I’m terribly stuck at the moment.
In Thursday’s class I worked on a few definitions that I came up with on the spot. I had varying success.
Ricarda pointed out that my defintion was including references to garments/fabric/body already so it was hard to come up with any ‘orignal’ processes or outcomes.
These were the definitions

A garment is… a piece of fabric scrunched in 7 ways that disguises your hand but still allows it to function.

A garment is … a piece of fabric ripped into 4 strips & knotted that covers your ankle.

A garment is… a piece of fabric that exaggerates the arm.

As you can see in the images the results were kind of ..elementary?? I dunno a way of explaining it. I find the hard thing about working in new processes is that it’s hard to recognize potential in systems you have come up with. That may be because I haven’t come up with anything that has any potential!

So my next step was moving away from the generated definitions and finding ones completely unrelated to garments/fabric/body and then trying to bring them back to the body.
I googled random words for definitions until I found one definition that I thought would be interesting to explore.

War- Two opposing forces

It’s nice and simple and I thought about how I could apply this. I had this beautiful knit fabric that I’d had sitting in my ‘fabric to use one day when I have the time’ bag, that I decided to experiment with. Two opposing forces? hmmm.
Then I decided to apply opposing forces to the fabric. So I stretched it a number of ways. Getting two people to stretch the fabric, pulling it in different ways etc. This made the fabric run completely out of its original shape, and you could see where all these pulls and stretches had occurred. I really liked this effect but when I tried to apply it to different stretch fabrics there may have been a lot more elastane in the fabric so it didn’t stretch anywhere near as ‘well’ as the first fabric which I was disappointed in.

Stretching the fabric

The bubbled effect the stretching created

Boiling the fabric

Drying the fabric

Once I had applied the opposing forces to the fabric, I was stuck in how to apply it to the body? I tried knotting/wrapping two fabrics around the body, but it just seemed gimmicky.
To warp the fabric even more I boiled it and it shrunk to a small size, but then I stretched it out again but I’ll see if it stretches more easily when it’s dried. I hope it gets worse!
I then thought of an activity I did when I did a workshop last semester at Brunswick. I always have a million (no exaggeration) bonds singlet’s in my draw because they always go out of shape after a couple of washes. I sewed a whole lot of the old singlets together to create a new garment. What I liked most about the outcome of that was how even though the fabric had gone out of shape, all of them together created this really comfortable and unique garment. You couldn’t have achieved that with the way the fabric was originally. There was this sense of the fabric being ‘worn’. It’s no longer starchy and skin tight. So I thought maybe a process could involve making a (knitted garment) that was designed to be fitted, and document someone applying the new definition to it???

Left: A new singlet Right: A worn singlet

At this stage it’s quite a simplistic solution, I want to explore these ‘opposing forces’ more, but I can’t move beyond just pulling and stretching. Maybe I need to experiment with different knits to see what effects I can achieve with this.
Just on a side note I wonder if highlighting and concealing are two opposing forces? Haha, that’s strange how I always bring it back to this!!!

I’ve been blocking out school for a little bit. I haven’t gone on any of my class’s blogs and I haven’t looked at the wiki. When I get in this kind of mood it’s dangerous. So I made an effort to get myself back in the game. Scary. But I loved looking at people’s blogs and tried to leave a few comments, because they always help me alot. That’s what’s so good about this kind of work because you’re not working on your own; you can see what everyone’s doing and interact.

I’m having trouble trying to narrow my definition. I was lying awake one night, thinking about the responses from my questionarre and I couldn’t help but think, ‘well how can you define something that means something completely different to everyone?’.

When I wrote A garment is…
There were so many different responses.
People studying the course gave the regular answers…something that can cover..blah blah blah
People who didn’t study the course gave simpler answers.. a lace dress, a silk jacket, things I wish I could afford, a piece of clothing, something you wear.

Maybe I’m looking for an answer that is as simple as a garment is something you wear? But again that definition could change based on a lot of variables.

Going through a couple of readings I was thinking that every garment could be described differently, so maybe you design the definition of every garment you make?
Everything garment is different-and maybe means something different to each person. As a start I’d thought I’d go through the pieces in my wardrobe I love the most.

Lover Leather Jacket-
Definition- A cropped jacket with collar, metal zips down the centre, at cuffs and on the front with pockets. Rows of stitching details along the hem and cuff.
My definition- A jacket I blew my budget on because I love the label and the simple design of the jacket. I wear it everywhere, mostly to Uni, going out and dressing up an outfit. I instantly feel cooler when I wear this jacket.

