Lora Sutton : When Gnomes Appear In Your Garden

George At Asda

2009-08-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

My latest placement was with George at Asda. Based on Carnaby Street this placement was surprisingly design focussed and trend driven. I was mainly given research duties for this placement but I did manage to do a few designs for the over 40's (something which is actually pretty challenging) and also some stripe designs for basic work shirts.

These designs are all for Moda, the over 40's range. Detailing is limited to necklines by customer preference and also price. The one strap dress is for core designs and will be manufactured in four colours. The difficulty with working for a company like George is that everything is limited by costing. With basic Tshirts costing just £6, there is very little you can do with the design. It is, however, a real learning curve and forces you to be creative within very strict confines.

Below are twelve of my stripe designs. I was given four colours to work with and just played around with different widths and textures n Illustrator so there were a huge variation to choose from.

The Supply Chain

2009-04-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

My latest post ( yes it has been a while! ) is about my newest and recently completed placement with X - Co, a small supply company to retailers such as Dorothy Perkins, Topshop, ASOS, Jane Norman and a few more. I really enjoyed working for Harry, the head designer, and learnt a HUGE amount about designing for commercial purposes as well as how a small business operates.

I have included some of my designs completed here.

These first designs are for a range being designed for Tammy Girl. Their target age range is 8 - 16 and I personally feel a lot of their garments are a little bit tarty. I tried to tone down the sex appeal with my designs but maintain a real sense of trend-led fashion.

The next group of designs are for Jane Norman. The basis of the designs are very Balmain. Very panelled, body-con and sexy. Zips are a huge feature on a lot of catwalks this season so I wanted to include a lot of these too. All of the below designs will be in various shades of Bengaline (a very stretchy woven fabric) which Jane Norman are synonymous with and have metallic top stitching detailing.

The next designs are for a French company called Xanaka. Their clothes are very River Island, H&M and Bershka. So quite young and funky with unusual detailing and trend influenced garments. Xanaka were looking for garments to expand their A/W 09 collection, specifically jackets and trousers so I did a bit of high street research and did designs for this.

The rest of these designs are just for X-Co to produce as samples. Harry will look at them once they come back from China and decide whether he thinks they are suitable for sending to companies. At the moment they are sending a lot through Dorothy Perkins, Pimkie, Mim, Xanaka and Topshop so any of these designs could end up at places like these.

All work and images subject to copyright (me and X - Company)

Living The Dream : My First Garment!

2009-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Wahoo! This dress came back from the supplier today - it's my print! I don't think I have been that excited for a while! Although there are some amendments to the garment shape, and possibly the fabric that will take the print, this is basically what the finished dress will look like. I'm so proud - my first retail garment!

Front

Dress has little layers along the skirt along with a waist tie

Back

Small buttons run down the centre back

This next dress also came back today and includes my lipstick print. Again, the garment needs a few small tweaks, I believe the waistband is too low and the neckline too high. This front view shows a front zip detailing, red jersey contrast banding and an open back. Skirt part also features pockets in the side seams.

These following images are of my fair-isle knitwear samples. These I am most proud of so far, I feel. I love the squirrels and acorns, the red birds and the kissing deer. All nestled up nicely with snowflakes and Christmas trees!

The images above and below show close ups of my samples. I really love the detailed snowflakes. I believe these designs are going on a number of knitwear pieces - I want a scarf! Luckily these samples are not wool either (I have an allergy) so I am hoping that the finished garments won't be either!

Full view of all elements

This next image is some freelance work I completed for ASOS after my placement. This is a vintage rose intarsia knitwear design. The sides include big open sleeves for a very boxy look. The black around the edges will be a thick black rib to contrast with the main design. I am quite pleased with this as I think it has successfully kept it's vintage appeal, however I am still no too convinced by the background, I feel it dominates too much.

These images are hand-drawn rope illustrations which are going to be used as a print for an oversized Tshirt dress. I haven't completed much hand drawing recently so I was incredibly pleased with how these have tuned out. It has inspired me to do a few more hand drawn designs, for my own portfolio.

