Okay, So - I've been forced to start a blog out of my own free will - I can barely blog about my own life, let alone the work I do; but these issues have to be overcome. As Sian so kindly put it in Class on Friday - "Stop living in the stone ages" when i asked if a blog was mandatory - So here's me taking one huge step towards the future...
New Year, New Module - FT2415 - Prediction, Promotion & Design
So here's my brief:
Scenario
You have been assigned designer/ design house and you are working in the creative direction studio or ‘atelier’. The assistant designers (you) in this department have been hand picked to come up with innovative ideas for the next collection of Autumn/Winter 2010.
Your ideas must reflect the ethos of the designer you work for, so you must thoroughly research the label, the history and the handwriting of the collections and make a 10 minute presentation to the senior designers (i.e. myself, Karen and the rest of the class) with your findings and the initial design research material. (Every week, five students make these presentations in the first hour of class at 10’O Clock before the session begins until everyone has made a presentation.)
You will start to design research with your designer in mind, collecting artefacts, images, fabrics, books, exhibitions, film, music, and inspirational material etc in the way you have been taught in previous modules.
In the designer’s atelier you will first put your ideas on the studio wall for inspiration and start to work on the stand developing silhouettes first, then any other details including fabric manipulation and/or print ideas. The head designers will supervise your work and ask you to provide a capsule collection of six outfits, one of which will be a tailored garment. The head designers will incorporate this into the main collection based on your research and their research together. You will be responsible for and important part of this designer label’s collection and the reward for this is that your ideas will be made up and presented in a show to International press and buyers at Paris Fashion Week.
In reality you will play the part of the technical team also and produce one outfit to show an item of which should be tailored.
I started to scroll down the list of designers and students assigned to said designers and saw that McQueen, wasn't mine... Pugh, wasn't mine... Chalayan, wasn't mine... Maison Martin Margiela, wasn't mine... Only to see that I got no other than Mr. Christopher Kane himself - The bane of my existence. His work doesn't inspire me and nothing he's done has stood out or amazed me one little bit, he also likes to use colour; Something I tend to avoid in my work as I think you can never go wrong with Monochrome, especially for Autumn/Winter. Also, what I love more than anything is structure, something Christopher Kane's work lacks. However, what he lacks in structure, he makes up in interesting patterns, cuts, textiles & draping. Nevertheless; I got to work and started delving into the Christopher Kane Archives.
But First! A little bit about my 'boss'...
- Designer name: Christopher Kane
- Origin: Scotland
- Career highlight: “Working with Donatella Versace.”
- Design background: Christopher studied at Central Saint Martins for six years. He interned with Giles Deacon and Russell Sage before setting up his own label as soon as he graduated.
- What are your design signatures? “I love detail, especially some sort of embellishment that can transform a garment instantly. It’s always good to move out of your comfort zone each season, to learn new things and to challenge your senses.”
- How would you describe the Christopher Kane woman? “She is a real individual and a keen follower of fashion. She maybe works in the industry or another creative field. Age doesn’t really concern me; I’m more interested in personality and the way a woman carries herself.”
(http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designer_profile.aspx?DesignerID=69)
Okay, well I'm kinda glad he said "It’s always good to move out of your comfort zone each season, to learn new things and to challenge your senses" because that's exactly what I'll be doing!
Here's what i found that remotely interested me in his Autumn/Winter collections:
His First A/W collection - 07/08:
(Images Taken From www.vogue.co.uk)
Why I Like It:
- The fabrics used are fabrics I like to use - Velvet & Leather.
- The panelling & the contrast of different fabrics in the 4th picture.
- The accessories.
- The Black.
Scarlett O'Hara; Rambo; Elvira, Mistress of the Dark—and a giant set of Swarovski-crystal bathroom knobs. These were just some of the rich and potent components that went into Christopher Kane's second collection. But they don't begin to describe what came out: circle-skirted dresses decorated with corrugated 'ammo' bands, gorgeous velvets spliced together with tough leather, huge crystal studs in place of buttons, wicked-witchy calf-length stretch dresses, and heavy-duty chrome-ringed belts.
''It's Paul Delaroche's The Execution of Lady Jane Grey—and vindictive, man-eating women!'' Kane rasped backstage, half-dead with exhaustion. It was a triumph, both for the designer and his sister Tammy, who is the chief muse, in-house model, and general egger-on in this remarkable sibling enterprise.
