Culture - WEEK 3

Looking at corsets in the previous week, I developed design ideas that restricted the body by wrapping a subject in cling film. This helped me to understand how the body reacts to certain body parts being constricted. I found this a useful and conceptual way of thinking, but i thought i was difficult to still keep the design practical enough to be wearable. 

I intended to sketch stills from the video clip i took of the subject moving which being constricted. I would like to use digital clips to illustrate my point and research in other projects, because it shows how i have interpreted the initial research. 

During this week, Dan helped me to develop colour schemes using Photoshop. This was a very useful demonstration, because i know that presentation of a colour scheme is a necessity. It was professional and clear way to develop and present colour schemes, by creating different hues and complimentary colours.

Culture - WEEK 2

This week, i began to develop my designs by looking at chains. This developments stemmed from the belt that the suffragettes used to chain themselves to the rails in protest. I took pictures of chains and edited then in Photoshop to create a collage. I then manipulated certain parts of the collages to create a shape, which i applied to the body. 

During a crit, i discovered that how to think about the suffragettes more conceptually. An example was to think about how they were constricted as people and how they were manipulated and controlled previously to the feminist movement. I was advised to look at clothing that restructured the body. I began to look at undergarments such as corsets.

Culture - WEEK 1

The two cultures I decided to use for my project, was the Suffragettes and Maya. I thought this was a good contracts, because they are from different countries and time periods. I began to look at books and the museum such as the British Museum and the Museum of London. I think i was put off at how different the two culture were because they had nothing to do with each other, but resolved this by firstly finding a common ground: Both cultures made sacrifices in some way. For instance, the suffragettes sacrifices their traditional way of life for a better future - so i looked at the instruments they used to protest, such as the belts they used to chain themselves to rails. In mayan culture, they believed human sacrifices helped to prevent the end of their world. During the ritual of human sacrifice, the colour blue was used on their bodies - I wanted to used the mayan culture for my colour scheme, because i thought they were more interesting than 19th century colour schemes.