A close up to show the detailing, next to and image of the whole garment with placement print. I love how oversized this print is. This is a smaller version too, my initial idea had a tassel on it that was about twice the size of the ones here.

Just as a quick note I would like to point out that I did not design these garment shapes. They were designed by the skilled hands of Christine Fallon, a Womenswear Designer. My designs are the prints and patterns - just thought you should know!

All work and images subject to copyright (Me and ASOS.com)

As Seen On Screen : ASOS.com Work Experience

2009-01-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

In August 2008 i received an email from a senior designer at ASOS.com asking me to come for an interview as their head designer had spotted and liked my collection at graduate fashion week, EXCITING! This then led on the me completing a placement with them in December 2008, where I was basically a junior designer for a month, and I absolutely loved it.

When you think of the design team at big fashion companies like this, you generally expect there to be a highly competitive, stressful and slightly bitchy atmosphere but this could not have been further from the truth. The guys at ASOS are some of the loveliest and most welcoming people I have ever met, and I will miss them so much!

In this blog entry I have displayed some of my work I completed for ASOS, which will appear on the site sometime next year, anytime from March onwards, so keep your eyes peeled!

A clubs and spades print I designed, which is being used on a 50's style dress

A spot print also being used on a 50's style dress

A lipstick print being used on a cute cap sleeve dress with ruffles.

All of these prints are Adobe Illustrator vectors. These three prints were completed in my first week of placement and are part of their 2009 trends.

The following images are hand-drawn embroidery designs for a tunic top. The top image is the raw repeat (not yet formed around the garment shapes e.g neckline) to be manipulated to fit a slash neckline, tapering out towards the shoulders. And yes, it took me bloody ages.

The next image is a border embroidery designed to go as an empire line detail on the same tunic top.

The image below is the placement of the embroidery. I had to manipulate the elements to fit around the neckline, tapering downwards on the centrefront and getting narrower on the shoulder. The colours are a contrasting deep raspberry and a limey citronella.

This is a drawing of the final garment by Bruno, the Jerseywear designer. It shows the complete scale and repeat of the embroidery, this is what the suppliers will work from to create the design in reality, with reference to the exact detailing of my design.

This image of a deer is an intarsia knit design for an oversized jumper. This is the finished version which will be made into the knitwear. The same applies to the wolf. The finished jumper is going to be black with the big character intarsia in greyscale as shown.

I am really pleased with how the fur has turned out on the wolf design, below. He looks very warm and fluffy! This will also end up on an oversize black jumper-dress.

This image gives a rough idea of the finished appearance of the deer. The wolf will be a similar size on a similar jumper.

The images below are some fairisle knit designs for cardigans and jumpers. I love the Mr and Mrs Deer kissing. I also designed some squirrels and acorns in fairisle style but did not get PSD copies, only hard copies.

I love Christmas Jumpers!

All work and images subject to copyright (me and ASOS.com)

Place It Here Or There?

2008-11-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick old ramble about placement prints! While I was at Mudpie.com doing work experience I was a print designer's assistant. I was in charge of hand drawing and illustrating elements for their prints. I have all the original but unfortunately havn't been able to get my hands on the prints they made them into. So, I have been making my own! First up, here are a handful of my favourite drawings.

Pen illustration of Crows and Jackdaws

Pen illustration of flower 'explosion'

Stylized pen illustration of tall flower

Silhouette style pen illustration

"Rolled paper" pen illustration, this is one of my favourites.

Orchid illustration, another of my favourites. Which apparently looks a bit phallic too...

Dandelion pen illustration

Stylized "cardboard" rose illustration

Ball of flowers, another favourite pen illustration

Ball of paper lantern flowers, reminds me slightly of CD artwork from The Shins for some reason.

So there are my drawings, I was really quite pleased with the work I did there, and I really improved my drawing skills too. So far I have done a couple of placement prints with a few of these guys, but I plan to do a lot more and also some repeats to go alongside.

