For my latest project we were given a brief upon Art Deco between the Wars - that being the twenties and thirties. Asked to create a contemporary evening garment inspired from this.
I started collecting research to resolve my 'block', starting at the architecture of the buildings, but also looking inside. This included the carvings, but i also looked within the interior aspect of it. From this i went around ye olde Walsall, and found some very interesting shops, selling antiques and a vintage shop!
Going back into my sketchbooks i found these pages very inspiring as it allowed me to design creativley taking one object, such as the lamp, and desigining a garment very conemporary but also well interpreted.
I then looked within the main twenties 'fad': Flappers. I already had previous knowlegde of the flappers and what they were about from studying history back at school. (my memory survived). Here i was refreshed about how elaboratley their dresses and whole attire were embellished, and the detail within them.
From this i looked at an alternative to embellishing, such as using chains. I thought this was very effective, and my design complimented the choice for these materials.
Getting more inspired from my sketchbook i found that as the years went on, women were becoming more 'recognized' and were given a voice. that would be heard. This inspired me to see how the clothes changed also. Looking back to the flappers to how their dresses were shortened to the calf, and this was now more acceptable.
But i think the big change was women no longer felt restricted - which i took this deeper into the meaning of clothes, looking at the corsets and underwear.
I found draping a corset had its advantgaes as it showed off the restrain women were under, but also fell beautifully.
This inspired me deeply to look more into the underwear and corsets worn. How they were less popularised and worn, due to these social changes: women having more physical jobs, but also being able to see the woman's figure, as it is. not pulled.
When researching, i linked this in within my RAF Cosford research, finding similarities within both that and the underwear. Creating samples and developing my designs.
Looking at how the corset had changed, inspired me as i was particularly interested in the thirties corset. This is because of how feminie it looked, and that it made a statment of the corset: you dont have to be restricted to show off a figure of the human body.
I developed these designs, experimenting with technqies such as layering and fraying, which i became inspired by from feathers.
When developing my final initial designs, i was sure i had thought through the process of details and elimination, making sure my final design combined all the elements I wanted and still kept within the brief.
My aim was to create an evening garment, that pushed the idea of an evening gown being typically 'long, flowy, and using light, delicate materials' to using the contrast materials that were used and seen within RAF Cosford. Looking at my final design i believe i achieved my aim.
