Blog 14, and it's... "Storytime".
I love design work inspired around a story.A Japanese designer, who is very creative with this concept is Yoshikazu Yamagata. Yamagata is not only interested in fashion as a product and design, but also the story behind the clothes. His projects go way beyond a fashion collection. They are like performance art in clothing design, or moving sculpture.
My most favourite story from his creations is, "The Village Girl". She featured in my very first blog, as she is sort of an alter ego of mine..........
Village Girl
"She wants to be 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."
Another neat design story Yamagata came up with, is.....
The Naughty Boy and the Monster
"He is the naughtiest boy in the village. No one can handle him. One day, he sneaked into the monster's house and stole huge bra and panties!"
And,another one...
The Homeless Man
"As far as I can remember, there was only one homeless person in the village. He has three children which are stuffed animals. He learned that there is a happiness you can not buy when he met the artist. First of all the artist repaired his clothes and gave him pockets full of chocolate coins. Then he made him a house from a begging board." (Check out this style of house with the knitted ones I posted on my "Knitting" themed blog, there is a similarity.)
It is just such creative fun!
And, from time to time, you've got to have creative fun.
A number of years ago, when I was starting out with NCEA, one of my students had a cool story
She was very pleased with the outcome. It reflected her culture "because it was made out of lava lava fabric with a Samoan flower print on it". She blended cultural costumes via the corset inspired waist coat garment and the lava lava idea. A great idea. I often wonder if that young woman has designed and constructed any similar creations since those days!
There are some fantastic fashion shoots that relate amazing stories.
A cool one is "Annabella's Flaw". It is a story with a message. I can't remember the magazine I got it out of, but it was a cool and stylish European one. I made a cover for it...I rip lots of fab. things out of magazines.
(Photographer: Duane Michals, Assistant Photographer:Ray Adams)
Another favourite one is inspired by 'The Passion of St Joan', Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 silent film, which is based on the record of the actual trial of the French maiden. The wonderful Renee Jeanne Falconetti plays Joan, and her face on the screen is captivating.
Check out this site for a view of the film. It will help you to appreciate the fashion spread. It is fascinating, but remember, it was made in the late 1920s.
This spread came from 'Flux' magazine, which I can no longer source in NZ! (Can anyone inform me where I can still get it?)
(Photographed by Reed & Rader; Styled by Darcy Stockton; Hair by Vanessa Mitchell: Makeup by Chiho Omae)
I believe this is Joan's actual trial transcripts signature, which is rather poignant as it could be the signature she signed on a document that became her death sentence.
I think this fashion shoot is also inspired by Joan of Arc. The model has an amazingly sculptural face, and the poses she has taken remind me of various paintings of St Joan . I like how the shoot has been undertaken in the living room of an everyday ordinary flat.
The shoot shows garments from 2008 S/S RTW collections, and I see CdG garments from that season, like these ones . Rei described the collection as "clusters", "randomness" and "cacophony"...in other words, "modern urban conciousness"! There's got to be a story behind that!
...and some paintings of Joan of Arc... her hands clasped in prayer, holding the banner, clutching her sword, and of course, her halo.
I went looking for more information on the fashion shoot, but couldn't find anything. In the process I came across another fabulous Joan of A.shoot. It is from a site named "Klean Perspektive". I like the description provided with the images.
"I really love this Joan of Arc
theme, it’s pretty interesting. The mix of clean and minimalist clothes with
dirty, raw, medieval gear gives an original composition. Without counting on
Vivien Solari, with her crystalline face and short blond hairs who looks like a
neo-Joan Of Arc. I really love the confrontation of pure, peaceful, poetic and
fragile clothes with the message behind the medieval clothes, war, darkness,
dirt, hell and hardness… Maybe this shooting is a metaphor or an arty
statement.
Twin Magazine N°10
Spring/Summer 2014, model: Vivien Solari, photographed by: Scott Trindle,
styled by: Celestine Cooney, Hair: Mark Hampton, Makeup: Hiromi Ueda"
Great images...the different items of clothing that are put together....the model's hairstyle....her eyebrows...her porcelain skin... her look down the camera...all very cool..
but, enough with Joan of A, except for some interpretive creations of my own.....
a "holster" type creation, inspired from the CdG 2010 collection...
and a top garment inspired from the CdG 2008 I mentioned above, and my ever favourite brown felt collar inspired from the fab. 2009 collection. The banner is my wonderful 'Skyscape', by Alison Phillipson....
serenity seems appropriate in this CdG inspired cape/jacket. Zips are a big feature for this garment...
.JPG)
and a soft lace/chiffon feature around the shoulder area, the way armour always has a shoulder feature in its' structure..
A wonderful photographer called Tim Walker, "loves fashion for its' imagination, for the freedom it gives him to tell a story, the story he wants to tell". He doesn't really care about what is on the catwalk. He takes clothes (I think it could be any clothes) and imagines a wonderful visual story around them.
His photographic compositions are astounding. There must be a wide range of creative people involved in helping him to put each one together.
Check ou this web site for more info.
He often works with a very talented woman called Shona Heath. She is an art director and a set designer and creates really cool "narrative stuff".
I've just come across this site, which discusses some of the fabulous work between the two of them.
I love this Signs of the Zodiac work Shona designed and created for British Vogue magazine. This time the photographer is Tim Gutt.
If you go on to this vimeo site, you'll see and hear Shona Heath explain what she was on about regarding this shoot. http://vimeo.com/17081970
For something a bit different, go onto this site for the coolest little "Handmade" film. It is the most delightful wee sartorial story.
I like to share my students work, when there is a connection with the theme.
This time it is my Yr.10 girls. They work on a project I named "Project T-Time". The issue I give them is: Fabric Technology offers many ways to express your individuality, your message to the world or where you stand by how you dress. A t-shirt that displays a statement or image, expresses something about you. What would describe something about you?
and this is what some of them came up with
Each student is given the same brief, and each one delivers something different. Love it.
I put together a collection a couple of years ago and each board displays one set from the collection. Each one has a narrative which relates to the set, and the person who would wear the garments. A wee story about how the clothes could be worn.
I also imagined my "target market" and composed a story to explain what she was about.
This is an advertisement spread for Diesel. It really appeals to me, 'cos look at the environment...the cardboard patterns hanging on a clothes rack, the industrial machine, the bins , the sewing thread...it's my industry...but ..a surgeon, a model, a mannequin, needles, thread, stitching...what a great narrative this image makes! Love it!
My last story is expressed through a mixed media installation with benches, tables, a live tree, pathways and an illuminated rotating element. It is titled "Love and Loss". Can you see it?
Roy McMakin said
"We live in a world of words and objects.
How they become special and take on meaning is fascinating to me. My sculptures
are functional but they also have content that you discover through
participation. You need to put the meaning together by sitting on it, walking
through it, and then recomposing what you have seen and experienced in your
mind's eye. Only then will the theme—the process of love and loss—be revealed
for you to sit here and contemplate."
these are the poppies my sweet Yr. 8 girls made on their "Community Day Out" activity.
Before I sign off, I'm sending images that connect with my previous blog......
My skirt with the circles, inspired by Junya Watanabe's latest collection....I finished it....
And,
just one last thing......from my lovely VHR Tutor Group
SLTSLTBsigning off..................