This one shows a placement of the silhouette flower overlaying a flat vector of the drawing, with a small spray of pink spraypaint. Because the prints were going on Tshirts and vests, I wanted to give the print a slightly edgy feel, rather than being too girly.

This on is from the "ball of flowers" drawing. I think this illustration would also work very well as a repeat print as the complexity of the lines allows a really colour shock. I like this as a placement print but I don't think it is as successful as the one above.

I will add more bits and bobs as I finish them!

All images subject to copyright.

All About The Men

2008-10-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

Having specialized in Womenswear up until now, I decided to try my hand at some mens. We did a small amount of MW at university but I never really branched out, and now I really feel I should have done. So, in order to benefit both portfolio and personal skills, I have begun to branch out some of my older projects, into mens.

There are more image sheets waiting to go up, along with illustrations.

All of the above CAD sheets were inspired by my Final Major Project. I tried to keep in with the Amelie theme, using bright primary colours and a slightly hand-made feel. The second outfit uses hand stitched elements on the yellow cardigan and white long-sleeve. The first uses my print (slightly adapted to only uses gnomes rather than Russian Dolls as well) as a lining to the coat, and a bright red check shirt. I have also kept in with the use of poppers and buttons, as in the women's collection.

The image below is a sample of my reworked FMP print. I removed some of the more complicated "doll snowflake" elements and change the basic background colours.

I decided to try something a little more fun and casual after designing whole outfits, so I created a small underwear collection. The man and woman print was inspired by match.com as I thought it would be quite a funny statement to put on underwear, aside from the fact that their visual advertising is quite fun and colourful.

I then decided to do a corresponding women's underwear collection. The print came about as a happy accident as I was teaching myself how to use the 'blend tool' on Illustrator.

The above womenswear sheet includes a matching toothbrush and compact mirror. I quite liked the idea of having a basic 'overnight kit'. I have seen matching accessories like this in H&M and have always thought they were pretty cute.

This is an extension onto my Peter Jensens project. This was probably the easiest to put into menswear as the basic elements already existed in the womenswear. As a further development I would probably include some stripey socks and some hats, alongside more outfits, obviously.

This is an illustration I did for my Peter Jensen menswear. It is a play on the DVD cover for Mon Oncle. The two below are from the DVD covers from Jour de Fete and Les Vacances.

I will add more menswear in time!

All images subject to copyright.

It's Cold Outside

2008-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick design post about a coat I'm designing for myself. I will put up photos as I start making but I thought I'd start with my initial designs and fabric swatches. I bought this wool last year from the Cloth House on Berwick Street (my favourite fabric shop) and have been dying to make a winter coat from it and have FINALLY finished the design. It's silly its taken this long but I wanted to make it really nice!

This is the design. Because the file is so large, i had to scale it down a lot upload it, but it's fairly simple in design. It has a wide funnel neck with a hood, a fitted top half and slight flare from the wist seam. The bust darts have been put into princess seams and the side pockets are slightly baggy and away from the main fabric. There are some small bits of detail stitching too. I will try and convert the image to a better size so the detail can be seen a bit better.

This is one of the buttons as a vector. I doubt these buttons exist but I thought they were nice. They are old military buttons which I put my name onto, instead of initials.

I also put the fabric I bought, into vectors, to put onto the technical flat. I wanted to see how easy plaid was to create on illustrator, having never done it before. It was surprisingly easy, the hardest part is getting all the lines on the same level as the are all separate shapes.

I will update as I do more work.

All images subject to copyright.

Is It 5?

2008-09-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

Three big constants in my life are films, books and music. I generally use films for direct influence, books for imagination and music as mood-setting inspiration. I'm quite flexible in my 'favourites' as I like always finding new things to outdate old ones, but I thought I'd construct a 'Top 5" list. This list will probably be out of date in the next few weeks but I'll try to keep it updated or add in anything I have found really amazing.

