PIC 1

In the late 1960’s, the store Biba that was based in London had become the new face of fashion for the young generation. Its clothing type was inspired by the 1930’s and 1940’s, with the pinafore dresses, square headscarves and pale nude socks that were not seen since about the 1920’s.

I think that they had been inspired by natural form in their logo. The fluid and floral lines in the design represents a sence of naturalism. I feel that their distinctive black and gold label shows that you don’t need a bright, in-your-face design to stand out from the crowd and that a simple and more elegant design can sometimes create a better image for your store.

The curved lines and repeat pattern of the logo itself creates an organic look that may have been inspired by florals and more of the natural elements such as leaves and trees rather than animals and so on. Even though I don’t think that their logo represents anything other than florals, I think that their clothing and accessories does represent how another since of naturalism through their choice of fabrics and style.

Also, by becoming the face of youth fashion, I feel that this is another way that the company has related to natural form. I feel that in the time that this company was started in the 1960’s, more electronic devices were being introduced so natural form in designs was becoming less and less used in the design industry.

This purse was designed by Biba, it includes the gold logo with animal print all over.

I think that this purse was inspired by natural form because of the animal print. The basic shape of the purse makes you really concentrate on the design of the purse and creates a sophisticated elegant design with the fun and creativeness of the bold print.

By looking at Biba’s interior work, I have found that some of their work is geometrics. I think that this represents the era itself as machinery was starting to become more involved in the designing process. I think that by taking it back to basics and creating the natural feel to the pieces again, it shows that using natural form in designing does still happen.

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1203092/The-sexiest-shop-Earth-The-uproarious-story-Biba-store-defined-Sixties.html

When this ‘new’ fashion came onto the market, many women saw that the use of fabrics that could reach up to 22.8mtrs in length was very insensitive and ignorant as of rationing in the earlier years because of WW2.

Designers such as Christian Dior were creating beautiful dresses that would cause a controversy between the women of this time. Feminists believed that this style of dress was a step backward into Elizabethan times when the most desirable women wore corsetry and had the ‘hourglass’ figure.

This 'New Look', i think, was inspired by the natural form of a woman's body, this is evident in the more exaggerated and more over-the-top look to the garments. Women's body's were distorted into this British victorian-styled shape rather than the more natural softer shape in which their bodies actually looked. I believe that this 'new' shape was a rebellion against the straight cut, basic cut that was worn in the period of WW2 when women had to become part of the working society.

I feel that through learning about the suffragettes and how corsetry was so restricting and how it relates to natural form or not in my previous reports, I have acquired a good knowledge of the way that fashion has changed and developed through the different eras. In this era however, I think that the fight that women had to go through to get their own rights against a male-influenced world and the tight, restricting clothing was entirely discarded when designers created this new style of fashion.

During the years, this style of dress was slowly rejected and women wore a new type of fashion where they could wear exactly what they wanted, a more fluid and natural style of clothing. I think that this was a huge step in the breakthrough of women’s rights as they were now able to make up their own minds and to not have any uncomfortable, ill-fitting clothing that would stop them from carrying out everyday tasks. I feel that by women being able to choose their own clothing, it showed how the world was slowly accepting that women did belong in the working industry and they were not just ‘prizes’ or ‘servants’ to men and people to be looked down upon and that they were a vital part of the working-class system.

This dress, created by Christian Dior in 1947, was influenced by The ‘New Look’. It consists of a tiny waist and larger bust area and bottom. This dress is, in my opinion, a step into the past as the clothing looks quite constricting, although very stylish and feminine looking, I feel that it takes fashion back to the time when it was okay to restrict women into the smallest size possible. I also feel that women had lost their power somehow after fighting so hard to gain rights and the power to vote. I feel that these types of garments really show how men were still influencing women’s lives in this time. I do feel that this garment is inspired by natural form as it is inspired by the natural shape of a woman's body but has been altered and changed to create more of a fashionable look. the garment as a whole does not look like it would have been inspired by the shape of a woman's body but once you think about the way the waist-line comes in and then out at the bust and bottom, there is a sense of naturalism within it even if it is an exaggerated one.

I have inserted a link to YouTube which shows the fashion in Paris at the time of The 'New Look'.

Surrealism In the 1930’s Inspired by Natural Form, PIC1

For this week’s lesson, I have taken an interest in the surrealist movement, how this affected fashion in the 1930’s and also how natural form has influenced fashion and textiles during this movement. I have chosen this subject because I find the quirky, fun feel of it to be very inspiring and find that it relates to the type of work that I enjoy doing. Most art work in the surrealist movement consisted of florals and very strange combinations including disfiguring animals and creating a more extreme look everyday objects. Natural form plays a large part in this movement as aritsts wanted to rebel against the 'perfect' paintings before. They used natural objects and made them look un-natural which confused people at the time and created a contraversy. 

