Session 9: The Muse

The penultimate session before our formative assessment. Frankly, I feel like this half of the term has gone by so quickly, especially considering this time last term would have been our submission point for Toolbox! Looking back, it’s crazy to see how much I’ve developed over the last few weeks and how intense this unit has really been.

Focusing on this session, we began by thinking about the idea of a muse. I never really gave much thought to the idea of a muse and the importance of selecting who models your designs, but I now realise how that affects the way your design is presented. In thinking of this, part of me thought maybe I should have done a unisex collection, relating to Alessandro Michele’s vision of gender-neutral collections within Gucci. However, as design isn’t my pathway, I don’t particularly feel inclined to redo my designs that dramatically, but the thought did make me realise how much extra knowledge about Gucci that I’ve subconsciously picked up over these last couple of months.

When thinking about this activity based around the model, I also thought about the diversity of Gucci’s models and how, as a poc myself, like being able to relate to the ethnicity I see within fashion and that mix of traditional culture and Western heritage, (much like myself being born and raised in Australia, with an Indian background). This made me envision my collection on a diverse range of models with bold features – kind of Frida Kahlo inspired I suppose.

For our muse activity, I printed and traced outlines of faces based of images I found online off vogue magazines and covers. I picked quite normal faces, so to speak, so I tried to focus on creating some interesting lines while tracing, rather than copying the entire photos exactly, sticking to line work and continuous drawings. I used watercolour pens and fine liner to add colour and played with a variety of vibrant colours like blue, yellow and pink to create a playful vibe and link to my artist as well. Admittedly, it’s certainly not my best work, but I enjoyed playing with different face shapes and may even consider using these on my final drawings.

The images I printed to trace off of

After not having thought about my design work for well over a week, I plan to review my designs and make sure they hit the brief when doing the SDS… in fact I can already think of one design I might drop entirely! I also want to rethink my fabric and colour choices and make adjustments with a fresh perspective, as the day I drew up my collection I was quite exhausted and not in the most motivated mindset.

Moving on from this, we began looking into undergraduate degree choices. I’m still quite set on Fashion Management, even after having briefly looked at overviews for some other degrees, but I like the idea of this slide task to really evaluate all my options thoroughly. It was also pleasant to discuss how the roles these different degrees could offer us worked together within the industry as a realistic point of view into future career choices.

As a side note, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week started this week. Admittedly, I’m not the best at being on the frontline of the latest catwalk news, but I do plan to start keeping up to date with it; after all I’m a fashion student so it definitely has to become a priority! Looking at what’s happened so far, I’m in awe of the work designers have been able to produce during this pandemic, despite having runway shows with little to no people there.

I thought the Dior collection was utterly MAGICAL, and I loved the way they reflected that through their campaign and media shoots. Their collection had a very ethereal vibe to it which I’m all for and the detailed designs and storytelling were quite mesmerising. Schiaparelli was also quite interesting with their focus on the human form, particularly the idea of placing masculine shapes on the female form which gave it a sense of empowerment. I thought it was quite contemporary as well with some of the brighter colours that were used. I did also see the designs of Chanel, Valentino, Iris Van Herpen, and others, but Dior and Schiaparelli stood out to me the most.

References: