My Work

Here are close up photos of my final garments work in progress. I loved how my original heat transfer experiment turned out and decided to take this onto my designs. I mixed these rusted, earthy colours with orange, red, green and yellow. I used a paintbrush to drip and 'throw' paint to create the unplanned 'patina' style pattern. I am so pleased with how it turned out, I think it really represents the concept of Wabi Sabi.

I tried to replicate the striped pattern I saw not the tree in Sheen Common with fabric paints, I used some metallic paint (gold) to bring a 'luxury' contrast to a jacket that looked very unorganised and distressed. I added a lining to neaten the inside, and frayed most of the edges of the garment. Although it looks messy and unplanned, the fraying alone meant a line of zig zag stitching to stop the fray from going to far, so every 'accidental' detail was originally planned. So when I cut off the frayed edge at the back of the jacket my mistake I realised that the whole point of Wabi Sabi was embracing the imperfections and mistakes, this little error become hugely important to me as part of the garment, as it further portrayed the Wabi Sabi concept I was striving for.

 Close up of weaving and felting.

For my third garment I made a floor length shredded cotton muslin dress, I wanted it to look delicate and a lot like the cobwebs I had studied in my initial research. I also felted over the fabric to give a 'mouldy' look.

 I shredded and ripped up the fabric for the hem, an 'unfinished' looking detail. As if it had been neglected and worn over time.

Experimenting

 After looking at plaiting and weaving in Hussein Chalayan's work, I wanted to have a  go myself. Here are some pictures of my experiments. I like the way some of the weaving and plaits turned out, i would like to try incorporating this into my design ideas.

 Weaving different types/colours of fabric

 Plaits and braids

 Closeup of braid shows knotted texture, very strong and a bit too heavy looking

 More subtly braiding and plating, softer fabrics, creates a more worn distressed look, FRAGILE & DELICATE.

 Knotting together different fabrics, contrast.

Sheen Common

 I was walking in Sheen Common,  a local woodland and I came across this silver birch tree where all the bark was peeling off. I really like the broken/ruined textures and want to try and use this inspiration in my work.

Here is another tree trunk, where the broken section of the bark reveals the striped pattern beneath. This pattern could look really nice done in paint or ink, keeping a messy quality.

Shirley Buchan

Shirley Buchan, as part of a Textiles and Surface Design (BA Honours) Degree created these garments focusing on 'wabi sabi- the japanese art of impermanence.

I absolutely love this, it looks a lot like a cobweb and I love the way the fabric has been shredded and distressed. It looks very fragile and she has used colour very well, it is subtle and does not distract from the surface textures. 

THREADBARE, DISTRESSED, WORN, OLD, COBWEBS, SKELETON, FRAGILE.

This one is a lot more structured, overlap of the fabric in areas looks more planned, less random and 'accidental. The black looks a little harsh and prevents this dress from sharing the organic qualities with the first garment. I do like how felt has been built up over a net backing, it looks a bit like an old fishing net or a cobweb with pieces of leaves stuck in between the gaps.

RACHEL NIFFENEGGER

Rachel Niffenegger uses materials such as plaster, steel, epoxy clay, fabric, watercolor, dyes, and powdered pigments to create her artwork.

"Her delicate sculptures and shredded fabric works are unbelievably beautiful in their state of apparent decay, and the muddy/pastel palette is just killing me" Says Kari Breitigam on her blog http://oswearnotbythemoon.blogspot.co.uk/

http://oswearnotbythemoon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/admiring-rachel-niffenegger.html

Lin-Chung Huang

Lin-Chung Huang is a  MA Fashion Design Technology Menswear student at  london college of fashion. http://showtime.arts.ac.uk/linhuang

Its a beauty of things unconventional. "
(Koren, 1994:7, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets&Philosophers.)
He said:
I aimed to apply Wabi-Sabi spirit into my fashion collection, Wabi-sabi is about the hidden beauty around our life, it reminded me of the weathered houses around my hometown, they are forgotten with sealed memory, each mark and texture on them representing the tale of memory, they are formed into a beautiful installation in the landscape with nature. I feel something special in them and took many photos in a trip back home, they are very inspiring for me, this is where I had started .

The silhouette is based on that quality that wabi-sabi is about: Imperfect, Impermanent, incomplete. With the elements of deconstruction, the whole collection was inspired by wabi-sabi theory and from that, I started looking into the ruin architecture and the hidden details in the reverse tailor jacket. 

Hussein Chalayan

1993. Titled 'The Tangent Flows'  it consisted of clothes that had been buried in his back garden and dug up again.

Another good example of how the elements-Earth- can alter the textures and qualities of materials 

This rusted dress shares similar textures and colours with the ceramics I had looked at.