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Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj is a contemporary artist who lives and works between London, UK and Marrakech, Morocco, and is known as the “Andy Warhol of Marrakech.  Heavily influenced by the club, hip-hop, and reggae scenes of London as well as by his North African heritage, Hajjaj is a self-taught and thoroughly versatile artist whose work includes portraiture, installation, performance, fashion, and interior design.

Hajjaj intelligent use of collage is one I enjoy. Although his work focuses mainly on cultures, I feel that his work could heavily influence mine in terms of collage. I plan on experimenting in the border way similar to his work, against some planned photoshoots.

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palette theme by softwaring

code // static preview

this is a really simple one column infinite scrolling theme that is centered around a color palette of your choosing. all posts come with a hovering permalink palette as well as there being a header palette that includes your title, description, optional nav links as well as tabs that contain your ask box, additional links and an additional tab for whatever you want. please like or reblog this post if you use this theme thank you!~

theme features: 250px/300px/400px/500px/700px column width options, optional photo captions, header shadow and header nav links, 5 additional links as well as an update tab, 11 color options in total so it’s pretty simple and easy to customize.

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Tahoma theme by softwaring

download code preview permalink preview

This is a really simple theme with a neat sliding header that displays five different tabs of information. This theme comes with optional infinite scrolling, gradient background, background image, and lots more! Please like or reblog this post if you plan on using this theme! 

FEATURES:

400px posts with optional infinite scroll

gradient background, background image, or background color options, as well as  text, and link color options

optional fullsized background, captions, and tags.

up to 6 custom links, and a few other text input options!

please note: there seems to be a problem with tumblr theme preview page, so the header might look messed up, but if you save it and go to your theme, everything will look a-ok!

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Arid theme by softwaring

download / preview

A very customizable simple theme inspired by instagram!

Features: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 post columns, any size post you want, optional alternating posts with larger sizes, 5 different background options including an animated shifting gradient background, two built in tabs, one with up to 6 links, and another with built in askbox and about, built in click to load scrolling, and lots more.

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New OK Cupid ads by @toiletpapermagazine.

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Theme: Bloom [ A Simple Slide Out TopBar/Navigation Theme ] Preview | Code | Inspiration 

Navigation Button // Click the Grid/Lined Icon that is highlighted at the lower right of the sidebar image and the TopBar will slide open. Click the Icon again to close it.The TopBar content contains an Icon, Your Blog Name and Navigation Links. Icon that is being used (or if you want to change it) can be found here. https://material.io/tools/icons/

Description // The description shall be no more than two small lines. 

Post Width Options: 400px - 540px Only

Topbar Icon: 30px x 30px (100px Will Work Fine)

6 Custom Links (Main Are Intact)

Blog Title Input

Visible Post Info + tags

Via/Src Icons Show On Permalink Page

Optional Hide or Show Captions

Pagination At Bottom of Posts

Keep Credit Intact

Accent Color: Tooltips , Side Info (Day Of Week), Pagination, 

Theme Blog | Faq, Help, Theme Commissions & Premium Themes! Themes are optimized for Google Chrome!

Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768, will optimize for all screens! Credits  | PXU Photosets,  Material Icons

Please LIKE/REBLOG if you use or/and are using Keep Credit Intact, No using as base or redistributing

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theme Selene

preview | download

Terms of use

The theme I used previously on this blog but a little cooler than before. Reworked Moonstar.

Theme is responsive.

Features:

full width paralax header

tumblr dashboard style captions

Members section

Featured posts section

Social Section

responsive post width (max 700px wide)

Day Pages

search bar

tumblr reblog and like buttons

optional header text

Customize options:

Header image

dropdown pages links + one custom link

Optional navigation bg

Optional icon

chose colors of Text, Backgrounds, Navigation Background and Links and Accent color

chose size of the header (small, medium, tall), it’s background image position (top, center, bottom) and if it should stay fixed or not

show/hide Featured Posts section

chose post types of featured posts, type down heir dates, titles and add permalinks

add social links

chose if social and members section should be shown or not

chose if the header text (title and description) should be shown

show/hide navigation icon

add custom link label and url

add background to navigation on hide it

Additional notes and credits:

Credit for default header image goes to Studio 7042 on pexels.com.

The header might look different on different screen sizes so be mindful of that while chosing an image.

The header image should be at least 1900px wide so it will look nice on all screens. If the picture is too big, use online picture compressors.

Some things may look weird in tumblr editor. Please make sure to check in new window if everything works fine.

Credit for resizing of videos goes to Nouvae.

