I have FINALLY started on my Final Major Project, but i am so excited to get on with it. I have chosen to base it around Burlesque! AND I am even going to watch a burlesque show AND I can go back stage after the show! which i am so excited about!
At the moment I have just been looking into Dita Von Teese who is obviously a massive icon on the Burlesque scene. I have got some really inspiring imagery from her, along with some print.
I have also looked at the film Moulin Rouge and some of the amazing costumes by Cathrine Martin and Angus Straithe which have also gave me a lot of inspiration to design!
In order to keep my designs more fashion than costume I am looking into designers that have used the Burlesque theme before so that I can see how they took it forward.
Here are a few images of what I've been doing so far in my Sketchbook.
As well as been working in my sketchbook I have been searching for a customer that I could design for, I needed to use someone edgy and someone who isn't afraid to stand out. I decided to use the Burlesque dancer Anna Fur Laxis, who I am going to watch in the show! She would be the perfect customer for what I am designing! She's a Burlesque dancer, Pin Up Model, illusionist, artist and knife thrower. She also travels to Las Vegas, and has worked there!
My customer profile board isn't finished yet but heres the start of it.
I have also started on my mood board and I have added images that inspire me! I have also started adding print from things i have developed in my book. Around the outside of the board i have added feathers which i got from the big fans that burlesque dancers use and i found that they give a really good effect. Which is something I will use in my illustrations.
I decided that the colours I put around my mood board didn't really fit too well with the burlesque theme as after looking into the burlesque dancers them they generally seem to stick to one colour per costume so I'm going to limit the colours more. I have photocopied the bored and put my colour scheme around it.
for further research i decided to look deeper into burlesque and look into the themes of dancers. I decided to look closely into Dita Von Teeses themes. She has so many and each has an amazing group of costumes to go with it. Here is some of the research i have collected in my sketchbook.
I was also able to get some lovely designs, print and colours from her themes.
I have now started looking into designers that used burlesque theme and made it modern such as Jean Paul Gaultier who did a collection on it. He created some fabulous garments that gave me lots of inspiration to create some designs that i can later on develop. I have also looked at Ellie Sab SS13 collection because the embellishments on the garments look phenomenal as is i will be creating a dress with a lot of embellishments I thought I should look into her collection for inspiration of embellishment positioning on the dress.
I also decided that i would look into my customers themes as she is also a world class burlesque dancer and see what themes she uses and what different colours, silluhettes, and styles uses in her themes. I found that she also has alot of different themes but sticks to one colour on each garment so i will deffenatly be doing this in my designs. I managed to get some good print and designs from my customer.
For my primary I got the chance to go watch one of the most fabulous burlesque and cabaret shows I have seen. Burly Q is a MUST see! Then they were kind enough to let me backstage to photograph some of the costumes which where great and I also found out the acts make there own garments. While there at the show alot of people watching had dressed up to the occasion and I was able to get photos of some of the fabulous outfits people had come in. Such as a lady who came in a massive head dress with birds it in and there was also 1950's flappers and people in corsets with big Aline skirts. It was a really good experience. Here is what i managed to get from the show and the little designs and print i got from it...
After researching into all these different areas of burlesque I have enough research and basic designs to take them forward into final format illustrations. To do this i decided to look into illustrators that illustrate in a pinup style. I managed to find Alberto Vargas and took some poses from him and used the curvy shape.
I have now started to do my final designs in this style. To make my illustrations stand out I have added beading and gems in the places where i would be adding embellishments. I have decided to do this because when i did my kiddy winkles assignments i added gems and beading and i think it really gave my illustrations a 'wow' effect.
I have also started doing sample for the designs, here are the samples i have done so far of boning in leather and cotton, screening printing on leather and cotton, and also embroidery in the print on the cotton.
I will be doing more samples for each design s that i know how i would be doing the print etc on that particular design if it gets chosen in the design meeting.
Although I'm not doing an accessory i have decided to do a promotion materiel. When the customer purchases the one off garment she also receives a one off necklace to wear with the garment for free as well. I have done a few designs for the necklace and created a proto type..
I have now finished all 6 of my design boards. I decided that it would give it a better effect if i drew straight onto then boards and added pattern around the boards to match the design. I decided to call my collection Viva Tease as i thought this depicted my theme and collection the best. Here are the images of my design boards and my final design boards.
