Developing Illustrations for dress!

VIVIEN WESTWOOD

Three Product design

Dress:-

• The dress will be approximately 2 metres long
• The fabric will be my own print that I will create myself and transfer on via heat transfer
• I will research the colours and the trend that Vivienne Westwood is up to at the moment and manipulate that into my print and also look at how her dresses are photographed and styled

Bag:-

• Vivienne Westwood uses massively over the top use of diamond and pearls which I will incorporate into my bag; the print will be on the bag and pearls and diamonds will be on the edges and the straps.  This will show a simple bag that is over exaggerated, high fashion but still wearable

Tie:-

• I will use my print on the tie and hand sew pearls and diamonds following my research into different styles that Vivienne Westwood has designed and connect this with my own style
• The print will be 2D but the pearls I will use will give it a 3D effect

First photo shoot – front part dress

• The model would be wearing a garment that does not have a back piece in it; just a front piece with a boat neck and it will be sleeveless.  ( If I think this is a bit too far for a model to pose I will create a half piece garment for the model to wear and if it did not look right and didn’t fit in with my chosen designer and the whole concept of how the company works I will photo shop a back piece onto the garment and see which works best)
• I will research into the most controversial moments of Vivienne Westwood’s career

Second photo shoot – Tote bag

• This is using a bag and will be very simple to do but the background of the shot has to connect with Vivienne Westwood’s style
• I will use a simple background as the bag will have a print on it and I will put on pearls or jewels that will represent the iconic theme of Vivienne Westwood
• The bag will be grey and will stand out; the model will be holding the bag and her back will be arched as if the bag she is holding is very heavy; the focus will be on the bag
• The model will be wearing a ripped t shirt and thick knickers; I will add a blurred dark effect but her arm will be in clear focus and she will be holding the bag

Third photo shoot - Tie

• This will be a scene that will focus on her chest but the image will be quite controversial; it will capture her chest but the tie will be worn between her breasts 
• The tie like all of the other pictures will be colourful and stand out and will catch your eye straight away but the models skin tone will be the same as the 2^nd photo shoot , it will be dark and the image will focus on the tie and not the model
• I will photo shot out the nipple area so it looks as though she is wearing her top but she isn’t

PHOTO SHOP ILLUSTRATION

I assumed that maybe if I drew an illustration in great detail and used my photo shop skills to make it symmetrical, to manipulate the physical drawing on the software would be the best thing for me for illustration.  Knowing that illustration is probably my weakest talent, I find that combining hand drawing illustration with software formed a more creative design. 

ROUGH DRAWING

Thinking outside of the box and doing different things like a load of scanning and pictures, taking a picture of a former college friend and placing drawings onto her, I drew and scanned and edited the colour, enhanced the texture and just made it into an abstract drawing of an actual human figure I feel works really well for me and my ideas.

SCANS

Also not being naïve and knowing that that technique and that method of sticking a drawing on a photograph of a person has been done to death so I do know that that certain method needs to be improved in figuring out how you can change the shape of the person in the picture, to make the face look a bit unusual.

It kind of changes a method into another method but sticking with the original idea of how scanning is so amazing that you can scan literally anything in and take a picture and merge it into the illustration you want.

OVERALL

I think that in the last few weeks I have pushed myself to understand illustration more and how important it is and what its meaning is, usually I would think of a design and that would be it, I wouldn’t do anymore as I would not have seen the point.  Up to know I have done about forty odd illustrations so I am already almost half way to completing the full amount to what I should be doing of 120.  It sounds a waste of time but I think when students think of illustrations they think it will take ages to do one, the amount of detail, the ideas etc would take weeks and weeks to do but I have figured out that the illustrations that I want to present are basically a basic drawing as I said before, just a normal creative squiggle, messy, abstract stuff like that and I think if you think too much into illustration at the very beginning just for ideas, is very time consuming and there is no need to do it as you are not going to pick 120 designs, you will only pick 4 so there is no real point in putting so much time into a beginners idea so when you spend time on the final illustrations spend a few weeks on finalising that illustration instead of doing 110 illustrations that really you only need the detail, shape and style for the garment.

I think it has been good for me to challenge this head on to understand that I lacked in that area of design; I thought to myself that I don’t really want to get behind in that certain area and that I wanted to develop in that area as I think it makes you more creative and gets you on a role to think about other things that you can do with collage and turning a rough drawing on photo shop into something more outstanding. *THANK GOD FOR ADOBE*

Brief 500 Words / Job Role / Target Marketing

BRIEF 500 WORDS

I have chosen Vivienne Westwood because she has always been a favourite of mine.  I like the way she does Avant Garde photo shoots and I like the weirdness of the photo shoots.  When you look at a Vivienne Westwood garment it looks like a load of rags but when she puts it together in a photo shoot it works really well.  She goes through different stages, she has young sexy photo shoots that advertise more of a creative image and she then goes to another photo shoot of a fur bag with pigeons around it that captures life in the picture.  The photo shoots that she did with Pamela Anderson a number of years ago shows more about her life and friendship than the fashion.  I find the various photo shoots very creative and interesting.

When researching her winter collection I have found her prints to be a bit less sharp and with less detail than in previous collections; pieces of her collection do not really go.  I think she needs to update and re-invent her collection; I feel she is taking a less part in the company and I feel the collection is going away from the original Vivienne Westwood style.   I also feel the logo is stronger than the designs.  

As I feel my strength lies in print, I would research the whole of her collection I would bring back the originality that she is known for by analysing the best of her work; I would not re-do her prints but I would try to re-invent colour, texture and shadowing and I would also use 3D to give the garments a bolder appearance, to create a bit of an original controversial statement in advertising and what I plan to do with my products.  My job role/title would be creative director and print designer. This role would allow me to go in with a positive attitude to make them understand that I feel they are heading for an error in the business that could end up like Burberry.  The way the advertisements and how they present themselves to the world need to be managed in a more artistic way more than focusing on the label.

