Empirical Menswear

My chosen community for this project is Amish people. This is where I have sought my inspiration from when designing my garment. They are a extremely traditional group of people, who do not use any modern technologies, eg electricity and cars. They do a lot of farming and have a very uniform like wardrobe. They are very concealed and traditional in there style.

When visually researching Amish people a common occurrence in their clothing was the little exposure of any skin, braces, hats, ties around the hats and the segments of the structure. I used these aspects to inform my designs.

When I began this project I knew that the main area i needed to improve on was my illustrations. The image below, of a male collar inspired the designs below.
This was the first design I did through my initial research. Despite it being in pencil i think it is a very successful design and shows a lot of improvemnet.

I then did a similiar design, inspired by the same shaped collar, using watercolours and masking tape.

Throughout my initial research I also look at John Galliano's collection where he used male corsets; this inspired the design below.

This design looks slightly abstract and isn't as successfull as i hoped. The arms are intended to be overly long, and it has a corseted waist.

I then focused on my theme for my project, which is Elizabeth Queen of Hungray and Empress of Austria. She was thought to have suffered form Aneroxia Nervosa, and her extremely small waist can be seen in the the image below.

This is a image of Achilleion Palace, built by Elizabeth. The surrounding trees inspired the design below.

The following designs are all inspired by Elizabeth and her thought case of Aneroxia. I have focuse on a extremely small wasit, in some cases making the waist completely dissapear.

My final designs are inspired by the image above, of the grounds of Achilleion Palace. The pattern on the floor inspired the use of shape and collage on the design below.

Althogh i like the use of collage, i think the shape of this design is unsuccessful as it doesn't have much form or strcture to it.

Royal Blue

I began my research for this project looking at European Royalty. One of the people I came across was Jeanne-Aniette, mistress to Louis IV. Below is a image from my sketchbook where I produced two surface pattern samples inspired by the garment worn in the image. I used ribbon to form bows and hand stitched them onto fabric. The very feminine dress is full of frills and layers of fabric. It has a corsetted waist, mid length frilled finished sleeves and a seperate frilled collar.
I then looked at Mens fashion. I found mens fashion extremely interesting as it is so differnet to mens fashion today in its extravagance and costume like appearance. Below are images of George I and George II who wore very elaborate outfits showing wealth and status. They also become sightly feminie as they sit above the knee, accompanied by knee high socks. Below are two images of mens fashion from my sketchbook which I find particulary inspiring. The high collar with the frilled edge and the large pointed collar are both very eye catching. The shape and edge detailing is very inspiring when thinking of embroidery techniques and edge finishes.

I then looked at our current Queen Elizabeth II. She hasn't been the most populuar queen, however she hasn't had much oppourtunity to shine, with the government having the majoriyy of control. I also looked at her relationship with Princess Diana.

The most inspiring aspect of my research so far is research I took whilst on Holiday in Corfu this year. I visited Achilleion Palace, which was built by Elizabeth Queen of Hungray and Empress of Austria in the late 1800's. Whilst there I learnt about her unusual Royal life of travel, her loss of two children and her obsession with beauty and dieting. She is described as being a free spirt, and is said to have had the symptons for what would now be diagnosed as Anorexia Nervosa.



Below is a postcard I purchased from the Palace with a image of the Palace when it was first built.

This is a photo of the Palace I took during my visit.

Belwo is a page from my sketchbok with images form inside the Palace. It had huge ceilings and doorways, and large windows, all making it extremely spacious and full of natural light. It had incrediblly detailed and elaboratly decorated ceilings and marble floors.

Following my visit I researched Elizabeth further. She adored travelling and spent most of her time doing so. Two of her three children died, one was her son at the age of thirty. Following his death she built Achilleion place and it became one of her favourite destinations.

Below is a page from my sketchbook with some embroidery samples inspired by the image of Elizabeth wearing a dress with flowers in her hair and embroidery detailing on the dress.

Belwo is a postcard with a image of Elizabeth purchased form the Palace. After her sons death she stayed in permanant mouring, very rarely being seen. She would wear a floor length black dress buttoned to the bottom. In the image her extremly thin frame is also visibe, being exaggerated even more with a corset.

