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Evaluation For Signature Project

The original idea I had for my signature project was to create an Asian wedding dress, inspired by origami, a move away from the traditional heavily embellished and draped outfits of the culture. I wanted a more structured outfit, a showstopper that would catch the eye because of its size and dimensions. Grand architecture was a further point of inspiration, with buildings such as that of Gaudi and the Notre Dame cathedral. In turn, I swayed more towards the massive buildings of London, particularly 30 St. Mary Axe (otherwise known as 'The Gherkin') and The Shard. I sought to incorporate these buildings in my piece, merging it the work of my favourite designer (Christian Dior) to create the ultimate origami wedding dress.

To begin my journey, I researched the origins of origami, however, I discovered that it is unclear whether the art had been derived from Japan or China. I eventually made various origami samples of my own, placing them on a mannequin in order to develop a structured design. From this point I also began to create my own sketches, following the mannequin developments, to further attempt to concoct an idea for my final piece. To continue my research, I also looked at Chinese and Japanese designers, such as Guo Pei, who had also created grand dresses with elements of origami. It was only after creating Rihanna's Met Gala 'omelette dress' that she was discovered, and became world known for the dress with the extensive trail. Now, Pei is a member of the elite couture line. Textile designers such as Camilla Diedrich also guided me, but through techniques of laser cutting, of which I experimented with. I made numerous samples such as the blossom tree and my own laser cuts, however I made the choice to not use this in my final design, as I didn't feel that this related to my theme or story. My focus was structure, rather than texture.

Another designer I looked at was Iris Van Herpen, who used Gaudi's architecture as inspiration to create her stunning pieces, a goal that I sought to achieve through the buildings of London. Other elements of architectural fashion that I looked at were Dolce and Gabbana's recreation of the Notre Dame Cathedral. I created my own sample piece using this as inspiration to enhance my use of embellishments, however I soon discovered that an excess of these would risk ruining the structure of my piece, due to its weight, and made the decision that my final piece would only include lighter embellishments, so the dress would not drape or weaken.

I moved back to the elements of Japanese and Chinese culture, looking at the cherry blossom tree, where I created samples of the cherry blossoms. However, these were less rigid and lacked structure, their soft nature made it difficult to be able to use the flowers themselves in my final design. However, the branches of the tree seemed more stiff and strong, giving me the idea to use this as an enhancement to my building inspired piece, via embellishments, a concept which I will further explain later on.

Having made a trip to London earlier this year, I had a range of images of the stunning architecture, and I chose to experiment with both modern and Victorian structures of the city. By this point, I knew I wanted to make a grand red dress (in line with traditional asian culture) that would resemble one significant architectural piece in London. Initially I thought that this would be The Gherkin, however after making various samples through embellishments, origami and laser cuts, I didnt find this to be as extravagant as I wanted. All of my created samples are presented through a sketchbook that I have added my own personal touches to, as the project progressed. Extended drawings, uses of different fabrics, origami pieces, sketches, manipulated images are all included in this to further present my thought process as my journey developed. I moved on to looking at The Shard, and found this to be the perfect building that would enable me to create sharp, structured origami pieces, particularly its peak point that became heavily featured in my final garment.

When creating my design, the weight of my origami pieces across the garment were flattening the grand skirt that I wanted for my dress, therefore, I had to rethink my design. To highlight the inspiration of the garment (that originated from The Shard) I chose to emphasise the peak point through a more 3D structure, rather than a flatter look of the entirety of the building. Hence, the design of the dress included the structured bodice that would accentuate the highest point of the building, making the garment far more eye catching and prominent. Accidentally, I stumbled upon a beautiful organza fabric that included gold threaded designs, resembling the branches of trees. When looking at my primary images of The Shard, the trees surrounding the building from beneath cowered in magnitude compared to the amazing building. It only stressed the grand nature of the architecture, and I refused to leave the bottom of my dress bare. Hence I used the gold thread to embellish the hem of the dress, to mirror the actual image I had taken of The Shard. The threading had little to no weight, and thus I avoided the problem of my dress draping and losing its structure.

