Spring.

Priscilla, Nancy, blossom & blue.

little bits of late.

Ordered a gorgeous blue copy of Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark, as well as a few other vintage books. Finding time to read a little more, is my aim.

A few christmas treats, blue crystals and pale pink lace bralettes. 

Peach & Ginger tea. 

Pretty tea bags.

Fell in love with this fabric I found. Reminds me of Little House on the Prairie. 

+ Cooped up in the studio as the Ted Baker menswear project deadline approaches... 

A House of Pomegranates.

"Embroidered couch, wild-eyed, open mouthed, woodland Faun.

Porphyry, bright. Anodyne. Fluttering ribands. Greek gem, carved in the figure of Adonis.

Moonlight, silver image, Endymion.

Procuring the rare and costly materials. To the North Seas to traffic for amber. To Egypt for curious green turquoise, found only in tombs of kings. Persia for silken carpets, India for stained ivory, moonstones, jade. Robe of tissued gold, ruby-studded crown, rows and rings of pearls."

The Young King, Oscar Wilde

A few phrases/ lines of a sweet little Oscar Wilde book I picked up.

***

She mused, She mooned.

"Flaxen hair plaited, skin porcelain, limbs lithe, earlobes drip with tiny diamonds.

Swan-like poise, practised and perfected. taste for lace, organza, Laduree shades.

Shell pink, Opalescent, Prussian blues.

About bows and frous, brocade and tweed."

Vogue, March, 2012

"She mused, she mooned.

‘I suppose you think I’m very brazen or tres fou

pinching her cheeks til the roses came

the way women wear their prettiest everything

expensive imagination, Tulip Texas, Lulamae. Reading dreams.

honest tongues, dishonest hearts

‘Oh he’s not my idea of absolute finito’

moseyed, sea-ward moving, glittery voyager, confetti air,

silvery, her hooves, careened,"

A few favourites underlined...

 Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote

/ Peonies/ Castle Gardens, Glass Houses.

***

Marie Curie / Cloudy friday.

I have a thing against buying books brand new. There's just something so quaint about finding a dusty little book, old and worn, knowing someone before you had appreciated it.

Was looking up Marie Antoinette, and came across Marie Curie. Very far from the Archduchess of Austria, I know, but I was drawn to the texture and colour of the covers, flicked through it and found some lovely little lines.

Saving it for a journey back home..

Madame Antoine.

Aren't we all.

Toile'n til early hours.. 

Spring in Fialta.

working and sewing, trips back home, London in sunshine, woodland walks, mint blazers, turquoise jewels, french tips..

Spring in Fialta - Vladimir Nabokov

a few pretty words and sentences underlined..

"picture postcards, amethyst rock + the mantelpiece dreams..

on such a day in the early thirties I found myself.

coral, slate-blue sidewalk

violaceous syllables, most rumpled of flowers.

flutters and effluvia of that gray day, vernal essence

almond trees beyond the chapel

pulse of the distant sea

lassoing, velvety, fawn, ephemeral, amity, interlacing.

thrones.

with more mouth than meaning. pale lip.

Russian fairytales, vignettes + white wilderness.

book of our two lives.

outside, milky dull. Tartar memories, drifted from the bare windows of the pale houses, bloomed listlessly, her sleeves trailing to..

an ashtray, stood aslant on the couch near one of her heels.

some parisian drama, plush wall.

remains of breakfast, honey stained knife..

sudden draft of muslin embroidered with white dahlias, french window, diminutive cast-iron balcony beyond to inhale dry maple leaves and gasoline.

Poisonous pun, veiled eyes, motionless pharoahlike face, childish celerity.

Dapper doll-like rosy Segur, a lover of art and a perfect fool."

links to images found via my Pinterest.

Gatsby.

"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings, the champagne and the stars"

"Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York - every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves."

"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life"

"He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy"

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Of late.

mohair, nude nails, lazy sundays listening to pretty music, essay writing.

Little brainstorms.

Colour Palette / Sweet Details + Fastenings

So I made a collage in relation to my colour palette of pastels and my theme/concept of childhood. Rainbow cheerios, candy-floss, marshmallow, milkshakes and sprinkles.

Over easter, I want to photograph vintage sweet shops, looking at colours and shapes for palette and details. In terms of experimentation... I want to integrate the technology aspect and colour-graduation detail, through spraying the sweets silver or white. Exploring the sweets as embellishments/ fastenings. Playing around with strawberry laces/ wires and cables.

links to all the images above can be found on my Pinterest + Tumblr.

