Fashion & Textiles: Paper manipulation (3)

Making my final garment: A headpiece

 

  

I decided I didn't want my headpiece to be made out of plain white/brown sheets of paper as my themes for this piece were 'loud' and 'dramatic'. I therefore decided to incorporate elements from my previous designs by illustrating the sheets of paper prior to beginning my construction of the headpiece. I used a range of contrasting patterns to create a more dramatic effect. In terms of the colour ways, I initially planned to use one colour per section but as I progressed I found that it looked quite dull/bland so I added more colours. I however limited myself to the following colours: red, blue, purple, green, orange and yellow in order to have some sort of structure as I began with the theme of 'structure'.  I chose to use red, blue and yellow as they are quite loud colours. Nevertheless, as I thought more in depth about the type of person I wondered if it would mean they're an arrogant attention seeker as the headpiece screams 'Look at me'. I then decided to add some neutral colours such as purple and orange to create a balance. This headpiece is aimed at confident individuals. 

When it came to the actual construction of my head piece I struggled as I wanted to replicate the illustration from the previous day however it just wasn't working how I planned for it to. I couldn't figure out how to create a balance as the paper was too heavy. I ended up doing a different style but I was still quite pleased with the outcome, structure wise. In terms of the illustration I felt it looked tacky and childish. If I could rework this piece I would have just used one pattern rather than multiple clashing patterns. 

Styling and photography

I wanted the photography to capture mostly the shape of the head piece so I decided to explore using the blinds which created a beautiful silhouette and captured the structure of the piece.

I aimed to capture my model in a classy manner in these shots to make the head piece look less tacky and more stylish. I think this works effectively as the pose/angles in these shots emit class in my opinion.

I decided to place more focus on the structure by capturing a rear view. This is one of my favourite images as although in the image you can see sections of amazing architecture (the O2) I don''t think it overshadows the model in any way. I like the idea of her becoming part of the view.

Instead of getting annoyed that my illustrations didn't quite have the finish I wanted them to I decided to incorporate the idea of it looking childish by photographing my model in childlike manner. (sitting cross legged) As I was taking the photos I noticed her shadow looked quite prominent, I then took more at different angles to try and capture her shadow in the most prominent way possible as to me it looks quite mature which creates the effect of a contrast between the model and her shadow which is quite interesting. 

       

     

I think this group of images were the least unsuccessful (excluding the last one) as I didn't put enough thought into each of them. Nonetheless, I think the last image was successful because I aimed to capture the contrast between my model and a passer by in order to place a bigger emphasis on the idea of the headpiece being 'loud'.

In this final image I decided to place my model on a bright chair and have her facing away from the camera. The purpose of this was to illuminate the image and place the sole focus on the illustrations that feature in the headpiece as the vast majority of the previous photographs focus on the structure.