Outfit 5

Another outfit down! Well, almost. I've finished the skirt with leather panels sticking upright and made the foundation top, all I have to do it attach the leather shoulder armour to the top. It sounds easy, but like everything else, I'm sure it will take 3 times longer than I plan.

This week I designed and made my labels and attached them, as well as care labels, into my garments. I also went out and bought a heap of wooden coat hangers and stuck my label on those as well. Everything looks so professional with labels!

50% of our garments have to be finished and handed up on Monday, and the other 50% by Thursday. Model fittings are on Thursday so fingers crossed that everything fits. I really, really, really don't want to have to adjust things. There's also the minor fact that I haven't started my 6th and final outfit. As in haven't even pattern made it. That sounds a lot worse written down than it did in my head. If I write another post on Friday, I'd say it will be a good sign that I've got everything finished and haven't had a breakdown with a half completed dress laying next to me!

Post for the Media

I have always loved fashion! Growing up in the country two hours from Adelaide, I had limited access to shops. I'd spend my time pouring over fashion magazines and dreaming up my own designs. I'd stick A4 paper together to draft my own patterns and sew them with the help of my Mum. In year nine I realised that fashion could be a career, until then I'd always imagined myself going to uni and studying something 'academic.' I studied Home Economics Textiles throughout high school and my fantastic teacher did everything she could to expand my knowledge and skills to prepare me for tafe. I feared not being accepted into the Applied Fashion Design and Technology course. Luckily for me I got in, shifted to Adelaide, and have loved every minute!

My graduation collection, titled Intergalactica, is architecturally based and inspired by space and the plates of armadillos. Verging on pieces of art, the collection treads a fine line between being wearable and gallery showpieces. A robotic image is created with rigid leather panelling and exaggerated silhouettes, then softened with sheer but structured elements. It's futuristic, outrageous and shocking.

I can't decide on my favourite piece,it changes every day, today I'd have to say it's the outfit I used in my photo shoot. It's a black and gold snakeskin print leotard, with black leather armour at the hips and shoulders. I love the silhouette and strength it portrays. It probably sounds a bit obvious, but it's the sort of thing I can see Lady Gaga wearing.

Next year I hope to gain employment within the fashion industry in Adelaide. As a side project, I plan to design and make a one off outfit every month and auction them online to cover my costs. Everything I design is a statement, big, dramatic and bold. I'm also a perfectionist, so everything I make has to fit perfectly and be sewn with precision. It will be my creative outlet, not something I plan to make millions out of... but you never know what might happen in the future...

My design aesthetic?

"Why be ordinary when you can be extraordinary?"

Inspiration Board

Four Weeks to Go!!!

I had a slight (read: huge) freak out the other day. For some reason I thought there were only 3 weeks until the parade, but still, 4 weeks will go just as quickly. Tickets for the parade went on sale today and I don't really know what to feel. I'm excited and stressed and nervous all at the same time. I pattern made and toiled the skirt for my 5th outfit today. Unfortunately I've left the 2 hardest outfits to last. Hopefully I can almost finish the skirt tomorrow. I shouldn't be blogging right now, I have clothes to make, otherwise I won't have anything to put in the parade!

Oh, and another couple of things to add to the list:
1. I need to make an outfit to wear to the matinee parade
2. I need to make an outfit to wear to the evening parade
3. For some stupid reason I decided to have my 21st party the week after the parade, so i have to organise that,
which brings me to...
4. I need to make an outfit to wear to my 21st

I say 'need' because how would it look if I, a graduating fashion design student, rocked up to my own parade/birthday in a bought outfit. I can just imagine the disappointment on my family and friends' faces. Well, more to the point I don't want to have to answer every single person who asks "that's amazing, did you make it?" with a "no," leaving them wondering what the hooha I've been doing for the last 3 years if I can't even make my own clothes.

GET BUSY HANNAH!!!

PS, if its a sign that you're going crazy when you start talking to yourself, I have gone completely utterly mental.

