BODY BAAAAAAAAG.

I know ya'll have been itching to see this beauty.. unfortunately I have no photoshoot of him yet :( But i am so pleased with this garment. I decided to use plastic material to get the full effect, and the screen print of my own drawing came out so good!

Minor error.. I have to change the identity of the the photo, although I have drawn Catherine Eddowes, victim number 3, I need this one to be Annie Chapman victim number 2, because Catherine Eddowes is part of the double murder! Which I am making the double skirt for! :)

Here you are.. Annie Chapman..


And the double garment I have telling you about.. I did some research into designers which have done this before.. but to my surprise there have actually only been a few.. Comme des garcons was a good one to look at, the use of leather and mesh was present but it was nothing exciting..

So these are my designs..
This first one I did, I decided I wanted the connecting bit to be a bit more shredded.. instead of one piece of fabric, to link the outfit to the ripping and shredding of what Jack theRipper did to the women.

 So I changed it slightly.. And this is what I came up with and am very happy :) For the actual thing, I think I will add in some more fabric and stitching to the waist band (elastic) and also on the lettering, which will be 'secret lemon juice writing' i dunnoo.. something gayle told me to try that the secret 7 used to do!.. But it looks really good! Oldy..looking.

 For the writing I will be using letters and articles from/ about the Ripper. I wanted to use text within my collection somehow, and this seemed like the perfect garment to do so!

Okay.. so its nothing special, but it's more of the meaning behind this one which it special. :)

So I think thats all my garments done now! just for promotional items, exhibition space, and catwalk show which i need to do now!! YAY.

close ups of mary ann nichols. number 1.

 Adding real bones to my 2nd corset to show the dramatic-ness of how Jack the Ripper killed his victims. He was not gentle..

 This one I carved out.. bad idea! it took forever!

And the whole corset!.. I cant get it to turn the right way.. but you get it.. very textual.. ripping, tearing and sewing EVERYWHERE.


Also I buried this corset for a week, inspiration taken from Hussein Chalayan's Media Spring 2002 collection i think it was.. or 1993. But the collection is called Media, and its so cool!! I would have looooved to have buried the corset for a while longer.. but to fit with the legth of the project.. A week was all I could do :(

nearing the end..!

Oh wow.. its been a while since I've shown you guys some of my work.. reason being the amount of work iv been doing!! When I signed up to this course.. noone told me how hard it was gonna be to do the final major project :( but i must admit.. I have enjoyyyyeddd it :D

So this is where I'm at... I have completed all 5 garments :):) I know 5.. originally I was only going to do 3 corsets.. but i got a bit tired of making them and plus they would have become a bit samey! so I made 2 corsets.. 1 body bag.. and 1 double garment, a skirt!

I'll start with the body bag idea. Literally I have no idea where this idea came from.. but it was the perfect opportunity to use some screen printing!.. Which Gayle said I should probably use for this project.. Basically, I had the idea to create a dress.. which was shaped like a body bag, with a zip up the back and the screen print of the drawing I did of victim 3 Catherine eddowes blown up on the front. Obviously, body bags have a zip up the front.. So I wanted to incorporate this detail in somewhere, so I came up with the idea of having an open zip at the front as an extra layer over the screen print.. like this..

 the front!.. with my design and as you can see.. the open zip.

And the back.. with the full zip from the top to the bottom.



As well as designing another garment.. I have finished and photoshot my 2nd garment.. I have also photoshot my first garment.. but my sister did my photoshoot, and the photos are not great :( but ill show you one anyway :)

victim NUMBER 1.

finished and shot.. or should i say stabbed?..

 oh wow.. how stretched is that!?.. but you get the idea.. so it goes from this lil design... to the finished garment.. I showed you the process last post.. but this is the photoshoot, which I'm so pleased with! Modelled by the lil beauty that is Victoria Wayman.

I can hear you all now.. "why the hell is she eating grapes!?" WELLLL.... Jack the Ripper, used to give his 'ladies..' grapes in order to gain trust in them before he SLIT THEIR THROATS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT... haa, no baut seriously, grapes were really expensive in those times, and as these poor women were starving hungry.. and worked as prostitutes to earn their money.. you can probably guess that grapes to them were like gold dust!
 Oh and viki was modelling Mary Anne Nichol's- victim number 1.



Here.. we have the sister. Zara-Louise Cowan. Although the photo's werent great.. she tried her best, I'd like to think.. and the corset did look good on her :)

 She was wearing Mary Jane Kelly- victim number 5.

 The corset in the light. My favourite one :) made from latex.

Finished corset numero uno!

