Month: February 2020
LESSON BUILDING A SET IN A DAY
Making a structure/ three dimensional design using the words elevate, nostalgia and senses to form a creative output was quite the challenge. This made me feel like I was on my foundation course again as we had a lot of tasks similar to this one, which were always really effective in advancing my skills, yet unfortunately i never use them. An idea formed of presenting the five senses in an interactive and sensory format, being able to showcase each sense to show to our audience senses that reflect feelings go nostalgia, we used sweets for the taste, hot chocolate powder for the smell, bubble wrap to play with and I feel like they all flowed nicely to represent the sense, and improve your mood in an nostalgic way through the actual things were used to represent each sense.
What was particularly interesting for our small task space was our use of sound. I never usually think too heavily into incorporating sounds within my work although sounds are proven to change moods and can bring on a feeling which would be perfect for a three dimensional interactive space and therefore for our final exhibition space. We used rain sounds to emit a certain peacefulness, happiness and calmness to our work which I think worked really effectively and needs to be noted down for our final exhibition space or whatever sounds we might incorporate into a potential film.
However, we were asked the question of how this related back to fashion which I honestly don’t believe we achieved as well as we could have because ours had little links to fashion. This led us to change our outcome which was meant to be drawing what you feel from each sensory experience, but changed it to draw a design within a top, a jacket, trousers and a bag to then form a style of clothing which we could use as starting point for another bit of research or something. This worked slightly better however I feel like we could have definitely added another elemento it as well whether that was a QR code or something similar, I did find the task quite hard because I wasn’t used to use materials and objects in a three dimensional, physical way in quite a long time, I can struggle with being creative that way and creating a piece of work that visually looks nice.
MORE PRIMARY RESEARCH IN LONDON
For the rest of the day we had the opportunity to explore different exhibitions and places because our train was in the evening so we made the most of being in London. The photographers gallery showed us a small exhibition on a Japanese photographer where I really enjoyed the way they had laid out their photos on the wall and actually curated the exhibition. The mirrors were not all in the same row, some were higher or lower than others and I feel like it gives a different way of viewing the pictures, you see them in more of a sequence then one whole installation, making me look more into each photograph then them as a whole. Even though my role in the group was not the curator, I still believed it was important to still think about our final exhibition space as a group to be able to communicate it to the curator individually.
When in one of the shops, I was fascinated by the small zines and magazines they had to offer, really becoming inspired by one of them which had a sketchy more tactile feel to it, which is what I spoke about on one of the first reflective blogs answering about my style of working. I’ve taken some pictures for further reference, I could use this style in my sketchbook or maybe we could add some tactile elements to our final design or lookbook.
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A particularly inspiring place we also visited was Dover Street Market as I had never visited before and had always wanted to despite living in London for my whole life. It was quite similar to Selfridges but each section felt far more separate than the different sections in Selfridges, due to the fact that it all had to tie in with Selfridges as a department store with it’s own style and aesthetic.
Comme des Garcons had an amazing display, I felt that the use of dots throughout ona clear surface tied the actual designs on the garments with the physical space and made them one, the organization of the clothing on shelves really worked as they were split into colours and therefore followed effectively, having each logo on every top very clear even when folded to keep their brand identity alive throughout the display.
Another display had a sign outside saying “danger testing” leading to a door which was another way of effectively engaging the consumer as someone who is walking by would be intrigued by the sign and would follow through to the display which was inside. Their design was coherent throughout, using tin foil as the backgrounds and around the televisions, as well as the fact that they added televisions and a technology aspect which is shown through that silver colour palette. As a group we could explore the idea of showing our work on a television and adding that is an element to our exhibition which is relevant to the idea of being transported into another world.. This could be shown through the image we put on there.
The Gucci display really caught my eye as well, this was because of the very strong and effective colour pallette using throughout the whole thing, grey/black and white prints with muted mid tones gave a more sophisticated look as this was more commonly used in the 19th century as well as adding an element of class as Gucci are the kind of brand to exude classiness. Using a chair as a prop with the Gucci print on it was very effective for me as it really transformed the space and made it into a set, I felt this style so clearly in their designs and it inspired us to look more into 1940s interior for our set and maybe incorporating a chair or a tv etc, especially wallpaper.
