Blog 3
Reflecting on my Navigating Through Clothing Project Outcome and Personal Development
For my final outcome I chose to design a costume for the character of Gretel (Figure 1). I gravitated to her transformation from naïve young girl to the hero of the story and was captivated by her ability to protect her brother no matter the circumstance. I designed Gretel a costume that represented this side of her and found inspiration in powerful girls from pop culture. In particularly Pippi Longstocking, as a child I found Pippi to be a captivating character, her carefree and whimsical life was far from my own and her clothing perfectly echoed this. Pippi’s loose comfortable dresses and scuffed up leather boots allowed her to adventure freely and not be restrained. Gretel reminded me of the Pippi I adored growing up and took on board the idea that the costume should be loose and free-fitting, allowing the audience to be convinced that this is an outfit a young girl could go trekking through the woods in.
To help stimulate ideas the Navigating Through Clothing class was taken to the British Museum. There I came across the French painter Edouard Vuillard and his bold use of colour and illustration. I felt an instant adoration for his work and my final colour palette was influenced by his 1891 oil painting, The Flowered Dress (Figure 2). I settled on a bright lime green shade paired with a white and yellow striped under shirt. This bold choice of colour allows her to be spotted easily on stage and emphasises her playful side. Vuillard’s use of print and pattern also excited me and led me to create my own pattern for Gretel’s costume. Intrigued by the relationship the two children have with animals throughout the story I played tribute to the ‘little duck’ referenced at the end of the tale by illustrating several ducks and positioning them in a way which created a repeating pattern. This covers Gretel’s dress and adds a childlike component to the outfit.
When deciding what the costume should be made out of, I referred back to the Better Lives theme of sustainability and knew I wanted the dress to not have detrimental effect on the environment. I settled on cotton for both the dress and under body suit, as cotton is “sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable, making it an excellent choice as an environmentally-friendly fibre throughout its entire product life cycle.”. Also, I felt it was important for the actress who would play Gretel to feel as though she was wearing something comfortable and soft allowing her to immerse herself in the character and truly believe she could go on Gretel’s adventure in this garment. I thoroughly enjoyed this unit and believe it has opened my eyes to a side of the fashion industry I hadn’t previously considered.
References
Figure 1: Eleanor Parry-Hensley, 2020, Final Design of Gretel
Figure 2: Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940), The Flowered Dress, 1891.Oil on canvas, 38 x 46 cm. São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil.
- Anon, Cotton Sustainability: Frequently Asked Questions. Cotton and Sustainability Frequently Asked Questions. Available at: https://www.cottoncampus.org/Cotton-Environmentally-Friendly-Sustainability/ [Accessed April 30, 2020].
- Anon, Hansel and Gretel. Grimm 015: Hansel and Gretel. Available at: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015.html [Accessed April 30, 2020].
6th May 2020 @ 2:48 am
After looking through some of the blogs and reading about other students’ experiences in the other Better Lives projects, I have chosen to reflect upon Eleanor Parry-Hensley’s third blog post on her outcomes in the Navigating Through Clothing project.
Eleanor’s project outcome featured a playful design for Gretel that really captured the character’s traits while taking into consideration the impacts that come with the realization of her design. Drawing from the fairy tales and stories that she heard growing up, she was inspired to create a design that reflected the “carefree and whimsical” qualities of Gretel’s demeanour while allowing the costume to communicate strong female attributes. While many fairy tales feature princesses in need of saving, it’s refreshing to see a design that features a bright, dainty appearance without imposing any restrictions. By ensuring that the costume does not hinder the actress’s mobility, the characters are able to “adventure freely”, portraying more dynamic personalities that may inspire more diverse female narratives for future generations.
The illustrated diagram included with the blog shows the different components of her design as well as the thought process behind it. The duck pattern that Eleanor chose as a print pays homage to the two children’s interactions with wildlife in the story. This focus on the animals, in addition to creating a “childlike” appearance, also demonstrates the significance of nature and the need for the preservation of natural wildlife habitats. The importance of sustainability in the design was also highlighted in Eleanor’s reflection as she considered the material composition of the costume. Using cotton as a “sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable” material, would allow her to ensure that the production of her costume would create minimal impact on the environment. However, obtaining the materials from responsible sources would also help to ensure ethnic and socially responsible labour and practices throughout the supply chain.
One of my personal favourite aspects of this design is its practicality. As many costumes are often restrictive, too revealing, or overburdening on the wearer, this design values the importance of the actress’s comfort without sacrificing the design needs to portray Gretel’s character. By ensuring that the garment is made ready for expressive actions, it also allows the actress to “immerse” herself into the character’s narrative as if wearing custom armour made to prepare for an adventure. In doing so, Eleanor’s design also ensures the well-being of the people on stage, maximizing the positive impacts on all the groups involved in every aspect of the garment’s lifecycle. In her comprehensive blog post, Eleanor’s design and reflection demonstrates her understanding and implementation of all three of the Better Lives themes.
References: Parry-Hensley, E. (2020) ‘Blog 3 Reflecting on my Navigating Through Clothing Project Outcome and Personal Development’ myBlog 19/20 Better Lives SMC, 30 April. Available at: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/04/30/blog-3-5/
10th May 2020 @ 7:28 pm
It was really interesting to read through my peers’ blogs and see various creative outcomes has reflected on Better Lives themes.
Blog by Eleanor Parry Hensley where she has showed and discussed her outcome from Navigating through clothing seemed particularly interesting to me. In this project she has created a design for a costume for the character of Gretel.
It was really interesting to read that Eleanor looked back on her favorite childhood character – Pippi Longstocking which I believe has made her outcome more personal and meaningful.
Moreover, in her costume design she has also managed to reflect on their class trip to British museum where she came across Edouard Vuillard who was a French painter. We can clearly see in her colorful design a link to the style of his paintings. To me that shows that the student has successfully reflected on the learning process to which she has been introduced in class.
In addition to that, her costume has been made from cotton which can be considered as sustainable material as it is biodegradable and renewable. This can be referred to one of the better lives theme – sustainability. Something that nowadays creatives should always consider when producing a garment.
I think this outcome has been really successful as Eleanor showed the evidence of research and understanding of better lives themes in her final outcome. Also I really like that she has put something personal which made the costume design more artistic and meaningful.