Evaluation

 

Evaluation

 

Making the final 8 sample digital & thermochromic screen print designs have been a challenge but I feel, overall, that they have developed well. Within my sports samples I am displaying the colour change in sports wear when heat is produced from the body,  to help dancers sustain exercise. Researching different stretchy sports fabrics has been successful, although it was a challenge  as I need to work out the shrinkage value to the material after digital printing. However, the technicians were able to offer support and guidance in relation to the most optimum materials and fabrics for my sportswear designs.  Within my research, I have looked at Stella McCartney’s Adidas collection and Mary Katrantzou It should be noted, however, that I feel modern architecture has supported my inspiration the most. The dominating structured shapes have helped me to reflect this into my drawings and then into final designs.

Making films for my live projects has been an adventure. I have experienced challenges in terms of balancing time for each project and I have struggled considerably in this area. I found the editing for the blog the hardest as it took up a significant amount of my time and it took considerable rewording and rethinking. This is something I will have to get used to quickly as working for different clients requires a great deal of editing time. I found working on Annah’s behind the scene shoot & the Berlin Fashion Film festival the most enjoyable and I learnt such a lot from them both. With Annah’s behind the scenes shoot I was able to assist Annah with direction and I used basic editing techniques so it worked smoothly and did not take up a lot of my time. I found the BFFFC the most enjoyable as I feel it reflected directly my concept of heat changing sport wear well and it was  uplifting to feel appreciated from a high ranking individual in  the fashion film industry who took a keen interest in my work.  For my personal investigation films showing heat change in a dancer's body, the UV & projection film, have also been an adventure and a challenge as it has offered the advantages of working with models and dancers outside of University and sourcing equipment from other areas that does not involve the ease of the normal University channels. In this way, it has helped me to work outside of the university and has given me a taste of how I would cope if I was a film maker for fashion films sourcing people, props and filming equipment.

 

For unit X, I will be developing my final designs and choosing one design for my garment that I will make for my fashion film. I plan to make a fashion film with my dancer Ina Colizza and Orson as well as an extended film crew as I have been sourcing more people to help film the shoot. It is most important in my work that I have a team available for my fashion film as it is quite a big project and has great potential if implemented well. A photographer has also seen some of my film project work online and has asked to collaborate with me for unit X.

 

 

 

Development of Toil

This week I have been developing my toile. I have chosen to do my next toile in a light lycra cotton with netting for the panels. Making the shape of this did not take a long time and the technicians offered advice in constructing the toile. When fitting it on the dancer it did not fit on the inside of her thighs and it made a hole in the crotch area. As a result, for my toile, I will add a couple of inches around the thigh area.

Thermochromics new print tests

 

 

 

I have chosen to make 8 final print designs digital with screen printing on top. I have implemented some tests with the Thermochromics paint on white jersey before the final designs as I want to test out my new geometric and floral prints to screen printing.

These are a selection of my test prints that I have added foiling to give them a reflective effect as in sportswear reflective material is displayed quite a lot.

Berlin Fashion Film Festival Competition

Over the Christmas break I have planned to enter the Berlin fashion film festival competition. Over this time I have directed my efforts towards filming, editing and creating a pitch to the BFFF competition.

During the making of this film I wanted to relate to my self-initiated project ideas with the film itself. As my project is aiming to show heat changing through colour in my print designs for  sportswear I came up with the concept of using a moving projection of different coloured prints that changed colour across a dancer’s body as she was moving. With the construction of this film, I decided that I did not want to make it look projection. I want to make it look like the prints are actually changing colour across the white garment.

When editing this fashion film I made two final copies; one that had a lot of editing mirroring of the body and lots of different editing techniques and another which involved a film that had a more natural approach and less editing.

When working with Orson, he led the cinema photography and Ina the dancer was very easy to work with; they both understood my vision in what I wanted to create. It is very important when working with a film crew and your model or performer to have a good business relationship to create a film that has a strong concept. I chose to film the dancer on the floor with the projection on top of her so giving the illusion that there was not a projection at all but that the prints were ingrained into her clothes and her skin, which gave a good advertising print for me as a designer. When shooting the project, Orson was able to get close up shots of the body and different abstract movements that the model was creating. I feel that this gave a good effect when I was editing as you are able to see the print on the body from a close perspective across the skin and the clothing.

