Deconstruction Workshop

I feel the deconstruction workshop was a good way to start major project preparation. At first I felt a bit like I'd been thrown in to the deep end, but that made me act fast and use my creativity to the max. Rather than working on one idea or concept and pursuing that, this exercise got me to think fast about different ideas and opportunities that I could achieve with the few materials that I had. I decided to get a basic shirt and pair of tailored trousers from a charity shop and also found various old ties. I had half a metre of stretch, textured and printed fabrics to work with. As a designer I felt it important to make the most of the garments that were there and to construct something out of the fabrics I had. I decided to layer strips of lace onto the shirt, concentrating on details and distorting them, the lace gave an appearance of block panels down the front of the shirt and the lace pocket was moved to create a double pocket effect. Out of the stretch fabric I constructed an over sized roll neck sleeveless top to sit under the shirt, to continue with the layering concept. I was really pleased on how the trousers turned out, I cut them up to 3/4 length and tailored in a skinny leg. The shape that was created, I was really pleased with, and I would like to continue this idea further into research for preparation.

Although initially I felt not quite sure what direction to head in, and didn't really feel that enthusiastic about the exercise, by the end of the day I had achieved an outfit that has generated some good ideas that I want to carry through to the next stage of research. Documenting every stage of the processes that I conduct is so beneficial to go back and evaluate and reflect on, by photographing stages of this workshop helped me understand and improve the transitions I was creating. In past projects and workshops this is something I have ended up in wishing I had done more frequently, its not easy to remember, for me anyway! Especially as I want to carry some of the silhouettes through to further study, I have digital reference to look back on.