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I made a theme: Crayon Theme

Features:

Responsive 2 column grid theme

Customizable column width

Multi-colored overlay effects

Infinite scrolling

Masonry 

Custom color schemes

Custom link support

Tag support

Preview / Download

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I made a theme: Minimal Desktop Theme

Preview / Download

Features:

Custom colors

Custom links

Responsive grid theme

Looks like a desktop, but minimal lol

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Today, I photographed my accessory on my model. I am really pleased with the turn out of my images. Although the accessory was a little loose on my model as my original model was unable to make it last minute and so though the measurements were slightly off, the images have conveyed my concept successfully. The outdoor lighting really works well against the satin red backdrop to beautifully highlight areas on the model. My accessory seems to be the main focus of the images which was my main aim to show entrapment of the body. I am really pleased with all of my images.

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Fashion and Art film.

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Fashion and Architecture

Architecture can be a huge inspiration in fashion design. Gareth Pugh and DELPOZO are just two of many designers who showcase visuals of architecture in their design. 

Rosie Assoulinis is another fashion designer and is well known for her feminine structured garments. The designer was influenced by an unlikely place for her Fall/Winter 2015 collection: a cemetery. “We were inspired by the Brion Cemetery by Italian architect Carlo Scarpa near Treviso, Italy,” Assoulin says. She told the several angles and lines, triangles, squares, and rectangles, are incredible blending harmoniously.

Womenswear designer Michelle Smith takes inspiration from Zaha Hadid’s architecture. “There is something mesmerising about her work. It’s forward-thinking but organic. There is a clean and sculptural fluidity to Hadid’s work that mirrors the way I design,” says Smith. In her Spring/Summer 2016 collection, it is obvious the garments have been inspired by Hadid’s architectural structures To mimick the perfect balance achieved in much of Zaha Hadid’s architecture, heavy cotton fabric was used to give the sculptural oversized sleeves support while maintaining a softness.

Our brief was to explore the college building, taking photos of architectural structures surrounding us and using the shapes, silhouettes and patterns as inspiration for our designs. Using our sourced images, we were to design a structural garment inspired by our architectural findings. When creating potential designs, I focused on the geometric properties of the structures I photographed and produced linear designs. Within my designs, as shown below, I referenced the stairs and the triangular shaped raised-windows.

We were then set the task of creating one of our designs entirely out of cardboard. This proved a different material to work with due to it’s thick coarse material and it is hard to connect panel together without tying them together. Also, it was difficult to create a wearable garment out of cardboard as this isn’t a material people tend to wear.

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Fashion in the future

With ever changing advancements in technologies, the fashion industry is constantly driven with modern ways of designing and making. The new technologies allow customers to express individuality in ways which people could only dream of perhaps ten years ago. 3D printing, laser cutting and smart materials are just a few to name of the many advancements in technology. 

3D printing is a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of making clothes as it leaves zero waste oppositely to designing using textiles. The printers can make everyday objects ranging from sculptural pieces to fashion garments. Firstly, a design is created on a PC and is then sent to the modern printer. 

To create the design, a design will first be created using a computer aided design program. Then, the printer will use a thin layer of powder and a thin layer of binder to make the powder stick together and repeat this process to create a 3D object. Fashion designers which have begun using 3D method of creating are Danit Peleg and Iris Van Herpen.

Dutch designer, Pauline van Dongen, has a range of clothing on which he has integrated solar panels. When not needed, the panels are well hidden and the dress looks just normal, with just a little bit more style than usual. When the sun comes up, the clothes unfurl to reveal solar panels while still managing to maintain style. The coat has 48 solar cells while the dress has 72 solar cells. After an hour in the sun, the clothes harness enough solar energy to charge your Smartphone.

This is a great example of how technology is allowing us to design more innovatively.

To develop this concept into our work, we had to work in a team to design and develop a new brand which at the end we would present and pitch to an audience. We were assigned to work with 3D printing. Whilst researching the technology, we noticed that you are able to print whatever you want whenever you want and all you need is a specialised printer and a CAD program.

3D printing allows the consumer to create and design their ideal outfit as a bespoke piece, made to measure and truly fit the unique shapes of individuals bodies.  You can construct thousands of interconnecting components which are both linked and articulate to create a substrate that is both structural and has fluid movement.

Together, we decided to name our brand ‘AXIS’ and we decied on the following;

-target market//21-25

-gender//female

and others that can be seen in the image below.

We then designed some illustrations using 3D printing and showcased the brand and designs to the class answering any questions they had about 3D printing.

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Fahion and Art

The Oxford dictionary definition of fashion is the latest style of clothing, a hair decoration or behaviour and the definition of art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. This is what separates the two from each other.

A lot of fashion designers deny that fashion is art. Fashion serves a functional purpose of clothing the human body and protecting it from the environmental elements and therefore cannot be art. Fashion products are produced on a mass basis and are merely a commodity to sell and make profit from. Art, on the other hand, whilst also commercial in some aspects. is created in an almost light-bulb moment by the artist.

