Bin Bag Dress

Another one of the 10 dresses that i made was a combination of bin bags and a floral charity shop skirt. I made many dresses out of bin bags, recycling bags... anything that was free! This thing kept ripping but luckily i could simply tape it back together! if only all clothing could be fixed like that! I particularly like this dress because of its nature to rip, and move and change every time i put it on!

This next dress also incorporates bin bags. The pink dress is a nightie from.... a charity shop! i didn't like the pretty, delicate look of the dress, it was also rather big and long and very tacky.... So i destroyed it! throwing paint at it and tarnishing it with a pumice stone was a great stress reliever especially as this was the 8th dress i had made and by this time the pressure was beginning to mount! The lace is from a haberdasher and cost 18p from their bargain bucket. The dress cost 30p, and the bin bag and embellishments were all things i had lying around! this was the cheapest dress out of my collection.

These two dresses are still on display at Norton Radstock college where i took my art foundation Diploma along with the A1 sized photographs which are posted on here.

This Saturday i worked at the Bristol Graduate fashion show, i turned up on the day expecting to be a model dresser. One of the models phoned in sick and next thing i knew i was on the catwalk! scariest thing of my life! Pictures to come...

Opposites Attract

I thought I'd give you guys a brief update of my final project. The Title was Opposites Attract. The opposites that i chose to look at were Ancient vs Futuristic. This covered everything from skyscraper buildings and neon colours to myths, gods, gold and jewels. Eventually i focused my research down the bird gods of egypt and began to look at the heiroglyphics and statues depicting these. I then began to look more closely at the actual birds that were represented.... Falcons, Vultures, sparrows....

The pictures shown are of my attempt to re-create some of the textures, colors and patterns that can be found on some of these birds in knit. The pink one is taken from the stubbly pink head of a Lappet Faced Vulture, (Below Top) and the grey from the 'blobby' skin around the head of a King Vulture (Below Bottom)

Along with creating fabric samples i have also created many jumbled up garment designs. Below is one of my favourites as well as some more fabric samples which i am currently developing to use for the final garment!!... I hope you've enjoy this post... Time for some more sampling i think!

  

Please leave a comment.... positive criticism is always welcome

Alberta Ferretti - My inspiration

I would like to use this blog entry to promote a fashion designer that is a favourite of mine, Alberta ferretti. For my Textiles A-level i had to do a presentation on her work and at the time i had never heard or seen any of it, and out of ignorance just wanted to learn about the big names like Gucci or Chanel. However, now she has blossomed as a designer and i am totally hooked on her work. Below is a snapshot of her homepage www.albertaferretti.com

The fashion style i usually look towards for inspiration is never normally anything as pretty as this. I like dramatic, Avant Garde objects that wear the person rather than a 'dress on a clotheshorse' type look. However there is something quite admirable about her pieces. For example the dress above at the left has thousands of tiny pleats, or the green dress with hand embroidery on such a sheer fabric.

I would like to think that Miss Alberta Ferretti is a big fan of 'trendils' (look they're everywhere). I am contradicting myself here saying that i dont particularly like thing to be too pretty, however, i do like a good trendil or two. again note the layering and ruffling of the silk chiffon fabrics. The garments have a fluidity about them and are finished so emaculately.

I particularly like the cute brogues that the models are wearing giving the models a nerd-esque look. They also look extremely comfy. Overall, i think i admire her work so much out of jealousy, or a 'i wish id thought of that'. Her pieces are so sickeningly sweet yet magical and inspiring. They make me want to pay more attention to finishes and minor detailing occasionally rather than throwing things together haphazardly (i have even been known to use a stapler in my time!) Anyway, I hope you like the pictures and visit her Website!

wooaaaaah! Yep! Thats right another heres one i made earlier...

This one started life as a peachy coloured dress from asos, pretty but Rather ill fitting. It had a waistband which seemed to be made to fit a size 4 rather than a 10 and strange gathering going on which made you look like you had boobs on your back!?! Odd! Anyway, i decided to sacrifice this one in the name of art. Firstly, it was tooo long so i hacked of the 'pretty' edging and cut into the god awful waist thing. next i cover it in white paint, i firstly attempted to use bleach... a lot of it and whereas the blasted dress remained the untouched the college chairs will never quite looked the same... My bad!

Using a bucket and other random shit from around the studio i arranged the dress so that it would dry with a crumpled effect that i could still get into. Next i attacked the 'pretty' neckline and shoulders with black paint, some black netting and more black paint on the scalloped edging (i don't throw things away easily) stitched it all together and then here we have dress no.4! :)