Oh & by the way...

Zenab Mehmood I love you.

Stencilling

Acrylic paint over stencil.

Experimenting with colour because I had to.

Black & Gold acrylic paint over stencil.

Back to Black. Acrylic.

& what I'm assuming was ink in a Mr Muscle spray bottle.

Denser version of black acrylic paint stencil.


Please excuse the terrible quality as the picture were taken on my BlackBerry and not scanned. Which they should have been.

There is no beauty without strangeness - Karl Largerfeld

The quote of my life.

Rodarte.

I make it no secret that I despise all things American, well okay not ALL there are a select few exceptions us Brits have to give thanks for, Credit where credit is due. George Clooney, Ben & Jerry's and of course Rodarte.

Nicho0las Kirkwood for Rodarte Fall/ Winter 2010/11

Christian Louboutin + Rodarte = OMFG I need them.

Why, oh why should EVERYONE have a pair but me?

So I've been hopelessly in love with clogs for what seems like forever and I still don't have a pair because for some reason life is punishing me. If anyone reading this would like to donate a pair, it may just save me from spiralling in to depression.

Final design, flats.

Front

Mister Kane how you inspire me.

I am actually IN LOVE with Christopher Kane. I came across a long lost collection I had forgotten about and realised how inspirational and relevant it is to my current brief (Nuclear War). The colour and prints Kane uses are stunning, oh how I'm beginning to loath the colour scheme.

Rodarte.

After painfully teaching myself how to knit (I nearly cried with fustration) I will put my new found skill to good use and knit myself a pair of rodarte inspired tights... they're so beautiful.

And maybe one day the sweater to go with it?

Final piece- Hair project

Recycle, Reuse! Friendly Fashion.

So imagining we've been hit by a nuclear bomb (as horrible as that sounds, it's for the purpose of art). The very few survivals main aim would be to make it as far away from the surrounding area contaminated with radiation and covered in fallen buildings and dead bodies for the best chance of survival. Time would not be on thier side as the longer they wait to flee the chances are they would inhale the derbris in the smog filled air, absorb the radiation or be vunerable to the possible firestorms. There would be no time to produce a fabric/ garment completely airtight, fireproof and resistant to radiation, what would be scatterd on the ground would have to make do.

The above draping was meant to demonstrate recycled fashion. Using unwanted, discarded garments, to cut up and re-create new garments. We worked in pairs so I can't take credit for it all myself I worked with Mister Matthew.

So this is what I'm thinking...

The functions of this...(I'm not qute sure what to call it yet) are:
1) To protect ther wearer from alpha and beta radiation.
2) To shroud the wearers body, concealing thier gender and part of their identity.
3) To act as a protective covering if the wearer cannot make it to safety during an explosion.
4) To camoflague the wearer.
5) To act as (if necessary); a blanket, shelter or aid with carrying items.

The three transformable stages of the addition garment. 1 - 3

As an extra addition to my garment I wanted to create another detatchable piece, some sort of a shawl or wrap. I'm not just being pointless, I promise. The idea came from a short paragraph on how to protect yourself from radiation I was reading when contructing my intial ideas.

Draping.

So In the event of a nuclear bomb explosion the chances are you would probably need a gas mask, however me being me wanted to put my own spin on it rather than just buying one from ebay to fit into my garment. I decided that I wanted to make my own fabric face covering as part of the garment, so I did the most logical thing I could think of...I draped.

A quick rummage through the scrap fabric draws an I managed to find a pair of drawstring khaki coloured (my favorite colour at the moment thanks to the utility trend) combat trousers.

I love where the seams of the combat trousers fell on the stand, the volume and round form of the piece. Mostly the lovely little pocket detailing.

Inspiration.

Picasso's Guernica. Since I was around 6 years old this picture has inspired me, My mum had a print of it and it completly captivated me. One day I'll have a huge print on a deep red painted wall in my dining room. Without knowing who painted it, what movemnt it came from or why, you instantly know it's about war, or rather- the ugliness of war. I think it is hands down one of my favorite paintings. I love cubism and surrealism mostly because for their time the movemts were so avant-guarde.

My current breif is 'Catastrophe' & I have chosen to explore the world's previous, present and possible future wars. This painting istantly came to mind. To start with I tore through newspaper after newspaper collecting articles about war, the "war on terror" , nuclear weapons and then I looked a bit closer at Guernica and realised that some parts of the prints are made of newspapaer or a newspaper print. Quick bit of research via google confirmed that few critics claim because Guernic represents the Spanish Civil war Piccaso kept up to date on events of his native country by reading the newspaper, I found this quite fitting for my project.

Catastrophe, My landscape.

This was the first landscape I did, I wanted to represent heat in the atmosphere, cracked ground and warm tones. The landscape is empty because it has been fled due to radiation. Rubble and scattered limbs cover the ground and the sky is no longer clear.

I decided that my first landscape didnt represent the fact that my catastrophe is set in the west so I re-created it using imagery of concrete, buildings and western civilisation. This was my final landscape. I'm quite happy with it.

Illustration.

So we're now studying illustration & here is a collage I did focusing on negative space.
I guess it's okay.

Second illustration. My husband insists it is a man but it isnt.

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. To Kill a mocking bird. The Time traveller's wife.

I have decided that I watch far too much television and that I should give up 'the government mind controlling box' & start reading more again; so during the holidays I've finished and started the following books: Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, To kill a mocking bird & The time traveller's wife. It's not usually like me to read something so mainstream as I'm automaticly put off anything much talked about (twilight for example) but my sister in law insisted it was worth the read.

Oh my!

Observational drawing of my own vintage denim jacket.

Just got a text from my darling Becky and apparently I've been put forward to the second round of the world skill competition?!! So naturally I assume she's joking and check the blog myself ( I will not believe it until I see it) &I have.

SHOCK HORROR

However will I draw up a pattern for that ridiculously complicated product of my overactive imagination? ... Oh Dear!

1/2 Final design boards