Fifteen

THIS IS THE last post for this project. A process that began three months ago, the end-product has been satisfying indeed. Certainly, there have been key elements of my personal design process that have come under scrutiny as a result of this project. I end this with an image of my final product - a distillation of my work that I bound in an accordion book format.

AS I AM writing this before our final critique, I do not know how it will be received save that I enjoyed making the final product and am excited to continue my personal exploration of ways in which the digital may be combined with the analog.

Fin.

Fourteen

THESE ARE the interpretive drawings of the finishes that I had previously done. Since the project's emphasis has been on surface designs, I chose to do abstract figures and then applied my surface designs in loose strokes. The mood is very different and less formal when compared to the conventional fashion drawings. For all that fashion drawing is supposed to be loose and expressive, it has its own conventions and gestures.

Fin.

Thirteen

AFTER LAST WEEK's reflection on the surface designs, I did a number of drafts and redid the 'bamboo stripe' print. It was interesting to note that the same decorative elements might be reconfigured to such different effect.

A further requirement of the project was to create an interpretative version of the traditional fashion figures that are used to illustrate surface and structural designs in fashion. Coincidentally, in a separate drawing class, we were recently called upon to experiment with other illustrative styles. I personally liked what was done in the class and wondered if it was possible to translate the style in a different medium. If anything, Digital class has suggested that it can.

Fin.

Twelve

AMID ALL the craziness of finals, I coloured the illustrations I made with the surface designs that I had created for Digital. While I do like them, I might revise the bamboo stripe print (placed on the lining of the tunic - the format for displaying that print will have to be rethought) because upon reflection, they appear to lack the energy that the chrysanthemum print has.

Fin.

Eleven

OVER THANKSGIVING BREAK, I was afforded the chance to reflect upon this project so far and it is remarkable to note the form and shape that the design process can take. This is especially true in regard to the manner in which we are taught to apply a common design process to various mediums.

TAKE FLATS, for example - the rudiments of which might be easily grasped but perfection takes plenty of practice and a critical eye for detail beyond the aesthetic flourishes of illustration. Doing flats digitally have the benefit of precision but when precision - a hard-earned quality in hand-drawn flats - becomes a matter of connecting points, the conventions of flat-drawing have to be expanded. And so, adding colour and texture to digital flats might not be as verboten as it had been in hand-drawn flats.

THE DESIGN PROCESS comprises a myriad of steps, some of them smaller than others. None of them is negligible.

Fin.

Ten

THIS WEEK WAS SPENT working out the finishes for the final presentation in Digital class. In keeping with the feedback from the critiques and the continual re-evaluation of my aesthetic from other classes, the finishes reflect my revision to the way in which I might use surface designs in my work.

AT THIS POINT in the project, the apparel design appears to have become a component of the final product in which other design elements become just as critical. There appears to be some sort of lesson in this with regard the role of apparel design vis a vis visual presentation.

Fin.

Nine

     AS A MAJOR PROJECT in a different class draws to a close this week, I found myself with more time to devote to this project. Reflecting on the variations of prints and colour ways that had been developed, I thought about the role of trial and error in the process. Just this week for example, the final product for the Gap/Banana Republic competition had been twice revised and redone.

     Given the multiplicity of variations that a surface design's outcome could take, the process of elimination was important not only as a way of de-cluttering but also as a means of mining available material for new insights. Drawing from another class, the kimono jacket for Integrated Studio had undergone two mock-ups before it could be cut in fabric - each version yielding new insights and provided a solution for future improvements.

     Reflection without an eventual outcome ceases to be a creative process, however, and given the exigencies of the school semester, the final surface designs should be decided this week so that going forward, they can inform the final designs.

Fin.

Eight

AS WE MOVE closer towards our second presentation deadline, this week was spent finalising surface designs and deciding which colourways worked best. With regard to surface designs, last week's musings were taken seriously and a print involving an abstract bamboo grove was developed that also mimicked a stripe. The graphic simplicity of that is juxtaposed against a more elaborate large-scale repeat based on a chrysanthemum motif.