There was honestly so much taught to me after these trips, from details such as the hangers that we should use in our exhibition which would be relevant to the garments or the use of accessories and other props, to things like the interior, interaction and light. Visiting Glossier was interesting as it felt like a pop up store because of how well it was decorated, everything worked so nicely as they really thought of the small details, such as all of their workers wearing the same pink jumpsuit as their uniform, that was effective because it’s a colour associated with glossier and all the workers looked put together but also fun and on trend with their clothing. Their use of wallpaper was exactly what we had in mind for something that we could potentially use as it gave us similar vibes to 1940s wallpapers, which had muted tones, colourful floral designs which were not too abstract, and repeated patterns on the walls. The continuous design across both the wallpaper and carpet made us feel like we were in a dollhouse which was another small effective touch I hadn’t thought about yet.
SELFRIDGES
When I saw the opportunity to visit Selfridges come up, I immediately asked to be put on the list as I feel like this trip would help me contextualize my thoughts of this project more as I would be seeing physical three dimensional professional and finalised projects through the displays and windows. Having the opportunity to widen my contextual understanding of this project by visiting an actual department store sounded ideal for me.
First hand research always leaves me feeling inspired and this was no different. The tour of the department store taught a range of things. It taught me that they have to pay so much attention to the upcoming micro and macro trends which need to influence their work directly, for example, in Selfridges next window campaign and display, every item they use to build and create the entire production will be ethically and sustainably sourced. Whether that means they’re made from recycled objects or they would be able to be donated to schools and production companies afterwards which is incredibly thoughtful. It made me think, because two of our designers were into sustainability, we should make the items and processes we use to create our final outcome to be sustainable. But we struggled with how to make that obvious within our narrative rather than a subtle element.
There were sculptures, fake plants, use of lighting, mirrors, QR codes, Snapchat Filters, interesting mannequins and decorations that looked completely unique and transformed a small fashion space into an interactive or engaging experience when viewing. I was honestly amazing by everything however, especially the OFF-White section, Gucci’s pop up, and the accessories stands, these were because they all gripped me straight away and showed a cohesive style throughout their small section relating to whatever they were selling and therefore very effective to the customer. This has made me more aware about doing small relevant things like incorporating the fabrics the designers used into the set design, for example or adding a direct reference to one of the designer’s inspirations within our work.
Incorporating QR codes and something more interactive in terms of design is relevant to our work as we are looking towards, escapism, distortion, another place or transforming into another world which could really be advanced and exaggerated with the use of QR codes which we will definitely keep in mind for our project.
Selfridges as a store and company are truly inspirational to me shown through how much care they’re putting into their next project in making it extremely sustainable and ethical in the hopes that other companies will follow suit and a change is seen in the attitudes towards climate change and the direct input that the fashion industry has upon it, a topic which i find quite fascinating myself which luckily links a small amount to the overconsumption aspect of our work. Also aspects like having the small skating area inside next to the skate clothing, an opportunity to build a small community of like minded people and bringing together fashion with a type of activity/sport. I was incredibly grateful for the teachers to make this happen and that I had the opportunity to see this.
All of the staff we had bumped into or had listened to speak were all incredibly helpful in what they were saying, and with speaking about their job roles and titles, the things they do on a daily basis and the exciting opportunities they’ve had which is always inspiring to hear when searching around for placements. I think I would love to work for a company like them for at least a short amount one day as I feel like I would learn so many multidisciplinary skills.
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MOODBOARDS OF NEW IDEAS
After a lot of discussion with the other members of my group I thought it would be wise for me, personally, to create some mood boards to visualise the ideas that we have been talking about because we were bouncing off each other during our meeting. I made these mood boards so that I could get together some potential colour schemes, see any common motives that we could translate into props or backgrounds or general decoration as well as to just use my creativity and explore the potential of this project in line with our designer’s concepts and themes. Moodboards really help translate my vision onto paper and my ideas into visuals therefore they help me in progressing my ideas and I will continue to use them to generate ideas further in the project.
After completing all of those mood boards I really found myself drawn to the projection mapping one and the reflection one because they both have strong visuals; they look inviting and exciting, eerie and mysterious which I feel kind of sums up our concepts and themes. I feel like this project if that’s the opportunity to experiment with a meeting that we haven’t tried before therefore I feel like projection mapping or even going back to find out where is the pain on a mirror or to trying to sort a mirror using plastic sheets sounds exciting to me as well as very playful and tactile which is the way I like to work.
