchbook. The 1-1 meeting today was really beneficial despite feeling quite deflated about the project still. Rachael told me to expand on my research and rather doing just research on other artists, i should conduct some experimentation inspired by them which is what i want to do next. We also spoke about making the theme more personal to me (for example taking inspiration from my research about Tracey Edmins ‘my bed’ and perhaps doing a shoot showing my safe spaces). I think what where im struggling the most with the project is the fact that we can choose our own themes and overall outcomes and therefore im finding it hard to do what i want to do because i have no idea what i want to do or where i want to take this!
TUESDAY 7TH NOVEMBER- WEEK 7
Today I had a 1-1 tutorial with Eloise as well as a lecture with Mark on doing a gantt chart for this project. The tutorial with Eloise was good where i spoke through my whole concept this far as well showing my sketchbook and progress from last week- she gave me some ideas surrounding experimentation and about how i could take the experimentation further such as using different mediums to recreate the inspiration pictures i had of watercolour (more detail in sketchbook). The lecture about the gantt chart if i’m honest was very confusing to me due to not completely understanding however there are sources on mystudies to go over it again and refresh my brain. In terms of how i’m feeling for the module, i feel more confident in the research i am undertaking and gradually making steps into refining my idea. I still feel slightly behind compared to other people and the stages they are at however i think by the end of the module i will look back at this and have a solid idea.
TUESDAY 14TH NOVEMBER- WEEK 8
On tuesday i was unable to attend the tutorial due to falling very ill. This was really frustrating for me as the tutorials have been quite helpful this far and feedback is always needed, especially at this stage. However despite being ill, i still needed to get on with uni work and experimentation. About a week ago, i did some research on designers, artists and general creatives whose inspiration stems from the theme of dreams. It was really beneficial seeing other creatives interpretation of the theme of dreams and how they interpretate that specific theme into their work. I looked at an exhibition named ‘Dreamachine’ in Hackney where they created an immersive experience/setting where you use your brain whilst stimulated by the lighting and sounds the experience produce, where you finish by drawing what visuals you saw whilst in a dream/relaxed state. It was really interesting to see all the different artistic images that customers produced and how they differed from one another. I also looked at a CSM student named Ming Lim who suffers from DRC (dream-reality confusion disorder) where she has spent her life in the space between reality and dreams. She states that this has helped her creatively and to become more open and fluid. I looked at her garment inspired by dreams as well as her disorder where she stated that the head piece was inspired by the idea that your head is in the clouds. “you are dreaming and there’s no limitations”. Although unrelated, the images of Ming Lim’s sketches of her garment really inspired me. Although being a very common image of purely just a designer making rough sketches of her garment, you could really envision what the end piece will be. This gave me the idea to conduct a small experimentation where i wanted to get random images of pinterest and expand on the image through my own drawings in order to make the image have a different narrative or tell a story. I ended up picking four images and researched what the most common ‘scary’ dreams are. The four i picked were distorted/moving buildings, falling, being underwater and being naked in front of a crowd. Although i am not the best at drawing, art/digital art is something i really enjoy so i definitely wanted to conduct an experimentation based of that.
(The sketches i was inspired by):
I had a lot of fun producing these little sketches to expand a once plain and boring image to something where there is a narrative. I also found it highly interesting about these themes being some of the most common themes about dreams as i never have had wacky dreams like these! I especially liked the distorted buildings image i created so i then felt like expanding on that and making my own with some of my own photography. I decided to go out and do some primary research where i took pictures of loads and loads and loads of houses in order to edit them together and sort of replicate the sketch i made. The idea was to replicate the common dream of distorted buildings where they may move, be warped or the perception of them is a little wrong due to our brains making it up. These was good primary research to get out the house, i didnt focus too much on the quality of photography as thats not my specialism (but definitely something i want to work on towards my fmp). The final image i made was this:
These were all the images edited together which surprisingly took a very long time. I think the image does give off the idea that its a warped, weird visual that could appear in a dream and i also had a lot of fun getting out the house and experimenting. I wouldnt say i love the overall image as at the end of the day its just lots of houses put together but thats what experimentation is for! Some you love and some you wont. However from this, it got me thinking of the exhibition i went to a few weeks back about the distorted faces art work they had and maybe i could next conduct an experimentation to do with that!
Thoughts: My feeling towards the module and my work is a lot better. I think i have finally progressed and feel more inspired however this has happened at a very late stage with only a week or so of the project left. So my next steps include extensive work now that im feeling more creative and happy with my work!
TUESDAY 21ST NOVEMBER- WEEK 9
Today I had a group tutorial (and last tutorial) with Rachel before the submission next week. This tutorial i think was the most beneficial so far as i got see other peoples work as well as presenting mine and it was really nice to get positive feedback as well as more ideas on where i can take my work further. Rachel suggested to research about dream books as well as maybe expanding my watercolour research/experimentation further by using projection. Only problem is there is a week before submission and i dont have a projector… however that is something i could consider when doing my fmp. In terms of how im feeling…VERY STRESSED because i have a lot to do but i will get it all done!!
Some example work ive done today is carrying on my work on distortion and distorting faces. (More thorough in sketchbook). These were inspired by the tapestries hanging in the exhibition i went too called ‘a dreamy place’ where the art was distorted faces to mirror the scary, unfamiliar faces we see in our nightmares.
an example of the art at the exhibition:
MONDAY 27TH NOVEMBER- WEEK 10
REFLECTION ON WORK AND MODULE
Overall this module has been full of stress but excitement for me! I think when reflecting on how i was feeling at the start, i have progressed massively in terms of confidence within my work and the different mediums and sources i have had to use this year so far. At the start i had absolutely no clue what direction this module was going to take me. I think i am the type of person who doesnt feel good enough when comparing myself to other students work on my course and so when learning that we could basically create whatever we wanted for this module, i was very nervous about it. I am also a person who takes a lot of time to adjust to change so to be thrown back into third year after the whole summer, i felt it has taken me a while to get used to things again. However now, i am confident about the route i have taken. The idea of dreams and how they even occur has always interested me slightly and so for my theme to be dreams, i am super excited for how it will progress in my fmp. I have really enjoyed experimenting with different mediums such as painting, digital/ physical art and illustrations, photography, zine making etc. It has definitely expanded my skills set and i hope to further my skills by experimenting with more mediums in the next module. I think my favourite part for me was when i made the mini zine where i included all the experimentation i have done this far within it. It meant that i could see all my physical work i have done in the flesh in one little book which made me really proud of myself. I also have loved doing research behind dreams such as looking at different theories e.g Sigmud Freuds theory on how when we dream, our dreams reflect the motivations and wishes we desire. I also looked at Carl Jungs theory of dreams being something we carry from our ancestors as well as the biblical theory of dreams being messages from God.
I think the worst part for me this module is struggling with motivation. I have always been someone who has been very motivated and not a quitter however by going through some hard months for me whilst going to university and doing this module, its been hard to focus and get in a creative mindset. I think by next year, i will be a lot more motivated now i am in the swing of things as well as hoping to be in a bette headspace.