Exploring non traditional materials though other designers

Hussein Chalayan silicone dresses- I could create these simular looks with experiments into ice magic? paint? some sort of globular liquid? jelly?


Project Runway America has also had some episodes where the designers have experimented with non traditional textile materials

outfit made from seat belts

Outfit made from corn husks

Proposal

What is your project about/what are you researching?
I am interested in the differences between materials on the body and off. Specifically I am interested in materials that are not considered ‘garments’ when they are not anchored to the body or built in relation to the body but once applied offer protection or adornment and could therefore be considered a garment. I am researching therefore the limitations of a garment in a traditional sense, that being both the fabrication and structure. I plan to research this by creating a list of ‘rules’ or specifications upon which a garment must follow, and then with that list experiment with a range of non-traditional materials onto the body. In the future of the project I hope to either present these experimentations as my final design outcomes to challenge the ideas of ‘fashion’ and ‘garments’ or take these experiments and create more refined design options to inspire conventional aspects of ‘fashion design’ i.e. using textiles.


If I covered a person in feathers would you consider them clothed? Would you then consider a body of feathers to be a 'garment'?


I am researching the difference between:
Materials vs. materials applied or anchored to the body = which constitute garments? Can they both be considered garments? Does something need to be applied to the body to be a garment? Could a fashion designer still create garments using materials other than fabric or textile matter? Could fashionable items also become fashionable clothing if applied to the body?


Margiela Jacket made of paper

What outcomes do you have in mind?
Ideally I would like to experiment with enough objects to become inspired completely originally to create a formula for the definition of a garment. With this limitation I hope to create clothing that is made for the body.



Objects as clothing and accessories- styled by Nicola Formichetti

How are you going to go about making the project?
Random experimentation- for example standing in the city and walking 100 steps in every direction, and documenting the object found at the end of this quest both on and off the body. In this uncontrolled situation is it possible to broaden the ideas of necessary fabrication in fashion and clothing production. Also I plan to refine my ideas of experimentation into more accessible mediums such as replication and repetition of images collected through illustrator and lifting interesting lines or silhouettes to create other garment ideas. Or creating a new material that is inspired by the experimental material or applied to the body in a similar fashion although is made from a fabrication that I have been taught how to create desired effects with, i.e. fabric.


Experimentation with 'traditional' fabrics- Margiela created PLASTIC fur jackets


Who are some of the artists/designers who relate to your project and why?
Christian Boltanski- who uses clothing as objects in gallery spaces
Nicola Formichetti- a stylist who uses experimental materials to create clothing and fashion looks
Martin Margiela- a fashion designer who uses non-traditional materials frequently to create fashionable garments such as jackets made from soccer balls.
Jeremy Dhennin- a French fashion designer who recently graduated from Le Cambre Mode in Paris who created garment silhouettes out of paper )


I need to also find some more artist/designers who relate to my project.


Margiela soccer ball jacket


Timeline- plan of how you will be spending your time over the next 7 weeks.
Week 8- Random sourcing of objects and documentation, also research into other artists
Week-9- Experimentation of found objects & creation of garment definition rules
Week 10- Refined design for garments through experimentation and fabrication research
Week 11- Cutting/Sewing Garments
Week 12- Cutting/Sewing Garments
Week 14- Cutting/Sewing Garments
Week 15- Presentation


Comme Des Garcon shoes - using traditional materials (leather) and applied to the traditional area for shoes (feet) and yet the relation to the body with the drawn toes creates an element of interest. Are these leather shoes feet? Are these leather feet shoes?

Ricardas studio

Ricarda took our studio class last Thursday and we created 3D objects out of light animations through the use of smoke.




Here is Jacinta practicing with the smoke machine



Jemmy playing with a solar flare like a wizard


We animated a fish, here is a video of the animation starting although the light has not transfered to a 3d object as the smoke machine is not turned on yet



With the smoke machine the object suddenly became realized and tunnels were created within our fish animation.




Then we traced our 3D light object to create another version of the shape but in a material- we ended up using our bodies and bending in a fish formation



This image was created by moving my camera really fast in circles and looks like an architecture drawing of something 3D
(imagine a 3D dress drawing printed on a dress?!?!?!)


light face:


Smokin' hot sportswear

ENIGMATICA from Kit Webster on Vimeo.

Ellery

Documenting shadow using light

In the level 7 studios we used different light sources including red bike lights and materialsincluding aluminium foil, body parts & paper to create shapes in light/shadow that are different from the forms in reality. The idea that light interacts with only the surface of a garment to create an absence (of colour) which in turn creates a form (shadow/silhouette outline) is very interesting and I hope to explore this more in the future.

Painted People

All the painted people, why are they all so blue?

Is the blue shirt considered clothing like the white shirt?

They both are applicable to the body but does the method of extracting the paint after make it not a 'garment'?

Does a garment need to be an item that can last after application to the body?

Are both t-shirts fashionable?

Does fashion and garments have a distinct relation in terms of physicality?

If a material takes the form of a body once applied is it a garment?

