Coloured Designs Miss Victoria; Digital

I am trying different ways of colouring up my designs to see which of the work the best. This is my attempt at using Photoshop.

I do quite like the results of using the digital process to colour up my designs. I found that it was quicker as well as appose to using the ink. I do quite like the texture that in gives though whereas using the digital colours can leave the design in some areas looking quite flat. 

Coloured Evening wear; Miss Victoria

One of the final designs that I have coloured up for my Alternative Miss World contestant, evening wear.

It is near enough  finished just got to go over some of the colours to make them more solid and put shading on certain areas.

Final Designs; Miss Victoria

I have completed the three designs for the rounds of Day wear, Evening wear and Swimwear for my Alternative Miss World contestant, Miss Victoria.

Swimwear Design

Day wear Design

Evening wear Design

These are just the basic pen outlines to the three designs I am now looking at both the colours and patterns for each one to create a coloured up version of each.

Rational; 25th February to 31st March

I am picking back up on the Alternative Miss World project for the five weeks leading up to FMP. For this project I will be creating three final designs based around a contestant that I create. I am going to use this time and project to further develop my design skills, to work on the process I go through to create my final designs and to build on my technical knowledge I have about garment construction. Working on this will help me when it comes to creating garment/ garments for my FMP.

I am carrying through the theme of Britain but rather than moving away from films and physical items I will be looking at a variety of famous British figures and seeing how they could be interpreted within a garment and whether they would create an interesting contestant. As Alternative Miss World is about everything odd and eccentric I had the idea of putting a twist on the traditional but I need to do research into whether that would work as an idea. I will then take the final designs that I have and experiment with creating them with different materials to see which would work best. Alongside improving my designing and knowledge I want to use these weeks to work on my time management and balancing everything so that all my work gets completed on time. I have created a basic timescale to keep what I am doing moving and so I achieve all the things that I want to;

Week 1 (25th February-3rd March)

Collate and look back on previous research to see where I am with my work currently. From this I will extend my research moving toward the way I want to take my work and start to pull influence and ideas from the extended research.

Week 2 (4th March- 10th March)

Look at the initial ideas I have got from the week before through doing further research. Take stronger ideas and research further into them to create design variations and general design progression.

Week 3 (11th March- 17th March)

Narrow down the designs that I like and think work the best, from these look at the influences I had for them and what I could use for the contestants name. Start looking at the designs I have done to see whether they would work with the three rounds of swimwear, daywear and eveningwear, from this further develop designs. I will have the first draft for my SOI done so can see whether alternations need making to it.

Week 4 (18th March- 24th March)

Narrow down the designs I have to move towards the three final designs for the contestant. Refine these designs and ideas to create the final designs and look at the colour pallets and the patterns that I want to use with the designs.

Week 5 (25th March- 31st March)

Experiment with fabrics and materials I could use to create my final design. Create a coloured up version of my three final designs to give and idea of how the colours work together. Look at making basic mock-ups of some elements of my design; pick back up on my basic making skills ready for my FMP.

 

Calico Corset; Session Three

I have put the first couple of layers of PVA onto my corset. Using supports under the sides meant that I could PVA them and they have started to keep their shape I just need to add a few more layers of PVA to strengthen the shape further.

Calico corset; Session two

This is were I have got up to with my second session of constructing my corset. I have spent today finishing off the edgings to give it a better finsih and putting the ribbon in to create the corset. All I have to do now is PVA it all to add more of a structure to it and change the ribbon so that it goes downthe whole length of the corset.

 

 

 

Victorian corset; Calico

I have tried making the Victorian corset from my design in basic calico. Through doing this I am trying to pick up on my making skills and my understanding of a pattern. I think that it has worked well up to this point. I am going to cover the whole thing in PVA to make it stronger and maintain the shape i want it to.

19th Century Clothing; Women

http://victorianeracnr.blogspot.co.uk/
The Victorian era was the time between 1837 to 1901 when queen Victoria was the monarch in England. The women's dresses in this time were very elaborate because of the style of the dresses they would effect the way in which women walked, sat and moved their arms. the dresses were cut in a style to show off and accentuate a women's figure but in a modest way. These are the layers that a women of the time would have worn:

• Drawers
• The slip
• Corset
• Petticoat
• Camisole
• Crinoline
• Bustle
• Underskirt
• Finally the top skirt and jacket, shoes and any other accessories would be put on.

The undergarments would change slightly as the top skirt and jacket changed style and shape through the Victorian era. The dress was worn in two pieces and would have been attached with hooks or ties. 