Film

(1)

As mentioned many many times, Amelie is my all time favourite film. I secretly aspire to be her, on a regular basis, and unrelentlessly wish my world was red and green. Luckily I can actually understand French reasonably well so am able to watch without subtitles, definitely an idea if you really want to appreciate the visuals. In general, you could watch and understand without the titles, however you would miss out on some of the subtle humour and quirky habitudes of some of the characters. My advice would be to watch the film so many times that you learn the script...

(2)

Also mentioned a few times in Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle. Watch this for a unspoilt, idealistic view of 1950's France woven in with the physical genius that is Tati and an incredibly visually stimulating dig at the French government. The film does address real underlying issues from recent French history using its simple plot and endearing characters to make the viewer sympathize with the cause. My favourite scene involves Hulot, the main character, breaking the machinery at a pipe factory, producing misshapen piping resembling enormous strings of red sausages which get dragged around the town.

(3)

This film is a 'must see' for so many reasons. Lemmon and Curtis are absolutely fantastic, dressing up as women to escape being killed as being witnesses to a murder by gangsters. It has a similar feel to it that 'The Ladykillers" does; simple and inoffensive despite its slightly sinister plot. Obviously the story gets more and more ridiculous as one of the men (acting as a woman) ends up falling for Marilyn Munroe, causing absolute chaos. A really inspired film for a cosy night in.

(4)

I do like my animation. I generally love most things by Dreamworks and Disney Pixar and Ice Age is definitely one of my favourites. I guess I love the real human element given to the characters within the film. This story is a real must for when you need cheering up. Scrat (pictured above) is everyone's favourite character, and he reminds of a pet rat I used to have, called Mabel, who had a similar nervous twitch. I also particularly love the Dodo's who, in this story, bring about their own demise through their own stupidity. I think Wall-e is worth a mention too. The real over-cute human elements in the film are fantastic, guaranteed to make you smile.

(5)

Continuing with the animation theme, Aardman are also right up in my list of classics. The obvious Wallace and Gromit, who everyone knows and loves, down to the lesser known Creature Comforts. I never thought that plastercine animals discussing their holiday disasters or doing impressions of Julia Roberts could be so unbelievably heart-warming. I also happen to think that being a model maker must be one of the most amazing jobs to have.

Books

(1)

This trilogy is my all-time favourite story. I originally read these books in school, probably when I was about 14, and re read them a few months ago. I got so involved in my re reading, that I finished all three books in under two weeks. I love to believe that the story is real while I am reading it, something I don't often do when absorbing stories. It would be a truly bizarre occurrence if anything much was true about Daemons, parallel universes and The Authority, however it inspires such vivid images that you cant help wishing it was.

(2)

There is something so unbelievably honest and normal about these books. They allow uninterrupted access into the mind of a teenage boy whose daily issues revolve around Pandora (the love of his life), writing letters to Tony Blair and measuring his 'thing' every day to check how much it's grown. It may be slightly more fascinating from the perspective of a girl, however, I remain unconvinced that there is someone out there who is completely resistant to it's charm.

(3)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a fantastic and eye-opening book. The story revolves around a boy with autism who has various habits and reasonings in his daily life. For example, he hates the colour brown but loves the colour red. If he sees a lot of red cars in the morning, it means he will have a good day, whereas, if he sees brown or yellow cars (yellow is also a bad colour) he will have a bad day. Although dominated by these small habits and routines, the story is actually about his discovery that his mother, who he believed was dead, was actually alive and well, having run off with the man next door. To ordinary children this is a shocking discovery but to a boy with autism, who relies on an exact daily routine, it is truly catastrophic. Although, most of his worries revolve around whether his mother knows how to cook his curry properly or not.