To answer this question I have been researching body paint. Paint as a stand-alone form has no relation to garments, although does have a connection with fashion as paint colors are constantly changing and evolving depending on customer preferences. Once applied to the body paint can cover the skin- much like a garment, and in some cases can be peeled off leaving a 3d object quite like a piece of clothing.









Now I am going to experiment and do some primary research .....

Inspiration for coloured light forms

Documenting Shadow

Grizzly Bear is the soundtrack because they just annouced they're playing at Splendor and they have crazy animations in this video. The faces and silhouettes of the singers move and end up exploding, morphing.



Here are some inspirational images that have been captured of shadow (including our fashion show at the end which resulted in naked silhouette projections- naughty fun like peaches)


I LOVE THIS:


Playdough is an interesting material to create things with as it is easily manipulated and can morph to different areas of the body/forms very easily. It is quite tangible and as a basic form does not relate to fashion or garments at all but could translate to clothing so easily. Also this film clip has an amazing shadow progression with little twisting evolving grizzly animals

What is a garment made out of?

Experiments on making jackets in class, using different 3d materials and then later applying them to the body. I used flour, cellophane, jelly babies & soap









The process of applying our 'jackets' to an area of the body made me realize that my concept of clothing and fashion are radically different in reality and the words I use to describe garments can be applied to many forms other than those made traditionally from textile materials.



What is clothing if not garments? What are garments if not material form? What constitutes clothing- does it need to apply to the body? Does clothing or garments or fashion need to relate to an area of the body? Can they just interact around a body and still leave the person feel 'clothed'? Like darkness.

To finish off the post here is the peaches clip that we saw today that is SO incredible. She is such a babilicious


Love Emily

Animal Collective- My Girls

Posting this video clip because
1. the song is awesome (does it make you anxious Sharlee?)
2. the graphics remind me of our Shadow studio this morning with Ricarda. Images are in silhouette or artificial that morph into shadows, shapes & dimentions. Is is so visually stimulating



At no point do the artists wear clothing, but rather a light show of optical illusion in a cyber world. So exciting

First response to Shadow

I'm not sure if I did the wrong thing in week 1 by choosing a printed jersey as my material to experiment in, I may have to do the response again?


Grizzly Bear film clips are the best!

I just really like the idea that jersey can stretch over any form and that you can use a billion different machines to fix it all together (didn't do stretch last year and am fascinated and a little jealous!).

Also was thinking about the ideas of print interacting with shadow and whether that would create an interesting textile or aspect of design, or whether print could imply shadow?



Anyway, here are some images of my first response to shadow, literally creating shadow.
Promise to be more imaginative/inspired by the time the proposal is due, I am thinking of going off in a different direction....relating to the questions from last class!



love Emily

Responding to questions

I have chosen 2 questions that I found interesting to explore in a physical way

1. In order to wear something must it relate to an area of the body?
- anchoring points of garments ie waists, hips, shoulders- must they be used?
- how would you physically put something on if it didn't relate to the body? Spray paint? Body paint?
- Creating external structures which house the body- this still needs anchoring point though which relates to an are of the body
- OTHER possible anchoring points that are rarely used- FINGERTIPS, FEET? EARS? HEADS!
- What else relates to areas of the body that aren't considered as 'garments'?
-HAIR, scent, jewellery, nail polish
(still have aspects of design within, SURFACE DECORATION- in Fashionology these are considered feminine rather than in the 1400's where it was non sexual and rather a class distinction- interesting aspect of concept to research?)
- CHAIRS? ergonomically designed to shape body but not a garment
ADVERSE IDEA: In order for something to relate to the body must we need to wear it?

2. Could a shadow of a garment be in its 2D form but applied to the body?
- could this be created by using different garments in different situations ie walking upstairs- then lifting this shadow image and creating a garment out of it
ie. like old school silhouettes
- 2D clothing, is it still a garment even if its only on one side of the body?
- could this be sustainable?
- many fronts and plain body suit underneath?
- FLAT OUTFIT ie suits perfectly sewn just with no back? or even photographs?
- Velcro body suits with aspects of flat garment shadows applied- like collars
-Trace shadows in different lights onto butches paper as pattern- use jersey (from first experiment) to fit. --------Would that still be a garment or a waste of time?

"I'm so naked in these clothes"

Write thoughts and feelings towards clothing and feeling dressed:

CLOTHES SWAP reflection-

Image clothing + Written garment = refer to same reality but have different structures as they are made from different substances. (Barthes, 1983) from The Fashion System

“Fashion is something that exists in peoples’ minds, it changes the way people respond to clothing” Yuniya Kawamura

DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN “FASHION” AND “CLOTHING”

What are clothes?

What does it mean to feel dressed?

Could wearing clothes or being dressed merely depend on the material clothing is made from?

PART 1: material selection- COTTON JERSEY GEOMETRIC PRINT

1. Sewn glove on sewing machine

2. Clipped glove on sides and slid on hand- protection is still offered ? technically it still functions

3. Wrapping material around the hand and knotting together around fingers to create fingerless gloves

4. Cutting fingers out of fabric to drape glove