Lynam, Ruth (1972) Paris Fashion, The Great Designers and their Creations, London; Micheal Joseph Ltd

Within this book it documents the many different fashion houses within Paris in the late 19^th century and how today’s generation are following more of the ‘ready to wear’ fashion rather than bespoke couture garments that were once very popular amongst the wealthy, upper-class.

Marie Claire (2015) A Brief History Of French Fashion available from: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/a-brief-history-of-french-fashion-34032  (Accessed 25th of October 2017)

I then found a Marie Claire article on the history of French fashion where it discusses the rise of Paul Poiret from an apprentice to an umbrella maker, to one of the most influential designers within Paris history who banished the corset. The article talks about many different influential couture designers throughout the 19^th century within Paris such as Elsa Schiaparelli who developed the wrap dress and made the zipper into a fashion statement not just a way of fastening a garment. Chanel is also featured within this article, as many of her designs were revolutionary and paved the way for other designers to push the boundaries of the fashion world. It talks about how she incorporated Jersey fabric within her designs and how at the time this was very controversial as Jersey was only used for men’s underwear.

Langley W. (2010) Haute couture: Making a loss is the height of fashion, Telegraph, 11 July

Being that my last two sources discussed Haute Couture and its designers I thought it would be interesting to read about how the industry has changed throughout the years. I found a news article written by the telegraph about how the industry of couture could be dying out as the popularity of ready to wear garments are rising. There’s one quote from one of Jean-Louis Scherrer’s colleague where he describes the effort and cost to making a dress and the price that he managed to sell it for ‘over half a mile of gold thread, 18,000 sequins, and had required hundreds of hours of hand-stitching in an atelier. A fair price would have been £50,000, but the couturier could only get £35,000 for it’.

Wilde, E.D, (1983) Willem De Kooning: The North Atlantic Light 1960-1983. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum.

I looked at Willem De Kooning’s work as part of my current print project. Kooning was an abstract expressionist artist, I love his use of colour and bold brush strokes. Kooning breaks down what he sees into basic lines and textures, allowing him to create not only a visual, but emotional response to the subject. This book is a wonderful visual catalogue of Kooning’s work, created by Stedelijk Museum. 

Tate Gallery (2017) Willem de Kooning: Landscape at Stanton. Available from:
Street 1971 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kooning-landscape-at-stanton-street-p77158 [Accessed 23rd October 2017]

This print by Kooning is one of my favourites; I love the texture present in the image and the different shades within the monochrome palette. This image (Landscape at Stanton Street) captures Kooning’s emotional response to the landscape, rather than a direct copy of the view in front of him. The Tate website provided detailed information on the process of how Kooning created the image.

Cascone ,S. (2017) A Long- Lost Willem de Kooning, Stolen Over 30 Years Ago, Was Just Returned by Good Samaritans. Artnet News, 11th August.

Below- the stolen image, ‘Woman- Ochre’ by Willem de Kooning.
Researching into Kooning’s paintings further, I found this story about one of Kooning’s paintings being stolen then returned. The worth of Kooning’s work is highlighted, allowing understanding for this aspect of the art industry and the impact of theft from an educational perspective.

Paulicelli, E. and Clark, H. (2009) The Fabric of Cultures. Abingdon: Routledge.

I went to the WSA library and picked up this book which explores cultural case studies in fashion and how culture shapes the identities of each nations and cities. The book contains images of different styles across the world, from fustanella in Greece to the art of dressing in Soviet Russia in the 50s and 60s.

Rypl, K. (2015) Not just beautiful: Infused with rich culture and history. Available from:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-12-27/these-beautifully-colored-textiles-have-been-infused-rich-history-and-culture [Accessed 28 October 2017]

I took the internet to further my research and came across this article about African textile. The rich coloured fabric featured in the article were products of a dutch company called ‘Vlisco’ which were designed and produced in Netherlands. Vlisco have remained popular in Africa since the 1800s, this is due to their design in which they keep in mind for each countries, creating specific cultural meanings.  Scrolling through the prints, one of my favourite piece is the “Fan Ventilateur” this print really catches your attention with the use of bright colours contrasting with black outlines, the patterns create an illusion in the eye creating vibrations.