(4)

Haruki Murakami's books are not generally recommended for their stories. This sounds like an odd thing to say about a book but once you have read one it makes more sense. The stories are good but their main purpose is the carry the language he uses. He talks at great length about insignificant things, such as making toast in the morning, but makes it sound like making toast is all you have ever wanted to do. Norwegian Wood is known as his 'normal' book as it is, essentially, a love story (though the main character sleeps with virtually every woman in the book). I am gradually working my way through all of Murakami's books and Kafka on the Shore is next in line. I would thoroughly recommend trying one of his books, however, people tend to have a love hate relationship with them.

(5)

Perfume is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. It is the story of a serial killer, who kills young women so he can make their smell into perfume. The main character is portrayed as sinister and an outcast from the very beginning. In a very strange way, you end up feeling sorry for him when he is eventually caught and tried for his crimes. The main reason I would give for reading this book is it's unlevelled descriptions of smells and scents in the novel. It is so well written that you know EXACTLY what something smells like as he sniffs it. This is definitely a good book for someone who likes an unusual story.

Music

I was originally going to do top five for music as well but this is proving a lot more difficult than I thought. I have realised I like far too much music to construct a top 5, so I have decided to write a list of bands that everyone should have at least listened to, in my opinion.

"So do as I say and listen to these bands!"

The Album Leaf

Ambulance Ltd

The American Analogue Set

The Appleseed Cast

The Arcade Fire

Architecture in Helsinki

The Beach Boys

Bloc Party

Blonde Redhead

Blur

Boards of Canada

Booka Shade

Camera Obscura

Caribou

Cherry Ghost

The Cinematic Orchestra

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Coco Rosie

Counting Crows

The Cure

Daft Punk

David Bowie

Death Cab for Cutie

The Decemberists

Feist

Fourtet

Fridge

Hot Chip

Husky Rescue

Jeff Buckley

Kent

The Knife

Maps

Massive Attack

Mew

Minus the Bear

Moby

Modest Mouse

Mum

Of Montreal

Owen

Pixies

Portishead

Radiohead

Regina Spektor

The Sea and Cake

The Shins

Smashing Pumpkins

Snow Patrol

Stars

The Strokes

Tom Waits

Trellis

We Are Scientists

Zero 7

"So off you go and do your homework!"

The Owl and the Pusseycat Went to Sea...

2008-09-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

We all know the fantastic poem "The Owl and the Pusseycat" by Edward Lear, but for those that don't here it is:

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

Print design using "Pea Green Boat"

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

Print design using "Honey and Money"

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,

What a beautiful Pussy you are."

Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing.

O let us be married, too long we have tarried;

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows,

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?"

Said the Piggy, "I will"

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Print design using "slices of quince"

Which they ate with a runcible spoon.

Print design using "Quince and runcible spoon"

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.

They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

Basically, I wanted to illustrate this poem through print. I have used imagery referred to within the poem such as the quince, runcible spoon, pea green boat, and obviously the owl and the pusseycat. This is still a work in progress so there will be many more prints when everything is done, but I thought I should put up my current work. I have learnt a couple of things while illustrating this poem. I learnt what a Quince looked like, that a Bong tree does actually exist and that a Runcible Spoon is, essentially, a Spork. I will add more images as I complete prints.

What It Is To See Inside

2008-09-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

"Now then now then"

I felt it was probably about time to introduce a few of my inspirations. Normally, my ideas just come to me in a strange vision but there are a few constants which I always look to for inspiration and general well being. I have had it said to me that these inspirations are fairly evident throughout my work, making it what it is. I like to think they give it all a touch of true quirkiness within the boundaries of my own imagination.

Image of film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet

I am one of these people who love a good cultural film. I have a bit of a 'penchent' for French cinema in particular and Jeunet is definitely one of my favourites. Amelie is the most well known, and my most influential film, that he has directed. I occasionally treat the film as a bit of a bible, to be honest. I love the way of life she leads and the sepia tinted views that rule everyday. The fact that it is all completely unrealistic seems to pass me (wearing rose-tinted glasses) by. Delicatessen is another Jeunet film I absolutely love. It is much more sinister than Amelie in plot but still holds a similar charm. A particular scene with the main character and the shop owners wife checking the squeaky bed springs is particularly memorable, and incredibly well choreographed.

