Set up the presentation space so that the wall had the different images of the model in the outfits and the different origami size samples that I tested in an attempt to find the size I needed.
I am aiming to continue research into the psychology of body positivity and the modern pursuit for the ideal body figure.
I am hoping for more responses to my survey, as of the presentation i had only received 6, I have now received 14 responses altogether. I am aiming for 25 to 30 responses overall and will follow up this with a secondary questionnaire.
I will be photographing the garments on at least one more model, and have contacted two more people who may be interested in modeling the outfits for me.
I will use these images to create the follow-up questionnaire in order to determine if I have been able to achieve my aims.
As I mentioned when making the toile I knew I was going to have a problem with the overskirt, but I first had problems with the collar.
When making the collar, I was able to get it to stand up nicely on my stand and didn’t think anything was the matter, I had always intended for the coat collar to be both able to stand up or lay flat to the body, but leave the wearer with the choice. However, I was struggling to create the choice. The idea behind the stand up collar was to help elongate the body further.
The inner collar was inspired by chinese mandarin collars once again referencing the asian culture which I was being influenced by. I also found it very difficult to get under a sewing machine, even an industrial sewing machine with a walking foot broke 5 or 6 needles due to the excessively large thickness I was attempting to get through.
The skirt was a whole other experience. At one point in the making process I was ready to throw the coat out and leave it. This was when I initially made the skirt, it had no stability, even though there was stiffener inside, I think it just could not cope with the excessive over handling. I did eventually decide to insert some thicker interlining which helped to reduce the problem, although it was still not totally correct.
With Interlining 1
In the skirt I used an interfacing known as ‘Visiline – Decovil I’. this helped, but wi was still not happy with the result of this.
in the end I unpicked and tried making the french seams smaller. this helped although once again not 100% but it is bearable. in order to accomodate making the skirt smaller, I was able to add darts in at the back to add more shaping which will help to create this illusion.
The collar also was not standing up, I did eventually reduce the size of the collar removing a panel and bringing it around further did help to make it free standing.
The Top and skirt although seemed the simpler of the two outfits, also had several problems arise during making that had not been apparent in the toileing process.
the basic pattern was simple enough to make, although I added too much at the front and on the hem of the main skirt to create a button stand as I initially intended to fasten the two garments with buttons, but decided that I wanted to marry the coat to it further to make it appear to be part of a larger collection.
The origami had its own major project problem,I accidentally bought too thin interfacing which would not hold its shape too well. I managed to combat this by using spray starch which worked to stiffen the fabric enough to fold.
the next challenge was attatching it to the under skirt, as I mentioned before, I would need to do it on a stratight seam, and the shaping of the origami is helping to create this illusion of the hourglass.
with both sides of the origami, the hourglass effect is more visible than with only one hand. I also found that the back needed more pulling in to match the size of the front better,
I have reflected the peplum style onto the collar. with it split into smaller sections similar to the coat, and the skirt, the collar and peplum will need the correct interfacing .
The sleeve was initially intended it to be a similar style to a small batwing this proved difficult to pin to the seams,
again the origami needed a stronger stiffener and i did once again need to use the spray starch.
overall I was really pleased with the top and skirt which my model really enjoyed wearing, they actually said “Lots of clothes I’ve tried have felt shapeless and unattractive, but this made me feel like I had a waist and hips in the mirror and because it was tight fitting I still felt like I had finally achieved the hourglass shape even when I wasn’t looking in a mirror.” – Anon
I have now begun toileing the garments, I can already see that the coat will be the most challenging to complete and still achieve the hourglass shape that I am hoping for.
With stiffener in however, I believe the skirt should fan out more and the collar will stand up on its own, in the images, it is attached to the stand so that you can see the effect.
The top and skirt are definitely the more interesting looking of the two outfits, the paper does naturally have the stiffness that means the origami stands out and fans out more towards the bottom, but i am aware that when I do the fold in material, this will be more difficult to create and will also have softer edges.
The peplum on the top also works really nicely on top of the origami, and it has been designed as small panels to reflect the collar and skirt on the coat.
