Fashion and Textiles Introductory Weeks

Introduction to Styling: 

There are many different jobs within the textile and fashion industry, but they can generally be broken down into either design or promotion roles. Stylists fall into the promotion side of the business. It might be their job to select models for the catwalk, organise hair and make-up, photoshoots and editorials, locations and props, shop windows designs, advertising campaigns, set designs, promotional videos etc., coming up with the entire 'look' for a fashion campaign. Although the design side of the industry interests me more, we had to spend a day styling a photoshoot and learning what this entails as part of our introductory lessons into the Fashion and Textiles pathway.

The clothes I brought in to style with

In preparation we were asked to bring in a range of clothing items to style with. I raided the dressing up box we keep in our house, which is full of various costumes, bits of fabric and old ('vintage') items of clothing, thinking that these would be more interesting to use than everyday clothing. We then separated into pairs and were given five minutes to model each other's clothes in various combinations and take photos. My model is Kaira Akuffo and I, in turn, was hers:

After this five minutes of randomly putting together outfits and taking quick photographs that initially introduced us to the idea of styling we were given 20 minutes each to spend more time on one look, and this time thinking about location (obviously limited to around the college), poses and camera positioning and thegeneral 'look' of our photos:

The outfit in these pictures consists of: a kimono dress tied around the waist as a skirt, a lace collar and ruff shirt, cream knitted snood as a kind of sash over the shoulder and an eyemask and stretch black belt. Having put this look together completely randomly out of the clothes at my disposal it struck as it came together that it in some ways suggested the style of a female pirate. I tried to emphasise this through my choices of location and stance. I rather liked the result and the theme of this and so when, in the afternoon, we were asked to plan a full-on final photoshoot, using what we had learned with a theme inspired by that morning's work, I chose to centre my idea around the style of a female pirate. We spent the rest of the day in the library, researching and gathering images for mood boards to develop out ideas for the final shoots, which we were to carry out in our self-directed study time. 

Because of my chosen theme, my first research was into Vivienne Westwood's acclaimed 'Pirate Collection' of 1981 and the surrounding 'New Romanticism' movement, the androgynous and eccentric styles fitting with my vision for the shoot. Gathering images from archived vogue editions from the era and 'Vivienne Westwood' by Claire Wilcox to complement my internet research I put together the following mood boards, which helped to refine and focus my inspiration. 

Portrait of Ching Shih

However, I had started with some fundamental internet research, looking into female piracy in a historical context and not just the more modern fashion and movements that dealt with the theme on a more superficial level. Ching Shih terrorized the China Sea in the early 19th century. Estimates put her fleet at anywhere between 300-1800 with 20,000-80,000 men, women and even children under her command. She challenged the empires of the time, such as the British, Portuguese and the Qing dynasty. Undefeated, Ching Shih is one of world history's most powerful pirates. When it was found to be hopeless to try and defeat her, she was offered amnesty for herself and entire crew, and so became one of the only pirates in history to retire (with all her loot), rather than being killed. Using this historical role model and my other research as reference I prepared for my final shoot, not going for a typical modern-day pirate costume, but more of a suggested overall look with a modern twist.



Another thing a stylist has to consider is the casting of models in their photoshoots. However, I was obviously confined in a way professional stylists are not, as I was limited to casting people I know who would be prepared to do me the favour of modelling.With the look I was going for I wanted an older model with dark, short styled hair to match the conventional strong pirate image.  Coincidentally, I had already thought up these criteria and realised that my mother had the look I was going for, and luckily was happy to model for me.

The clothes I used were all items from the dressing up box in my house. As my main interest is design I was excited about the composition elements of the shoot, as we were told to be as creative as possible and where necessary we could make some props and accessories to enhance the look. Therefore, I made my own, unconventional eyepatch. I dyed a small length of white netting with black ink (as I didn't have any black immediately available to me and preferred the more muted grey result). I then gathered this up and fixed it under a satin black ribbon which I then tied around the head with gold thread. It is a makeshift solution and I was pleased with the result, and felt it suited the overall style, adding some interest and glamour as a headpiece that fits the theme. I am happy with the result of my photoshoot, in which I kept the lighting muted while hoping to keep the colours vivid. Although styling is not an area of the fashion and textiles industry that particularly interests me I had fun with the shoot, research and creative elements of the task. 