The Art of Denim - Dan Vient

“I am against museums and exhibitions in fashion. One woman said to me — ‘In my world, the world of art’ — so I said: ‘Oh, don’t you make dresses anymore?’ A thin smile and then: ‘If you call yourself an artist, then you are second-rate.’” -Karl Lagerfeld tells the Telegraph

Many other designers agree on this with Karl, just to name a few; Prada, Marc Jacobs,  Comme des Garçons’s Rei Kawakubo, CoCo Chanel and  Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey.

On the other hand, Valerie Steele, fashion historian and director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who regularly lectures on the topic of whether fashion is art, disagrees.

“A lot of fashion designers deny that fashion is art, then that would make that very difficult for other people to announce that it is when you’ve got people at the caliber of Karl Lagerfeld and Miuccia Prada and Rei Kawakubo saying, ‘no it’s not art.’” -Valerie Steele tells ARTINFO

The late Alexander McQueen is one of few designers to consider fashion as art. Throughout his career, McQueen developed a reputation for his shock tactics and controversial garments such as his collection named ‘Highland Rape’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnA3XR5apQg

McQueen has been credited with bringing drama and extravagance to the catwalk. He used new technology and innovation to add a different twist to his shows and often shocked and surprised audiences. In his S/S 1999 show, Mcqueen creates a one of a kind dress live using two paint guns and a model on a rotating model wearing a white dress for his blank canvas. He did not consider this as just a fashion piece, but as visual performance art.

“[The finale of this collection] was inspired by an installation by artist Rebecca Horn of two shotguns firing blood-red paint at each other.” -“Style,” South China Morning Post, September 2007

Some designers sit on the fence when it comes to separating fashion from art.  Pierre Bergé, co-founder and partner of Yves Saint Laurent believes that whilst fashion is not art, some of the biggest designers to name are artists.

“Fashion exists only when it’s worn by women otherwise, it is nothing. It’s not an art. But Yves Saint Laurent was an artist, like Balenciaga was an artist. And Chanel, too. And Christian Dior, too. And Schiaparelli was an artist. Fashion is not an art.” -Bergé told ARTINFO earlier this year.

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Gender Identity

Gender causes a lot of debate in areas such as jobs, the way we look, act dress… but can it be truly subversive when it comes to fashion? The answer is yes. There is no gender ‘norm’ as such when it comes to fashion.

For many years people have used fashion as a way of being artistic and expressing themselves label free. It is a way in which people show there eccentric individual flare yet still there is still a cap on what is seen as socially acceptable by the majority. For example, a girl walking around in a pair of shorts and a bikini would be frowned upon only for a man, to walk around topless in the summer is the normal thing to do.

In the recent years, generations are growing up with much more open minds and less people are stuck in old fashioned ways of thinking a girl must dress in a certain way and same for a boy. More open minds means that people are dressing how they truly want to without feeling ashamed.

A major example of this is Grayson Perry. Perry is a famous artist well known for creating textile pieces such as ceramic vases and for openly cross-dressing. From a young age he knew he wanted to wear women’s clothes whilst at the same time he knew he wasn’t gay.

Although his father disowned him once his step-sister discovered his ‘tell-all’ diary, Perry went on to have several girlfriends, find marriage and have children. This defy’s the usual stereotypical, if you want to dress in feminine clothes then you must be gay.

“Just because you don’t have a dress on doesn’t stop you being a tranny, in the same way as, if you’re not in bed with a man, it doesn’t stop you being gay.” Interview by Simon Hattenstone for the Guardian, 8th October, 2014.

Janelle Monae is another modern artist of today who refuses to succumb to societies expected standards and ignores gender labels in fashion. She is often pictured attending red carpet events in tailored suits aswell as her music videos and concerts. Her androgynous flair for tuxedos and a monochromatic color scheme reads as an active resistance of both gender and race.

“It’s always been about being in control of our bodies or our image. I see nothing wrong with showing skin or wearing a tuxedo. I just think it’s up to the artist and the woman. There should not be any pressure that they apply to themselves because of media, men or women.” -Janelle Monae for The Huffington Post

Designers are now more commonly trying to cross ties between feminine and masculine way of designing adding pleats and shapes to male clothing and giving female clothing more of a box fit for example. This can be seen in the ‘Hood by Air’ Collection AW16 by the designers Shayne Oliver. He uses a lot of box style dresses and jumpers adding shape to them through pleating ad darts creating unisex garments.

Using this knowledge, we were then set the task of creating a truly unisex garment illustrating my understanding of gender and perception. To do this, I bought a male shirt, cut off the sleeves, cropped the top and placed darts under the arms on the front and on the shoulders on the back to give the top more shape. To finalise the top, I added a delicate blue and white striped collar to cross together stereotypical traits of male and female garments making the shirt unisex.

