Saturday, December 18, 2010

Letting Go Of The self

My final for my Fashion Textiles class was create a garment that communicates something.

Sounds simple. And it should be. Except that I have this habit of putting way too much meaning into my work. Which I guess is a good thing. But sometimes it just becomes overwhelming for me.
So I decided to communicate nothing. I was going to put embroidery hoops on my garment and embroider nothing inside.

I began the process of draping. And was blocked for hours. It was then I decided to not think at all, and just do what felt good to me, what was fun.


So the hoops were on, and I began to pleat the fabric around the hoops. Because it felt good and was fun. It totally disoriented the plaid, which was fun and cool to me. I later stitched the pleats. Oh yeah I also decided to not go crazy with pushing this idea, just stop when I was ready. That whatever was there was good enough.


And I did that. And then I just decided to take off the hoops. And a glorious drape occurred. Ok so the hoops were part of the process, not the end result.


I had to let go: let go of the process, let go of my self, let go of my thinking of what I thought this garment should look like, let go of the idea that I had to have the best garment, let go of the hoops. And the end result was way different than I could have ever planned. Way better really. And oh-my-God I had way more fun.

The process:

The final garment:

Detail:
(the above hoop is an homage to the process)

Accompanying drawing:

2 comments:

  1. i am incredibly impressed. you are a long way from arm warmers here. i LOVE the embroidery hoop as back detail. am also in love with the whole aesthetic of your illustration. did i tell you luca knows how to sew and helps my sister with her embroidery? he darned his own bean bag yesterday (with a tiny bit of help). x.o.

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  2. I am aghast at all the detail, the draping, stitching, buttons and the embroidery hoop in the back! I love it! The perfect surprise and homage to such a stunning piece.

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