Really, I shouldn't be writing this now - since I have a Marketing Research to do as part of the project that I have to hand in TOMORROW. But, the level of excitement from the product I just created, it's just too hard NOT to.
"At the beginning of all growth, everything imitates"
-Pramoedya Ananta Toer
The final product for this one is a lookbook, with my illustrations. The concept started with the word: plants. Then I took the ambiguity of the word which could mean the botanics, AND power plants - especially nuclear plants. This is the perfect contrast, something that is very natural and beautiful against something controversial, mad-made, and destructive. Taking the idea from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's quote, I specifically looked into flowerbuds - as the 'beginning of growth'; then completely destroy it with the effects of nuclear radiation that includes contamination, and mutation. Hence, I give you:
Full view recommended - and you can read the collection's narrative too
:)
Mind you that this is just the end product. I will also be graded based on the process I show in my sketchbook - which I think is not the best. So, I'm not expecting a good one for this one.
Oh well.
Thursday 5 May 2011
how do you compromise with the lack of motivation and deadlines that just keep getting closer
and closer
and closer
and closer
It's just unfair that I'm this badly unmotivated for the last project of the year :(
This is a collection for the recent "Art&Fashion" project which I based on Naive Art, or Art Brut. Mostly focusing on youth prison art and taking the shapes from multiple perspective paintings and prison landscapes.
To support the theme, I tried to apply the whole concept of the art movement for the final illustrations.
I had a great combination last summer. One of the best, I should say. The 4F: Family, Friends, Food, and Fashion :)
I managed to get an internship at Carmanita studio, and learned some of the best things I've learnt so far. It was a great feeling to be part of the fashion industry in Indonesia, even if just for 5 weeks. But still, being an intern at a fashion workshop which mostly focusing on fabrics made me appreciate it even more. I definitely learnt a lot about fabric finishings; from attaching tiny beads onto silk scarves, different tie-dye preparations, draping, and the highlight would be batik.
"Batik is not the motif, it's the technique"
That is a quote from Carmanita herself to me, and I completely agree. I saw it as a reminder for everyone about what batik really is. Since it has been a trend in Indonesia for a few years now but it's starting to lose its value - because the mass produced "batiks" are actually (poorly made) digital prints, but people still refer them as batik which disappoints me a lot.
It is such a modest atmosphere working in the studio. A simple house in a small neighbourhood in the south of Jakarta, and unfortunately in an area that gets flooded a lot (I've heard some really sad stories about it :( ) - I find it very very inspiring, because they come up with a great range of culturally rich collections that sells millions of Rupiah (hundreds of $). Being part of the working environment is like being a part of a little family full of talented and dedicated, and inspiring people, some of them have worked there for 20 years or so, and they still get along well with the younger "newcomers".
I really hope for the best for Carmanita team.
An application of what Ibu Carmanita said about batik (that it is the technique, not the motif), I created an Escher-inspired print using the traditional batik pipe (canting) on one half of the fabric, and rough stripes using flat-wide brush. Their method of free-draping have also inspired me for creating this top.
I decided to do the illustrations digitally, since the ones for the last project were... um... let's just say I'm too embarrassed to post them here. So, something different :)
Referring to the previous post, I'd like to emphasize that lightning does strike twice.
This happened with the latest Maison Martin Margiela's collection with my recent project.
The Shirt and Trousers project required us to choose one brand (from the given list) and then creates our designs based on the brands' design philosophy - basically we are learning how to design for a company with existing design ethos and characters. So, surprise...surprise, I chose Martin Margiela's Line 1 (the main line for their women's wear).
Working around the concept of human brain's duality - logic and deception I overcame a lot of stress and amazingly managed all-nighters. As the result, I can't say anything else but the truth that I am very proud to present you these:
Double function shirt dress that could be unzipped open and transformed into a shirt
Tailored trousers with hidden side-seams
I don't know whether I should be sad, or proud; but one thing for sure, I was just shocked with the uncanny timing for MMM's Autumn/Winter 2011 collection to come out showing
THE SAME CONCEPT OF CLOTHES TRANSFORMATION!!!
That morning, a few days before this project was due, there they were: on my Mac screen...style.com...38 outfits.
The review even said this:
"The MMM dresses seemed to be peeling off their models like old wallpaper. A red one early on was unzipped up the side to reveal a patent skirt a shade darker. "
"Maybe the Margiela team was admonishing us all to slow down or deal with the repercussions. Then again, sometimes a dress is just a dress, even if it is coming apart at the seams."
Uh, hello? Margiela? Yes, I'd like to work with you after I graduate. Yes... in Paris? Great. Brilliant. See you soon.
Maison Martin Margiela's collections are so conceptual. In an interview, the mysterious Martin Margiela himself was described as someone who"counted the brain as part of the human figure".As the brief requires us to design based on the identity and fashion philosophy of our chosen designer/brand, I looked deeper into the quote....and I was hooked. Obsessed.
~~
I chose the human brain as my main theme. I've already started researching into different theories and scientific explanations of how the brain works - specifically in understanding things. I was mainly drawn to this quote by Nietzsche:
"But how could we possibly explain anything? We operate only with things that do not exist: lines, planes, bodies, atoms, divisible time spans, divisible spaces. How should explanation be at all possible when we first turn everything into animage, ourimage!"
It's just so interesting how our minds are inevitably biased. Whenever you hear a description of some sort, the image that appears in your mind and the image thought by the person next to you can never be the same.
This, led me to the idea of mind trick. Remember those brain teaser images that became so popular a few years ago? You would usually get those in chain mails forwarded by your parents/aunts/uncles because they had nothing to do they think they're so annoyingly fun. Remember?
You must know this one then, just as an example:
Then, this image brought me to Surrealism Art (like those by Mr. Dali & M.C. HammerEscher).
To begin the design process, I want to highlight the dual personality of the brain; it's so mighty that it makes you function, makes you live, think rationally, and what not. However, it can also be spontaneous, lose it's own control even just for a split second like being deceived by images such as this one.
Well, this is just the beginning, I have 2-3 weeks to turn this idea into 25 shirt designs and 25 trousers designs. Then I'd have to choose 1 from each and actually make them :) YAY TAILORING!
By the way, I'd like to thank these people for giving me suggestions. I appreciate them a lot, but I had this idea going on in my head already. So... so looooong suckerssss! :*
