London Trip

My university organised a trip to London to research into fashion labels and stores and also to visits museums. Our task for the day was to gather information, photographs, leaflets/flyers and  images to use as inspiration for our work and document in our visual diaries.  We were also required to research into two fashion brands for a presentation at a later date.  I chose famous fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and the quirky, decorative footwear brand Irregular Choice as my two brands to present.

I had the opportunity to visit the Victoria and Albert museum, where I visited the Fashion archives.  There was a huge collection of garments from the 17th to the 21st century.

Above: A mens garment designed by Vivienne Westwood.

Below: A copy of a famous Sex Pistols zine featuring a photograph of a punk girl on the front cover.  This image was also displayed in the shop 'Sex' which was owned by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood in the 1970s.

Both displayed in the V&A.

Above: A beautiful striped dress by 1970s fashion label Biba.

Displayed in the V&A.

Above: Christian Dior camisole, shoe and paper fan, displayed in the V&A.

All images above were taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Below: I visited a huge shop in Camden which sells vintage clothes from the 1920s-1990s.  I took a series of photographs of the rails of garments.  I love the mix of brightly coloured and patterned fabrics with different textures and materials.

Below: At the end of the day I visited the Irregular Choice store in Covent Garden.  The store itself is beautifully decorated with colourful fake flowers.  The girl working in the shop kindly let me photograph the amazing tiger display on the wall.  Even the shop floor in covered in interesting patterns.
There was a large collection of footwear, also a smaller selection of clothing and accessories, including handbags and jewellery.  Irregular Choice is famous for its kitsch and quirky designs which feature fun and eye-catching cartoon images printed on the bottom of every shoe.  Each shoe also has an interesting name!  The staff were also very friendly, approachable and informative.

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Etching

In my Fashion Communication course at university I was given the opportunity to attend a workshop in Etching.  I was given a sheet of 1mm thick transparent perspex to etch my design onto.  I was also given an etching tool and sand paper to scratch the lines and patterns into the perspex.  

My chosen design was of one of my own illustrations of the Hindu elephant headed God, Ganesha.  I thought it would be an interesting illustration to use because there is a lot of intricate details in the original picture.  Ganesha wears a crown adorned in jewels and pearls, also several items of jewellery and is clutching a flower in one hand and an axe in the other.  I thought that these details would look very interesting and effective in my final prints.

After I had finished etching my design into the perspex sheet I was then able to print my design using a special ink, water-soaked paper and a printing press.

Below is a photograph of my final finished print.  I have used sand-paper to gently scratch a textured surface onto the perspex, this created the darker lines around the edges which frame the Ganesh image.

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Visual Diary

I have recently been working on my own visual diary.  I have been taking inspiration from places I have visited, including shops, museums, galleries, events, films, music, artists, books, people, images and I have found and photographs I have taken.  I have used different methods and media, including pen and ink, pencil, felt tips, collage, paint, coloured in photo-copied images and photographs to make each page look visually interesting.  

I have been taking my visual diary and my camera with me wherever I go so that I if I see something particularly interesting I can make a quick sketch or take a photograph it to document it and use as inspiration in my work.

Vivienne Westwood and Irregular Choice presentation

Below is a link for my presentation on my two chosen fashion brands, Vivienne Westwood and Irregular Choice that I created on prezi.com  

http://prezi.com/rnk5ooevdm-b/vivienne-westwood-and-irregular-choice-presentation-for-fashion-communication-uwe/

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Lithography

For my Fashion Communication course I was required to attend a Lithography workshop and create some of my own prints.  I chose an image of a particular Irregular Choice shoe called 'Abigail's Party' (named after a 1970s play by Mike Leigh).  I love the floral patterns, ribbons and stitching on the shoes and thought they would be perfect to use as my design for my Lithography print.

I traced the image of the shoes onto clear plastic using a quill and black ink.  Then a sheet of metal which had been treated with special chemicals was put into a machine with my design placed on the top.  It was then put in a machine under a UV light and my design placed on top.  The exposure of the UV light on to the chemically treated sheet of metal burned my shoe images onto it.

The metal sheet was then covered in a kind of gum and ink was then spread over the top.  The ink was then wiped away and was only left where my image was present.  It was then put through a printing press with paper and my design was then transferred to the paper.  

Modern Lithography printing is the method used to print most mass produced books, posters, newspapers, magazines and packaging.

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