Monday, 28 December 2015

Fashion and psychoanalysis


What is Psychoanalysis?
It is a psychological theory which investigates the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind in order to treat mental disorders.

What is the psychoanalysis of fashion? 
The psychoanalysis of the fashion industry is the ever wanting need to buy clothing. It is deemed desirable to have a never-ending amount of clothing. Generally with this mindset the environmental and global impacts of the fashion industry are overlooked and people are wasteful and careless.

It is cheaper to throw away into a landfill than to sort through clothing to recycle.

The lecture at hand was extremely interesting and informing, facing us with the dilemma of embracing or fighting the consuming fashion society. Are we going to ignore the negative effects of the industry or help change them?





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Final Collection: Gender Games



After thorough reconsidering and designing, this is my final collection for my project Gender Games. Using the Bridal Stocking and Playstation Controller objects, I came up with a range of dresses, tops and leggings and jackets that are all heavily influenced by American Football uniforms with manly, bulky and heavy silhouettes and designs.

However all of the garments will be created using all white fabrics. I aim to use fabrics such as satin, silk, lace and potentially lycra and mesh. All which tie in with the Bridal starting point as it is traditional in many cultures for the bride to wear white on their wedding day. Also fabrics such as satin, silk and lace are usually found on wedding dresses.


Saturday, 19 December 2015

Design Development and Influences

Using my two main starting points, the bridal stocking and Playstation controller, I begun to develop my designs further using the previously drawn designs from the dress stand. As I was leaning towards the more sporty side and really enjoyed the almost American Football designs, using my research I created garments almost mimicking football jerseys, letterman jackets and sports leggings/tights.

After discussing with a few of my peers and lecturers, we decided that although the designs had potential it needed more 'oomph'. I reconsidered several of the designs and developed them further to make them that more bold and garish.



Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Assisting photographer

A old friend from college, Lauren Tegg who bases her work in graphic design contacted me over the past month enquiring if I would assist her in photographing her current project. The project was a series of digital prints which were applied to garments that she wanted to photograph a look-book of.

We got to planning looks, makeup and poses with the help of my personal friend and often model, Molly Hagon.

With Lauren's connections she managed to hire out the upstairs of TGI's in Braintree as the setting of the shoot, it fitted perfectly with her vintage inspired shoot with hints of a circus theme.







Monday, 14 December 2015

Seminar with Gill on Feminism, Sustainability and Greenwashing

Feminism and Sustainability

-   Obsolescence
-   Expectation of the shopping trip will bring
-   The desire to shop. We don’t need to but we feel we do
-   85% of clothing worldwide ends up in landfill sites instead of utilising it, as that costs more money

Feminism
Sustainability
Green washing

   -   Fetishism  
   -   Everywoman
   -   Critique
   -   Butch
   -   Femme
   -   Domesticated
   -   Passive
   -   Repressed
   -   Masculine
   -   Roles
   -   Dependency
   -   Gender
   -   Stereotypes
   -   Discrimination
   -   ‘Barbie’
   -   Equality
   -   Male gaze
   -   Slutwalk- Amber   Rose
   -   Object/Subject 
   -   Active – Lara Croft
   -   Suppression
   -   Subordination
  

  -   Consumerism
  -   Change
  -   Environment
  -   Ethics
  -   Save
  -   Commission
  -   Manufacturing
  -   Growth
  -   Increase
  -   Society
  -   Climate
  -   Recycling
  -   Strategy
  -   Innovation
  -   Culture
  -   Obsolete/Obsolescence
  -   Modernity
  -   Mass production
  -   Desire
  -   Reusing
  -    

