Eclectic Project
When I first got the brief for this project, I thought it was a really interesting word to start as it seemed to encompass a great deal of different subjects, meaning that the project could be manipulated into anything that I wanted it to be. I also thought that the eclectic element of the project would provide me with a good chance to expand my knowledge of different areas of costume design, to create and eclectic mix of research.
On the trip to Brighton, I collected an eclectic mix of primary research, made up of drawings and photographic images. I made sure to go to the main attractions in Brighton including the museum and art gallery, the Brighton Pavilion, the Pier, and the shops in the north lanes.
After reviewing my primary research, I decided that I am going to focus on one of Jane Austen's novels, 'Pride and Prejudice', and design the costumes for one of the main characters, Elizabeth Bennet. I was able to use my primary research, of the Pavilion especially, to get an idea of the regency period and what life was like in those times. It was interesting to see the ballroom in the Pavilion, as this idea is a central part of the novel. To conform to the Eclectic brief, I am going to use modern influences from Brighton as well as this historical aspect of the project, to create the designs for the character.
I looked into some of the previous costumes for the character, but I didn't want to do too in depth research as I already knew that I want to move away from the classic regency period dress and incorporate modern influences into the costume. I did a mind map of Elizabeth Bennet's personality in order to highlight her key character traits, with information which I gathered from reading the book and articles online. In a different coloured pen, I did a mind map over the top mapping out different Eclectic themes that I could use, to try and integrate the character with the themes I wanted to include. Mixing them together in this very visual way was very useful to me, as it helped me see them along side each other so that I could make links and form connections within the project.
During the Eclectic project, we had a lecture on street style, which I found really interesting, and so I made a visual timeline of how street style has progressed in the last century. I am going to use influences from of the street style movements, so I am going to look into which one would fit with the characters the best. Director Baz Luhrmann is famous for including modern influences in historical stories, so I am going to look at some of his work to get inspiration.
I love the way that Baz Luhrmann manages to include modern influences in his movies, in a seamless yet far from subtle way, leaving a mash up of opposing yet somehow relevant ideas and imagery for the viewer. In Great Gatsby (2012), he takes a story from the 1920s but includes rap music and other influences, which are evident in the party scenes especially. He is able to capture the vibrancy of the roaring 20s whilst also echoing elements from the book, ‘Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can’. In Moulin Rouge (2001), he uses fast paced cuts and quick editing and conveys a multitude of emotions, in vivid, bright colours in a short space of time. He shows the Montemarle quarter of Paris, yet packs it full of pop culture references, bringing together the old and the new. In Romeo and Juliet (1996), Luhrmann includes modern influences from the 90s, combinging the ‘feisty tribalism of Verona; with Venice Beach. This restores the Shakespearean tragedy to the present, and gives it a timeless quality.
I have decided to pick one of the street styles that we looked at in the presentation to integrate into the costumes, in a similar style to a Baz Luhrmann movie. The one that most stands out to me as representative of Elizabeth Bennet's personality is the Mod movement.
This is because, for me, I see Elizabeth pushing the boundaries of the time, by not conforming to the idea of what a woman should be in that time period, unlike her sisters who seem content with the life that is laid out for them. The mod movement was about breaking out of constraints and rebelling again social norms. One example that encapsulates the point I am trying to make is in the wikipedia article about the Mod movement (En.wikipedia.org, 2018) where is states that the mods 'mocked the class system that had gotten their fathers nowhere', which is I think what Elizabeth Bennet tries to do by refusing to marry who she is told. I think that the mod culture would appeal to her character.
The fashion in the mod culture lies in roots from the teddy boy and beatnik subcultures that preceded them. For mod women, the fashion was shift dresses, mini skirts, berets and boots. Androgyny was also a feature for mod women, who wore their hair in shorter, more boyish hair cuts, with little make up and flat shoes. This is something that I think also works with Elizabeth Bennet's character as she is often described as 'plain' to look at compared to her prettier sisters.
Below are some images of Mary Quant's fashion pieces, which were popular in 1960s mod culture. She is credited with the invention of the mini skirt, as throughout the 60s skirts grew shorter, and boundaries were pushed further and further.
I have chosen to expand the amount of characters I am going to design for in this project to include the other 4 sisters in the novel. This is because I think that the addition of these designs will work to highlight the ideas behind Elizabeth Bennet's costume, which is still my main focus. I am going to look at 50s fashion for the other 4 sisters, because I think that this will make a really interesting contrast with the mod costume for Elizabeth. The more refined, elegant and reserved dresses of the 50s will reflect the fact that the other Bennet sisters are happy to sit back and let the life that is planned out for them just happen, without putting up any argument in the way that Elizabeth does. The mod culture was emerging out from 50s fashion so it is also a nice visual metaphor about how Elizabeths ideas were forward thinking.