Image of Jacques Tati in character as Monsieur Hulot in Mon Oncle

Much as I love Jeunet, my favourite of all favourites is Jacques Tati. Mon Oncle, in particular, never fails to make me smile and is the one film (along with episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, oddly enough) that I watch when I need cheering up. It brings out my 'old fashioned' side and reminds me that the simple pleasures in life are often the best, removing any unnecessary complications made by new technology. And yes, I do struggle with technology! I think the main things that truly inspire me about Tati's films are his simplified way of showing you that some things don't need to change. Hulot himself hardly speaks in the films, he is virtually a mute (similar to Mr Bean in that respect) leaving most of his simple humour down to odd facial expressions and strange physical bumblings. Watching the other characters around him get infuriated with his simplistic ways just adds to the humour. Hulot's films make me long to live in 50s and 60s France.

Yes, that's right, this is me. Image of my first birthday and a damn fine cake made by my mum!

"Alright alright, this is here for a reason y'know..."

This hilarious image from all those years ago (I was born in '87 so this must be '88) represents my childhood. I feel I had a truly fantastic childhood and have so many bizarre and hilarious memories, which I quite frequently draw upon to use in my work. Luckily, my Dad fancies himself as a bit of a photographer so I have a lot of photos of things we did when we were younger, which makes for great research images. I count myself as being very lucky to have such a solid family, and my Mum is a living legend. My memories of my childhood revolve around really small things like the smell of the tin I used to keep my spelling words in at school and the plastic cups we used to have (visible on the table in the picture above) with pink hippos on. These are the kind of invaluable memories that a lot of people lose but, for some reason, I seem to have an incredibly good memory for really small and insignificant things and am quite grateful for it. One other memory I must mention is me and my sister dressing up as rabbits using 3 pairs of knitted white tights; one for legs, one for arms and one on the head for long, dangling tubular ears.

"We were obviously very imaginative as children"

One of my research photo from my Final Collection

I feel this interest I have in my childhood greatly affects the choices I make within my work. For example I generally choose things such as toys (above) or baking (below) to use as some form of inspiration. I love the innocence and naivety of my work and ideas as it really allows me to explore my themes much more as they hold such personal reference. A lot of people describe me as being quite young and naive. I don't necessarily think this is the case but I can understand why they might think that, and to be honest I don't feel it's a particularly bad thing.

Oh yea, I must point out I make damn good cakes.

Photo of some gingerbread men me and my friend made.

(It was her idea to put boobs on them)

"I gave myself tummy ache cos I ate too many of them..."

I use a lot of my own photography in my work as it lets me see things in a different way than just ripping things off of google and such. Plus it's also quite satisfying looking through a load of photos you've taken that day, sitting down to edit them and print them out. Plus, as I mentioned before, I love memories, and there is no better way to preserve memories than in a photo.

My photo of a small fishing boat on Deal beach

My photo of a baby running around the boats on Deal beach

The images above were for a research project I did in the summer, 2007. I took a few good photos that day and got some really high contrast images of clouds. The two above are a couple of my favourites from that day. Deal beach holds a lot of memories for me as my Nana lives there. As children we used to go and stay with her once or twice a year and, other than Christmas and my Birthday, it was the one thing in the year I really looked forward to. I guess I wanted to preserve these memories in a more idealistic manner which is what inspired me to take these images in this way.

One of my photos of a Crab Spider

"So... what's this White Balance business again?"

I tend to call this 'the sneaky crab spider' as originally I was just taking photos of the flowers and didn't even realise the spider as there. He was probably watching me intently with all eight eyes. This one was taken after I found he was there. It is mush more focused on the spider, rather than in the initial images, where I was oblivious. And I hate spiders.