  -   MacDonalds
  -   Charities
  -   5p Carrier Bags
  -    

-   H&M Conscious Exclusive 2016 range
-   Equate the ethics behind the consumerism
-   Innovation – people creating more innovative ways to make things more sustainable.
-   Technology – can we live without it?
-   Water soluble clothing – paper bag scenario – no one wants to have to walk in the rain with clothes dripping off them, however it will mean less clothes in the landfills
-   Cotton, wool, silk, linen – natural fabrics - all breathe. Polyester, acrylic viscos, PVC doesn’t.. and will help you sweat – not overly nice in public.
-   Gym wear is synthetic, but is woven in such a way in order to make it breathe
-   Environment – Environmental damage (Emissions) down to transportation
-   Emissions from fuel – Factories, ships etc.
-   Emissions in a textile view can come from dying fabrics
-   As a country we take water for granted – when dying fabric we use water in the dye, water to wet the fabric, water to rinse the fabric, water in the steam iron. All that’s wasted goes down the drain to a treatment centre. However in places such as Bangladesh (one of the biggest countries for fashion manufacturing) don’t have treatment centres, or the facilities for water and recycling that we do. Worst case scenario, the chemicals in the water could flow into the river, into the environment, the fish and the people.
-   The cheaper you buy, the less fixed it is – Dyes, ie. Jeans, black jeans, blue jeans that rub off on you.
-   Walter Benjamin – The Art of Mechanical Evolution (ESSAY)
-   Homogeneous – the same
-   Comme de Garcons – Made a machine irregularly to make holes in a garment to make a point that machines shouldn’t be there to make human errors for us
-   Cotton – using so many chemicals and pesticides that effects the environment and people around it
-   Silk – Spray them so they don’t get a disease
-   Stella McCartney – Vegetarian/maybe vegan. Doesn’t use leather, fur etc. Her philosophy and design is her.
-   Blowfish, vegan. Shoes with no leather, all synthetics.
-   Electric cars – works on electricity, it cuts down fuel emissions. In terms of desire, there is none. None with a  desirable design.
-   Recycling
-   Global warming in terms of fashion – Making seasons irrelevant.. Its warmer, less demand for scarves, hats, gloves – knock on effect on the climate outside
-   Green washing – MacDonald’s, cynical as they physically started to go green to make the public think they’re ethical and environmentally friendly.

-   We are designing and making clothing for other people, so they feel good and confident in themselves.
-   We don’t always have the freedom to act like men act and don’t get penalised for it
-   “I am your worst fear. I am your best fantasy”
-   Guerilla Girls – predominate in terms of trying to get people in the field of art to recognise female artists
-   Sunday Times – ‘Torment of the model who was ordered to shrink’
-   BODY IMAGE
-   Alexandra Schulman posted recently that she doesn’t think eating disorders such as anorexia is because of the runways, that the celebrities are responsible for the wanting to be smaller.
-   14-18 year olds are impressed by celebrities
-   Laura Maulvey

-   Floyd

Sustainability, Greenwashing and Globalisation lecture by Gill

-   Consuming Christmas, where does the waste go?
-   Societies needs and wants are changing, there is an effect on our planet – Global warming
-   As future artists and designers should we take precautions to save the environment? Or do we not care?
-   Private/public transport – did private share cars? To reduce co2 emissions
-   80 billion pounds to poorer countries to help gauge emissions
-   It has to be a personal choice
-   Threats of climate hell
-   Build a visual and compelling vision of desirable lower commissions
-   Sustainability – some problems have grown from manufacturing
-   CONSUMERISM
-   Seeking constant growth in the products increases …


-   MacDonald’s 2013 Festive advert – Targeted at all audiences
-   Colour of the MacDonald’s buildings have gone to red to green (green washing) associating it to be more environmentally friendly than previously.
-   ‘Fireblasted’ glass – windows for the community
-   Using British beef, however it is still promoting fast food
-   Channelled more than £400 million of its British revenues through Luxembourg since 2009 joining apple, amazon and starbucks who all stand accused of favourable tax deals with EU states – NAUGHTY