In my opinion, the final garment was not what I initially anticipated, however, after making changes to the positioning of the structure of the dress, I can say I am satisfied with the outcome. If I were to remake this dress again, I would also include the showstopping trail, of which I couldn't complete due to circumstances and a lack of fabric. I feel as if this would only add to the gown being an eye catching piece, from every point of view.

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SKETCH BOOK PAGES

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SKETCH BOOK PAGES

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SKETCH BOOK PAGES

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Final Images Of Completed Garment

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Images Of Signature Garment Completed

SKETCH BOOK PAGE

I created a whole page in my sketchbook to relate to my final outcome. On this page I incorporated everything that inspired me to create my final piece.

For me this is the page that best describes my overall concept, what I wanted to achieve, what I wanted to incorporate, how grand I wanted my garment to be and what truly inspired me to create my final show stopping garment.

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Embellishments repositioned

The decision for adding the gold embellishments to the hem of the skirts was for one main reason after changing my design. That was so that the focus wasn't taken away from the extravagant structured bodice. Adding the embellishments to the hem of the dress gave it a beautiful elegant finish as well as giving the structured part of the dress the emphasis on how big the Shard building is in comparison to the trees or that of a cherry blossom tree with just its branches.

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New Design & Development Of Final Piece

As I progressed with my design I felt that if I wanted to emphasis on the peak point of the Shard I want it to be extravagant and have a 3D look.

To execute this idea I placed 4 of the oragami pieces to form a pyramid on the one side of the shoulder. Then placed the rest of the oragami around it to embrace the peak.

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Change Of Final Design

I decided to make a drastic change to my final piece. I did this by removing the complete bodice from the base dress and create a more structured and architectural garment. By making these changes I will be able to take the weight of the oragami pieces off the skirt of the dress and allow the skirt to show off it's fullness, and re create the bodice using all the paper oragami to create a more structured and unique design. I kept the the full skirt as that was one of the key feature on my dress.

I also changed the layout of gold embellishments so that it would complement the rest of the design.

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Emphasis Of The Peak Point Of The Shard

The centre point of my garment was the peak point of the Shard so I wanted to emphasis this on my dress.

But after careful consideration looking at this design I felt it to be more costume related rather than architectural.

At this point I've decided to change my design. I still want to emphasis the peak point of the Shard but in a more architectural style than a costume design.

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Gold Embellishments Added

As my design is an Asian wedding dress having gold embellishments is a must. To complement the style, design and silhouette of the dress I decided on having a more simpler and lighter weight embellishment added. This would be a subtle gold thread manipulated to look like branches of a tree. I decided having this incorporated would also fulfill my desire of the cherry blossom tree I wanted to show as part of my oragami.

I had it flowing from the shoulder of the dress coming all the way down to the bottom in a curvy way to represent the River Thames next to the shard.

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Development Of Final Garment

As I'm progressing with my design I'm starting to notice that the weight of the paper oragami on the skirt is getting heavier. To resolve this I would have to add more netting to the under skirt to hold it up better.

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Changes Made The Silhouette

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Pattern Cutting For Skirt

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Final Design For Final Outcome

To represent the Shard I designed a full skirt to emphasis the lower section of the Shard. For the back I created three pieces of oragami pleated fans to highlight the peak point of the Shard. Next to the oragami pieces replicating the Shard I will add embellishments of gold thread resembling tree branches, I will place the gold embellishments in a curved way to represent the River Thames.

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Design Ideas Inspired By Oragami Paper Samples

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Development Of Final Outcome

After creating many origami pieces, I wanted to try and collate them together in order to create an abstract design that would aid me in the choosing of a composition for my final garment. My particular favourites of these pieces would include: the triangular element (representing The Shard) and the tulips, which I did admire the extensive 3D attributes of. From putting these pieces together, I was able to gain a more developed envisionment of my final garment, and what sections I would like to include in it.