PROJECT PROPOSAL
After completing the first 6 weeks of exploratory, I knew that I was definitely going to be working in the textiles area of things; as I could apply myself to a higher level in this workshop than I could in others. After undergoing more exploratory work I was able to understand that I particularly love the combination of art and textiles and started to think into more depth about what I could do with my skill in this. Finally I came up with the idea of costume and how I love to make one off pieces of couture work, which to me outlines costume perfectly.
With 3D pathway being still relatively exploratory, when it came to working with materials, I was able to pick out and understand that what I really loved, was also what I was good at; working with fabrics and creating garments.
This is why I have chosen to work towards creating a costume/s for my FMP, and aspire to design and create costumes for wide a range of productions.
Whenever I watch films that feature period dress I always get the buzz to try to create something as elegant and beautiful as the featured designs of costume designers such as Penny Rose and Alexandra Byrne. Therefore I have always wanted to challenge myself to create a dress of a similar style and to equal extreme elegance. To me I see period dress as the god of costume, as you have to think every little detail through, such as how you display emotion through the accessories and colour of the dress...the dress has to tell the story. I find this the most complex ability in the costume world which is why I am wanting to prove myself and show what I am capable of.
As far as research goes for this project, I am certain that watching plays and trying to get a sneak peak backstage will be the most influential and beneficial of all. I know that watching films that feature period dress will also be very good for my research, because I have already drawn many fashion drawings that illustrate my initial ideas.
When it comes to presenting my final out come, it will be used as it should, as a costume, by the character in role acting out a monologue, so I know whether my costume meets its purpose criteria. However, the monologue will be the first to be created, so technically the monologue is my project brief. I will work to create a dress that works with the style and emotion of the monologue.
Therefore, I know that what I am aiming for will NOT change.
Evaluating as I go along has worked for me in the past. I did this during my first year of A-levels, by keeping a diary of what I was doing each day/lesson, which made my final evaluation very easy and simple. My final evaluation to determine whether my project has been successful or not will be based on whether the monologue and dress work as one, or whether they clash with emotion.
PERIOD DRESS...
Absolutly love it! As i said in my proposal above...so i want to make one...probably wont happen...but you never know! I want to do a really built up dress...with lots of body in it and a range of techniques to show off what i can achieve and am capable of.
WAX WAX WAX WAX WAX WAX WAX WAX....
I realllly want to use wax in my FMP but i think i will use it as a breaking down technique once i have actually finished my costume...whatever it may be! It makes things look more aged and distressed which is what i will need to show that the character has had a life.
FABRIC + WAX = CARDBOARD.
Wouldn't be very wearable...and would become slippy with body heat...so would defiantly have to be used as an embellishment technique rather than a construction technique.
(When you actually cut it, its like cutting into paper or thin card...weird.
BRAINSTORM...
After going to my interview on the....2nd I was told that if i became a part of the course i would be given a play to read and pick and analyse a character and then create the costume for the character. So i decided to create my own character out of lots of different characters out of lots of different plays, written by play writes such as Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, and other such people...all from different eras; and places (greece, rome, england)
CHARACTER CREATION...this might not make sense?
- Early modern and modern drama:
Early modern:
DR. FAUSTUS - satan = sinful, steal, kill, destroy, test the faith of humans.
MACBETH - lady macbeth = guilt, jelousy, insecurity, crazy, no remorse
BARTHOLOMEW FAIR - quarlous and winwife = backstabbing, selfish, lonely, misunderstood, normal, secretive, in love.
Modern:
MAJOR BARBARA - Lady Britomart = snob with a heart of gold, strong willed, outspoken, encourages and condemns, take, take, take, flawed personality.
PYGMALION - Alfred Doolittle = rhetoric, unembarrassed, un-hypocritical, scoundrel, honest, proletariat, criticism,
MRS WARRENS PROFESSION - sir george crofts = tall, powerful, big build, fashionably dressed, brutal sporting, no strength as a character, assertive, vicious, social hypocrisy.
SINFUL STEALING KILLING DESTROYING TESTER.
GUILTY JELOUS INSECURE CRAZY UNREMORSEFUL BITCH.
BACKSTABBING SELFISH LONELY MISUNDERSTOOD NORMAL SECRETIVE LOVER.
STRONG WILLED OUTSPOKEN ENCOURAGING CONDEMNING SELFISH FLAWED PERSONALITY.
RHETORIC UNEMBARRASSED UNHYPOCRITICAL HONEST CRITIC PROLETRIAT SCOUNDREL.
