Comments on the Other Blogs

Svena - http://svenape.blogspot.sg/2012/06/blog-assignment-rene-magritte-pt2.html?showComment=1347264707531

His Chien - http://hc-the-artist.blogspot.sg/2012/08/blog-task-reptiles-by-m-c-escher.html?showComment=1347265085401

Grace - http://apeland.tumblr.com/post/24876371540/spying-lens-lucia-hartini-1989

http://apeland.tumblr.com/post/23924328895/homage-to-frida-kahlo-my-frida-kahlo-impression

O. Shu Hui - http://artosh.blogspot.sg/2012/02/some-random-abstract-paintings.html#comment-form

Fang Ni - http://oh-mai-ghandi-oao.blogspot.sg/2012/09/work-at-home-5-cosplay.html?showComment=1347643900456

Inspirations: Frontier Danceland

Frontier Danceland is a non profit organisation set up by my dance trainer, Mdm Low Mei Yoke, and actually it has inspired me in many ways. 

It has showed me that dance as an art form is a lot more than just movement or technique but rather it is first centered and built around the emotions to form the dance. It may not be beautiful, and in fact it could be abstract and incomprehensible movement which makes no sense to many but it could mean a million things to those who choose to decipher and understand it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, sitting through one of their performances has got to be more than a billion words. Similarly, even through visual art, I am more inspired to build upon the emotional attachment to the art piece and then continue to layer it but not smother it with what we have, be it technique or just the plain doodle or careless stroke of a brush or pen. It is this strength of emotion from within that really takes the viewer in, not just the technique. Technique in fact can be easily overlooked and once taken away, only leaves the artwork bare and naked, almost with no meaning. This is why even in dance, one has to feel the emotion from within, or even if one's technique is superior, the dance is no longer dance and holds no meaning, only a blank face, mind and blank page as the audience leaves. 

Below is a video of some of the parts of "22.5 minutes subconscious indulgence", one of Frontier Danceland's productions, and let the video show you what I meant through my words in a more expressive and engaging manner.

Certainly, it has inspired me to break out of the technique box once in a while, letting myself control the technique and not the technique controlling me or my soul, then bringing my art to another level. 

Inspirations: My Sister

My sister is currently studying fashion design in Central Saint Martin's in London and she has actually become one of my biggest inspirations, and I really have become more inspired as I see the way she grows in her design style from the normal regular beauty of draping to the minimalist forms. What really inspired me was the minimalist forms she created and designed, as I myself really love the idea of minimalism and the beauty of simplicity.

Above are a few pictures of the project she did two years ago in 2010. It is really the unconventional elements that sparked something in me that fashion was no longer just limited to what I saw on the runway or just big poofy skirts or tight bandage dresses; fashion is an art form in itself. Fashion is much more than that. The very fact that it is art means it has a life of its own: it can develop and it can change, even with the few basics retained. It takes on different forms and unconventionality and open-ness is welcome. It can be strange and still be accepted. It doesn't have to be terribly elaborate yet can still make a statement.

That was what had inspired me. It makes me think bigger, bolder and more out of the box in my own fashion design. There are many more possibilities to the cloth than just threads hanging together in a traditional cloth pattern. Perhaps, maybe one day not even cloth will be the absolute medium in fashion.

Artwork 10: Coursework Final Piece

Due to time constraints, I decided to just dive straight into the final piece first. 

Here is my write up for the piece and see for yourself how it links! :)

Jubilee Tai Yi Xuan, 412, White Hope/Warrior, White Cotton, 2012

The strength women possess inside may not be forceful. We need not be steel strong or hardcore. But rather, the soft power we have inside cannot be discounted, and it cannot be neglected either.

White cotton. How ordinary can it be? Seemingly boring even. However, it is somewhat like us; perhaps ordinary as we are, we still have the potential of being an extraordinary warrior with a greater destiny. And why white hope? White hope is defined as someone expected to achieve great success in a given field.

So let us be the silent strong warriors of our time. Let us be white hopes of our generation.

1st Outfit:

 The front view

 Front view with collar

 Side view without collar

 Back view without collar

2nd Outfit:

 Front view

 Side View

Back view

Artwork 11: Sketches

Basically for all my sketches below, they were all done in a one liner drawings style which I had personalised by now and I was putting it to use. 

 Sketch of Alexander McQueen S/S 2012 RTW, pencil, 2012

 Sketch of fashion spread photograph, pencil, 2012

 Observational sketch of eyes and human figure/silhouette, pencil 2012

 Sketch of Vanessa's playful expression, pencil, 2012

Sketch of dance photography 1, pencil, 2012 

Sketch of dance photography 2, pencil, 2012

And last but not least, my favourite sketch:

Walking Away, Pencil, 2012

I liked this sketch the most as it was more out of imagination than any real observational drawing or from photographs. Rather, I had decided to add in my own elements and it turned out to be a rather personal piece for me. It symbolised someone in my life who in that point of time was already turning and moving on without me, walking away with a watch dangling from her grip. It was as if time had already run ahead with that person and I was still living in the past as they walked on and traveled into a scenery of woods. It seems rather mythical in a way. Also, the fact that not the entire body has been depicted, gives a sense of mystery to it and rather than really giving away everything, it makes the viewer think more since the work shows them and doesn't tell them what to really think. Also, to highlight the figure, I chose to use clean and sharp lines to outline the figure as well. I also decided to use less strength on the pencil for the background to have lighter lines. In a way, it was also creating a dreamy effect in that sense, as if as a parallel in photography where the aperture is adjusted.

Behind the Scenes: Coursework Part 1

Final Piece Part 1: Patterns and Pre-sewing Work

In my series of blog posts I will be jumping straight into the final piece and its process as I find that if I were to introduce my coursework from an absolute scratch I would only be repeating myself for a third time, and frankly speaking, it can get boring. So instead I have decided to document the process in the making of the garments.