Photoshoot

This year we were lucky enough to have models from Finesse supplied to us for free for our photo shoots. Our lecturers also organised us to have TAFE photography and hair and beauty students work on our photo shoots for us for free. It's made a huge difference and made life a little less stressful knowing that we don't have to pay for this on top of everything else.

My wonderful photographer, Ben McLaren was inspired by the 1920s film Metropolis for the style of the photo shoot. Angles, shadows and perspective are emphasised is the expressionist film, which reflects my range really well.

My model, Lucy H, was gorgeous and so lovely to talk to. The outfit I used (the first outfit I made - bodysuit with hip and shoulder armour) fitted her perfectly and looked amazing on. Better than I could have ever imagined.

The hair and makeup students did a fantastic job, luckily I knew what I wanted done because they only had an hour. The look I wanted was sleek and strong and I think they portrayed that very well. I was a little concerned when two different girls were doing the eyes...it wasn't the most even eyeshadow I've seen, but you can't tell that in the final image because it's more of a profile of Lucy's face.

I am so super excited about the final image!! Ben has done an amazing job, I couldn't be happier. The photo looks like something out of a fashion magazine. This is the first time I've ever had anything professionally shot, so I'm really excited. It's such a great feeling of accomplishment to see my work like this.

Outfit 4

When I finalised my designs, I'd have to say that this outfit was my least favourite. Now that it's almost finished though, I love it. It's a dress with lots more sticky-outy panelling and a big neckpiece. It's taken me ages to do though becasue I couldn't find any non trashtastic gold leather. The bonus with leather is that it has the right stiffness so it doesn't have to be fused, and it doesn't fray so the edges don't have to be finished or bagged out. Double bonus. My luck has run out though and I spent my weekend fusing a billion (well probably not quite) panels and bagging them out and attaching them to the skirt. This outfit has intersecting seams and they match perfectly, if I don't mind saying so myself! The zip on this dress was tricky to insert becasue of the bulk where all the seams meet, but I finally got it to work. All I have to do is bag out the hem lining and finish off the neckline, almost done!

Dress and Neckpiece Toile

Outfit 3

My third outfit is pants and a jacket. The pants have leather panels sticking out at the sides. I toiled them in a very anattractive purple snakeskin vinyl and had to keep reminding myself that they would turn out much better in the real fabric. No major problems making these.

The jacket is in gold with a black lapel and leather panels on the sleeves/shoulders. It's finished apart from the button and buttonhole. I'll have to get it drycleanded because the black leather has rubbed off onto the gold fabric.

Pants Toile

Outfit 2

Sometimes it would be nice if things just worked! I made a bodysuit for my second outfit, using the exact same pattern as the first, finished it, put it on a model and BAM! Massive double bum. Even on a teeny tiny model. I decided it was easier to start again and it worked fine the second time, it's all to do with the stretching of the elastic around the legs.

This outfit has big sheer organza sleeves, with a sheer organza hoop skirt over the bodysuit. It took a fair bit of toiling to get the sleeves and and skirt to sit right, I've had to sew on satin channels to feed boning through to hold the structure. The only problem is that the circumference of the skirt is so large that is keeps on curling under itself. I'm going to take it home and see if dad has some wire that i can use to hold the shape.

Sheer Skirt Toile

Outfit 1

It's been a while since I've posted my last blog, so I'm going to post a few blogs to catch up.

So...I'll take you back to where I left, working on my first outfit.

The first outfit I started working on is a body suit with rigid leather armour at the hips and shoulders. It took a bit of toiling to get it all to work but it is finally done!! I ended up using some stud/rivit things to secure the leather panels to the bodysuit. I then had to superglue each individual leather panel to the next, to hold the shape I wanted.

Hip Armour Toile

New Campus, New Subject

We have shifted TAFE campuses and are now in the city. Our classroom is fantastic, all new and renovated, with big windows overlooking Light Square. Our first day of our last semester and we were all right back into things. Everyone is working really hard to stick to their timelines, we know how quickly the time will go and soon it will be our parade.

