Evaluation

At the beginning of this project I decided to go in a slightly different path than I would usually and so stretching myself as a designer. I am used to working with more natural and organic sources of inspiration and so creating quite delicate detailed pieces. As I do not want to narrow myself as a designer I decided to look at a bolder source of inspiration such as music and pop culture and so create a final piece that is much more structural. Because of this different direct I came across a few obstacles throughout the 10 weeks as this form of fashion did not come to me as naturally although I thoroughly enjoy it. 
As I am very found of print and designing surfaces, this part of the project went smoothly but once I had the printed and embellished samples I struggled to visualise them as a garment and so the designing process became slow and unproductive as I moved around in circles unhappy with my designs. This is when I went back to previous samples and decided to instead of designer the garment, I started to create pleated samples and piece them together, designer in a more experimental style. I enjoyed this form of designing as it was unpredictable and shapes emerged in the piece that I would not of as easily designed previously. Because of this my project did veer away from what I anticipated as my pieces became a lot more sculptural and abstract although I feel the the original influence of 80s pop culture still shines through.
If I were to have more time on this project I would extend my collection but adding more garments using different pleating techniques and working on both a much smaller and larger scale to create a more diverse range of pleats. Also developing my black under garments into something a lot more sculptural. In terms of any additional research that I feel would of helped my project, I think having a more in depth understanding of pattern cutting would of vastly improved my project. For example in the future I would like to create garments with more interesting components, such as sleeves or legs that hold their own structure using complex pleats and folds. This is something I could of self taught if I had much more time.
I have learnt a lot from this project in terms of skills as I have worked in a more structural way but most of all I have learnt a lot about myself and how its ok not always to have a clear plan and outcome. Sometimes it is beneficial to work in a more experimental way in order to see what naturally occurs. This was a difficult thing for me to approach as I am naturally a very controlling, precise person and so this act of letting go was very hard but I think once I did my project took a turn for the better. I think without this change in mind set I would not have been as happy with the outcome of this project. 
I feel that after the 10 weeks I have produced a very successful final collection, backed up with thorough research and development. What makes my project successful is that there is a clear theme running throughout my collection and I feel they all interact well with each other without being too similar. My collection also links back clearly to my original photography of musical instruments as the geometry and shapes within the garments reflect that present in many of the instruments I photographed including pianos and guitars etc.

Final edited images

Initial photographs prior to editing

Behind the scenes: Final photoshoot

I decided to stick with really minimalistic makeup tin order not to deflect from my garments. Once the models were dressed and styled we went to the studio to set up. After an hour we still hadn't managed to work the lights as there was some kind of fault. In order to resolve this we had to make a make shift studio within the art building using different lights. It was a long and tiring process but eventually we successfully set up the shoot. As I am not a photography student myself I sought assistance from two of my class mates to shoot my garments whilst I directed and fixed up the models. I am very happy with how the shoot went, the styling was just enough without being over the top and the lighting was perfect.

Makeup and hair for my final fashion shoot:

Below I have attached a few images that have been relevant to me throughout this project. Anna Lomax and Bethan Laura Woods work, immediately below, has been a constant influence and so I would like to take some inspiration from them on how to style my models. Looking at all these images the makeup on all the models seems to be fairly simplistic and clean with painterly bush strokes in some cases and flashes of vibrant colours. In terms of hair I think it needs to be slick back in order not to get in the way or distract from the garments.

My Final Collection:

My final garments are complete and my canvases are all stretched ready to start to construct my exhibition on monday morning. In the meantime I am going to start to think about styling for my fashion shoot on Tuesday 17th June. 

Completion of 'Design 2':

After my original experimentation (above) I decided that I wanted to use less pleats as I felt the body had become completely drowned and I wanted accents of flesh to show through. Because of this I started to cut the long panel into smaller panels and work with them more sculpturally (below) rather than purely wrapping the piece like a scarf. 

I am very pleased with the out come of this piece, I think once again it is completely different from the previous two pieces although they all work well together as a collection. I like the exposed back and stomach, its adds something different that the other two pieces don't have.