-   SAVE FOOD FROM THE FRIDGE PROJECT
-   Fridges are energy consuming monsters
-   Carrots can be preserved in damp sand instead of fridge
-   Apples and potatoes.. something about stopping sprouting
-   Learning thermostat for the 21st century – automatically switches off/on dependant on your life style

-   Seymourpowell worked with fuel-cell manufacturers Intelligent Energy (IE) to create, design and prototype the ENV, the worlds first fuel-cell powered motocycle
-   Up to 95% f the substance in household cleaning products is water and disposing of the packaging when the bottle is empty is wasteful
-   ‘Design can change lives’
-   Garment that offers a 10 piece wardrobe for 365 days including a 4-in-1 coat/dress/jacket/skirt
-   Seymourpowell’s Bimbo design for bread packaging identified and emergent behaviour in consumers who would misplace the wire-tie around the top of the bread packaging and end up tying the packaging themselves – Bread is the highest food which is wasted. With the ‘tying yourself’ technique it will help preserve the bread for a longer period of time
-   Sustainable design – Levi’s jeans that encourage cycling
-   It is about collecting it and putting it in the right place – Recycling i.e. water bottles
-   Stella McCartney – waterless t-shirt
-   People will only change their lifestyle in hope of a better one
-   Cycling and changing the way that we eat can help the environment – creating a sustainable lifestyle
-   We focus on the environmental boundaries rather than the social side
-   Higher brands have an impact on high street brands, as ideas trickle down from the runway
-   A t-shirt requires 20L of dye from the dying process – the company have saved over a million litres of water
-   H&M and WWF have worked together and set to conserve a water strategy to improve responsible water use
-   They have collaborated with Musee des Arts Decoratifs
-   Mink shoes are custom designed and hand crafted from only the finest quality non-animal products – ethics are considered
-   Natural or scientifically engineered alternatives such as cork and other animal friendly substitutes are employed.
-   Strict policy of animal preservation, protection, and safeguarding in its designs. Each shoe is unique and limited production
-   Consider – are you willing to pay more to save the environment and increase sustainability or spend less money but add to the consumerism? Do you get bored and want the new products? Or do you want something that will last longer?
-   Vivienne Westwood “Buy less choose well” – If you spend more on your clothing it should last longer rather than buying cheap clothes and adding to consumerism
-   People get easily bored and want the new products – ie. People will buy the newest iphone (6) rather than an iphone 4 because of its social status and newness
-   Patagonia ‘Build the best product, cause no necessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis’ – Patagonia’s mission statement
-   Whether an item is made in a dark squashed factory in Bangladesh for very little, is not a factor when part of society purchase their clothing
-   While people prefer a higher brand, they are not willing to pay the extra price for it. However when the word ‘tailoring’ is thrown in there, the percentage of people paying more was increased by 25%
-   All things appear and disappear because of the current cautions. Everything is in relationship to everything else – Buddist saying
-   Fashion is very selfish and ego centred. The basis of traditional fashion is that it is designed and created on a concept – usually based on actions which has no limitation
-   True as 85% of all garments produce around the world ends up in a landfill
-   Primark 22% rise believe there is nothing broken to be fixed
-   Climate change will start impact production
-   Companies are happy to use ethical and environmental gestures, but nothing to steer away from potential business
-   5p carrier bag charge – Where does it go? Not all to charity.. Cut their prices but make more profit for the company. It is good for the environment but theres the knock on effect – green washing – we think its going to charity so that’s okay.. but it is not all going there
-   Victor Papanek – Godfather of sustainable design
-   ‘What lies beneath the green wash?’
-   Barbie – sends messages to young girls that they need to be plastic too

-   We need art and design to elaborate and help improve the worlds needs


This lecture really struck my interests as I do care about how the world is treated and frustrates me to how ignorant some of society in this era are to it. Not everyone is aware of the affects of the industries and what they are doing to the environment and as a planet as a whole. I think that this lecture will be extremely influential to my philosophy and essay.