 Le Brun, L. (2016) Textiles and west African culture. Financial Times, 24 June. 

Lastly, this article on Financial Times looks into contemporary artists discussing the ways in which they use textiles. Yinka Shonibare explains how he is “fascinated by the cultural confusion” and why he chooses his fabrics carefully. Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté mentions how he started using cloth in his work.

In fashion, designers take inspiration from various sources, and there are countless possible uses and outcomes of visual research. For some it might be about photographs, architecture and mixed historical periods. For example, Vivienne Westwood, mixing different ages of research together. And other designers focus on clothes-based research, such as clothing types, fabric colors, especially rooted in the background of that age. Willie Walters, course director of the fashion BA at Central Saint Martins, thinks that if we do focus on history of a country, it is so narrow, everything can be an inspiration such as a flower, a tent, or maybe a bathroom floor.

Art- inspired headwear by Stephen Jones at an exhibition of his work at MOMU, Antwerp, Belgium, in 2010-11.

Inspired by Stephen  Jones shown here in 2004 retrospective show in New York

In my further research, some fashion designers have often looked to fine art for inspiration, especially during the postwar period, the fine art were to have a huge influence on fashion in London and Paris. For example, Alexander McQueen was much influenced by modern art such as the photography of Joel-Peter Witkin and mixed-media artworks of Damian Hirst. In London, some companies were inspired by Pop art, and use comic –strip prints and bright colors recalled the work of Andy Warhol.

In recent years, fashion designers might pick an obscure art movement and mix the past one with modern elements, disparate elements to create a narrative one. On the contrary, a designer named Vivienne Westwood is much likely to use the art of the past, such as the romantic portraits and idealized landscapes of Fragonard or Gainsborough. The history of fashion and clothing is the designer’s largest resources. And they draw on the past as well as using their own skills, experiences and vision to create for the future.

Reference list:

Borrelli, L (2016) An Art Crawl Through the Spring 2017 Collections. Available from https://www.vogue.com/article/spring-2017-ready-to-wear-fine-arts-trends [Accessed 24 October 2017].

Leach, R (2012) The fashion resource book. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd

The book that have chosen to reference is Onthebutton, which is about the significance of the ordinary item. The book is based upon the history of the button, and how it has been used and its influences within history, and people can become attached to the small items such as a button.

N.Edwards, (2011), On the button, I.B.Tauris & Co LTD.

The second source I used was a webpage, which was also focused on the ordinary and everyday items.  This website explores and compares that some items which have a perfect design and there is no need for their aesthetics to be adapted, unlike some new products which are constantly being changed and adapted.

R.Emerson (2012), Genius Of Everyday Things:8 Ordinary Items That Deserve A Second Look, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/genius-of-everyday-things_n_1088780  (Accessed 24^th October 2017)

I then found a news article about the value of remembering the ordinary moments.  Although this article is not about a physical object, I felt that it continued my theme of valuing objects or events in our everyday, mundane lives that we can take inspiration from. This article is about how we can look back and appreciate our everyday and routine conversations and experiences, that we do not realise we will appreciate in the future.

C.C.Delistraty, (2015), The value of Remembering Ordinary Moments, The Atlantic, 26^th January.

Plagiarism and integrity

Architecture is a favourite theme for me in fashion, I’m interested in how buildings across the world influence many fashion designers. Barcelona is one country that has unique buildings.

I found this book in the Winchester school of art library, called Barcelona, buildings in Europe. The book showed photographs of buildings in Barcelona and information on the photographer and the architect and the building itself. The photographs were in black and white so it was hard to look at the detail of the buildings. But the book was very useful at discovering many buildings.

Woodward, C. 1992. Barcelona: the buildings of Europe. Manchester university press, Manchester, UK.

After looking at the book, I wanted to see what fashion designers were hugely influenced by architecture. One designer popped out at me, Pierre Cardin. The designer studied architecture at university, but returned to study fashion. The bubble dress he created I think has strong links to architecture. I found this website of designers but Pierre Cardin stood out the most.