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Sustainability

A sustainable approach to fashion design is to effectively cater to the increase in demand due to population growth but always keeping in mind the preservation of the earth for future generations. Land squash is a major issue right now, this is where the world seems to be getting smaller due to the never ending increase in population. Whilst land squash increases, the hectares of land per person is decreasing rapidly.

To cater to the needs of today, we need to find more sustainable approaches to help preserve the earth for future generations.

MEDC’s such as America sell over $1,000,000,000 worth of clothing worldwide per year. That number is projected to double by 2025 whilst currently consumers dispose of 80% of their unwanted textiles and clothing directly to the landfill. During the manufacture process, almost 15% of fabric used is thrown in the waste as it is considered as ‘scraps’. These scraps are considered useless as they are too small to be sewn into other garments.

It has been quoted from Papanek, 1893 pg46

‘most things are not designed for the needs of the people, but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to the people.’

Zero waste design produces garments that have no waste fabric and is considered a more sustainable approach to fashion design. Zero-waste design has been around for many years and can be seen in the designs of kimono’s and sari’s.

The reduction in waste makes for a much more sustainable approach to the manufacturing process for many reasons; there is less pollution from pesticides locked within the materials, less dye pumped into the water systems, less water diverted and also less greenhouse gas is released.

There are two approaches to zero waste designing being; zero waste pattern design which means the full width of the fabric is used by careful pattern tracing, as demonstrated by fashion designers including Julian Roberts and Holly McQuilan, and zero waste manufacturing, Issey Miyake and Alabama Chanin are some famous designers who use this approach. Here, waste is often eliminated by using the off-cuts in future garments.

Today, we were given the task of creating a wearable garment embodying zero waste design principles. We were given a length of fabric where we had to use 100% of the material. We were also given a theme to focus our design on. Mine was ‘Futurism’.

When researching futurism, it was immediately obvious that to create a futuristic look, I had to use bold shapes and almost disguise the body in a dysmorphic manner. There was a consistent theme of strange structural shapes which i focused on as my main inspiration.

I decided to design a hooded cape garment as this was my favourite of my futuristic designs. The over-sized hood morphed the head into almost a cone shape. The excess material left from the cape and hood was then made into ruffles to give the shoulders more shape and dimension.

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Semiotics

Semiotics is the use of signs or symbols to interpret meaning. It revolves around visual signs but can also include words, sound and body language.

Amongst many semioticians, Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss, 19th century, linguist and semiotician, is the one of the most renown. Saussure defined sign as,

‘The sign is the whole that results from the association of the signifier with the signified.’

Saussure noticed how each language interprets it’s own language with the use of different signs and symbols making up different alphabets. For example, the word ‘Welcome’ uses different symbols in Chinese or Japanese as it does French.

Saussure had his juniors write a book based on his students lecture notes called ‘Course in General Linguistics.’ In the book it states that,

‘Language is a system of signs that expresses ideas.’

Semiotics is the systematized body of knowledge that carefully observe and study not only the signs, symbols and their meanings but also other factors that affect them such as the interpretation or culture.

Signs and symbols are not only limited to visual representation but can also vary from language, shapes, colors, textures, clothing, to actions, gestures, mannerisms, and facial expressions. For example, we automatically know how to react to certain colours of a traffic light as this is a sign that has been established by cultural convention over time. It requires unconscious cultural knowledge to understand it’s meaning.

In class, I worked on the theory of semiotics  using the medium of collage to create subversive adverts from magazine cut-outs.

I was set the task of creating 3 adverts that will create meaning and influence the opinion of my viewer which will also practice the theory of semiotics. My first advert focused on a very feminine colour scheme being red and pink. I found an article in September Vogue 2016 dedicated to breast cancer where I also found the well known pink crossed ribbon. To play on this, I added two girls from a Treseme advert in which we meant they are stating break the rules. I interpreted this as ‘you are still beautiful and feminine with or without your hair. Your hair does not define you’. This was the main message.

My next piece of work featured a collage of luxurious items from a range of magazines. The quote taking centre stage of the advert reading,‘too much is never enough’ was taken from a luxury advert featured in Elle March 2016.

To play on the quote, I created a collage of jewels surrounding the quote almost engulfing or drowning it. This clearly is to contradict the quote and putting the idea across that too many luxurious items in one place can seem to much and takes shine away from items.

My final piece of work shows a collage of animals, fur and red to signify the killing of animals for fashion pieces.

The horrific shades of red cut into shapes representing blood dripping and animals lay among the blood symbolizes the horror that animals go through for the sake of fashion.

The collage features a high fashion image taken from October Vogue, which shows a model wearing what seems to be a fur/leather jacket. This showcases the cruel fact that animals are being killed and skinned simply for a fashion piece. The red also works as a double for symbolising blood whilst making the advert standing out as it is a high alerting colour which draws the viewers eye.