Kane managed to confound skeptics who wondered whether he¿d be able to move on from the ultrayoung, ruffly neon-and-nylon-lace collection with which he made his mark last summer. He did, with a giant step into tough black and oxblood leather, sumptuous burnt orange, scarlet, and emerald velvet (tear down the drapes!) and an intensely creative sequence of work that patched fluid Versace-esque crystal mesh over a base of matte-black knit.
''It's Paul Delaroche's The Execution of Lady Jane Grey—and vindictive, man-eating women!'' Kane rasped backstage, half-dead with exhaustion. It was a triumph, both for the designer and his sister Tammy, who is the chief muse, in-house model, and general egger-on in this remarkable sibling enterprise.
Kane managed to confound skeptics who wondered whether he¿d be able to move on from the ultrayoung, ruffly neon-and-nylon-lace collection with which he made his mark last summer. He did, with a giant step into tough black and oxblood leather, sumptuous burnt orange, scarlet, and emerald velvet (tear down the drapes!) and an intensely creative sequence of work that patched fluid Versace-esque crystal mesh over a base of matte-black knit.
(www.style.com)
A/W 08/09:
(Images Taken From www.vogue.co.uk)
Why I Like It:
- The embroidery on the jacket & the dress is so beautiful, really delicate & kinda relevant to what I want to introduce into the collection I'll be designing for him.
- The colours.
- The heavy look of the jacket.
- The draping at the bottom of the dress.
The declarations that were flying through the air after Christopher Kane's Fall show ranged from "poetic" (a dreamy young editor) to "commercially sellable" (a store buyer) to "Virginia Woolf's Orlando meets John Everett Millais' Ophelia " (from a newspaper headline hound). It opened with a charcoal cashmere poncho knit, wended its way through khaki Aran tabards, and built up into shivery plastic paillettes on organdy contrasted with stud-embellished cashmere sweaters.
In other words, no sound bite or literal theme adequately describes the way Kane's collection turned out this season. The manner in which he and his sister Tammy design is a kinetic process given to many changes. Witness: Two months ago he was thinking about the Queen, Barbara Cartland, and Big Bird. What they came up with, in essence, is a pretty contribution to party dressing involving veiled panels of sequins on dresses and a wispy suggestion of a longer hemline (transparencies were left to waft below the knee without constriction). Weirdly, if there's a criticism, it's in the fact that the frisson of vulgarity that was central to Kane's attraction in his first three seasons was somehow absent. On the other hand, maybe that's OK. At this point, Kane, like any young designer who wants to make it, needs something to sell without upsetting customers. And this Fall, the Glaswegian fashion prodigy may have put himself in a better position to survive.
In other words, no sound bite or literal theme adequately describes the way Kane's collection turned out this season. The manner in which he and his sister Tammy design is a kinetic process given to many changes. Witness: Two months ago he was thinking about the Queen, Barbara Cartland, and Big Bird. What they came up with, in essence, is a pretty contribution to party dressing involving veiled panels of sequins on dresses and a wispy suggestion of a longer hemline (transparencies were left to waft below the knee without constriction). Weirdly, if there's a criticism, it's in the fact that the frisson of vulgarity that was central to Kane's attraction in his first three seasons was somehow absent. On the other hand, maybe that's OK. At this point, Kane, like any young designer who wants to make it, needs something to sell without upsetting customers. And this Fall, the Glaswegian fashion prodigy may have put himself in a better position to survive.
(www.style.com)
I also looked at his S/S collections, for reference, one of his most recent ones (S/S 09) has more body and substance to it - Instead of focusing all of his creativity on the colour, he's conjured up some really interesting shapes. The scallop trimming adds the volume that his previous collections lacked.
I know what your thinking... Is that really it? And I can honestly say... YES! Nothing Is jumping out to me... At All! Oh well - Complaining isn't going to make things better! Maybe in time I'll learn to let go and who knows, I may end up enjoying his choice of fashion.
Whilst writing this I'm thinking - "Okay - Maybe this blogging thing isn't such a bad idea after all... I've quite enjoyed writing my first post"
Now... Onto Me & My Ideas!
No comments:
Post a Comment