Looking back at the last post.. I have done soooo much more work! I have really enjoyed this project.. although it has been stressful.. and ofcourse there is even more stress to come, but I can finally see my collection coming together, over the next few days/weeks I'll mainly be uploading pictures just to show my progress along with some annotations.. OFCOURSE!
But this is where I'm at..

 The start of my second work of art! This corset is going to be much MUCH more textual, with threads and fabric stitched into it to create depth and the sense of a body being slashed into violently by Jack the Ripper. I have started with the base, being these heat transfers which I am sewing into the corset instead of transferring them on because the surface isnt flat.

 This corset is actually finished but this is the only photo I can find showing it to its closest finished state.

 I layered fabric over eachother and burnt through to create these realist cuts to stitch into the corset.

 Coming on a blast!.. Although I really dont like this corset at all, I guess I am proud of what I have done so far.

 More burning!

 Just some super quick designs to jot down a few of my ideas..

 to be continued..

progress..

So.... I have been creating my latex corset... and doing SO MUCH research into bodies and anatomy.. and muscle fibres and ortopsy's... YUM.
So far I am pleased with the corset.. I just need it to come alive a bit, by adding lots of lace dipped in latex to create that kind of gory bloody effect!

for fun! yay

no hems.. but the start of something gruesome!

LOVE LOVE LOVE how the wording came out in the corset, they actually look like they are underneath and inbetween layers of skin

my stiching is to represent the muscle fibres in the tearing of the victims bodies

This was what my corset was based on, i have changed a few bits, but more or less stuck to what i had imagined it to look like.

Just a quick drawing of Catherine Eddowes number 4 victim!

dont have too many nightmares! :D

Sketchbook - Jack the Ripper

Been busy busyyyy lately! Just to show you guys what exactly I've been up to...

 Painting and photograph of where there used to be a lodging house in 1888 where Mary Ann Nichols, Jack the Rippers first victim was murdered very close to, and she had previously been to this lodging house to tell him to keep her a room as she was soon to earn that 4pence to pay for the night.. little did she know.. she would not be coming back that night.. or ever.

 Little bit of research into Hussein Chalayan's Minifest Destiny collection.. 2003?.. correct me if I'm wrong. But anyone, it is literally so beautiful! I love how the clothing hangs from the models (as it's suppose to) and its perfect for what I'm doing, as I'll be stitching into the last of my 5 corsets to reveal the latex from underneath.. should look pretty cool, I am actually really excited.. gay I know. haha Oh and that shitty stitching next to it, is me trying out some of Chalayan's techniques.. and failing miserably.. I may try and add some more to this later because it needs some more material kind of hanging off to make it less rigid.

 All this is is literally trying out what would look best as embroidery on the corset, nothing too fun..

 SO LUCKY TO HAVE FOUND THIS. Oh Mr McQueen.. You never fail me! I found this collection "Savage Beauty" by the expert himself.. no.. not The Ripper.. But A.McQueen, and years and years ago for a graduate piece, he actually created a collection called "Jack the Ripper stalks his victims". The coat on the right hand side is from this collection, it is made from silk satin, and is printed in a thorn pattern, lined with white silk and encapsulated with human hair. Not sure as to the human hair part.. but absolutely amazing to say the least.

 Over Easter I visited the V&A Museum, pissed off that the fashion exhibition doesnt open until May, but I did manage to find this beautiful outfit in the Performance and Design section, and it is from 1888, the exact era I am looking at. Although the victims were very poor and most likely did not wear outfits like this, I can still take inspiration from it because I'm sure that the shape of the clothing was similar, it would just be the material which would be very different!

 Trying out how I'd decorate the corsets with different materials and sewing etc.

 A design of what I may or not do.. but it is my first one yet

 Oh darling.. Mr Pearl.. He is so amazing. What surprises me about Mr Pearl is that he looks like a true english man.. and how amazingly his 18inch waist works to enhance this look. His is just SOOO COOL. As my friends would say, about what I say... haha

In the words of Pearl himself "ITS IMPORTANT TO NOT FORGET THAT CORSETRY HAS BEEN THE FOUNDATION OF ALL WOMENS CLOTHING OVER THE AGES"

 And my toile!.. this is where the journey really begins for me.. Although this was 2 panels too small.. I have never made a corset before.. and Gayle said I missed out 2 panels.. So its perfect really ;)

Oh and as you all noticed probs.. I have changed the name of my Blog, mainly because I wanted something that meant more than just words.. This is why I thought of, "THIS IS MY OUTFIT" Basically it's because my outfit is what I wear and its around me, and also its how I express myself, which is the same as my artwork.. It's what makes ME. and "Outfit" because I'm doing fashion and its a fashion Blog.. 

Thanks for readingggg :)