I suppose the only other thing left for me to mention right now is my absolute obsession with reading. I personally feel it should be compulsory to read books. It's such a personal thing to do and really allows you to be imaginative within someone else's story. I don't really have many favourite authors as such, I just appreciate a good story. I love Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, I like a good Steinbeck book and I have recently discovered Iain Banks and Haruki Murakami. Some of the best books I have read are the Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend, they are truly hilarious. I think the best way to get into book is through recommendations, although I do occasionally buy a book if it has a nice cover. Whoops.

All images subject to copyright

Mon Oncle

2008-09-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

This is the industry project my course did in conjunction with the co-designer of Peter Jensen. Basically we had to choose a muse to base our designs around that would give us unusual ideas and shapes. I used Jacques Tati as my muse and chose to focus on mass production and how it shaped 1950s France.

France is a country filled with exciting tradition and whimsical ideals, that the French people, and indeed the rest of the world, idealise and love. Tati's films all have very simple humour, largely based on physical acting from Tati himself who plays a happy and old fashioned character called Monsieur Hulot. The films revolve around Hulot's way of thinking, battling with the new technologies that invaded France in the 50s and 60s. I wanted to capture this contrast of 'old vs new'.

The above are three of my illustrations

These illustrations are markerpen and fineliner. My designs encorporate the 'too-short' trousers that Hulot wore in most of his films, accessorized with stripe socks, pipe and umbrella, also synonomous with Tati. The contrast of old and new fits in with the use of crisp suit jacket shapes mixed with the hand done screen prints of robots which I designed.

Photograph of my final screen-print

This image is a scan of a potato print I did as a trial for my screen print. In some respects I think this is more successful in that it looks much more unique and rustic. It was also very fun to do! I have since encorporated a lot of potato printing into my prints as I have found they make good background textures when used in Illustrator.

"Umm... long live the potato.... ?"

All images subject to copyright

The Real Chicken Run

2008-09-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

My illustration of a layered dress outfit

Once again, this project is based around some rather unusual inspiration. It originally started being about birds in general but I got distracted and started to concentrate on chickens. Being a vegetarian, I found it really interesting to take photos of the iside chest cavities and skeletons to get shapes for pleating and embroidery. I warn you now, this project is not for the squeemish!

My photograph of chicken wishbones

The wishbones largely inspired the print I used on this strapless top design. I felt that a print using wishbones was a more discreet way to encorporate my theme into the garments, rather than my original idea of using a print with crows and chickens in. The top pleated part was inspired by the same ribcage image as the shorts (below).

My photograph of wishbone dress

One repeat of my wishbone print

One of my illustrations of the wishbone dress and jodhpur outfit

Seeing the illustrations allow you to see the outfit in full, in the situation they were intended to be worn in. The style of the illlustrations give a slightly dark and sinister mood. The models are quite skeletal and reflect a lot upon features seen commonly in birds. Especially using paper cone beaks and giant chicken feet.

My research photograph of inside chickens

The photograph above really interested me and inspired a pair of shorts. I used the ribecage to inspire some pleat shapes and the patterns down the breastbone was used as a central embroidery pattern.

Photograph of shorts, inspired by the chicken ribcage

One of my illustrations of the shorts outfit

I thought it would be a bit more interesting to play with proportions and give them uber long stick legs and huge chickens feet. Illustrations are a mixture of fineliner pen, watercolour, markerpen and food colouring.

Along with the model illustrations, I also did a lot of research illustrations of anatomical objects. I got really interested in the bone structure of feet and created some really bizarre block colourings and panelling ideas. I encorporated it into a few of my designs but felt it worked better as research rather than a literal tranlation.

Collage of images and my illustrations from research

All images subject to copyright

Build Me A Tower and I'll Wear It : Some Designers and That

2008-09-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

I feel I need to explain where a few of my ideas come from, starting with a handful of my favourite designers and collections. Generally, when the new season of collections come out, I sift through it unleashed and tend to save bits and bobs that I really like... So here are a few. These are all from recent collections as I felt it was more relevant to use images that have inspired work I have done in the last year or so, in my third year of uni.

