GENDER GAMES_ Initial drawings

INTITIAL DRAWING_

There were tables full of typically feminine/masculine objects. The aim was to record these as primary research, in interesting and abstract ways. It was quite difficult for me to get back into this, as it was right at the start of the year and I had had a long break. The recording was fine, but I wasn't happy with the drawings. They didn't inform me of structure, they just seemed flat, lifeless. I became frustrated and angry, until it was suggested that I work on a larger scale in different media (collaging, painting etc). This was much more exciting, and the blocky masculine objects began to take on a form and structure. 

For me, the masculine objects were a lot more interesting than the feminine objects. The form of the objects enabled me to see in a different way, recording the object with an abstract take. The feminine objects were interesting visually, but I found it difficult to record them (such as lace).

 










 
 

FRILLS AND BOWS

FRILLS AND BOWS_

Feminine decorative elements

Oversized frills, ruffles, bows, ties 

Using a feminine aspect, making it masculine- using masculine materials, increasing the scale 

This was a really helpful exercise. It opened up ways in which I could begin to design my collection, thinking about typically masculine/feminine elements but putting a twist on it.

As I was looking at fashion transforming, the tying I experimented with on the back of a bodice block worked really well. The back bodice was cut up into sections, and along the seams a tie was included- 4 in total. theses could then be mixed and matched, tied up in different ways to change the overall silhouette of the garment (oversized to fitted).

The oversized ruffles were exciting, and could perhaps be inserted into a seam of a masculine garment to play on it and make it more feminine. The simple circles sewn together to create flaps was interesting. It could be made from a really solid material to give a strong structure within the garment, or using flowing fabric to add a soft touch, perhaps over a pocket or on the hemline.

GENDER GAMES MOOD BOARD

Gender games mood board/visual research/incorporating transformable aspects 

YEAR 2_

STARTING YEAR TWO_ BATTLING WITH MY INNER DEMONS

Its always a dramatic and anxious affair starting a new educational year, even though I've done it a million times over. I feel scared, not knowing what to expect, whether I can keep up with the work load, whether I’ll be good enough. Of course it is also exciting, and to be quite honest I was looking forward to coming back, getting into the swing of things- over the summer break I had become lazy, I needed a routine back in my life. 

I knew the workload would hit me hard. Having barely done anything before 12pm over the past 3 months, this was surely going to be difficult. However my spirits were high- that would never last long. Suffering with anxiety puts a strain on everyday activities, so I was expecting that to pop up. I overthink a lot, and the new year wasn't an exception. The brief was given out, and I was excited, but its almost as if something takes over inside me, and forces me to think of the bad, the un-necessary and un-realistic. When things are put into context, relate to me, thats when I start to panic- will I have enough time, will I be good enough? On the flip side, my depression forces me to not want to do anything, to the point where days on end I cant physically make myself do anything. I feel stupid, useless. I hate myself. But I’ve learnt (from suffering with it for over 10 years) that I have to do what my body wants, if I push too hard thats when the difficulties occur. Before, I would think I was weak if I didn't make myself do something, stay somewhere I didn't want to be, but it made more ill, to the point where I was at my lowest. Everyday was a struggle, even something as small and silly as asking my mum for a lift somewhere would spur an anxiety attack. It is getting better, I am now able to think with a more positive outlook. I reward myself- if I can make it to uni when I couldn't think of anything worse, staying just half a day, thats a massive achievement. 

This does make uni a lot harder than it already is. But this year I want a change. I accept that Im not going to get better- not in a long time at least. But I can work on ways that help me through uni, to help me achieve my goal. I know I can do it, I know I can get through the remaining years and achieve great results, but the other unwanted ‘thing’ inside of my body wants me to have it hard. But I’ll defeat it.

AGENDER_SELFRIDGES

Agender- Selfridges

Selfridges launched a 'gender-neutral' pop up shop to allow consumers to buy clothes without being restricted to men's or women's fashions.

Selfridges believe that shoppers no longer want to be defined or limited by their gender as to what they can wear. Instead they are able to shop for unisex or 'agender' clothing. 

'We want to take our customers on a journey where they can shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes. A space where clothing is no longer imbued with directive gender values, enabling fashion to exist as a purer expression of 'self'.'

Blurring the lines of fashion.

COMME DES GARCONS AW13

Comme des Garçons AW13

Rei Kawakubo authors another fashion moment, riffing on the psychedelic infinity of tailoring  

Masculine and the feminine. Familiar and the unfamiliar. Decoration and structure. These were all

at play in Rei Kawakubo’s latest collection. The masculine and feminine contrast is especially one that can be problematic if reduced to a simplistic play on proportions or gender bending mash-ups. However, in Kawakubo’s display of “the infinity of tailoring” as she called it, if ever there was a peak in that play of contrast, this must be it. Suits, if you can call them that, in Prince of Wales check, City Boy pinstripes, black and white op-art stripes, houndstooth and solid black were cut with in-build decoration. Giant swirls, lush rosettes and layers of post-it square were not tacked on with whimsical fancy but integrated with technical pattern cutting. They looked like optical illusions as you stared deep at the construction, losing yourself in the folds, drapes, tucks and reams of fabric. The sleeves were especially emphasised as they often ballooned into giant leg-of-mutton shapes or bunched up into padded squiggles and loops. The mainstream vision of suits still needs warping and Kawakubo, whilst not the first to do so, has certainly done it with expert flair. Padding bodies out to great proportions, so much so that the models had to precariously turn to the side, so as to not to bump into each other, felt like a call to arms (quite literally in this case) – to confront the world with shape and construction, just as Kawakubo asked us to do so with her influential flatforms two seasons ago.

When the final five ensembles came out, rendered in the most mind-blowing psychedelic prints, created by the artist Dan Michiels, there was another take away message. Life isn’t black and white. Actually there’s a whole lot more in between and even more on the horizon. To go with Michiels’ mind-at-work, tripped-out psychedelia, let’s tell ourselves to get radical. Kawakubo knows a thing or two about being rad.

J.W ANDERSON SS15

J.W. Anderson SS15

Pulling apart pinstripes and playing with proportions to rebuild a more sleepy, seductive masculinity    

Initial reaction:

“A little bit sleepy, a little bit erotic and little bit dirty all at the same time” – Anderson after the show. 

Reconstructing masculinity:

This season was about throwing things off balance – garments were cut at the bias revealing exposed shoulders (an area of a mans body too often ignored in menswear, but for Anderson this is his canvas for 'seductive' exploration). Traditional men’s ties and pinstriped suits were deconstructed and then re-worked into loose silhouettes that could fall off the body at any minute. 

A ‘hyper-normal’ manifesto:

Much like his last menswear collection, this was about elevating the banal and the everyday – something he termed this season as 'hyper-normal'. It was also a showcase of his ability to cut away at the proportions of a man’s body – box-like jackets had the backs cut out, and knitted jumpers were shrunk to the extreme (“they were boiled and boiled and boiled” he laughed backstage) so they revealed the models midriffs. Anderson's proposition for a radical new approach to menswear is picking up speed, and with his debut as Loewe’s new creative director just around the corner, all eyes will be eagerly trained in his direction.