Fashion, Art and Culture Research and Ideas

One of my '1930s Hollywood' research sheets

My 'Trash Fashion and Throwaway Culture' research sheet

One of my 'Art Deco' research sheets

One of my 'Paco Rabanne' research sheets

Basically, after researching  Paco Rabanne, Art Deco and 1930s Hollywood (all of which I displayed on research sheets, which look a bit to much like moodboards and could have simply had images with quick annotations and maybe some sketches of ideas which would have saved me time) , my general theme is Paco Rabanne, simply because I admire the futuristic aspect of his work as well as his skill at using unconventional materials, but I also did some research into ‘Trash Fashion’ and Britain’s throwaway culture. I found that the throwaway culture is quite a big problem in the UK, more than it is in other parts of Europe:

• ·         About 74% of unworn clothes are binned rather than donated to charity;
• ·         Around 2 million shoes are thrown away each week;
• ·         3-5% of the waste that is landfilled in the UK is textile;
• ·         Clothes decompose very slowly, forming a leachate which contaminates water sources as well as producing methane;
• ·         Synthetics take hundreds of years to decompose;
• ·         Polyester is the main fabric of throwaway fashion, which is non-biodegradable and is usually blended with other fabrics, making it difficult to recycle.

(Lee,M. (2007) Eco Chic: The Savvy Shopper’s Guide to Ethical Fashion, London, Octopus Publishing Ltd.)

I then decided to research how designers all over the world are tackling the problem. I found a few ways designers have approached the issue: designer Donna Sgro designed a dress made from a fabric called ‘Morphotex’, which is based on the wings of the Morpho butterfly of the Amazon River. The fabric gets its colours from simply reflecting light (like the butterfly’s wings), allowing a full spectrum of colour without the use of chemical dyes or pigments. Another way of tackling the problem, which I liked the most, was to use products that we throw away to actually make the garments, rather than unconventional fabrics. I found this technique from looking a design from Season 5, Episode 1 Let’s Start from the Beginning, where the designers were challenged to make an outfit using things bought in a grocery store. Plastic cups and vacuum cleaner bags were some of the materials used. I also felt this technique would fit in with the theme of Paco Rabanne because he is a designer famous for using unconventional materials to construct his garments.

Donna Sgro- 'Morphotex' Dress, Source: http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/18/%E2%80%9Cmorphotex%E2%80%9D-dress-mimics-butterfly-wing-shimmer%E2%80%94without-dyes/

Plastic Cup Dress, Project Runway, Season 5, Episode 1: Let's Start from the Beginning, Source:http://www.oninteriordesign.com/on_interior_design/2008/10/top-design-and-project-runway.html

In my ideas, I sampled multiple materials that would be considered ‘throwaway’ materials, including newspaper, bin liner and aluminium cans. I then looked at a couple of techniques Rabanne used in his work, including linking metal and pleating. I also looked at other techniques, including ruffling, staining and burning to see their effect, but I felt that the linking of metal not only worked the best, but it also made it clear that Rabanne is my theme, so I am taking this forward into my final piece.

Idea Sheet: Metal and Origami

Idea Sheet: Pleating

Idea Sheet: Drinks Cans and Ring Pulls

Ideas Sheet: Binliners and Burning

 After sampling this technique further, testing which way to link the metal and the scaling of the metal shapes, I have decided to scale the shapes down, so as to allow more detail in the artefact, and I am going to link them together diagonally rather than vertically and horizontally so that there are no large gaps between the pieces.

Ideas Sheet: Sampling linking alumimium shapes together with paper clips