I am really pleased with my progress so far, two weeks into the term and I have almost finished one outfit, patternmade and toiled another, and started patternmaking the third. I have cut my leather for the first outfit and have talked to the footwear lecturer about how to attach it to my garment. I have trialed her suggestion and it will work really well, but I am going to a saddelery place next week to see if they have any other ideas. By the end of next week I really want to have two outfits finished

Hong Kong

I'm back from Hong Kong, didn't get any shoes though. It was an amazing experience to be able to tour factories and see the working conditions where our clothes get made.

We went to Sham Shui Po, an area with streets and streets of shops and stalls selling fabrics and trims. It was a bit overwhelming and easy to get lost. There was a set up on one street where lots of stalls were housed inside a dodgy looking tent thingy made of tarpolins and basically whatever else they could find. There were so many fabrics inside and we had to squeeze down the aisles and sort through piles of fabric to find what we wanted. We didn't stay for long though because it was so hot and there was no air circulation so we were ready to pass out - not sure how the workers cope.

I didn't get any more fabrics for my collection either. Not that I needed to, but I looked to see if I could find anything better. I'm still happy with the ones I got here in Adelaide.

Fabrics

I've decided not to go with the whole digital printing idea. My designs are so strong that adding another element like that would take away from the designs. What I have decided is to use leather. Initially I thought it would be way too expensive, but after going to Kinch leather, I've realised that it's very reasonably priced. I have bought a few sides of leather, all black, a couple plain and the others have scales pressed onto them, which ties in my Armadillo/Pengolin inspiration. My car now smells like it has a leather interior after carting them around!

I have got organised and bought the rest of my fabrics too, one printed, the rest plain. My colour scheme will be black and gold, simple but dramatic and edgy.

Another thing that I have to keep an eye out for are shoes for the models to wear in the end of year parade. I don't have to get any but it would be great if they were all wearing the same shoes. The only thing is that I am quite fussy and they have to be completely outrageous. I know the exact pairs I want. But they're over $2000. Each. Can't really justify that and I haven't found anything in Adelaide that I like, so fingers crossed I might find some when I go to Hong Kong in the holidays.

Oh, by the way, we've worked out timelines for the collection and we have two weeks to patternmake, sample and produce each outfit. Two weeks. Freaking out a little bit - I know it's achievable, I just can't get behind.

Designs

It's taken me a couple of weeks but I have now finalised my six outfits. I don't want to post the fashion illustrations though because it would ruin the surprise at the end of year fashion parade. What I can tell you though is that my collection has a futuristic/intergalactic concept.

I have found inspiration from science through images of satellites and electric solar panels. I was also inspired by images of Armadillos and Pengolins, animals that have ubique armour-like scales.

I have stuck to my original plan for my collection to be very structured and there will be lots of panelling detail. The pieces are big, bold and outrageous and only a very outgoing, fashion forward person would wear them. When I was designing I continually asked myself 'is it wearable?' and if it was, I'd scrap it. I want my collection to be different, not something that can be seen on the racks in shops.

Inspiration

After two and a half years of study it's finally time to design and create our own collections! Although now that it's time to start designing and making decisions, I've realised that I don't really know exactly what I want to do. Sure, I've collected hundreds of images and pasted them all into an inspiration folder, but as I flick through the pages of things i love, there is no common theme.

There is one advertisement I tore from a Vogue magazine a few years ago that I fell in love with, and still adore. I love the combination of art and fashion and the intricacy of the design.

There are too many other designer collections to name that I love, but some recent ones are the Victor and Rolf Spring 2010 RTW collection for the structure and use of fabric that amazes me, and the Mary Katrantzuo Fall 2009 RTW and Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 RTW collections for the digital printing. I don't think the trend of digital printing is being used to its potential in Australia so I think it would be great if I could incorporate my love of prints into my collection.

What I do know is that I want my collection to have lots of structure and for people to see it and be shocked and question how I have created such amazing peices.