Initial concept

In our group, we pooled our initial research and developed a group concept.

We began by looking at futuristic space imagery with a camp and slightly tacky aesthetic.

Looking at the photography styling duo Gilles and Pierre, we referenced photographs which had a camp aesthetic and an odd sense of atmosphere. The styling had a seventies fashion reference with exaggerated lapels, which is an avenue we would like to explore for garment research.

We also looked at surrealist painting with a similar pastel colour palette. The painterly approach and sense of energy suggested impressionist inspiration, which is another source of inspiration we could look into.

After collating our images onto mood boards we were able to build up an aesthetic that featured a lot of shine and gloss. In my knit samples I will be using a variety of yarns to achieve this, such as plastic, lurex and viscose tape yarns. In our tutorial with Tom, he emphasised the importance of balancing the proportions of matte to shine. I will also experiment using latex and silicone to achieve this finish and also to give the sample the futuristic almost alien quality displayed in our mood boards. Tom also emphasised the importance of taking an experimental approach, such as bonding fabrics together and trapping liquids between layers.