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 :) 

FMP- Final Major Project : Jack the Ripper

Well helloooo there,
So as you can see, this post is about my..... yep, you guessed it FINAL MAJOR PROJECT. Basically this is where I become a recluse and not go out for.. however long.. like 6 or 7 weeks.. I dunno. But seriously it's so much hard work. I only just started during Easter halfterm which was last week and already the work is like AHHH GONNA DIE.

So I thought I'd give you a little insight into this little project of mine, as its our FMP we have to write the brief ourselves, this can be a little tricky if you have no clue what so ever as to what you want to do, however, luckily for me... I had just taken my boyfriend on a Jack the Ripper tour in London for his birthday, yes I paid for everything, trains, tours, dinner, snacks.. etc etc. I'm amazing, I know. ;)

But anyway, this tour had really interested me and I began to research further into the victims and ofcourse himself, Jack the Ripper, although he is still unknown, there is actually quite a bit of information on the story.

when we began writing our briefs I wrote about how I'd like to look further into the story and re-create the cxlothing of the victims, in particular the corsets. I have never made a corset before, and I'v done theatrical fashion, so it would be a challenge to say the least. However i since gained knowledge of the fact that a corset is not difficult to create.. though I'll only believe it when I see it! So anyway, basically in a nut-shell.. for you simples out there.. my project is to look further into the lives of the Jack the Ripper victims, and to imprint their identities onto each corset I make (in total 5, 1 for each victim). As the area WhiteChapel was very poor in 1888 I'll have to look into particular materials to make these because theres no point having a bright red corset for a poor prostitute living off 4 pence a day!
For my final corset (Mary Jane Kelly's) I'll be re-making insides from the human body out of latex and attaching them to a split opening in the front, as you might or might not know, Jack the Ripper was not a gentle killer, he ripped open his victims reveiling the insides of their bodies, and quite often taking a part of them as a 'trophy'... messed up!!

As you can see, I have begun with a moodboard... this is just to get all my ideas down on paper, and expand from here onwards..

Many more posts to come... this is gonna be the longest project OF MY LIFE.

Amsterdam Fashion Institute

So I got an interview for Amsterdam Fashion institute...

BUT... TO GO OR NOT TO GO... I lavvvv it soooo much, and its AMSTERDAM... but I have a conditional place at Nottingham... And Nottingham is just as amazing, and I wanna go far away, but is Amsterdam taking the piss? Plus its so expensive.. And lets face it I'll be up to my eyeballs in debt anyway.. aaaaahhhhh so confusing! ..

But on the plus side.. I've been doing work ! yay.

OH HEYYY

So its the Easter Holidays... And I've gone out literally every day of the first week.. and NOW it is time to crack-a-lack down and get on with some beloved research for my Final major project (FMP) Before I go in to the details of my FMP this is my final outcome for my interior design project.. I wasnt very pleased with the outcomes, mainly because I cannot stand interior design!! However I did enjoy the screen printing of the seat covers as I havent done this since my short course at Central St Martins, so that was funnnn :) But heres some images for ya'llll....

As you can see I created it as a vintage shoe shop layout, I did this because my ideas were based around the identities of people captured in their clothing/ shoes, and taking inspiration from the vintage shops in Brighton, I thought how better to place my furniture lighting and wall art than in a vintage store! As you can see I cheated on the lighting part, because i used the projector to project a front door onto the back drop to add the finishing touch to my vintage store! Even though i didnt enjoy the project, I was pleased with the final outcome.. well I wasnt until I found out I got Distinctions for this project.. and then I was pleased! ;)

Interior Design

Two posts in one night.. GET ME. Need to get back into this.. internets crap at home which makes it ten times harder! but I've hit a bit of a block in my project, so I decided to blog, to free my mind, and come back to it later.. har har har

Well anyway, we're onto a interior design project based on Brighton.. and I'm basing mine on the LANES because they are BEAUTIFUL and I love them... In particular I am capturing the clothing and the shoes within my prints, which I'll show later.. because my phones plugged in..

But this is just a quick one to explain to you what I am doing ATM

I have created a chair and sytool cover, and made a cushion with my screen prints on, the cushion I particularly like, but the chair and stool I do not, I feel i could have done so much more with them, but I'll write about this in my evaluation..

I just need to complete my lighting which is made out of origami paper shoes, which i now know how to make OFF BY HEART... yes, off by heart.. ;) only because I've made about 50 though. hah!