Final Prints for Bradford/ Print for fashion

These are my final print designs to be used for the presentation. From examining my prints, I feel I may need to focus more on my geometric designs and identify ideas with my modern architecture photographs more. I chose to use bright colours for my print designs as I feel it feeds into my focus of relating back to Stella McCartney Adidas collection. 

                                     

                                               

I have chosen this print design for the Bradford project/ print for fashion, I feel that is my strongest print and it demonstrates my refection of structured sportswear. 

Market Research

This week I have been focusing on my garment research and to help me I have been going to Julie’s fashion workshops. The main aim from the workshops was to carry out some market research by visiting a number of retail outlets looking specifically at sportswear with a high fashion emphasis. I looked particularly ay Adidas and Nike to identify what trends are popular and already in use. I also ventured around koral Active wear. This investigative process was time consuming as it was necessary to understand and process exactly what fabrics, textures and linings were used. My research including photographs showed that sportswear colours are generally bright and vivid. They tend to use material that is stretchy and flexible for the user. It was clear that the linings were all achieved using an over locker. Also, the majority of the sportswear did not have a great degree of detail in its design and in the main displays as a bold plain design structure.

Research & Design

I want my sportswear to be high end so I have been looking at Stella McCartney  and Mary Katrantzou .I have started an early process of digital designing as I think it is important for my work to design digital designs whilst generating new  drawings.  This will give me time to reflect on my print designs as I am creating more visuals. Within my drawings this week I have been focusing more on my floral detailed drawing, which takes considerably more time. For my floral drawings I use a 0.5 black pen, because the flowers are so detailed they work successfully as digital print designs.

After my tutorial, my tutor introduced me to a fashion design company called  theunseen  that uses thermochromics in their high fashion wear. Thermochromics is a type of ink that changes colour either with heat or light. This is beneficial for me and will help me understand how the ink looks visually on a garment and how it can be constructed.

Sports & Flora's Direction

For the third year of my degree, I want to specifically focus on the fashion film element of my studies. This is motivated by the fact that I envisage myself working in this area as a serious career. I also want to create various pieces of sportswear garments aimed at women, which will inform the fashion film making process. I have chosen to do sportswear  as exercise and sports has become  very important for society and the welding of this generation. I want to create a type of wear that will enhance sporting ability. I am particularly interested in creating a type of up and coming trend, which will stand out amongst its competitors by being practical and visually pleasing. I want to look into light sensitive sportswear such as reflective clothing for people who exercise outside at night, UV sensitive sportswear and also sports wear that changes colour with the heat of the body using thermochromics . Sensitive materials will be used to improve safety and will protect the body during over exertion. Certain sportswear materials such as Nike and Adidas provide small holes that help the skin to breathe more effectively and assist in temperature regulation. I will take this into consideration and experiment with different materials used for sporting clothing alongside my developing print designs. My overall long-term aim is to create a collection of sportswear. However. if this is not successful due to other academic demands, I hope to have constructed at least some garments and also a fashion film that could lead into unit X. 

Over the summer I have focused my drawing on church imager and florals . This inspiration has come from my internship I was successful in carrying out at Mirjam Rouden in central London over my time there I took part in doing all sorts of print jobs. One of my jobs was to draw for new print designs, the topic was florals. I found I have skill with drawing detailed flowers and I would like to carry this on into my print designs in this project. After discussions in my tutorial, I decided to investigate and focus my efforts on modern as well as historical architecture. The concepts of heat and light sensitive sportswear was also discussed during the session. I have decided to look into a printing ink that has the capacity to change colour in response of temperature changes in the body. It was also aware that this year is to focus my film making and editing skills with an art direction, Over this Project I plan to develop my filmmaking skills and come up with concepts that reflect my print design and fashion work.