Project outcomes & Personal Development Reflection Blog
Nowthat the project has finished, reflecting back on it… I can say that it was a project that allowed us to express our style and how we interpreted words and adjectives that would be used when describing and referring to characters. Zooming out, we were assigned to take the story of Hensel and Gretel, pick a character and design a costume for them, I instantly connected with the task as I really enjoy designing and creating. I felt this task would show the different roots everyone would take whether it is a more Avant Garde approach or more simplistic yet expressive approach, bold colours, more neutral colours etc.
To begin we were given 2 headings to incorporate into our design, one being style and another being continent , I decided to picked African and theatre which would add a different narrative and context when it comes to designing as the original story isn’t based around those 2 headings. Upon the choice we were fortunate to visit the British museum and that national theatre, where we received more visual inspirations and idea’s. I was able to grasp design ideas which helped with my result.
Lastly, we was then set a task which would be the last piece of work to then design a costume for our character, which in my case was Gretel. I really wanted to incorporate my own style and approach and wanted it to stand out from the other, so I ensured that I mixed elements from the time period as well as giving it a modern coating. With my overall end product, I was proud of it .. I felt like it was very fashion yet you can tell there is a storyline within it. Components like the braids in her hair tapped into the cultural aspect , the dramatic clothing tapped into the theatre aspect, the pink and blue on the garment insinuated a innocence within the character and the gritty, army colour and print indicated the quality of life
I think this unit definitely taught us to connect with ourselves more and show how different we are from each other ,and how the simplest words have such a different interpretation when its approached by different peoples mindset and way of thinking. As fashion student I believe it’s important to ensure you have something unique and different to offer the industry.