The first step was a bit of planning and to go over where we were so far. We had spent some time with Nadim pulling out themes from the collection and deciding what our starting points should be for the project.
We decided to look at the way the clothes in the collection said something about the person who wore them and the way the fabric had been used to change the shape of the body. Within the collection there are pieces that hide or change the appearance of the figure, others that restrict or disguse. We wanted to look at the way these themes were still used in fashion today. We also wanted to exaggerate these ideas to make something that was more a costume that a piece of wearable clothing.
Firstly we looked a mix of designers and artists such as Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood and artists such as Rebecca Horn, Caroline Broadhead, Matthew Barney and Yinka Shonibare.
We decided to choose fabrics which showed the different cultures we all came from, Chinese Silks, African batiks, British Tartans, European Ginghams and Asian sari fabrics. The next task then was to go shopping!!
Sharma's in Victoria Market kindly let us take over and pull out dozens of rolls of fabric to look..
We started by choosing some chinese silks and then finding other fabric which went with them.
Native World on Alfreton road had a beautiful selection of Wax Batiks.
Choosing fabric collectively was tiring work but we made a good team and came back with an eclectic mix of fabrics. Here they are.
Lastly Nadim showed us techniques for Canadian smocking which we all had a go at doing.
All in all a very busy and productive day.