Final design board, front and back..
This design was chosen as it fitted my customer the best and thought that it would be a challenge for my to make. I have also started and finished my first and second toile.
The first toile I found quite easy, but i did not add boning or feathers in my first toile. It was just to make sure it fitted together and that the patterns where right. I was also able to get a basic knowledge of how to put it together by writing a method of construction which will help me with my second toile.
My second toile i found a lot harder than the first as i had to add, boning, lining, ilets and feathers. I also had to make sure the seam allowance was perfect and i didn't go over or under the allowance otherwise my corset would be too big or too small. I managed to put it together it about 5 hours and was very pleased with the result. I also took photos when making it and here they are..
I have now gone on to focus on my marketing and promotional material, what i am planning to do is create a vintage motion picture of some one burlesque dancing in my garment on the stage at barnsley college. I am going to either get someone from media to edit it for me or shoot and edit it my self. the short picture is gong to be playing in the background when i do my final presentation but could also be used to promote the garment like an advert. It would be promoting the show my garment is going to be worn in as well.
I am also going to take photos while in my garment for my look book that i am going to create. My idea for my look book is that i use an actual binder book and have feather coming off the pages and print bordering it. it will include a press release, 4ps, SWOT, image of swing tag, garment, and ticket that i'm going to make as part of the show my garment is made for. I have been researching in my sketchbook and have images if the work i have been doing.
I am going to continue into research of swing tags that would fit my theme and a one off luxury garment. also research into vintage tickets and burlesque show tickets so i can make mine to a professional standard.
this week i have completed my FINAL garment and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. although i had some problems such as trying to put 20 feather onto my garment, by hand sewing but i managed it. I have had to make ribbon covers for the stems on the feathers in order for them to sew on and I've had to sew about 30 gems all down the boning on the bodice which wasn't easy but FINALLY it is done and i can start on the filming of my advert and photo-shoot!
For the garment i have had to order 20 ostrich feathers just for the bottom of the garment. I have also had to buy 40-50 teardrop embellishments so that I could put embellishments all way down the boning. Its also lined with matching red lining. I found that making the garment up was easy as i could follow the method of construction but adding the feathers i found harder as i had to hand sew, which is not my strongest point. All the feathers were also finished by making ribbon piping for the stalks and then hand sewn on. I also found sewing the embellishment on quite hard but after sewing a few on i got the hang of it.
After my garment was finished i focused on filming my advert of marketing and getting images for my look book. It went really well, and a lot of departments got involved such as Hair, Makeup, Media, and Performing arts, all to put together some fantastic photos and advert. Originally i wanted to use the electric theatre to film in but that wasn't possible i used the dance theatre in college that had black curtains and was great to film in. The advert was to advertise the Burlesque show that my garment would be showcased in by my customer. Here are the images i have taken while the filming was taking place.
after doing the filming we have to edit it all to create the advert, so I collaborated with some-one from media to help with the edit. We put an vintage effect on it and changed the tone to a light sepia which gave it the vintage look that i wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as674liQ0BU
this is the link so that you can watch the advert that i created.
I have now gone on to create a Look Book, Marketing report, Swing tag, and a ticket for the show my garment would be showcased in.
At first when i started creating my Marketing Report i was going to make it in a A4 sketchbook but when i put it all together it just didn't have the professional look i wanted, so i decided to shrink it down to A5 and put in on black card and laminate for the best finished effect. My marketing report includes, 4ps, SWOT analysis, press release, mood board, customer board, images of when we were filming the advert, ticket and swing-tag images, and also swatches of fabric. For my Look Book i wanted to keep it very simple so all that my Look Book includes is images of my garment and contact information. I also blew 2 photos up to A3 for my portfolio and to use when i present my final garment.
Here are the rest of the photos that i had taken and edited for my final garment and what are featured in my Look Book.
I have loved creating this project, and i am really pleased with all the finished outcomes. Im very grateful of how all the different departments at barnsley college pulled together and worked really hard to create my advert and photos of my finished garment. I will take a lot of things forward to university from this project such as picking a theme that i am really interested in and something that i can really research into. Also i will defiantly want to create an advert or something even more interesting for marketing and promotion at university, and making this little advert defiantly learnt me a lot, such as different shots from the camera, lighting placement etc. I am very happy with how everything turned out and hope it was as interesting to read about as it was to create.
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