Forest Fruit

The Catwalks of Autumn/Winter 2012 were floundered with the hues of wild berries that have historically grown wild in the woods. A myriad of reds, pinks and purples pulled from strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and red and black currents coated small elements of garments and in some cases full outfits. The colour trend was also heavily drawn on for use in patterns. Many collections saw models clad head-to-toe in varying and single shades of berry. This colour trend also served as an accent colour in many collections with many designers utilising the hues solely on accessories or as highlights on garments. This trend knows no bounds, appearing on almost anything and everything. No fabric or garment type remained outside it’s siege.

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is the study of the physical and chemical behaviour of metallic elements. In a similar way, the designers featured on the Autumn/Winter 2012 catwalks have undertaken a study of metal and the various metallic surfaces. This lustrous chemical element was interpreted and utilised in a countless amount of ways and approaches. Many designers chose simply to interpret this element which delivered upon seemingly metallic surfaces with organic character. Feather weight foils, painted leathers, sequins and lames were widely used to achieve this effect. These materials with their crinkled and crunched aspects allude to the element and the idea of geological compression. Coating wool in metallic fibres lends for a very fibrous sharp effect that recalls low carbon steel fibres. Others chose to employ the element itself in their designs in the forms of pins, studs, chains and chainmail. Silver and gold are not the only shades being exploited. Coppers, and jewel shades such as ruby red, emerald green and sapphire blue have been drawn on heavily within this trend. So invest in this hard-wear to avoid being deposited off the trend wagon.

Work is still ongoing regarding fastenings etc of my garment, but this is the work in progress and the near finished piece. Also, the shoulder pieces still have to be sanded down to a glossy finish but this cannot be done until the resin is cured, which could take up to two weeks;

For our final assessment we also had to make a knitwear accessory. I made a snood out of hand cut yarn that I cut myself, combined with wool. I knitted it entirely in stocking stitch so it would have two different sides for wearing. At present this was all my skill allowed for, but over the Summer now I hope to knit bigger and better things. 

I felt my piece worked as both a menwear and a womenswear piece so I photographed it on both;

Menswear:

 Model: Jack Roche

Final design, rough illustration: The design may even change yet because i'm not confident I can execute this one here as I see it in my head. The green shoulder pieces are currently hassling me. This design also neglects to incorporate the texture of my sculpture piece and the white lines brought up by the photocopier. I want to include all of these elements in my finished piece but it may not be possible. The finalized, and hopefully more refined illustration is yet to come;

While I was spray painting my swatches to be applied to the mannequin I accidentally let the paint stick together. When I separated these sheets a really interesting pattern formed. I photographed these patterns and saturated the colours on my computer so that the prints adhered to my colour scheme. Ideally if I was in these would be screen printed. However that's not possible so I hope to print these prints onto jersey using transfer paper;

I then brought my piece down to the photocopier, obtaining very interesting results. The resulting photos differed greatly from the sculpture piece itself and the colours within the photographs appealed to me more than those in the scuplture. I also love the white lines that came up in the photocopies. As of yet I have neglected these in my final design  but looking at these again I may look at incoporating them somehow into my piece. It was from these photos that my final design was mostly drawn from;