explanation

Due to being in a frantic rush to submit the book draft blog post by 11pm I was quite brief and unclear with my annotation so it may not make a lot of sense. I thought I would debrief on the idea and intention I have for the draft.
I am quite intrigued by interestingly abstract layouts that are rather minimalistic. I came across a book about one of Maison Martin Marigela’s exhibitions which really captivated me with its way of communicating Margiela’s work.
Thus I wanted to communicate my project in a similar way- the book being an intriguing, almost abstract story, rather than a ‘look book’. Each image being as appealing as the one prior to it. I wanted my book cover to be very simple, I believe a pure white canvas with text applied in a strategic and though out manner has an effective outcome- something about all the white blank space almost reminds me of a mental institution (unsure why, maybe I’m a bit delusional).
I intend to make the book of A5 scale, and wish to make the cover out of hard card paper with the book pages to be of quite thick ,coarse textured paper- so that the images have a more matte, canvas finish as opposed to a lustorous aesthetic. The way I wish to join all the pages is through heat binding (if that is the correct technical name for the process? But basically Im referring to the method one sees on most hard cover books).
I’m undecided as to how many poster I wish to produce. But one or a few of them will simply portray what my exploration has been about. I may include other posters which depict the prototype garments- this is still in the process of examination.

Book & Poster Draft/Ideas

BOOK DRAFT -FEW MOCK UP PAGES

This page (above) is showing an idea for a layout of a page that will include tech drawings, fabric and colour explorations (current images are not ones I plan to use- dont have them yet so these images are just used to get an idea of the intention)

Possible layout and image mock ups. images are in reverse order.

The master and page numbers have not been added. Just to get a sense of the layout- images are not necessarily the ones that will defiantly be used. Still more pages to be explored, these are just a few samples. I intend the book to be of A5 scale.

POSSIBLE BOOK COVER OPTIONS

The intention is a very minimalist aesthetic. The use of alot of white space. No images just text. Shadowing the styles of Martin Margiela.

POSSIBLE POSTER IMAGE EXPLORATION

Some explorations of the poster image(s). Unsure as of yet on the scale and quantity of the posters I intend to develop.

hidden contours

To elongate...

(work by Jean Paul Gould)

An exploration of the neck and shoulders in their raw, vulnerable state. Contrasted with my intention to manipulate, alter and disguise the natural form of these body parts, through different shapes and silhouettes.
In further examining the power of the bare flesh one could say that even though such imagery brings upon sensual and erotic connotations without clothing, there are no hierarchy, just an even nakedness.

'A group of naked people-humiliated in a prison, ecstatic in an orgy-become
anonymous and speechless.Even in our dreams and daydreams, in memories, in
friendship and in love, clothing is never absent.Nakedness is an
exceptional state (Lauwart 2006, p.173).'

Foam Fanatic

In continuation of exploring the neck and shoulders I was looking into making very structural pieces out of foam and covering the foam with fabric, signifying stretch fabrics ability to stretch over a surface area. I had this particular shape in mind as influenced by the flaring epaulets of Thai dancers. I’ve found working on the stand to mould and create shapes is what I am particularly drawn to; the nature of improvisation is quite intriguing. Currently just working on developing the right shape for the piece but am interested in exploring different shapes I could mould using lingerie foam.

Work in progress...

Salvidor Dali- Woman with head of roses.

With the swimsuit I wanted to incorporate elements of outerwear into the swimsuit i.e. shoulder pads. Thus I intended to exaggerate the shoulders and alter the natural appearance of the body. In continuation of this idea I wanted to split the swimsuit in half. Demonstrating stretch fabrics ability to drape and form fit the body’s contours. One half is left to look like a normal swimsuit whilst the other half is constructed by multiple pieces of the swimsuit that have been joined together and draped on one side of the body. Hiding the body’s contours vs. moulding them.
The image of Salvidor Dali’s painting-‘woman in a head of roses’ is to me reminiscent of this projected idea. The surrealists pursued to experiment with the body in the pursuit of a range of psychological, sociological and sexual concerns; which I intend to shadow.
“Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected association, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving the principal problems of life.”(Fashion & Surrealism by Francois Baudot)

The current toile I’m working on is still in the process of being resolved. I am still in the stage of perfecting the fit of the shoulder pads and neckline, thus I found that by slashing sections of the fabric at the shoulder and neck line it ultimately releases some of the tension and the fabric and conducts a flatter fit- which I intend to imply in the next pattern for the piece.

(Salvidor Dali image from

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zjNDVVkL0hU/SBTwebbigtI/AAAAAAAACKM/ZVokwgH71LQ/party+055.JPG)

Fetish; The Neck & Shoulders.

I am interested in exploring the way different aspects/mechanisms can alter the proportion of the body. How we as humans are constantly attempting to hide or extenuate features of our body. I’m fascinated in how different eras in time & culture are cultivated by different areas of the body-in this particular case the attraction to the neck and shoulders- and different cultural fetishes within the way those parts of the body appear. Keywords such as ‘exaggerate’, ‘lengthen’, ‘extend’.
“Fashions great seduction is its mutability. Through the artifice of apparel, the less than perfect can camouflage perceived deficiencies and in some instances project an appeal beyond those gifted with characteristics accepted as ideal in their culture and time. However, while fashion is commonly thought to be driven by a constant cycle of aspiration and obsolesce, the ideal unclothed body paradoxically is believed to conform to some unchanging and universal standard. In fact, an examination of the nude in art reveals a constant if sometimes subtle shift in the ideal of physical beauty.” (Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed)

One could say there is almost a mathematical formula to achieve certain desired changes in proportions of the neck and shoulders, such as;
-‘A triangulated shoulder line attenuates the neck’
-‘In all these cases, the shoulder plays an important role in suggesting the long neck through dress. Ironically, to achieve that attenuation, the neck itself is hidden almost as frequently as the shoulders. The camouflaged, elongated neck is conceptually reduced to the relationship of the head to the torso, so that the shoulders are inevitably implicated.’
-‘To create the impression of a longer neck through the gradual collapsing of the shoulders.’
-‘The broad shoulder created a V silhouette that appeared to narrow the hips’

All these changes in proportions are merely a way for humans to appear more ‘attractive’ and fulfil particular fetishes of that time or culture.
The word fetish is quite an interesting choice of words,
Fetish:
1. Object of obsession: -an object, idea or activity that somebody is irrationally obsessed with or attached to.
2. Object arousing sexual desire: -something that arouses sexual excitement in somebody.

“It raises the veil on a past, false ideality. From under this veil the secret of fashion steps forth: the fetishistic structure of desire. The fetish, which, according to Benjamin, underlies the sex appeal of the inorganic, is the heart of fashion. This is why fashion was the site at which the lifeless was animated, without having to bear the stigmata of life, at which the idea came to life, hand, flawless, complete and perfect like the marble of the antique statues, alive for the perfect moment of the illusion. Post fashion brings this fetishistic core to light: it exposes it. Margiela does this in a particularly drastic way; he shows how fashion brought the ideal to life, an ideal which, however, was as such located out of time, untouched, like the dummy, by the decline to which the flesh is subject. Time will not stand still, however, and the disfiguration of the ideal has inevitably to be followed by a refiguration.” (Fashion Zeitgeist-Tends & Cyles in the Fashion System- Barbera Vinken)

(all images from 'Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed'- Harold Koda)