Getting the origami to fit into the skirt seams neatly or correctly will be interesting, I have tried to cut the underskirt seam to fit into the folds better, but each time i am being left with big gaps that will not connect without me forcing the materials and creating a warped look.
I have started thinking about the colour scheme for the outfits, and have started to research into the Suffragette movement which saw women fighting against society’s norms and ideals in order to make life better, for this reason, I have chosen to use the colours green and purple which represents their fight and my projects concept of fighting for confidence in your body.
I have decided that I need to create a Survey to work out
what shape society and my audience actually consider as the ideal body shape. I
have written a survey
Which includes questions on what the respondent considers
their shape to be, what they would prefer to be, what they consider the most
ideal shape in society and what influenced their perception as to what the
ideal shape is.
This survey will be completed by 18-25 year old women so
that it fits with my target audience. I am hoping for 25-30 responses to gain a
thorough insight into what the audience I am designing and making for truly
think. I hope to create a follow up survey which will use images of the
garments being worn to see if my audience believe that I have achieved my
project aim.
I have been working alongside the person who will be modelling the garment form me to create a couple of designs that will fit with this concept of creating an illusion through pattern cutting. We have decided to create a top and skirt that could either be worn as an outfit or as individual pieces, and a coat.
Top and Skirt design Viewed from back
Coat Design Viewed from front
I have also been thinking of how to develop my title, aims
and objectives further.
Title : Can creative
pattern cutting be used in fashion and costume to create the illusion of the
hourglass shape without physically contorting the body itself in the pursuit of
the idealistic body shape?
Although there are very few changes I am much happier with
this, and have therefore been able to develop my aims and objectives.
Aim – To create the Illusion of the Hourglass body shape
through Creative pattern cutting so that the wearer feels they have the desired
shape in front and away from the mirror.
Objectives – To gain an understanding through
questionnaires, of what women between the ages of 18-25 perceive as their ideal
body shape and what has led them to believe that this is the ideal body shape.
-To experiment with various fabrics, interlinings and
historical bustles/cages to create the required structure within the garment
-To experiment and critically analyse various creative
pattern cutting approaches to develop the required silhouette.
-To research into how the ideal body shape has changed over
history and how these shapes were achieved.
-To design and create garments that create the illusion of the shape that is perceived as the most ideal, highlighted in this research study, without physically changing the body itself.
Hopefully these aims and objectives will help me to further the research and more inform the project.
After a discussion with a friend who has agreed to model the
garments for me at the end of the making process, I have decided to tailor the
project towards women aged 18 – 25. The idea behind the project will be to
combat body confidence in women and use the pattern cutting to create this illusion
of the perfect figure without the wearer having to physically change themselves
to achieve it.
From this, I have been able to develop my title which is:
Can fashion and
costume be used to create the illusion of the hourglass shape without
physically contorting the body itself in the pursuit of the idealistic body
shape?
I feel as if something is still missing, although I am happy
with the title and believe I can create aims and objectives that are coherent
and will work towards my end goal.
Currently, my aims are to create shape and enhance the hips
and waist through garment construction using Asian culture as inspiration. I definitely
need to think about these, as this is currently very vague.
Had previously looked at origami and, and would like to
continue to include that in this project. Having come from costume, I would
like to have an element of that to the garments, and may look into that
further.
Have considered looking into Chinese and/or Japanese
theatre, I would like to include my costume knowledge in some way, but I think
this may be too much.
In my project proposal I looked at changing the body using different historical clothing, Corsetry was the main one, something that I did notice was this obsession with the perfect figure, historically different undergarments were used, I think I might look into tailoring my project into creating this perfect shape using pattern cutting.
I also noted in my project proposal that Chinese women used to traditionally bind their feet to make them more desirable in marriage, because of this connection between the origami and the tradition of changing the body to make them more desirable, I may look at including Asian influences to my designs with things such as the architectural style of pagoda roofs.
I am struggling to come up with a target audience and I
think that by deciding on that, I will be able to develop my project further.
Final Major Project 