TALL POWERFUL BIG BUILD FASHIONABLE BRUTAL WEAK ASSETIVE VICIOUS HYPOCRIT.
- Medieval and 19th:
Medieval:
GAMMER GURTONS NEEDLE - Gammer Gurton = grouchy, old, insisting, demanding, funny?,
19th:
FAUST - Faust = depressed, bored, disappointed, scrooge, willing, changes?
AN IDEAL HUSBAND - Mrs Cheveley = witty, well dressed, vicious, opportunistic, villainess, wealth power, monstrous, product of horrid combinations, unnatural, genious, beauty, female demon,
GROUCHY INSISTING DEMANDING OLD WOMAN.
DEPRESSED BORED DISSAPOINTED WILLING SCROOGE.
WITTY WELL DRESSED VICIOUS OPPORTUNISTIC WEALTHY POWERFUL MONSTROUS BEAUTIFUL UNNATURAL CUNNING HORRID COMBINATION OF VILLAINESS AND FEMALE DEMON.
- Contemporary and 17th:
Contemporary:
QUEENS FROM A MARRIAGE - Jared Bloom = insecure, loving, serious, well mannered, good intentions, gay, worrier.
DZIADZA AND RED SQUIRREL - Nero = tattooed, emo, rebel, piercing, dirty, scoundrel.
DANGEROUS ANGELS - Weetzie Bat = bubbly, blonde, optimistic, eccentric, sensitive, caring, strong, gentle, funny, smart.
17th:
THE ROVER - Don Antonio = spanish, noble, wealthy, betrothed, loves someone else, true love, nice, kind, willing.
DON JUAN, OU LE FESTIN DE PIERRE - Don Juan = seduces, rouge libertine, powerful, thinks he is the best, self centered
INSECURE LOVING SERIOUS WELL MANNERS, GAY WORRIER.
TATTOOED DIRTY PIERCED SCANDALOUS REBELLIOUS EMO.
BUBBLE OPTIMISTIC ECCENTRIC SENSITIVE CARING STRONG GENTLE FUNNY SMART BLONDE.
SPANISH NOBLE WEALTHY BETROTHED TURE LOVE KIND WILLING GENTLEMAN.
SEDUCER ROUGE LIBERTINE, POWERFUL, SELF CENTERED WANKER.
- Classical and 18th
Classical:
THE FROGS - Dionysus = god of wine and revelry, cowardice, egoism, lechery, effeminacy, laziness, reslover
EUMENIDES - Agamemnon = leader, hater, sinner, pushover, user.
ANTIGONE - Ismene = Blonde, full figured, beautiful, giggly, talkative, good, reasonable, understanding, helpful, beggar, selfish,
18th:
THE BEGGARS OPERA - Macheath = infamous, crook, violent, dapper, genteel, squeamish, steals, shifty, clever.
GOD REVEL COWARDLY EGOISTIC LECHER EFFEMINACY LAZY RESOLVER.
LEADER HATER SINNER PUSHOVER USER.
FULL FIGRED BEAUTIFUL GIGGLE TALKATIVE GOOD REASONABLE UNDERSTANDING HELFUL SELFISH BLOND BEGGAR.
INFAMOUS VIOLENT DAPPER GENTEEL STEALING SHIFTY SQUEAMISH CLEVER CROOK.
This is how i am going create my 4 different characters...all the capitals are the personalities and traits of a mish mash of characters form all the different plays. These are going to be combined to create 4 very different characters...i will then develop costumes for each character and the decide which will be the most interesting to develop and create.
Character 1 likeness:
I think the first character i am going to be making up will resemble the character Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. In one word...mental...yet has a soft side hiding in there to help her make sure she gets what she wants...which is where the backstabbing comes in.
In order for me to make my character strong and realistic, i will keep the character female as i can relate to previous characters for inspiration and understanding.
Character 2 likeness:
A scrooge type character comes into my mind when i combine all the personalities and traits above. However other than scrooge, i see the character who is very much alike the mother on the recent cartoon Tangled.
This character will be male.
Character 3 likeness:
Well mannered beauty with a rebellious side. This characters traits reminds me of someone out of dance film. An elegant beautiful person with attitude, such as the girl from step up, or Nina from the current film Black Swan. I think this would be a female character.
Character 4 likeness:
Very much like character 2. This gives me the feeling that there are many characters like this...however this character could be female apposed to male, or i could try and create 2 completely different characters that clash with the same personality traits? Also a male character.
Trying to figure out what defines a characters personalities through clothing is going to be difficult.
I am going to create some random samples and see if i can fit them to any of the personalities i have listed for my characters above. By doing this i will know which is the most interesting to create yet which one will be possible to create.