Final Editorial/Shoot:

Cover  Image

Location&Props: Garden in front of fence (jungle island suggestions), corner of a living room (designed to look like captain's cabin), window, fold out desk, treasure chest box, ink pot, feather/quill, bottle of gin, decanter, glasses, ship in a bottle, painting of a ship, leather bound books, old papers and candlesticks.
Hair&Make-Up: Red face paint strip across the forehead and brown/grey chalks smudged across the cheek, dark smudged eyes and a little dark red lipstick. Short, tousled hair. 
Accessories: 1 blue, red and gold dangling earring, 1 gold necklace wrapped around the wrist, gold rings, bandages wrapped around the hand, lace up suede heeled boots, a thick brown leather belt and a homemade eyepatch.
Clothes: Yellow/black patterned skirt tied around the waist to create layered draping effect, red/black patterned kimono dress and red silk pyjama shirt as shoulder, black leggings and a cream shirt with lace collar and ruff. 

Back Cover Photo/Promotion Invitation Image

Fashion and Textiles Introductory Weeks

Technical Skills:
Knitting:

 On the second day of our introductory lessons in the Fashion and Textiles Pathway we were taught how to use the knitting machines. Operated by hand, these machines are a relatively quick and easy way of producing knitted textile products. We spent the day making several samples, trying out different stitching techniques.

We were first taught how to set up the machines and thread them with wool. These contraptions have a row of perhaps a couple of hundred needles and we were shown how to twist the wool around these, starting with a row of about 20 or so stitches. This was difficult at first as it was easy to drop stitches or get the wool twisted round the wrong way. There is also a handle that runs along the needles through which the wool is threaded. When the handle is pulled across it tugs the wool though the needles, thereby knitting a row of stitches.

Threading the machine

After dragging the handle across several times the knitted wool has to be weighted down to prevent it from catching. The needles were delicate and caught the wool easily, meaning it was sometimes difficult to avoid stitches being dropped. This fact and the heaviness of the handle made it hard to find a balance that pulled the handle across gently enough to avoid bending the needles and creating holes in the fabric.

Plain Stitch

Weighted down rows of stitches

However, after a few practice attempts I think I got the hang of it and it became quite enjoyable, and proved even mildly therapeutic to use the machines. We started out just learning how to use a plain stitch and made a small sample but after this we were taught some more complex techniques.

Stripped Sample

We were taught how to thread the machine with two different colours to create stripped knitted fabrics and then how to use a varying number of needles to create a spiral design (which I found very difficult and didn't work that well on my sample). We were then taught how to drop stitches intentionally, in a way that would not make the wool around them unravel, to create cut out designs in a knitted fabric. This is called a lace stitch. My first attempt at this technique was a bit sloppy but the next technique we were taught, the honeycomb stitch, I enjoyed and found easier. This involved rethreading stitches onto the needles to bunch up the fabric. It can be used to create interesting fabrics and I liked the effect. 

Lace Stitch

Honeycomb Stitch

Getting the hang of the basics when using the knitting machines and making these samples took up most of the day, however, in the afternoon we were given about 20 minutes to create on last sample using whatever of the techniques we had learnt throughout the day that we wanted. I started out hoping to make a scarf, but ran out of time. Therefore my final sample is a rectangular length of wool with a diamond pattern on it, which I used the honeycomb and lace stitches to achieve. I was reasonably pleased with my final sample as I was able to finish it without dropping any stitches or making any mistakes. Overall, I fond this day enjoyable and wish we had had more time to experiment with the machines and make a finished product.