Achilleion Palace was named in tribute to the Greek hero Achillies. The painting below was in Achilleion Palace as a tribute to Achilles, showing him dragging Hectors body back from Troy after killing him for revenge of the death of his friend ( you may recognise from the film 'troy'). There were several tributes to Achilles in the palace, one was a huge statue of Achilles in the Palace garden, with an arrow through his heel.

I will now develop my research further into Elizabeth, and look at her life of travel, her relationship with her husband and her claimed Anorexia. i will also lok at Greek trubutes thrugh iut the Palace. I have also been researchign fashion in England in the 1800s, which i will compare to Greek fashioninthe 1800s.

I also find Elizabeths death inspiring. She was stabbed in the death at the age of 60, whilst waiting to board a ship to embark on more travelling. She was stabbed in the heart by a man loking for a Prince to murder, who never showed up. To fullfill his desire to be famous he then stabbed Elizabeth instead. She didn't realise the extent of her injurys at first, as her corset was holding in the bleeding. When she removed her corset the extent of her injurys was revealed and she soon died. This is a pefect example of the extreme fitting corsets worn during this time period.

Presentation

So I began my research with looking at utopia. Above is what I view as a stereotyped and typical utopia. After discussing utopia in class I realised each utopia different for each individual.

I then thought of what my utopia would be. The pictures on the above page show my utopia. It is my local park. It is my utopia because it represents peace and earth's true state. Everything is natural and as it should be.
After researching the recent war in Afghanistan, I began looking at military uniform and basic training exercises. My boyfriend is in the army so I was able to access the official army uniform and photos from his training. I wanted to see what basic survival techniques they were taught and what precautions they took, as these would be needed in a war environment.

Above is examples of a 'confidence test' during basic army training. Gas masks are placed on them and they are then submitted to CS gas. They then have to remove their gas masks. The aim is to give them confidence that their masks work. They are also wearing CBRN suits, which covers all of their body and is lined with charcoal, stopping anything from reaching the skin.

I then looked at camouflage, which is a main way of natural survival. I also looked at Jean Shins work of creating a collage of army uniforms, creating a camouflage. This is a easy and very efficient techniques which could be used for survival.

Above is a design I did using collage, to create camouflage. This late influenced my final design.

I then looked at Lucy Orta. I found her work really inspiring. She talks about the civilians in Iraq who are forced to leave their home and become 'a flock of refugees'. This made me think of the innocent Iraq civilians whom I may have previously ignored. If I was in their position I would want somewhere safe to flee to; a utopia.

This then led me to my final apocalyptic scenario. My scenario is a escape to utopia. Innocent civilians are forced to leave their homes due to war, and must journey to utopia to find peace and safety. I don't want to incorporate weapons into my theme,as they are escaping violence not joining in. They must escape from the war using natural ways of survival only.

To avoid a typical camouflage (natural way of surviving) I then wanted to create my journey to utopia more versatile. I had heard of a volcano (Ol Doinyo Lengal) which ash dries harder than concrete allowing no trees or plants to grow through. As this is a strong contrast to my Utopia it will be part of the environment which must be journey through to reach utopia; hard concrete dry land.

Another designer who really inspired me was Lenny Pier Ramos. His designs are inspired by environments and landscapes. They reflect the surfaces and surroundings. This is something I want to achieve with my design, to assist camouflage as a natural way of surviving the escape to utopia.

This is my final chosen fabrics. My surface pattern is reverse appliqué, which was inspired by the surface of the volcano and the colours used to camouflage. I have also chosen a black and a green fabric. As both are main colours in the environments that will be travelled through therefore resulting in a effective camouflage.

This is my final design. It was inspired by Lucy Orta and Lenny Pier Ramos. It incorporates a camouflage print, but not in a predictable way. The high collared hood provides shelter and covers up most of the body. This was inspired by the CBRN suits worn during basic army training during the confidence test, as covering all their body protects it and enhances the camouflage. My jacket is unfortunately not fully complete, however it isn't very far of. I am ready to attach my hood and zip, but was very unsure how to attach my facing, hood and lining and think its important to maintain the high level of production I currently have and not ruin it by rushing and doing in wrong.

I had also designed a pair of trousers to go with my jacket. Unfortunately I haven been able to begin constructing them due to focusing on completing my jacket to as high a standard as possible.