The dress was worn in two pieces and connected with hooks and ties. The style of sleeves changed many times throughout the Victorian Era. The neckline was worn in a high V-neck. Either one or two skirts were worn; with two skirts the underskirt was longer, forming a short train with the top skirt forming an apron. The underskirt flared from the knees down to create fullness. Around 1880, the skirt was cut narrow all around the body, forming a slim outline. The dress was made in different colors, from pastels to darker colors. Different shades of green were very popular. We can see the evolution of the fashion dresses in this picture:

Shawls, cloaks, mantles, scarves and little aprons were also accessories. Gloves and parasols were popular. Large brooches were worn at the throat and large and small earrings were also worn. The use of fans was also very common. Boas made of feathers or fur were also very big. 

Victorian Swimwear; Women

As I am looking at the Victorian era for my contestant of Alternative miss world I need to have a good understanding of the style and shape of the clothing that would have been worn as Day wear  Nightwear and Swimwear as these are the three rounds that are in the contest.

 

From all of these pictures you can see the basic shapes of Victorian swimwear, the style is covered to retain women's modesty. 

Willow Crinoline Attempt

One of the things that I am looking at for my alternative miss world is the Victorian era. For this I am looking at the construction of the underskirts and from previous experience thought that willow might be a good way to create a crinoline.

This was my first attempt which I don't think sat right at all. I undid the bottom row of it and put in an extra vertical, so there was 5 instead of 4 and tried it again. 

This was the attempt with the five verticals, I still don't think that it looks amazing but it works much better than the previous one. I think I will carry on with it and put some more tiers one it to see how it turns out.

Historical British Figures

I've though about maybe using a historical British figure for me Alternative Miss World character rather than an object. There's some interesting and eccentric characters in the history of Britain that would make a good basis for this project.

David Bowie

Margaret Thatcher

Queen Victoria

William Shakespeare 

Lord Bath

These are just a handful of many that I could use for my character.

Spitting Image

Spitting Image was a satirical comedy show that ran from 1984 to 1996. It was notable for being one of the first - if not the first - adult-themed comedy show to feature puppets. Its visually shocking puppets combined with its sharp, often crude writing ensured high viewing figures and a lengthy run time of over 132 episodes.

The programme is often considered to be a milestone in British television comedy. Spitting Image was so influential it was often worried whether or not the show could affect public opinion of politics and politicians, yet it was quite the opposite: the show managed to give new personalities and public recognition to politicians and minor celebrities who were instantly thrust into the spotlight by their latex caricatures.

Rude Britannia: British Comic Art at Tate Britain

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/rude-britannia-british-comic-art
Gasp, cringe, or have a sly chuckle: Rude Britannia will certainly cause a reaction. See politicians brought down to size and the great and the good exposed; blush at the saucy postcards and laugh out loud at the slapstick fun - but watch out for that banana skin!

Put together with some the country’s best-known cartoonists and comedy writers, this exhibition explores British comic art from the 1600s to the present day. Bringing together a wide array of paintings, sculptures, film and photography, as well as graphic art and comic books, the exhibition celebrates a rich history of cartooning and visual jokes.

'If not now then when' John Isaacs

Miss World Cartoons

http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/
As I have chosen Britain as the theme for my Alternative miss world one of the things that I have looked into British cartoons to give me an idea of some stereotypical characters that I could pull out to use as inspiration. 
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/browse/cartoon_item/anytext=miss%20world?subjects_text[]=Miss%20World%20beauty%20contest&page=5

Stanley Franklin, Daily Mirror, November 7th 1963

Stanley Franklin, Daily Mirror, November 9th 1964

Stanley Franklin, Daily Mirror, November 15th 1966

Wool structure; Session 3

I think that this is the last session I am going to focus on doing this piece as its not totally relevant to where I am going with my ideas. Ive managed to get the piece off the box and mannequin but found the bottom wasnt structured enough to hold its own weight. Ive put it back on the box and added further wool to the skirt which willf hopefully mean it keeps its shape when I take it off next.

2009 Alternative Miss World gallery

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/gallery/3212/8/alternative-miss-world-2009

Some photos of the contestants fromt the 2009 AMW.

Andrew Logan; Guardian interview

Talks about how the Alternative Miss World got started, how he feels about it, the criteria of the show and what the whole things about. I think it was interesting to watch this because it has different footage of the shows to what 'The Britich Guide to Showing Off'had in it.

Wool structue; Session 2

This is where I am up to with this experimentation. I think that, as it is not a complete finished piece, it is near enough finished. It might just need a few more strands around the skirt to strengthen it. I think that it will look good once it comes off the mannequin and the box.

Andrew Logan's;The alternative miss world

http://alternativemissworld.co.uk/
Started in 1972, The Alternative Miss World is not about beauty - it's about transformation - and when it comes to costume absolutely anything goes. Like the real Miss World there is day wear, swim-wear and evening wear and the all important personality interview! But Logan refuses to let anyone rehearse, and anything can - and often does - happen.

http://www.britishguidetoshowingoff.com/
The official trailer for 'The British Guide to Showing Off'