Sophie Atkinson. (2016). 10 Architecture Influences in Fashion You Need to Know About. Available: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/06/01/fashion-designers-influenced-architecture/. Last accessed 25 oct 2017.

To expand my knowledge on the buildings of Barcelona I found an article Gaudí’s ‘cathedral for the poor’. This article looked at one of Gaudi’s buildings and gave insight into its history and the beautiful structure inside and out.

Fraser, G. 2015. Barcelona’s Sagrada Família: Gaudí’s ‘cathedral for the poor’ – a history of cities in 50 buildings, The Guardian, 3rd June.

For this task at hand, I decided to pick a book in which wasn’t traditionally linked to fashion to broaden my thinking on the subject and to look into a more obscure idea and the notion to develop further. So when I went searching in the WSA library, I came across this book ‘“ doing a Dyson” by Tony Muranka and Nick Rootes’ which instantly caught my eye due to it’s quite individual and zany design concept – as it’s aesthetic is quite non-traditional and abstract. This particular book is about the story of ‘James Dyson’ British inventor, industrial designer and founder of the iconic and well-profound Dyson company. I found it particularly intriguing purely on the basis that it contained blueprints of designs and imagery/photographs which were fully enriched with interesting details not just about the company and ‘Dyson’s design ideas but about his life and how he became the most influential designer of his time – being the first to invent the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner.

Book: A book ‘-doing a dyson’ by Tony Muranaka. (Muranaka, Tony (1996) doing a dyson, Dyson Appliances Limited).

The next stage in this plagiarism and integrity research task was to look into a website which links in with the book I researched into, by doing so online I found a runway collection in which James Dyson collaborated with widely renowned fashion designer Issey Miyake. This was ‘Issey Miyake’s Spring/Summer 2008 Runway Collection’ on the theme of “The Wind” in which James Dyson produced and installed a large wind machine on the runway to show and see how the interaction of wind affected the garments – he was also the stage manager in which meant he was in-charge of the set of the Paris Collection show. Issey Miyake’s team took influences from James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner and dismantled its structure and analyzed its construction in the search for new fresh and inventive perspectives on shape and formation of new ideal garments in which expands the realm of possibilities for wind and the garments to co-exist with each other.

Website: A website displaying the ‘Issey Miyake’ and ‘James Dyson’ collaboration Paris Runway Fashion Show Collection. (Fairs, Marcus (2007) Dezeen (2006) Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2007/10/05/the-wind-by-issey-miyake-with-james-dyson).

Lastly, I found this article which linked in with the Dyson company as it was about a London-based designer known as ‘Ryan Yasin’ whose background in aeronautical engineering helped him develop sustainable clothing to fit babies through to their toddler years. This article led onto explain how his origami-inspired range of children’s clothing in which was made from durable pleated fabric which in itself expands to fit growing babies and toddlers, therefore, being awarded the prestigious ‘James Dyson award’ just of the age of 24. As a little background information, the James Dyson Award is an international design award which celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generations of design innovators/engineers.

Article: An article written by ‘Rebecca Smithers’ about a London-based designer winning the James Dyson Award 2017. (Smithers, Rebecca (2017) Origami-inspired clothing range that grows with your child wins Dyson award. The Guardian, Thursday 7th September 2017).

References:

Images:

1. https://www.espares.ie/product/es965976/doing-a-dyson-book – This is just where I found an image of the book I researched into just so I can see the look and design of it for reference.
2. https://www.dezeen.com/2007/10/05/the-wind-by-issey-miyake-with-james-dyson/ – This was the site in which I found the Paris Fashion Runway Show Collection inspired by James Dyson’s vacuum/hoover designs.
3. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/07/origami-inspired-clothing-range-that-grows-with-your-child-wins-dyson-award – This link is where I found the article I researched into.

Plagiarism and integrity

The 1940’s is one of my favourite eras for fashion as it shows the femininity of the woman and how she portrays the beautiful natural figure.

I found a book that I own which is all about the 1940’s, it shows original photographs, illustrations and advertisements from the fashion industry back in that era. Personally, I think women back then looked more attractive as they didn’t have plastic surgery like we have today and they also didn’t go over the top with make-up unlike now when you have to go through a lot of processes just to look pretty, like women now feel more self-conscious about their looks.