Leggings-
Definition-Black leggings with stirrups made from a Ponti fabric that hugs the body when worn.
My Definition- The warmest pair of leggings I own, I bought two of them they were so good. They’re a cross between pants and leggings really.

Sister’s Trackies-
Definition- A loose style of track pants made from a brushed knit. Elastic waistband and zips on the hem of the pant to get of easily.
My Defintion- The comfiest tracksuits we own, often causes fights because both my sister and I want to wear them. They are a staple all year around, especially when I can’t be bothered thinking of what to wear. In a word comfort ‘garmentafied’!

Navy Coat-
Definition- A slightly worn woolen navy coat that is fitted around the chest then falls away from the body and finishes mid thigh. Sleeves are ¾ length and the lining has a cream and navy stripe running though it.
My definition- My navy coat that I found in an op-shop and fitted like a glove. I changed the buttons and always get people commenting on it. Slightly worn but you can’t tell too much.

Jeans-
Definition- Skinny leg, light wash women’s jean.
My Definition- Comfy jeans that I’ve worn in. I’ve bought a lot of expensive jeans but for some reason I keep coming back to my cheapo jeans that lost their shape in the first couple of wears.

If someone looked at these definitions separately it may not mean they are describing the same garment. My definition is much more personal and even though the first definition is what each garment translates to in language; it is far from what they mean to me. So after all this my point is this; if designing is creating the definition-surely I can have more fun creating a definition from scratch for someone or myself than trying to define the impossible-a garment??

Today’s class was about environment and how it can impact the meaning of the garment. The first half of the class was putting together the lady to present to Adele. It was a really good exercise to complete as a group and I think the class worked together well. Plus it was a fun activity to do, which made it a lot easier to work on. When we presented her to Adele each person in the class went through each body part that they made and we spoke about how we went about constructing them. The discussion was really good. As designers we are always designing for the body but never we never physically make anything that is designed specifically for body parts. We design sleeves; not arms, pants; not legs, dresses not torsos/chest. It’s strange that we don’t think of the body as we design. We think about shapes, distorting, manipulating and abstracting existing shapes.

Svetlana wearing her garments that were made for the body parts

Svetlana being introduced to Adele

Svetlana

We named the lady Svetlana, and one thing she was missing was structure. Someone made an interesting point about the different ways Architecture students would have gone about making the lady. As Fashion designers we think about the outer first, whereas they might have thought about building a solid internal structure to begin with.

We took Svetlana outside the class to see how people would react to her. Apart from being kicked out of Mr. Tulks café, most people were very curious about her. When someone was carrying her, people would shy away from looking directly at her, whereas when we left her on her own, they were more willing to show their curiosity by looking at her.

Svetlana at Tulks

The second part of the class was making an environment for our garment definition. I was stuck thinking about what I could do, I didn’t have a lot of materials to use. There was one piece of fabric that I looked at and it reminded me of water, so I started thinking if my garment were put in an underwater environment would it still be a valid definition? I did add into my definition that the garment needs to be durable.

Underwater envrironment

But if you’re underwater you need some kind of protection, so maybe I need to add that in. This is where I’m getting confused because no garment is universal, so it’s almost like you need a definition for each garment you create. And maybe this is a better way of looking at it, how could there be a blanket definition for a garment? Clothes are so personal. When I was reading through the questions everyone has a completely different perspective of what clothing/fashion is so you could go insane trying to create a definition that everyone can relate to.