But i decide to do the monologue first...and now i am thinking this part is stupid to do now...i think i will o it along side design ideas when i get there =)
Monologue:
I have decided that because characters 2 and 4 are so alike that I will scrap character 4 and I am now left with 3 characters to design and eventually develop one.
Also, all my characters are going to be female as my monologue is written for a females point of view.
Understanding period dress. I decided to look into how you actually go about creating a dress of such high quality and have decided that looking back into how it was 'invented' would help me a lot. The major part of it to me is the shape and fullness of the skirt. This is achieved by the underskirt that was created by Charles Worth in 1860. Information like this helps me understand what i have to do step by step in order to create a period dress for my own character.
Watching more films that feature period dress has helped me a lot in understanding how to embellish and what i am aiming to achieve. It has also helped me understand what style i like and how i can develop my own style and creativity.
Also understanding 1860 fashion research helps...again looking into charles worth and what class of women wore what.
UNDERSKIRT.
This is going to be the death of me. I dont particularly want to use boning and crinoline to make my underskirt because I know that my crinoline will need a lot of fabric to create the fullness i need. However, willow failed me and so has wire so its got to be done. I WILL MAKE MY OWN CRINOLINE.
After a very long time full of nasty experiences I have finished my underskirt and am only running a little late of my timetable. I am however doing well with my diary stuff...im alright at that.
The crinoline took time because the boning kept caving in on itself so it meant i had to do a lot of different adjustments to the actual underskirt. I think this is why it took me a little longer than i planned.
I have set myself 2 days to cut pin and stitch my bodice, with the sleeves and lining etc. I think i can manage it because i have made a bodice similar to this in the past so i know where i went wrong last time and i am optimistic that i can overcome these previous mistakes and dilemmas.
The corseted bodice is coming along nicely and after one day i have cut and pinned everything neatly and correctly. What i have learnt from this though, is that a polyester satin like mine is very slippery and the time it takes to cut is more than the actual final construction. Therefore i am starting to think my choice in fabric was quite poor; i didn't think about the handling of the fabric.
The bodice has been stitched but i think it's missing something. I am going to create more final designs in my sketchbook including different embellishments to the bodice to begin with (followed by the skirt of the dress once i start the construction) and then buy a selection of embellishments to analyse against my dress.
I HAVE DECIDED THAT INSTEAD OF DESIGNATING SPECIFIC DAYS TO WORK ON MY SKETCHBOOK, I WILL DO A COUPLE OF HOURS EACH DAY. I WILL DO THIS AS THEN I KNOW I AM CERTAIN I AM ON TRACK OF BOTH MY SKETCHBOOK AND MY DRESS.
(I will also use this time to write up what i have done each day on my timetable, and also to decide what i could have done differently, to either keep up or stay on track with my timetable.)
After analysing and designing/deciding what to do with each of the embellishments i had sampled, i decided to use the plainest one that i think would most relate to the era. I have chosen a plain lace in order to keep the age of the dress precise and also to look as elegant as i think necessary.
After watching a part of the tv series The vampire diaries i was sure that each section of the skirt was tied to a band and attached around the waist with ties and bindings etc. Therefore i have decided that i am going to attach each different section of the dress onto some waist binding tape and then use snap fasteners to hold together at the back.
The snap fastners idea worked really well but i found it a little more difficult to attach the next section onto the dress. Again using snap fasteners was the neatest and easiest way i could think of and i therefore decided to pursue this idea.
I think the first character i am going to be making up will resemble the character Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. In one word...mental...yet has a soft side hiding in there to help her make sure she gets what she wants...which is where the backstabbing comes in.
In order for me to make my character strong and realistic, i will keep the character female as i can relate to previous characters for inspiration and understanding.
Character 2 likeness:
A scrooge type character comes into my mind when i combine all the personalities and traits above. However other than scrooge, i see the character who is very much alike the mother on the recent cartoon Tangled.
This character will be male.
Character 3 likeness:
Well mannered beauty with a rebellious side. This characters traits reminds me of someone out of dance film. An elegant beautiful person with attitude, such as the girl from step up, or Nina from the current film Black Swan. I think this would be a female character.
Character 4 likeness:
Very much like character 2. This gives me the feeling that there are many characters like this...however this character could be female apposed to male, or i could try and create 2 completely different characters that clash with the same personality traits? Also a male character.
Trying to figure out what defines a characters personalities through clothing is going to be difficult.
I am going to create some random samples and see if i can fit them to any of the personalities i have listed for my characters above. By doing this i will know which is the most interesting to create yet which one will be possible to create.