The Colour Project. Change in Direction.

Everything for the Colour Project thus far has been a group effort. Now that our presentation is over and we've completed the trend forecast as a group, the next stage is to continue the project individually, adding other elements of our own.

Concept & Theme

As part of my concept and theme, I will explore the effects of technology on childhood, and how digital media somewhat corrupts personal experience and memory. How virtual simulations have taken over the essence of physical play.

Keywords

Artificial Environments

Digital Simulation

Immersive Interaction

Synthetic Illustions
Computer Generated

vs.

Physical Existence

Senses - to see, hear, taste, touch.

Reality

Self Sufficient Existence 

Memory

Experience

Colour Palette 

Continuing with child-like pastel colours combined with sorbet yellows, peaches and mint greens. Perhaps working in metallics e.g. silver in relation to the theme of technology.

Details & Styling

Looking into dip dying and experimenting with graduation of colour, for example, a bright shade that then fades into white, or paler, duller version of itself. Capturing a graduating effect, starting off bright, vivid and turning into a duller, lifeless tone, expressing the effects of technology on ones experience and memory through graduation of changing colours.

In terms of details, I will look into computerised, electronic inspired fastenings; experimenting with wires, keyboard buttons, plugs, sockets etc.

Silhouette

Embodying the effects of technology in silhouette, as constricting ones senses, for instance, restriction of eye-sight by covering the face/ the sense of touch, by covering the hands. Ultimately creating a shape that expresses the idea that one is suffocated and separated from the real world, being so captivated and consumed in their artificial, digital environments.

Trend Forecast/ Presentation Prep.

The Colour Project

Trend Forecast

The first part of my second uni project (The Colour Project) is to produce a presentation for our prediction of a trend forecast. Here I explain how the group and I worked together to explore themes/ concepts, as well as look into silhouette, colour palettes and details/styles, to ultimately predict a trend for Spring/Summer 2014.

Theme/ Concepts

Silhouette

Inspired by crystals and minerals; the natural formations within the fragments and shards creating suggestions for silhouettes.

Deriving shapes out of the erosion of elements and the harshness of weathering. Resulting in silhouettes that were angular and asymmetrical.

Colour Palette 

A combination of pastel pinks, blues, deep purples and indigo's, with slices of silver. 

Soft, powered pinks and blues in correlation with childhood, memories and dreams. Within our technological age, a comment on how digital media effects ones experience and memory.

In reference to the universe, the concept of time/space and the speed at which we live. Calming hues of purples and indigo's a suggestion of slowing down. Integrating metallics, highlighting industrialisation and the rate of consumption.

Detailing and Styling

Exploring metallics, with chunky silver fastenings such as bolts, screws, locks etc. Chunky, hard and angular, in reference to Industrialisation, factory-made, speed of consumption.

 The weathered, earthly components that inspired silhouette and colour palette create contrast with the overlaying of pixelated prints. This is where angular, hard details meet the delicate aesthetic.

The grid effect resembles pixelation found within digital media; exploring the idea of order, the concept of us constantly trying to measure and make sense of the natural world around us.

Here's a link to our Presentation...

Trend Forecast - Spring/Summer 2014 - Industrial Skies

The Colour Project: Experimentation.

So after today's tutorial with my group, we experimented with some of the samples we all brought in. Together we've come up with a really beautiful colour palette - a combination of pastel pinks, blues, deep purples, indigo's and we want to integrate silver in there too. For Silhouette, we're inspired by crystals and hair, hard and angular intwined with soft and delicate shapes. For detailing, we're thinking industrial inspired fastenings, silver bolts, nails, pins etc. contrasting with the delicate aesthetic. We want to create a capsule collection for Spring/Summer.

Here are few images of us experimenting with colours and printing...

Inspiration for silhouette - crystals and minerals, taking suggestions of silhouette from the shards of glass and different formations... useful in terms of garment length perhaps. Working with the concept of weathering and wearing out. Asymmetrical in structure, top heavy.

The concept of breaking up materials and reforming them. Samples above - Polly Giedrojc

Dye samples and sketchbook work - Emily Roberts

Experimenting with an array of pastel shades.

Delicate, smoke-like imagery on top of gridded paper - in terms of theme - exploring the idea of measuring, the concept of us constantly trying to measure and figure out the natural world around us. Grid sample - Kaylah.

Painting on top of recycled, ironed plastic, printed onto paper... created this beautiful texture that resembles that of skin. Print samples - Jessica Haughton

Print samples - Jessica Haughton