SoLoveToSewLikeTheBoys: January 2017

Monday 23 January 2017

It's a raincoat theme for my first blog of 2017, beginning with the man whose passing took some of us by surprise last year.

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train, and
You came home without Lili Marlene

Watch a cool Leonard sing the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHqqlm9yf7M

Jennifer Warnes also sings a nice version of it.

Listen to it on this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPlpxHhzSp0

The classic trench coat is a famous raincoat.
It first appeared in W.W.1 trenches when the soldiers, caked in mud and battered by bitter winds, were weighed down by heavy long wool overcoats, and they didn't like it.
Thomas Burberry came to their aid.
He produced a lighter, shorter and waterproof coat (thanks to his tightly woven water-repellent gabardine) which proved to have both social and practical benefits for the soldiers.

epaulettes displayed an officer's rank
a gun flap buttoned at the chest was designed to provide an amount of additional protection
map cases and equipment could be attached to D-rings on the belt
the upper back area was covered by a storm shield that enabled water to run off the coat and it was created in a subdued colour.

Burberry supplied 1/2 million of these coats during W.W.1.

The Burberry Trench Coat became a very established and traditional garment. It is so much a part of the British establishment, Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales granted Royal Warrants to the Burberry company. Basically that means Burberry have supplied them with trench coats.
Watch this fab wee film 'The History of Thomas Burberry' via this link. It covers much of the Burberry history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D5IZtDCS5c

In the 1920s the distinctive Burberry tartan plaid was created, which was sewn into the trench coat as the lining. It is now considered one of the most recognised tartans in the fashion world...

and, maybe one of the most copied!

This is another website which gives a great run down on the history of the trench coat. Do take in the video, as the guy really does know his trench coats.

https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/trench-coat-guide/

For something a bit sexy, re Burberry trench coats and the connection with Kate Moss, watch this link.
https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=u1OwrDmO8mY

My version of 'famous blue raincoat!'
The idea was that the lining was exploding out of the seams.

Now, where is Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons when it comes to a trench coat?
She loves a trench coat and is highly creative and conceptual regard it. CdG will take a trench coat and cut it, shred it, slash it, pull it, pump it, yet the basis of a trench coat still remains, as can be seen in ...

the A/W 2009 'Wonderland' collection

a S/S 2009 Deconstructed collection

the S/S 2010 collection

the A/W 2011 'Hybrid' collection

and, she'll even create one in humble gingham.

What about a RK/CdG trench petticoat type style?

Rei Kawakubo's prodigy Junya Watanabe is also highly creative with a trench coat.

He'll cut it short, real short

He'll raise the belt

He'll even turn it into a skirt!

or why not a cape...

If you want to have a go at creating something like this, check out this site. You will need a trench coat to begin with and there are 5 steps involved, but it could be a fun creative up-cycling challenge to undertake.

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/trench-coat-poncho

and if you are into DIY, try this site, someone showing you how to trace a trench coat pattern, once again you do need a trench coat to start with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-uILI4bY8

In March last year Rei Kawakubo's Dover Street Market, first located on Dover Street, Haymarket, London, relocated to 18-22 Haymarket . This site was the original Burberry's, and to acknowledge that fact RK/CdG reworked 3 Burberry Trench Coats in a CdG style. The wool gabardine palette of the Burberry Trench Coat remains, but the silhouette is creatively altered according to a typical RK/CdG concept.

Another designer's approach to recreating a trench coat. It might give you some ideas.

The Women's ASB Tennis Classic, recently held in Auckland, had Serena Williams as one of the star attractions. Not much more to say on that as far as her tennis went, but I was reminded of the time when Serena warmed up in a trench coat at Wimbledon in 2008. It was short, white (had to be of course) and she kept the belt fully fastened.

Another great trench coat wearer is Tin Tin, the adventurous reporter...maybe not quite the full Burberry style though.

This Tin Tin looker has a bit more of it

Private Eyes and Spy Catchers have a thing for the trench coat don't they.

Marlene Dietrich looks very sultry in one.

She sang Lili Marlene, the German love song made popular during W.W.2. (Connecting with Leonard again.)

Listen to her sing it,via this link, and marvel at her wonderful bone structure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jrfluDC9AA

Ever want to make a trench coat...try this Vogue pattern,

and make one inspired by a CdG concept where maybe you make the whole thing and then just cut it apart.

Trench coats, great garments, lots of history and lots of inspiration.

SLTSLTBsigning off.

What I am about

I have constructed an astounding wardrobe inspired and influenced by the highly conceptual Comme des Garcons designers, Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe, plus some Maison Martin Margiela , some Issey Miyake, and even some of my own!

Conceptualist designers aim to deliver work through an intellectual approach. Comme des Garcons is always revisiting cool concepts that experiment with scale, silhouette, colour, pattern, symbolism and popular culture.

Creating and constructing clothing that forces me to take on a different perspective regarding aesthetic values and techniques, is extremely stimulating.

Village Girl

I love Yoshikazu Yamagata's 'Village Girl'. She is like my alter ego, because her thoughts, desires and actions represent a lot of me."She wants to be a fashion designer and is attracted by city life. She is always creating clothes for herself. (She wants to get a pair of Levis 501s but has no way to get them, so she knitted her trousers in an attempt to copy 501s). She has decided on the theme of family for next season (autumn/winter). Unfortunately, nobody understands her creations in the village”.

Penland School of Crafts has become Penland School of Craft...

because, according to their catalog "craft suggests process, skill, commitment, and, as the poet Robert Kelly said, perfected attention. In other words, it describes some of the basic values this school (Penland) promotes in the world. It suggests an ideal rather than something specific. It points to skilled making that is not tied to specific materials and is inclusive of creative processes outside of those traditionally labeled as craft..." I do like this description. It's kind of what 'I'm About' in my website.

A suitable book for a 21st Century Needlewoman/Material Girl to read at start of a new decade.

I think this is my last CdG inspired garment for 2021, which I call 'Twisted Sister Sweater'.

Just read this book 'What Artists Wear' by Charlie Porter.

It's an exploration of the clothing of modern and contemporary artists. "Garments become pure tools of expression: canvases on which to show who we really are." In this image is my leather jacket and my latest CdG inspired dress. What do they express about me? My enduring craft of pattern making, plus my desire to persist in a project! I went through various stages with this dress, like when I thought what I'm doing is crap, but I would come back and re-work. I ended up with a product that I call 'prototype', but it works as a garment and I like wearing it. The jacket was an amazing work. Intensive pattern work/ sew a calico sample/ then cut into the gifted cow hide leather. Every bit of it was utilised and I was exhausted on its completion.