After making my hand and nose, it was interesting to see what everyone else had come up with. By using calico I think I could have made my job easier by using a stretch fabric instead of a woven. My first hand I made actually turned out better than my final hand. There could have been hundreds of ways to make the hand, but none would have been easy, because the hand is such a complicated structure to replicate. The shape of the fingers, to the angle of the thumb it was such a challenge to try and create the shape of the hand. I persisted with the calico because I wanted the result to have a structured, almost ‘lego’ look.
The first hand I did was the hand silhouette sewn together-this could have worked in a stretch but even then you would have had to put in a gusset in between the fingers.
The second hand I tried to use stretch in between the fingers to create shape-this didn’t work so well-It didn’t look enough like a ‘finger’.
The third hand actually ended up being the hand I liked most. The only problem with it is that the fingers are sewn to the palm with one stitch, so the fingers look like they’ve been crushed at the palm! I tried to create the shape of the hand using the lines across the palm, folding at the knuckles and the bumps over the muscles. I used pleating and tucks to get that effect, it was really hard to sew the fingers because they were so small, and getting the machine into the crevasses was really difficult. As you can see in the photo-the seams on the fingers are on the outside.
For my final prototype I was making the patterns as I was sewing the hand, so I was making adjustments as I went. I used some tucks and made it a definite left hand, but Emily ended up making a left hand to so I swapped mine to a right hand when I sewed it to the body. My mission for this hand was to remove that crushed effect I had at the base of the fingers. Trying to do that compromised the end result and I actually like the other hand better!
The nose was a lot easier to make but I still had the same problems i.e- hard to sew because of the scale, the shape was difficult to get right. I started by building the nose with bra cups, creating the shape. I created the pattern by covering the model I had made and cutting the pattern from there. My aim for the nose was to define the shape of the nostrils and the bone. It came out ok, but it was really hard trying to get the shape right!
One of the activities of today’s class was to increase the scale of one of our body parts using traditional dressmaking techniques. I blew up the nose to 400% by photocopying the patterns. I added in tucks down the center of the nose, just to change the look of the nose- it definitely made it a lot less recognizable.

Here is a slide show of the process

Language Vs Material

The presentation today was based around language and examples of artists who used ‘rational aesthetics’ in their work.
Rational aesthetics was defined by Nicolas Bouiriard “a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.”

Reading ‘Second Nature’ I found the concept of the artist setting up processes and enabling other elements to complete the work fascinating. It’s different to collaboration because you don’t have a constant input, you can only orchestrate the concept, not how it is realized. When Adele was going through the examples of artists who work this way it reminded me of a blog that I came across a while ago. It’s called PostSecret blog and it acts like a gallery of secrets that people have submitted on a post. Some of the secrets are sad, weird, unusual and a little scary, but reading through the personal submissions is really intriguing. You don’t know how many are truly honest or made up, and I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Reading through them you can either relate to them or not.

I found today’s exercises useful in narrowing my definition. Having to explain our definition without being interrupted was really difficult, and made me realize how much I needed to work on my definition.
Developing a series of questions also helped me redefine ‘garment’. It was strange I gave the questions to friends via email and they all wrote back first wanting to know what context the answers were supposed to be in. It was strange they didn’t just answer the questions straight away. From the answers I collected these were the most interesting or the answers that most people wrote.

I’m comfortable when… I feel good about my body. when I feel good about my body.

Concealing is… hiding your flaws, covering, Hiding things away from the eye, not telling everything there is about something, covering up things like foundation covers pimples

Highlighting is… making the best parts of you stand out, highlighting words, ..when in a tight dress,
i feel good or wear bright clothes

I feel concealed… when I hide things I don’t like about myself. I’m wrapped up in a blanket, wearing a big hoodie with the hood up

I feel highlighted when… I draw attention to things I like about myself

Wearing clothes makes me feel… great if it fits well, terrible if it doesn’t. Self conscious when I don’t like what I’m wearing, cosy and comfy if the outfit encourages it. safe, I’m not a naked person I feel more comfortable when in clothes even if I’m by myself

A home is… a place where I wish I was when I’m somewhere else. A place where family is, where there is love, war, anger, honesty, laughter, good food and a comfy bed. Where you live but also where you feel comfortable and safe in, its where you feel attachment to as well rather than somewhere temporary
,
A building is… something that serves a purpose, a hub of activity or function, A building is a piece of architecture that is used for a purpose such as work or recreation, something that was created to house people or things i suppose rather than just a built structure that has no purpose because that would be more of an installation or sculpture

A garment is… a piece of clothing with a purpose, A garment is a piece of clothing or something made of a fabric, something that you wear even if it is not conventional, if it is used as clothing then it is a garment, things I wish I could afford.

I found the garment answers interesting because they were about the use and also about ‘fashion’. If it’s used as clothing then it is a garment’. This answer related to the use, whereas the answer ‘things I wish I could afford has more to do with the inspirational side of fashion. Wanting the next jacket, dress, skirt etc. of the season.

Another exercise that was to give your definition to someone in the class and have them respond to it. Kasia gave me some great things to think about and I have changed my definition…

Kasia’s answer-click to read

A garment is… something that is durable enough to be worn, which highlights and/or conceals the body.

I still think there is more to add to this definition but this is what I have at the moment.