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.