DURING A PREVIOUS critique, someone in class remarked that "space does not equate simplicity" and it struck me that I found the chrysanthemum print to be just as appealing as the bamboo stripe even though it was more elaborate. There, again, lies some form of tension.

Fin.

Six

WITH ALL OTHER ELEMENTS somewhat in place, this week was spent finalising the colour palette. Reflecting on the process, it was interesting to note that both palettes represented different propositions or paths that the final product could take. The former was more subtle and nuanced while the latter focused on the vibrancy that comes with contrasting the mute with the bright. From past experience, it appears that there is a marked preference for contrast and dynamic symmetry that is embedded in our contemporary aesthetic. While there is a place for that, I often like to explore the alternative which may seem less energetic but does not necessarily mean that it has less life.

PRESENTATION is, of course, important and I thought it would be interesting - not to mention slightly humorous - if I presented the colour chips as icons of Shinto priests.

Fin.

Seven

THIS WEEK HAS proven to be less inspiring than previous weeks, partly because other projects have taken up more time than expected. I have taken the initial steps towards realising my final surface textures, mainly through pencil studies and referring to the decorative motifs and pattern prints that I had previously found at the Met.

ON A SEPARATE NOTE, this project has raised a secondary concern - the distinction between staying true to a source of inspiration and pastiche - that was partially answered in another class. I had decided to make a kimono jacket in my patternmaking class and discovered that adapting the kimono jacket to Western sensibilities is a highly complicated process. This is because the kimono jacket emphasizes what Harold Koda calls the "layering" sensibility as opposed to Western notions of contouring the body - the contemporary kimono jacket then represents a sort of sartorial synthesis.

GOING FORWARD, I think it would be interesting to see how such a synthesis may happen on a surface design, the repetitive nature of a stripe combined with the abstract natural motifs found in Japanese textiles perhaps.



Fin.

Five

THE EXHIBITION AT THE MET had given me much to think about and this week, I sought to break it down and to recompose it into something suitable for my project. Curious at the surfeit of surface textures and decorative elements, I decided to research Japanese textiles and was struck by their simple - almost austere - quality that was, strangely, also very ornate.

THERE IS A TENSION there, this constant striving for balance between poverty and richness, that gives birth to something very exquisite.

THESE EXAMPLES OF surface textures and textile samples belong to a group I had edited down to. The follow weeks will see these images fed through the design process where synthesis occurs among disparate elements - the orange and asparagus decorative motifs, the colour palette developed from a couple of weeks ago, images of the beguiling Shinto priests and now, the raw beauty of these textiles.

AT THIS POINT, candour will have me admit that my notion of beauty is often gnomic. For all that fashion and textiles relate to the surface and so what beauty they reveal must be found there, the emotions they evoke - the sentiments about beauty and the aesthetic revelations - can and should transcend these material forms. Such is the challenge and the stuff of which a good designer must make his constant pursuit.

Fin.

Four

     

FOLLOWING THE CHOICE of an inspiration, a critical part of the design process is the analysis and translation of inspirational images into a concrete design vocabulary so that the next step in the collection development may be taken. Elements such as the colour palette, surface textures, prints and decorative motifs - these are all evidence and interestingly, the result of a critical thought process without which, design becomes mere surface ornamentation.

     

BY COINCIDENCE, as these things tend to happen, I chanced upon the "Sensitivity to Seasons" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of New York City where objects used on a daily basis within a Japanese context were on display. The exhibition had a focus on the Japanese aesthetic's particular sensitivity to changes in seasons and how these eternal rituals reflect the confluence between flux and timelessness.

    THE EXHIBITION spoke to me and upon scrutiny, provided the required visual stimulus for developing decorative motifs that would fit both my inspiration and the colour palette I had established through the use of my inspirational images. I particularly enjoyed the considerable abstract use of reeds, flowers and water to reflect the seasons. There is an interesting similarity between these established visual tools and the sartorial conventions of print, stripe and plaid.

      

WITH THIS IN MIND, the time has come to begin development of surface textures and decorative elements.

Fin.