But yeh.. thats basically what I'm currently doing, and this project finishes on monday, so bare with me.. I am stressing out, because I've just got an offer for interview at Amsterdam Fashion Institute on the 14th of April.. and they've given me an assignment to complete! BEST GET CRACKIN' as well as planning my Final Major project.. which I am actually SO excited about because I have the COOOOOLIEST idea EVER.. but I'm not telling you yet.. ;) tehehehehe

silly iPhone! -- COLOUR PROJECT

So basically I did already write this post on my way back from nottingham university, but because I had no signal it didnt even save.. grrr!
Anyway I was just writing a post about the colour project which comes after the book project as I really need to catch up on these blog posts!

So where did I start..

I was given a COLOUR, a PARTNER, and a set of rules..

1- the skirt must be made from 5 panels
2- One piece must not be made from what we may traditional consider fabric
3- Some obvious use of pattern should be evident
4- Must only use found materials and objects
And the 5th (which was given to me and my partner by another pair) - Must be some use of text within the garment, excluding the label.

My first thoughts for this project- I HATE the colour purple.. but I do like a challenge. ;)
I began by putting together a purple moodboard which could potentially spark me off onto a wonderful tangent of knowing exactly where to go in the sense of research and a possible idea for my outcome.. but No. I had hit a breeze block far earlier than anticipated.

Judging by the rules I had been given I thought to research some garments which had been made from recycled materials, my favourite being Jen Girards trashion dress.

I had to give a one minute presentation on her garment so I researched into the background of the dress and found that she had used trash from one single skip, this was perfect for the "only recycled materials" rule!

I went to sketch up 8 fashion designs as potential ideas for the skirt.. ofcourse none of them even came close to my final garment but they did help me to expand my ideas!

SORRY FOR IT BEING SIDEWAYS!- it wont let me change it! waaaahhhh..!

Researching illustrators, I stumbled upon Cedric Rivrain, I know that I LOVE his work purely because of the fact i can actually remember his name, I have a shit memory.. people I know will tell you this. but anyway, his illustrations are literally AMAZING and so so detailed!.. so I went on to try out my own illustrations.. ofcourse they were just as amazing as Rivrains.. NOT. BUT.. this was the start of THE AMETHYST INSPIRED SKIRT. I randomly did this design onto a drawing and really liked the sharp angles of the skirt, it reminded of the amethyst stone..

Oh also.. it reminded me of little gems.. quite similar to a stone, i know but I had a go at making some paper gems.. which failed miserably, although I did manage to create 3 wonderful looking ones, but ofcourse they were not proffessional enough tyo feature on my skirt.. :(

I stumbled upon the fashion designer 'Prabal Gurung' in a vague search for purpley designs, lucky, i know! His prints are amazing. I loved the symmetry in every garment and matching outfit he made for his Spring 2012 collection, literally, please look him up, they are so beautiful! For this collection Gurung was inspired by the Japanese artist Nobuyoshi Araki, and his 'sensual flowers' photography series. Although this is what he was inspired by, it is very difficult to make out that the prints in the collection are flowers, which is why they look so magical, and floaty, and they remind me of when you pour Ribena into a glass of water, how the juice just dances around the water, and then eventually it spreads out.
 So I tried making some similar fabric by splatting inks at white cotton, in shades of blue, purple and pink, absolutely LOVED how this turned out!! Although gayle (teacher) wasnt too pleased at the state of her wall :S - she chilled out after I painted over it though ;)

My friend in my class mentioned about Chibori, which personally I had never heard of before, so I researched into it, and basically... its this..

Well this is my piece that I tried out, but basically you tie stones or watever shape you want to make, and then you steam the fabric for about 10-15 minutes and then you untie the stones, and you're left with this beautiful effect. Which was perfect for my skirt! Seen as it was based on a stone, the effect was perfect! :D

After creating and practising my newly learnt techniques, I got to work on the toile, (using my own measurements, as the skirt was to fit ME :)) I created just an average A line skirt, nothing too flamboyant, as the fabric would be quite loud and I didnt want the style to take away the effects on the skirt.

After making the toile, I could get to work ON THE ACTUAL SKIRT. exciting...

I cut the fabric.. dyed the fabric.. chibori'd the fabric, and sewed it together using a sewing machine. Luckily my hand made card went through the sewing machine.. so this made life so much easier for me, and I cheated with one of my rules slightly.. as I was to use text, I made the hand-made card out of old newpapers , clever me!

And the final piece... VOULA!

ps shit quality, i photographed these out of my book! sorryyyy

Fashion Futures: Dress Made From Recycled Children's Books

Fashion Futures: Dress Made From Recycled Children's Books: http://www.ecouterre.com/dress-made-from-recycled-childrens-books-is-fit-for-a-fairytale-princess/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&ut...

found this when I was researching for my interior project, and as i love recycled fashion SOOOOO much I thought i would re-blog it and share it with all of youuuuu :)