I feel that when a company gets to a stage where they are very successful they begin to slack a lot in creative thinking.  For photo shoots when you get to a certain level where people are buying your clothes I feel that some things do not have a narrative anymore; I feel her advertisements focus on people being crazy but without any real reason or story behind them.

For my product photo shoot that I am going to do for a dress, bag and tie, I would have the theme that I have researched which is very clean cut, photo shopped really well but to add a hint of Avant Garde to make people think and to see garments in a different way and with interesting movements in the photo shoot. Taking aspects from the past and re-inventing them for the future.

JOB ROLE – PRINT DESIGNER & FASHION DESIGNER (VIVIENNE WESTWOOD)

In the beginning I was a big believer about whatever you buy has got to be worth it; the price that comes with the garment has got to be worth spending hundreds of pounds for that product.  Because I chose Vivienne Westwood for my main choice this was for a number of reasons, every fashion designer is a big fan of Vivienne Westwood but for me I am more interested in her work back in the day, probably about 15 years ago.

I think her work back then was more controversial and dark, there was more thought put into it and it wasn’t trying to be different it was just her personal touches to her garments that made it.

I have looked into her personal life from past into previous times.  The personality that she had years ago was all about fighting for people’s rights, protesting and showing through fabric and print design how she could change the world by visual creations and also that she is worldwide famous for being the ‘Punk Queen’ that was her image all the way.

TARGET MARKET FROM PAST AND FUTURE FOR VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

I think in the early days when Vivienne Westwood started out it was a whole different ball game; being introduced to one of the biggest bands in the world, The Sex Pistols, that was her lift off basically, that started her whole career.  She was really well known in the 1970’s for punk fashion, chains, S & M outfits, rubber, bizarre fabrics and fashions that she mixed with the punk era.  Also knowing somebody that used to work with her and was partner with her in a shop I have spoken to her and she told me that Vivienne Westwood was the most bizarre woman who could thing about things and know what people wanted before they did.  This was her talent; I believe that she was a very clever woman but crazy also and I think this worked at this time.

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When it went onto the 1980’s she had the image that she was known for the Queens head and for the colours of the England flag, the Union Jack and the diamonds and the writing and that is what she was at that time; she was known as a big England Royalist designer.

As the 1990’s begun she attracted more of a much younger and middle age combined; it was more performance art; she started to do a lot of shows and her target market became for everyone whether they were Punks or not, everyone could be interested in what she was doing at the time.

Late 1990’s and early millennium there was a massive change with Vivienne Westwood because she went completely corporate; in my opinion you see quite a lot homosexual men wearing Vivienne Westwood logo as a broach or a belt or a t shirt with diamonds and it started to look really really tacky.  I always looked at her as a gay icon, designer but it started to get tackier with the diamonds and the gold and it became all about her symbol. 

Now that it is 2014 the time has come were corporate have completely taken over and Vivienne Westwood has no say in anything; I think if she says she does there is no spirit of her in her collections anymore or the photo shoots that they do now.

The difference with Vivienne Westwood and H & M is that when Vivienne Westwood passes away you can see her company continuing without her just like Alexander McQueen did; Alexander McQueen said he did not want his collection to continue after his death as the designer could not be involved in the work, but I think Vivienne Westwood’s work will carry on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL3N7-u6KngUploaded on 18 Feb 2010

With the recent news that the Alexander McQueen business will go on after the designer's death, here is a raw interview from 2006 in which Alexander McQueen expresses his feelings about his brand continuing without him.

  Looking into what she is like now, I think she has become more hippy, although I think punk and hippy are similar, she is more about the earths pollution and environment now which is good but if that is her main issue things become boring; its fine to mention that but don’t make it the only thing about you.

Looking into the political side of things she has changed her beliefs by being a part of the Labour party and she left and joined the Conservative party because at the time she did this human rights for the Labour party were not what she believed in. This to me shows how she has changed; she is now Dame Vivienne Westwood and I think this changes her whole outlook and this shows through her work and that she is not there anymore and that people carry on her work for her.

"People ask why I've become a Tory but it's not anything to do with Cameron, although I guess he's alright," she explains to theDaily Telegraph. "It's to do with the fact that he's not Gordon Brown and there's nobody else to vote for at the next election." (November 29 2007, AM) http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2007/11/29/viviennes-christmas-speech 

She is hugely rich and famous now and I believe that this changes someone and I really think these shows in her work and she has no control over her company now, it is all corporate and manufactured.  Having people like Pamela Anderson is not the greatest role model but Pamela Anderson’s involvement has come from a personal relationship with Vivienne Westwood and I believe this is far more personal than an image for her company; I feel that she is lonely and has found someone to share things with.

 I feel that she doesn’t really care anymore about the idea of style and clothing.  On a recent Jonathan Ross show she said “don’t buy really expensive clothes, buy recycled clothes and make them into your own”.  I think when a designer sells out her whole belief system and everything she has created by telling people not to buy expensive things and to recycle fabric, this is quite depressing.  Going from a high to now being the only thing that backs her up is her name and label.

Uploaded on 12 Jul 2009

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood talks about her storied career and latest projects on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8er6jRAP4

Overall not to make the whole view of Vivienne Westwood boring and depressing, I do find the woman incredibly interesting and that it is outstanding what she has done throughout her life, I think she is a genius but in life there are geniuses who fail in certain areas if they do not keep their mind on the ball.

This is why I want to introduce more lively and beautiful prints that people will be gobsmacked to see instead of them thinking it’s not worth it and that it does not look any different to what you would buy in a charity shop or George at Asda.