.......Circus Combined with Elizabethan.....

For my final major project in my second year of Level 3 national diploma in fashion and clothing I have chosen to combine circus with Elizabethan. The reason for this is because I came across an image from Vivienne Westwood 's Comic Relief 2011 collection and one of the images the model is wearing an Elizabethan ruff and it reminds me of a clowns ruff. I feel that these things work very well together. Here is the image:

I have also, done much more research for this project and created two mood boards:

.....Elizabethan,Circus,Elizabethan......

......Don't dump it ! Recycle it !......

In Warrington Golden Square a few of the students from Warrington Collegiate were chosen to display their garments made by using recycled materials such as, denim, crisp packets, tea bags and more. I am one of the students that was chosen and the garment is my Alice in Wonderland inspired garment that i created in my recycle project way back in my first year of college. I also, had to go to the Golden Square for a photo shoot that was later put into Warrington Guardian on the 21st April.2011.

 I really enjoyed joining in with this as, I feel recycling should be a part of everyday life for everyone as it's really important to look after our planet and stop waste that can we reused from filling up landfill and creating less and less space to dump our waste. So, next time your about to bin something THINK! , 'Could this product be recycled?'

..........Recycle for a healthy planet.....

.....The Clowness recreated.....

The day of the photo shoot it started off with doing my hair and makeup. This went well as; it was how I wanted it to be. The reason why I chose to have tears going down my cheek is because, in the original painting of The Clowness is off stage and is uncovering what’s underneath her stage mask. So, I’ve brought that same idea into my photo shoot in a way that everything may not be as it seems.

This photographs above and below is to show the makeup and hair they have not been edited.

After, these photographs were taken I then got two chairs and put red fabric over them. I then sat on the chairs in the same position as; The Clowness was in the painting I have chosen. Here is a few of them that haven’t been edited:

After, the photo shoot i edited my photo by putting a background in and changing colours and more. Here is my final image next to original painting:

..........Click, Flash, Boom.......

......Clowness in the making.....

I Started my dress by making the sash for my dress. I made this by, gathering netting and stitching three layers together. After, this i gathered and stitched two layers of organza together for each one using a blind hem on the edges of the fabric. I then pinned them onto the mannequin as shown in the photograph above.

To add to this, I added a sleeve to my garment making it the same way as I made the sash. However, I stitched the sleeve into a ribbon so that it can be attatched to the dress later in the making of my garment. I will also, do the same with the sash.

 

This is my garment with the bottom of my dress stitched together. What i'm going to do next is make top of my dress which will be strappless and low backed.

This is my dress after i stitched the top of the front of the dress together with the sleeve pinned in.

The front of the final garment.

........Sewing, stitching, snipping.....

.......Netting,Ribbons,Organza........

 These are samples I have made to create the frill and the sleeve of my final design. I tested out different layers of organza and netting to see how many I wanted to have on my final garment, to do with how it puffs out and the brightness of the colour in contrast with the navy dress underneath.

...Cut,Pin,Sew...

.......Circus inspired fashion illustrations....

After, researching the artist Lautrec, i went onto my dress designs for the  photo-shoot. I want the dress to be a simple floaty dress with something going over it or maybe with a sleeve as, i will be photographing the back of the model. So, the detail needs to be on the back rather then the front of the dress. Also, the main focus point on the painting i have chosen is the yellow ruffle on the Clown so, I'm keeping this idea within my image.

Here are some of the fashion illustrations for my modern masters:

I did a few more fashion illustrations after this, then i came up with my final design because, Ive changed the frill from yellow to red I will change the bottom of the background of the photo shoot to yellow so, they will be switched around. Here is my final design:

......Red, Yellow, Blue.....

........Experimenting with materials.......

For these experiments I tested different materials to create a similar effect as the artist used on his painting, for the background for the photo shoot.



 For this experiment I tested using blue acrylic paint and oil pastels. I tested on white sugar paper, trying out what different strokes looked like and what ways worked best. I found it worked well with less paint on and going the same way.

For this test piece I used yellow this time on green sugar paper to see if it will stand out better then the first piece. I used acrylic paint first and with a dry paint brush I dragged the paint across the page going all different ways. Over, this I worked into the lines using yellow oil pastel. I think the yellow isn’t bold enough for the background of my piece.

For this sample I again used blue acrylic paint and a dry brush and dragged the paint but this time all the same way. Then I dipped blue ink down the page. To finish this piece I worked into it with blue oil pastels. This is my chosen piece for the background of my photo shoot as, this one will work best with my image as, it looks most like the artist affect but with my own style.

The image above is a drawing of The Clowness, New York 1895 and below is the actual painting. The drawing is my version of the painting. I used water colours, acrylics and pastels on this piece.

....Acrylic,ink,pastels...