Emillio Pucci Spring/Summer 2010

Emillio Pucci has atarted the new year with a culmination of bright colours and graphic movement. His graphic designs resemble tha of a snake or of scaley flesh. He has used a more organic and less geometaric take on the idea of scales.

"The Pucci prints were there, encrusted in sequins for second-skin mini dresses with cutouts at the shoulder or taking out the entire back of a dress, but they were, says Dundas “guided by the house prints’ graphic movement and its use of colour - they play on bleeding the colours rather than containing them in outlines as if dipped in the ocean”.

Viktor & Rolf Spring Summer 2009

I have only recently found this collection but it is fantastic. Here they have used vast beading and decoration to resemble the fish but have also manipulated soft fabrics to creates folds that look like fins. It is the overall geometric designs that look amazing.

My Original Photos

Initially i took photos of fish so as to show the clear connection between my staring artist on my gallery sheet- Turner and between the shapes and motifs i choose from the large still life structure.

I visited a fish monger and took many photos of different types of fish as to get a clear idea of there properties.

My Sample Page

It was time to start playing around with materials and create three samples that would offer a different take on my subject of fish and there qualities.

Sample1

My first sample was punk, green and blue sequins sewn onto canvas. I covered all of the material and the end result was a patch that looked very much like fish skin. I choose thees colours as not only do they resemble the colours of some of the pink fish I have previously taken photos of but Issa had a gown which i have shown previously that reassembled fish and thees colours were similar to those used. I feel this sample was very effective and a realistic take on the idea of scales.

Sample 2

My sample 2 Incorporated ideas of the fish rather than recreate them. I used the idea of repetition and the material itself used had a slight sheen to them which was yet another interpretation of the fish. I feel that this sample worked in the sense that you can see the links between my idea however i feel that the execution of it was not as good as my first. To improve i would use carefully cut shapes to give it a more finished look. Having said this i feel that it does resemble Balmain new collection as it uses desert tones and has a much more rugged finish.

Sample 3

Sample 3 was my simplest yet. I repeated a hexagonal shape in a n array of coloured string. Again the idea of repetition was involved however i moved away from the stereotypical shape of a scale and instead used the hexagon to see whether it made a more interesting design which I feel it did. Overall i liked this design very much as I felt that its simplicity did not distract from what its purpose. If i were to improve it I would have used better quality string and a different material to sew into.

My Photos

To help my project progress and transform I needed to take a selection of photos that connected to my idea of fish however displayed it in a more abstract idea. Thanks to the influence of designers I have looked at such as Balmain and Matthew Williamson I decided that sequins and iridescent materials were the link.

I have taken a few photos that incorporate my idea through the way the look, feel and are positioned. These are objects I found in every day life that held more qualities than first thought. A sequin dress became the scales on a fish and a studded bracelet with its strong form and structure reminded me of a heavy duty fin.

Somerset House: Fashion Revolution

Throughout this project visiting exhibitions and galleries has been crucial in creating links to my work but also helping to expand my knowledge of art today. The Fashion Revolution Exhibition was an up to date exhibition that used an array of new technologies to display art.

"In these times of instant, digitally-fuelled information, the fashion image is no longer confined to the static world of the printed photograph. Today we are confronted with a dramatic new fashion universe, where photography, film, performance, music, art and technology combine to create an infinitely richer landscape."

The exhibition ranged from videos made by high end designers such as Viktor & Rolf to phone conversations by Kate Moss. A giant Naomi Campbell greeted you as you arrived as a 20ft statue in which you could decorate via and electronic pen and pad. Overall the exhibition was one that certainly made an impression with its new age art.

Stimulus|: Still Life

To start my overall project at the beginning of September my textiles class created 3 large structures that had been created by pinning, gluing cutting and drawing individual motifs on long runs of paper. From here we then found shapes and motifs that related to our gallery sheets and so the project begun. My original artist being turner i found shapes resembling scales, fins and silhouettes relating to natural forms. Here are some of the sections i found interesting within the work.............