DCC- Design Culture and Context- Modernism

As I have to begin writing an essay soon based on modernism, one the ideas raised in class was "Is it okay for men to wear skirts?" Personally I dont think the image of a train of male models strolling down the catwalk in black and white leather skirts is particularly attractive. However different people have different views, and I totally respect that.
I do think that men and women should be equal, but should we know when to draw the line? Should there be a line? As well with Gay marriage recently being approved I thought that this was the perfect time to look into this a bit more, so I began researching designers who had designed male outfits which were very influenced by womens clothing.

I came across a Topman collection which includes a modern version of the Catholic school girl uniform, the only difference is, is that its all in red. And for men.

Do you think that we should be mocking certain religions by using their style/ religious objects such as the cross as a means of fashion?
 I mention the cross because you can find this in pretty much any highstreet shop, and I recently found out that the cross upside down is actually 'antichrist' and I maybe think that we shouldnt be allowed to wear these, just because it's 'fashion'.

These were just a few thoughts to start me off on essay ideas.

first term of Uni over- Nottingham Trent University

So my first term is over and my first project is out of the way. I have learnt so many new skills is just the first 3 months. For one, I have learnt how to pattern cut. I've used an over-locker.. pattern layed.. worked pricing out and so so much more!

Essentially we had 2 projects running along side eachother.. one theory and one practical. The theory based one is to help us research and present our work, sometimes working in groups and sometimes working independently. Anyway we chose to research about hip hop.. after a lot of research into various different genres. It was pretty interesting as I lot of new things for example branding.. and how it can come across as one thing on someone yet gave off a totally different vibe on someone else.
So anyway.. that was that project, and we presented all our ideas at the end and had a discussion about what we thought.

The other project was a lot more practical "White project" and i chose to do mine on habitats. I looked into the natural and man made habitats and how the structure was actually fairly similar.
I decided that i wanted my model to feel sheltered as this tied invery well. So I decided to create some ideas with hoods attached.. I wanted a relatively large hood but realised in order to make the wearer feel "snug" and "comfortated the hood inside would need to be touching them. Sure enough I created a lining which was small enough to fit like a swimming hat and an outer hood which would stand away from the body.
The sleeves were a bit of a last minute thing, I knew I wanted sleeves but what i wanted them to look like was a totally different story, I tried out different shapes until I found one that I liked, and actually it worked very well, as it was in a leaf shape, and this tied in very well with my research because i visited Wollaton Hall and this was all about bugs and wildlife.

The finishing product was tweaked a few times and I had a couple of dissagreements with my teacher, but she did help me a lot and in the end i was very pleased with my final piece. I actually never thought i'd be creating something using pattern cutting and different types of designing.

The finished piece:

 (please email if you'd like to know anymore information on this project or anything about my work- eviecowan2@hotmail.co.uk)

FMP final images, finally uploaded!

Okay, so I realised I never actually posted my final images of my show all put up. And although it was a very long time ago.. I spose I better them them :)

As you know it was all about portraying the 5 Jack the Ripper victims as garments, and i wanted my installation to look like the streets of WhiteChapel as this where the murders took place.

I started by covering the walls and ceiling with black fabric to make it dark and eerie and essentially like a street at night.

I layed paving slabs on the floor to act as cobbles as in this time they didnt have tarmac'd roads, they just had cobbles. the lighting was very dim at night, they had only tiny gas lanterns which were placed around the city, which infact only shone a 5 metre radius around them, so as you can imagine White Chapel was a perfect habitat for a sick minded murderer to get to work.

I layed out my work within the area so that my audience could walk inside and feel like they were actually there, I hung all the jewellery on one of the first walls, the same with my leaflets, so my audience was informed as to what my work was actually about.

The jewellery is made from real bones (chicken) and the chains are just metal. I used chains to hang the garments, and chicken wire for the body to wrap the garments around because it added eerieness to the installation, and this didnt draw any attention away from the chains, but added to the scary feel I was going for.

So here you are..

Here are some shots from my photoshoot, Model- Victoria Wayman

(You may be wondering why she's eating grapes, but this was believed to have been Jack the Rippers leur for his voctims, as they were very expensive, and it helped the victims to trust him)

Grade- D*D*D*

the final garment to be made- THANK GOD.

 MY PLAQUES HAVE ARRIVVEDDDDDD!!!! Ready to put up in my space!! yayayayayayay!!

 Here is my plan for my space.. may have to re-jiggle it a bit as the space i have has got 5 walls.. I mean 5!?.. harsh. but it is a lovely space, so I'm not complaining. Exhibition day COME AT ME BRUDDUHHH.


I thought it would be appropriate to create leaflets for my exhibition space as not everyone knows the story of Jack the Ripper, and so this can act as an aspect from a museum or something..

 however.. it went wrong quite a few times..

 And the final leaflet.. now with cream writing (it stands out better).. but i need to find a way of printing it so that it doesnt go all flakey! :(

Just a quick sketch of what my catwalk runway will look like!! This probably doent mean a lot to you guys reading it.. but for me.. I CAN NOT LOSE IT. 

AND ALL MY HARD WORK. The end.

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.