Before I could sew anything, I started by cutting out all the cloth patterns according to intricate and precise calculations and measurements, and it also gave me a rough and clearer idea of which piece should be paired with which, and the way I planned it was in a visual manner as shown above where I drew out diagrams and labelled them with the measurements, ensuring that each connection between the cloth pieces would be practical and feasible. I did not just jump straight into cutting the cloth as I knew I could not make mistakes in doing so and it would be virtually irreversible.

 

One thing that came in handy to avoid the mistake of cutting the wrong pattern would be the use of chalk, and especially for symmetrical patterns which are predominant in my design, I could simply fold the cloth over and give the chalked line a press and it would be "photocopied"as a slightly fainter line over onto another portion of the cloth and this ensured that the design would stay symmetrical, especially with the extensive use of curvatures in my design which would be frustrating to replicate from scratch.

 

Certainly, the use of a measuring tape was useful, if not essential.

Also to ensure that the zip fit for this particular top, I also took out the actual zip to measure against the lines where I would be sewing the zip on.

By the end of the day, I finally managed to cut out all the patterns, and they were ready for sewing, which I would proceed with the next day! This was all except for one of the patterns for my second design as some of the pieces and position of the curvature depended on the other element, which I would have to sew together before crafting the piece to complement it.

Lastly, I also tried to cut a little of the workload for the next day by pinning as much as I could for sewing. However my collection of pins only allowed for the pinning of one skirt as this skirt had many slits that I had cut along the edge so that they could be folded in to be sewed and tapered in, and also because of the large surface area...

Inspirations: Vogue

Certainly Vogue is one of the leading fashion/women's magazines, and it has my respect. 

Vogue is a magazine that introduces theatrics to its fashion and many a times, their dramatic side takes the lead. For this reason, I will be posting about Vogue and its photoshoots internationally, which did spreads with the storylines of fairytales behind them.

Fairytale Fashion Shoot for Vogue Espana by Photographer Eugenio Recuenco:

(taken from http://www.worldoffemale.com/fairytale-photoshoots/)

Snow White

The Little Red Riding Hood

The Princess and the Pea

Puss in Boots

The Beauty and the Beast

The Pied Piper

Cinderella

Alice in Wonderland:

Alice Through the Looking Glass:

US Vogue, The Arts Issue:

Starring Lady Gaga as Wicked Witch, Lily Cole as Gretel and Andrew Garfield as Hansel

Wondergirls in Wonderland for Vogue Korea: 

Sohee as the White Rabbit

Yeeun as the White Queen

Hyerim as the Red Queen

Yubin as the Mad Hatter

Sunye as Alice

Sohee as the White Rabbit

Sunye as Alice

I also partially have a dream about being a stylist and these photoshoots show how much the outfits really come into play in the portrayal of the character. It no longer just stays as fashion, but truly, theatre is entering into the arena as well. As for the photography element, Vogue has inspired through these photoshoots to be dramatic, and one key thing is also to give more attention to details as well. This is extremely essential in having the setting you want to create. Even if almost invisible in the shot, items and objects of the smallest measure could make or break a shot, and I find that this is something I really need to take note of even in my own photography, especially similar fashion photography. It truly makes a difference. I personally felt that comparing the Vogue Korea shoot to perhaps the western Vogue shots of Alice in Wonderland, Korea fell short simply because attention had not been paid all the way down to the nitty gritty, leaving many loopholes in the quality of the shot. I felt that they had lacked the same intensity and focus of the atmosphere, and it is very much like visual art in itself, where composition in fact does matter. 

For example, in this shot:

One of them was supposed to be a portrayal of the Mad Hatter, yet the idea of Mad had not been fully exploited and lacked the detail of the Mad Hatter, possibly achieved even by the application of brooches, accessories and clashing elements of prints. However, the character almost fades along with the drab weary grey which is not reminiscent of the original character. In this case, I feel that the juxtaposition of colour really does not work cohesively to bring out the mood, as the supposedly crazy hat only blends in with the Red Queen's coat and can almost be ignored instead, giving the opposite effect of crazy or outstandingly out of the blue.

So yes, theatrics+fashion is indeed quite the combination for me, and I think even as my chase for my dream as a fashion designer proceeds, and despite my impatience for opulence or extravagance(usually achieved through much detail), I would still like to try it out sometime and challenge myself to work with more details once in a while.

Also, just like the way fairytales have been used in these photoshoots to generate interest, I also hope that maybe next time instead of always using my solely personal experience, perhaps I could also start to use subjects that are more relatable to all, which would be like the common fairytales.

Inspirations: Alexis Mabille

Personally I've always taken an interest in fashion design, and Alexis Mabille is one of my biggest inspirations.

Below are some of the designs for Couture Spring and Summer 2011 by Alexis Mabille

I absolutely enjoy the beauty of the silhouettes which Mabille has incorporated and used. What also impresses me is the simplicity of his design where he uses the same concepts time and again, yet it is not boring, but rather never fail to impress with his use of theatrics in terms of shapes. The clothes he designs are signaturely dynamic and feminine, while employing some of the old, he also merges it with the new. What I really love is that Mabille never fails to bring across sensuality in his designs, but not outrightly or explicitly sexy, but rather he does it decently and with a certain beauty and class, such that the models can show off what they have in their physique without having to dress (pardon my words) trashily.

I think that although these are not thing I may have designed myself, but I am truly inspired by the elements I have just pointed out which Mabille uses with precision and wonderful accuracy and appropriacy, and I feel that that is something I also want to be able to put across in my own fashion designs.