BEGINNINGS OF IDEAS / RESEARCH
Notes from group discussion:
- Distortion mirrors
- Pinterest board is made
- Melanie martinez- detention from emily’s music pairing
- Melanie martinez- orange juice found from first video
- Looking into femininity coming from sophie’s grandad era and lingerie
- Ellie is looking at overweight female body
- Rmilys is overly feminine with the burlesque and fur coat
- Switching clothes from normal to the designers garments like entering another world tied in with alice in wonderland
- Escapism
- Distortion mirrors make you look prettier or distort stereotypical body shop
- Romily and emily mentioned balenciaga and lotta volkova which both play around with hourglass shape through design and styling
- Like a glitch, women catch reflection in mirror = more empowered version of themselves in reflection
- Music video
- Film similar to the third years we watched at the briefing
- Shopping changing rooms
- Building a set of a shopping centre/shop
- Overconsumption of fashion because everyone’s “improving their looks”
- Make a mood board on this
- Project different clothing onto mirror somehow
- Paint silhouette on mirror and project
- Melanie martinez k-12 the film – made her album into a film
From these notes we finally found our feet a little bit within this project and found some themes to start exploring, we felt like we have been really behind struggling with some creativity in creating an effective link between our designers. Emily suggested the song Detention by Melanie Martinez and from there luckily, we connected with her whole aesthetic shown through the details in the music videos and looked further into her music videos which gave us a starting point.
Amongst this discussion we talked about objects and items that relate to a wider theme that connects with our recent progression in ideas linking to the designer’s garments; like distortion mirrors linking nicely to escapism and Tim Walker’s style of communication. Exploring armour and practicewear, shielding and hiding away linking to identity and beauty standards and the pressure from a western society and lastly, incorporating a shopping center or shop with mirrors and windows linking to the idea of overconsumption in the media in which we could explore with a tv, potentially. Projections, glitches, reflections and games were also discussed. We agreed to further our visual understanding of our collection of new potential themes, it would be wise to create a moodboard for some more visual sources and references.
TYPES OF FASHION SPACES – WINDOW DISPLAY
*These mood boards were taken from the beginnings of my google documents I was making to print off to make a physical sketchbook, however with the change in our module, I didn’t want to waste the time spent finding all the images so I have adapted them into digital moodboards*
TYPES OF FASHION SPACES – FASHION PERFORMANCE
*These mood boards were taken from the beginnings of my google documents I was making to print off to make a physical sketchbook, however with the change in our module, I didn’t want to waste the time spent finding all the images so I have adapted them into digital moodboards*
Potential idea
- in the exhibition space
- have a model walking around, saying a few words, like a monologue
- could take them in terms with each garment/model
- have them as people representing the garments and have them interact with the crowd
Why
- so unique
- something we haven’t done before
Message
- show more emotion in the message then a film can
- ageing
- nostalgia
- growing up
- memories/ storytelling
What we will need
- model
- actor
- script
- garments
TYPES OF FASHION SPACES – SET DESIGN / ILLUSTRATION
*These mood boards were taken from the beginnings of my google documents I was making to print off to make a physical sketchbook, however with the change in our module, I didn’t want to waste the time spent finding all the images so I have adapted them into digital moodboards*
Potential idea
- Make a dollhouse set/ find a dollhouse
- Add props
- Building things for models to interact with relating to garment
- Make something to put in front of mirrors to distort them for viewing
Why
- Makes a living environment for our garments to exist in
- Adds further context to work
- Can add elements of designers influences within props
Message
- shape of the garments
- story setting
- homelike
- nostalgia
What we will need
- materials
- card
- ££
- glue
TYPES OF FASHION SPACES – TECHNOLOGY
*These mood boards were taken from the beginnings of my google documents I was making to print off to make a physical sketchbook, however with the change in our module, I didn’t want to waste the time spent finding all the images so I have adapted them into digital moodboards*
Potential idea
- app
- an online identity, profiles, Instagram, website
- can navigate through clips of a film in app
- or play a short game
- or fill out a questionnaire
Why
- brings a new life to the concept
- introduces the idea of creating a world for your brand
- easy to layout all creative work on app or website or instagram
- modern, easily accessible
Message
- virtual reality
- game, playfulness, ageing, different ages approaches to using online technology
What we will need
- app making software
- website making software
- social media
- camera
- models
- illustrations
- good graphic designs