My Final Sample:

Fashion and Textiles Pathway

 Photoshop Tutorials Day Two:

On our second day we were asked to use the skills we learnt the previous day to create textile patterns, with a theme or motif taken from or relating to our interests, memories, and other personal items. We were told to consider hobbies, movies, music etc. and so the first image I selected was this:

I grew up watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies (my mother dislikes Disney movies so this was her alternative). Now I am older I enjoy and appreciate their dancing, music and film on another level, while they still hold a comforting familiarity from my childhood. For these reasons I chose this image and others like it of the pair dancing to create a textile pattern using Photoshop.

I took the pictures and traced round the figures using the lasso tool and I cut them out of the backgrounds, which I then coloured red and filled their shapes to create silhouette patterns:

I did this with three different poses I had chosen and then merged them onto one image which I turned into a repeat pattern for textile print: 

Our tutors were advising us to be experimental with our designs and to try layering patterns and using textures to add interest to our designs. With this in mind I cut out a section of Ginger Rogers' skirt from the original image and blew it up and layered the image to create a textured background to the silhouettes. I then added and tint of colour and made the figures slightly transparent:

I liked the effect this created and so added it to the repeat pattern, trying out a few different colour schemes before coming up with a finished pattern design:

After this is was much quicker and easier to create a few more patterns using the same techniques. My starting point for my next design came from my interest in stereoscopy, sparked my granddad's enthusiasm for it and his gift to me of my own stereoscope. I layered a couple off stereo card images with alternate and overlapping repeat patterns. Similarly to my first print, I experiments with tints of colour and transparency until I had an abstract final design. We then saved our textile print designs as defined patterns on Photoshop. 

Once we had finished a couple of textile print designs we were shown how to create look books or mock-up fashion items by transposing them onto figures and items of clothing. This skill can be useful to a designer as they can scan in artwork and add digitally designed patterns and other features into their work. As it was, we just used templates of models and clothing from internet images. 

Template

Drawing round the item of clothing on the model using the magnetic lasso tool we then redefined the edge of the shape and then cut the patterns in. Once they were layered onto the models we could change the format tones so that the creases and shadows of the garments showed through, giving the depth to the images and the impression that our designs were on the garments.

I enjoyed this second day of tutorials far more than the first as it gave us more scope to be creative and independent in our designs. I am pleased with my final pattern designs, and feel that they are varied with the potential to be original and interesting fashion prints. It is exciting to have these new skills to experiment more with in the future. 

Final Print Designs: 

Textile Pattern One

Textile Pattern Two

Fashion Textiles Pathway: Day One

Technical Skills: Digital Pattern Design:

I chose the Fashion Textiles pathway on the Design and Media Foundation and starting this have two weeks of technical skills building. On the first day this meant a Photoshop workshop with the objective of giving us the skills to create patterns digitally that could then be used on a textile product. As many (including me) in the class have little or no previous experience in using Photoshop this first day was kept very basic. We started with a being shown how to make a simple polka dot repeat pattern:

Then we were shown how to layer pattens to create a more interesting design (below: images of how I layered two different coloured dots and lowered their opacity before creating a repeat pattern):

These kinds of simple changes and stages for a repeat pattern continued for most of the day:

Changing sizes and positioning:

Changing sizes of repeat pattern

Creating a half dot pattern (repeat on different layers)

Layering patterns and cutting out from shapes

Check pattern with colour bleed

Check Pattern

Drawing textures and designs onto flat repeat patterns

After this we were shown how to create a repeat pattern when an image is more complex and not symmetrical, as many textile designs are, particularly if you are scanning in artwork to create designs. Using a sample image of clouded blue sky we saw the difficulty:

These kinds of repeat patterns result in obvious divides and so we used the cloning tool, deleted or changed the sizes in some areas and flattened the colours until we had a smooth finish:

Although I feel the patterns created in this workshop are largely uninteresting, the skills I learnt can be extrapolated to be used in more complex designs in the future. However, my understanding is still very basic and the day felt quite rushed at times, and so I feel a week's project in this area would have been more appropriate.