Mid Project Review
So far in the project, I am happy with the amount of primary and secondary research I have gathered in the form of drawings, photos, contextual research and designer research, and I have just about got to a point where I am ready to pull it all together to create some designs out of the eclectic mix. I think that the eclectic element to the brief has meant that the research section of the project has taken longer than I expected, just because there was so much ground to cover so that I could fulfil the brief properly and include and eclectic blend of inspiration and resources. I have managed to combine and link a number of different influences from different time periods and I am happy with the idea that I have come up with and I am ready to start designing and coming up with more visual ideas for the costume.
Below are some of the initial design ideas that I had when thinking about the contrast between mod fashion and 50s fashion.
I started to experiment with collaging together the repeating pattern print I created on photoshop from some of the primary research I gathered from Brighton, which links together in an eclectic mix. In some of the designs below, i have also tried to include some loose pleats, which is a reference back to regency period fashion, again bringing in more influences into the costume.
In the costume below, I have used sleeves and neckline which are reminiscent of regency period dress, from primary research from the Brighton museum, as well as the motif that I developed in one of the repeat pattern exercises of the rooftop of the pavilion in Brighton. I am now going to put this design into photoshop and add in the repeat pattern I made from my painting of some of the graffiti from around Brighton. This will be combining the shift dress style of the mod culture, Regency period dress from the sleeves, neckline and pale colour at the top, visual imagery from Brighton in the form of the Pavilion motif, and the digital element together with Brighton street graffiti from the 21st century in the repeat pattern.
Jane Bennet is the eldest sister, and is described as being the most beautiful, and is much more reserved than Elizabeth, which is why I have chosen a pale pink colour for her dress, to symbolise her gentle attitude to life, and how she doesn't attempt to rebel against her assigned life plans, and marries Bingley, and seems happy.
Lydia Bennet is the youngest of the Bennet sisters, and is described as being self centred, immature and likes to gossip. I have chosen a deep red for her dress to symbolise love and lust and how she is obsessed with the men at the parties. The red also represents how she passionately runs off with Wickham.
Lydia's dress is similar in a sense to the dress I have designed for her slightly older sister Catherine, with whom she shares a lot of personality traits. For Catherine I have chosen a deep purple to represent her childish quality.
The last sister, Mary Bennet is described as the loner of the group, as the two older sisters have each other, and the younger two sisters have paired off as well, leaving Mary on her own. She is also the plainest looking out of the sisters, so I have chosen a deep green colour for her dress, as she is described as jealous of her sisters, whilst also being conceited.
On the whole I am very happy with the end result of this project, and I feel that I have incorporated an eclectic mix of inspiration into Elizabeth Bennet's costume, which was the original aim for the project. This includes the shift dress style of the mod culture, Regency period dress from the sleeves, neckline and pale colour at the top, visual imagery from Brighton in the form of the Pavilion motif, and the digital element together with Brighton street graffiti from the 21st century in the repeat pattern. I have definitely expanded my knowledge of street style and street fashion over the last century, which is something that I wasn't aware that I would have an interest in, so I am excited to bring that interest into future projects. I have also improved on photoshop and learned how to make repeat patterns using digital and traditional methods, and been able to experiment with using different methods to create costume illustration, which I am slowly developing into my own style. I think that something which I need to improve on in future projects is deciding and committing to an idea faster so that I have more time to work on it. This project also has a lack of 3D samples, which I might go back to at a later stage and fill in, to give a better idea of how the garment would look. I would also have liked to have made the whole garment as a mock up, but under the time constraints, this wasn't possible. I really enjoyed reading up on the characters and looking in detail at their character traits and relationships with each other, which is why I expanded the project at the end to include all of the Bennet sisters, as I felt that the contrast between Elizabeth and her sisters was an important element of her own costume.
Peer Review
I found the peer review at the end of this project to be really helpful with identifying my strengths and weaknesses. I found that I need to work on getting my ideas across better, especially the contextual aspect of it, as not everyone in the group understood straight away. It might be helpful to add obvious summaries about my ideas throughout my sketchbook. Another thing that I discovered is that I need to do more sampling, and experiment more in a 3D medium, which I feel is definitely something that I can work on for the next project. Time planning is something else that I need to work on, because I was trying to balance so many other things in this project, that I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I can use the christmas break to finish off the project and further develop my idea and designs. One strength that my peers mentioned was that I had listened to the brief well, and included an eclectic mix of sources in my final design. They also said that my drawing skills were progressing, and I think hopefully my costume illustration style will progress with that.