Three

  THE IMAGES EVOKE a mood or a certain sentiment that I seek to incorporate into my collection but they also provide the visual components for further development of previous propositions. There is often a period of gestation after images are found and refined. Expanding on images of the bamboo forests and the Angkor Wat, I have focussed on the almost elegiac costumes and rites of the Shinto priesthood. There is the transience of the material realm but there is also within that a sense of the eternal and timeless.

  Having established the mood, these images now furnish ideas for colour, fabric ornamentation and silhouettes. I find myself particularly attracted to the surfeit of meaning embedded in the plain absence of their costumes and also, interestingly, to the manner in which these priests are surrounded by coincidental flashes of colour.

  The priest and the actor playing a good game of chess appears to be the embodiment of the austere, the esoteric and the humorous - I suspect they shall be the visual key that will enable me to elaborate upon a most exciting process.

Fin.

Two

   

   
     REFLECTING ON what I had written previously in regards to the magazine Industrie, I must make a note here that there was a very beautiful portrait of Virginie Mouzat, Fashion Director at Le Figaro. It is often a comfort to know that working at the heart of the fashion press are still a number of level-headed women who have the weight of experience and stylistic maturity to guide us through these murky times where everyone (the irony is not entirely lost here) seems to have something to say about fashion or style.

     We often talk about fashion in terms of the new and now. Often in more contemplative periods, I wonder if we have forgotten that the now is also that of the present moment, which is by definition, quite timeless. And so, in fashion, we have the classic and the eternally beautiful. It is not a quality we often consider these days. In the process of looking for new sources of inspiration, I often try to steer away from the incessant torrent of news, hype, gloss and glamour that are so readily available with digital technology and the vast fonts of information embedded within the Internet. Instead, I look for images that soothe the harried mind and which allows us to - at least momentarily - displace ourselves from the hectic pace of this thing we call living.

     These images of monks and bamboo forests are exactly what I have in mind. Interestingly, a silent mind is more alert mind and one that is keen to observe that which usually goes unnoticed. The flashes of vermillion, the pale copper tarnish upon the giant statues of Buddha, the undulating formations of bamboo leaves and wooden ridges, these tiny flourishes of beauty bring pleasure once more. In the end, amid the constant pursuit of the next thing, perhaps the best place to look is where (or when) we are standing still.

Fin.

One

Hello,

by Richard Avedon

 This marks the first entry in a project that begins as an academic exercise but which, hopefully, will grow into a personal possession - rather like the dusty Latin primer still retained in the bookcase. In beginning this endeavour, I asked myself what form these electronic pages will take and decided that if this should be a record of my thought process as a design student, then it shall have to take the guise of a letter written to an imaginary friend. Someone interested in my thoughts and observations on fashion, aesthetics, culture and perhaps, a sense of history and my personal search for that which I cannot name but which must be found amid all the qualities and things I had just listed.

 To wit, there are first discoveries. Every individual who toils in the often thankless grind of perfection behind the dress form and the sewing machine has had that singular moment of revelation when an image reveals possibilities for beauty far beyond what he had hitherto witnessed in the quotidian. Chancing upon a book of Richard Avedon's portraits today, I recall spending days at the library poring over photographs quite like these taken of Suzy Parker here when I was younger. There was something tantalising about her mien and her pose, something mischievous yet artlessly graceful - qualities largely unfound these days in the anodyne faces of interchangeable models and photographs sharpened on the cutting edge.

 Perhaps it is nostalgia for a different era - the past is, after all, another country. The mythic Fifties do seem tinged with golden hues and the liquid static of the Victrola when looked through our contemporary, dystopian eyes. And yet, reading the latest issue of Industrie (look no further for signs of narcissism - a magazine for the fashion industry targeted at 'fashion insiders'), I am struck by the arresting - almost jarring - quality of Mert & Marcus' photographs. An entire oeuvre that sums up the aesthetics of a decade, my generation's decade.

 Someone else might disagree with me - there could be something timeless and beautiful in those photographs too (or perhaps not, maybe timelessness is too much to ask for, or completely irrelevant to the question at hand) but I cannot but wonder - the young pre-teen who picks up one of these photographs where a nude Kate Moss stares at the audience with deadbeat eyes, what glimpse of beauty was made available to him?



Fin.