JAMESSEPHTON: 2011

Wednesday

My Final Structure...

My Beautiful model Emily...

I kept the drape at the front of the gown untouched...I lift it natural and to do what it wanted...I pressed the edges folded so it mimics the look of a seam ?

I fitted the Jacket very shaped so that it is tight at the waist and rounds the bust area...

The mix of lengths and the fullness at the front, rather than the back keep it looking contemporary rather than looking like costume...

I think all in all it worked very well and looked good on the Catwalk...

Gainsborough's Blue Boy

I love the sheen of the fabrics and the richness it communicates...

It looks like the taffeta I choose ?

Perhaps...

[My structure was the result of an old dress from 1786, folded in a trunk in the attic, and ignored for years...becoming found again and then being torn apart and draped onto a jacket from 1976 ? work together to look slightly punky ? reminiscent of the beautiful times where Aristocrats were looked up to and respected, when meters of fabric was used for a day dress ?]

Influences

When you come to a sticking point, the best thing, I find one can do, is go and look at things...

I started looking through some photographs of my sketchbook...

These Images give a really good impression of my thinking behind the structure I want to create...

I then went on to look at some Designers work...

Isabel Toledo

I like the drape of fabric...

Oliver Theyskens

Again I like the drape and sheen of fabric....reminds me of a Gainsborough Painting

RCA Graduate's work...

HAOFENG LI

I like the Layering of the fabrics and the shredded, hand made feel...

My Structure

Looking at shape for the front...

I tried to keep the contradiction of the garment in re cutting a back panel in the feminine taffeta...

My Structure

These Pictures show me looking at shape and developing my structure...

I really liked the idea by being inspired by the act of shaping and draping on a stand, the natural and raw beauty of it...

I really wanted to it to feel like a work in progress...

like an amalgamation of thing I have learnt

I Like the Idea of the Garment being a bit erratic in its lengths and be asymmetric...

Sunday

Dior...A/W 2005-6

What I love about this collection is the hints at the structure and underpinnings of the dresses , rather than the actual dresses themselves...

This I think is the kind of aesthetic I am looking toward in my structure...

The wearable structure...

This week was about creating the wearable structure...

I already new that I was going to use deconstruction...

I love the insides of tailored garments and the layers that are used to build shape...

this then naturally led to the use of draping...

layering shapes and fabrics...

The result (above) after playing round...

I used the shape I liked from last weeks draping...but found It didn't work well...

The inside of the Jacket...

I found a pink/brick coloured jacket

which luckily enough, when dissected, found it had beautiful earthy colours inside...

Creating a bodice...

This week we were draping on the stand...

Initially we were using calico to drape a bodice with a princess sea, to allow for maximum shaping...

Snips are used to ease the fabric around a curve...for example waist or neckline...

once we had done this...

we used calico to drape ideas and shapes of garments...

I really like this shape...

i like the minimal lines and the late 50's/ early 60's feel off it...

I felt like using draped and minimal shapes...

along with some gentle manipulation, such as twisting the fabric at angles and pulling and pinning...

I really like this shape(above) I like the asymmetric of it

though i feel it looked uneven...

if i were to re do this i would have to play with exaggerating one side more...so it doesnt look like its messy and uneven.

Friday

Diamond pleat...

This I found the most difficult to achieve...

I am not a very patient person, especially with minute details...

The paper shell...

The result...

but I persevered and hopefully it did not come out too bad...

My attempt at pleating..

Process in this form is not usually one of my strong points...

but I had a go all the same...

Knife pleats: perhaps one of the most basic and stereotypical pleats...used for years...

(Above) me making the pleated card to sandwich the fabric between , before sealing with heat...

The result...

Not the best picture but below gives you an idea of what it is...

Box Pleat...

And again the colour of the fabric did not photograph well...

but here is an example...

in its stereotypical form, the school skirt.

Ciment Pleaters...

Ciment pleaters came in today to show us the art of pleating.

Ciment is a long established company, with years of heritage. and have been for many years the provider of pleating service to everyone from royalty to Lady Gaga to students looking to explore the process in their creative en-devours.

Below some examples of the types of pleats available, standard and more complex structures.

To pleat fabric, the said fabric undergoes a process which involves being held between folded paper (with the design) and then rolled and placed into a large steam oven to to heat mould the shape.

some fabrics work better than others, Polyester is one of the most hard wearing whereas pleats fall out of cotton easily. anything that can be placed and folded between the folded paper can be pleated.