But i decide to do the monologue first...and now i am thinking this part is stupid to do now...i think i will o it along side design ideas when i get there =)
Monologue:
I doth not wish to love,
Nor doth I want to be loved by a bob
A century cross I would give a jack,
To retire this indifferent lozel
Perchance, the persuasion of the knave,
Perchance, the venge of jester, myself!
Not a day doth pass by like the jar
That I wish to begin guard this utterance
With the shining guard itself
Aim, abate upon the enseamed, and say
“I Dig you good den”
And coil the retired Babe
Alas, thy barn
I don the emotion
Forsooth I fang back my wail
Thy chamber, min chamber
I shent upon yonder.
Would i waft the knave, the shent?
Alas, another day
My darling, My love, My venge,
I dig you good den.
To make it easier to relate my chosen character to my monologue i decided to create my monologue first. Its about a woman wanting revenge on her husband, thinking about maybe killing him and how to disguise her anguish.
This is where I am going to begin creating and developing my chosen character and eventually an initial final design.
To make it easier to relate my chosen character to my monologue i decided to create my monologue first. Its about a woman wanting revenge on her husband, thinking about maybe killing him and how to disguise her anguish.
This is where I am going to begin creating and developing my chosen character and eventually an initial final design.
I have decided that because characters 2 and 4 are so alike that I will scrap character 4 and I am now left with 3 characters to design and eventually develop one.
Also, all my characters are going to be female as my monologue is written for a females point of view.
Understanding period dress. I decided to look into how you actually go about creating a dress of such high quality and have decided that looking back into how it was 'invented' would help me a lot. The major part of it to me is the shape and fullness of the skirt. This is achieved by the underskirt that was created by Charles Worth in 1860. Information like this helps me understand what i have to do step by step in order to create a period dress for my own character.
Watching more films that feature period dress has helped me a lot in understanding how to embellish and what i am aiming to achieve. It has also helped me understand what style i like and how i can develop my own style and creativity.
Also understanding 1860 fashion research helps...again looking into charles worth and what class of women wore what.
UNDERSKIRT.
This is going to be the death of me. I dont particularly want to use boning and crinoline to make my underskirt because I know that my crinoline will need a lot of fabric to create the fullness i need. However, willow failed me and so has wire so its got to be done. I WILL MAKE MY OWN CRINOLINE.
After a very long time full of nasty experiences I have finished my underskirt and am only running a little late of my timetable. I am however doing well with my diary stuff...im alright at that.
The crinoline took time because the boning kept caving in on itself so it meant i had to do a lot of different adjustments to the actual underskirt. I think this is why it took me a little longer than i planned.
I have set myself 2 days to cut pin and stitch my bodice, with the sleeves and lining etc. I think i can manage it because i have made a bodice similar to this in the past so i know where i went wrong last time and i am optimistic that i can overcome these previous mistakes and dilemmas.
The corseted bodice is coming along nicely and after one day i have cut and pinned everything neatly and correctly. What i have learnt from this though, is that a polyester satin like mine is very slippery and the time it takes to cut is more than the actual final construction. Therefore i am starting to think my choice in fabric was quite poor; i didn't think about the handling of the fabric.
The bodice has been stitched but i think it's missing something. I am going to create more final designs in my sketchbook including different embellishments to the bodice to begin with (followed by the skirt of the dress once i start the construction) and then buy a selection of embellishments to analyse against my dress.
I HAVE DECIDED THAT INSTEAD OF DESIGNATING SPECIFIC DAYS TO WORK ON MY SKETCHBOOK, I WILL DO A COUPLE OF HOURS EACH DAY. I WILL DO THIS AS THEN I KNOW I AM CERTAIN I AM ON TRACK OF BOTH MY SKETCHBOOK AND MY DRESS.
(I will also use this time to write up what i have done each day on my timetable, and also to decide what i could have done differently, to either keep up or stay on track with my timetable.)
After analysing and designing/deciding what to do with each of the embellishments i had sampled, i decided to use the plainest one that i think would most relate to the era. I have chosen a plain lace in order to keep the age of the dress precise and also to look as elegant as i think necessary.
After watching a part of the tv series The vampire diaries i was sure that each section of the skirt was tied to a band and attached around the waist with ties and bindings etc. Therefore i have decided that i am going to attach each different section of the dress onto some waist binding tape and then use snap fasteners to hold together at the back.
The snap fastners idea worked really well but i found it a little more difficult to attach the next section onto the dress. Again using snap fasteners was the neatest and easiest way i could think of and i therefore decided to pursue this idea.