Alexander Wang AW 08/09

I loved this collection due to its 'borrowed from boys' appeal. The oversized trousers and jackets worn with the uber cute shorts and leggings screams of something super wearable, cheap and transferable between seasons.

"I will 'av two of zees..."

Kirrily Johnston SS o8

I loved this collection so much I emailed the link to a load of my friends at uni. Everything about it was fresh, beautiful and billowing. It had a well fashioned Arabian theme, even including a lack of visible flesh due to the long, front seemed leggings. Flashes of colour amongst swathes of sandy beiges was a real break from the sleek city chic full of greys and acid greens.

Miu Miu SS08

I absolutely loved this collection from Miu Miu, I think it is probably my favourite collection that they have ever shown. I looked at it a little bit during my final collection and really loved the performance and circus feel to it. The cute little collars and panelling are such well thought through details, everything just works.

Peter Jensen SS08

I do love a bit of Peter Jensen. We had an industry project with them in the third year and I absolutely loved it. They base all their collections on a muse and outfits are taken from images and videos of each muse. I loved the beaded jacket in the image above. It was apparently hand beaded and took weeks to make. To me, Peter Jensen are an example of inspired, fun and wearable fashion.

Spijkers en Spijkers SS08

"Build me a tower... and I'll wear it"

This collection also held a lot of inspiration for me in terms of my Final Collection. I took a lot of photos of building blocks (I bought some and had great fun building towers and photographing them!) and encorporating them into panelling ideas. I think Spijkers en Spijkers have done this on a very successful level and I have spent many many days lusting after this dress in specific.

Images courtesy of vogue.co.uk and are subject to copyright

So... Why All The Gnomes?

2008-09-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

"First things first"

These are images of my Final Collection from my university degree show. The research, and subsequently, the Collection, were based around one of my favourite films, Amelie. I wanted to characterize the 'colourful oddballs' that embody the film, and make it so lovable. I like to base things on unusual sources of inspiration and this collection is no exception. Garden gnomes, Russian Dolls and wooden building blocks are a steady influence throughout.

The following images are photographs taken on a location shoot in King's Cross. Basically, we charmed our way into a block of flats and went up on the roof to use it as a backdrop. The rooftop was truly amazing (I have the photographer to thank for location seeking) and was covered in an assortment of red bricks and yellow chimney pots. Unfortunately it rained most of the day, but this probably enhanced a few of the photos, especially the sky. Jeunet himself super-imposes clouds into his films if there aren't enough natural ones! Sadly Nigel, one of the gnomes we used, did get smashed, however his brother Arthur lives on.

Photographer - Laura Potts

Model - Eleanor Kerr-Smith

Clothes and Styling - Lora Sutton

Printed Yellow Dress and Purple Trousers

Yellow Wadded Playsuit and Purple Grow

Red Circle-Panel Dress and Printed Yellow Grow

Green Bubble Coat

Black Jumpsuit and Printed Yellow Bag

"Now what's this then?"

These are swatches from my print design for this collection. They are basically big snowflake shapes made up from Russian Dolls and Garden Gnomes. The yellow version appeared on the dress and bag and the purple was used for linings in the green coat and purple trousers. The print is in vector Adobe Illustrator format and one repeat (each sample above is one repeat) measures 40cm x 40cm, so makes much more of an impact on fabric. See the 'Printed Yellow Dress' image above (from the King's Cross shoot) to see it on fabric.

These images below are from a photoshoot in London which me and my course mates paid for, to use in our Graduate Fashion week brochure. I was quite pleased with mine so I thought I should put them up. Unfortunately, I have no name for the model or the photographer, otherwise they would be credited.

"Oh yeah, the shoes are DMs by the way..."

I feel I need to give a quick credit to those established companies who I bought and used accessories from. The shoes are white Doc Martens, the coloured tights are a mixture of American Apparel and Jonathan Aston at mytights.com. I made most of the accessories but there are two watches from Argos and one from Swatch.