Dirix, E and Fiell, C. (2013) 1940s Fashion The Definitive Sourcebook. London: Goodman Fiell.

After looking through my 1940’s book my next step was to go onto a website which was about my chosen era. I found this website which goes through the popular forms of dress during the wartime era and how it developed into the 1950’s. It’s very informative with plenty of illustrations and photographs showing each trend.

The University of Vermont (2011) Women’s Clothing. Available from: https://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/clothing_and_hair/1940s_clothing_women.php (Accessed 25 Oct. 17).

For my next step I found an article by Marie Claire which shows how the actresses of the era dressed which have become very iconic photographs. It’s very interesting to see how celebrities from that era dressed as from their popularity the public followed what their icons wore.

Marie Claire. (2017) We highlight the key moments for 1940’s fashion. Marie Claire, 29 March.

With going through these steps I have learnt how to link each step and get information from more than one source. But also to reference everything as it’s not always clear.

I have had a deepening interest into historical architecture; particularly work that has a cultural or historical significance. Ranging my resources has been challenging; however, I have tried to vary using literature, newspapers, and films.

Discovering artist Rachel Kneebone, who is currently showing her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum; I found her work to be echoingly and catastrophically beautiful. V&A Museum (n.a) ‘399 Days, Rachel Kneebone, 2012-2013′ https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/rachel-kneebon (9^th October 2017).
The appearance is like the Trojan’s Column Italy, which signifies victory won during the reign of the Trojan, the pillar illustrates a graphic novel of their success.

My work has slowly been influenced by sculpture; consequently, I found a book by Judith Collins, who narrates sculptor Eric Gill who uses a range of techniques found on the column throughout his work. Particularly a carpentry effect that has increased attention to detail, took several years of completion. When studying the column, the figures show the story of the capture of Dacian, a country which is now known as Romania.

My last resource found as part of the Daily Mail, has a connection to how I view the Column, there are both the presence of leaders, cavalry and the positions that are pictured are like that on the column itself; the beauty is staggering.

V&A Museum (n.a)
‘399 Days, Rachel Kneebone, 2012-2013′
https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/rachel-kneebone
(9^th October 2017)

Collins.J (1992)
‘ERIC GILL : SCULPTURE’,
London Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd.
(11th October 2017)

English.R  Royal Correspondent (25^th October 2017)
‘If I bow, Ma’am, will I get a sugar lump?’ Daily Mail
p3

Task 3/4

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Bancroft, A., (2012) Fashion and Psychoanalysis, London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd

While reading ‘Fashion and Psychoanalysis’ by Alison Bancroft I found a chapter titled ‘Queering Fashion, Dressing Transgression’ and chose to base this research project on this. The gender fluidity that seems so intertwined with the fashion industry interests me greatly as it encompasses how fashion is a means of individuals expressing themselves as well as society using it as a method of identifying groups- in this case males and females. Gender fluidity plays with these stereotypes and proves them to be incorrect.

The chapter starts by mentioning Leigh Bowery. It suggested that Bowery’s work was at times ‘vulgar, grotesque or obscene’ yet also manifested ‘a profound human commonality’, this is what caught my interest the most and led me to researching his work further. I found one of his designs in the online V&A archives- a striking corduroy jacket made in 1988 for Cornelius Brady, a character also known for his unconventional style. I then searched for more information on Bowery himself and came across a guardian article titled ‘Leigh Bowery, ideal husband’. I read this as an insight into his home life seemed appropriate to gain a fuller understanding of him. All other perspectives are of him as an artist and performer and usually in a positive light. However, this article describes a new side to Bowery- as abusive towards his wife through undermining her both on stage and at home psychologically. This is a contrast to the exuberant and charismatic character described in other sources.

V&A (2017) Jacket | Bowery, Leigh Available from:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1176956/jacket-bowery-leigh/ [Accessed 19 October 2017]

Ellen, B. (2002) Leigh Bowery, ideal husband. The Guardian, 21 July.