Surrealism developed from the Dada movement that occurred during WW1, this may be the reason to artist finding a new light and incorporating the beauty of nature in their work.

‘The First Generation of surrealists—Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon and others, founded the movement in the 1920’s.’ Fashion and Surrealism - Richard Maritn.

The Surrealist movement influenced a variety of things including music, painting and fashion. Fashion during this time was heavily influenced, dresses were embellished with surreal images and were given a new quirky look. By using nature and natural objects in art and fashion in a surreal way, it makes the piece more interesting for the viewer.

By learning about this era, I have realised that the surreal movement is completely different to the subjects that I have studied in the last two weeks where women were given restrictions on clothing and anything that was ‘out of the ordinary’ was frowned upon. In my research about the Suffragette’s, I learned that women started to wear more straight cut dresses and skirts with more freedom. Going from these types of garments to ones which completely turn fashion around and make it a piece of art is incredible. I have also found that surrealism is heavily influenced by nature as making natural objects surreal creates more of a creative and quirky feel and has had a massive effect on the fashion world.

Designers around this time were starting to move away from the straight cut, plain clothing that was introduced during WW1 and were beginning to introduce a new style that was very shocking to the public and gave women a completely different sense of fashion they were also introducing prints using screen and block printing in abstract shapes and colours, many being influenced by things such as trees and flowers.

This garment was designed by Vivienne Westwood who designs very sculptural and intricate clothing that represents the idea of surrealism.

This dress is inspired by natural form as it has intense detailing of feathers and is very colourful and eye-catching. It has extreme colour added to create more dimension and more interest. I love the layering of fabrics and the pencil skirt that is very fitted to the body to make the piece more formal whereas the feather shawl creates a more floaty, fun look, the two together create a diverse and individual style.

http://www.surrealism.org/

Pic 2, Report on The Suffragettes in 1910-1920

During this week’s lesson, I have learned about the suffragettes, I have taken particular interest in this as it relates to my report last week and was also a major part in the movement of the fashion industry as women started to become more aware of their rights and decided to remove the male influenced clothing such as corsets and petticoats to make way for another style of clothing when the First World War came, mass produced garments had to be made which brought a new look to women’s clothing, women had to be able to wear comfortable clothing so corsets and other restricting clothing were out.

  I feel that by learning about this era and the way that women had to fight to have rights relates to my topic last week of the ‘s’ bend corsets because  in the 1900-1910s, women had virtually no rights compared to men and were expected to wear corsets to make them look the idea of beauty. The suffragette women wore colours of purple, white and green, these symbolised dignity, purity and hope, women who wore these colours in sequence were known as suffragette supporters.

To research further into this era, I looked at some designers and artists during this time to see if they are influenced by the suffragette movement and its effect on women’s rights or any other type of movement during this time.

Firstly, I looked at Coco Chanel and found this picture of the type of clothing that Chanel made. This style is very different from the type of clothing that women wore between 1900-1910, this is because between 1910-1920, the Suffragettes changed the style of women’s clothing by removing the corsets and all restricting clothing and introducing more free-flowing and comfortable clothing.

  Next, I looked at Jean Patou, I found one of his dresses with exquisite detailing of florals and swirls, this dress must have been an evening dress as it shows amazing detailing. It also follows the same trends as the dresses created by Coco Chanel with the low waistline and high hem-line.

Lastly, I looked at the designer Sonia Delauney and her work from the 1920’s, I found that she used more extreme, spectacular techniques and colours on her clothing that wowed and shocked the public at that time, thus bringing in a new type of modern’ clothing, combining the styles of that time with more modern features such as the pattern and the contrasting bright colours. I love this piece as it shows a more intense take on fashion and also completely moved the fashion of that time in a completely different direction by being daring and experimental.

  http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/suffragettes.htm

‘S’ Bend Corset V Empire Revivalism in 1900-1910

I’ve decided to take an interest in ‘S’ bend corsets and compare them to the Empire revivalism which changed the shape of women’s silhouettes completely as I found this most interesting when learning about the fashion between 1900-1910.

The ‘S’ bend corset was in high fashion from 1901-1910, the most extreme types of these corsets were worn around 1904-1905 which constricted the organs and the lungs of women often causing them to faint and would restrict their breathing. These types of corsets were known as “the most dangerous style to wear.” –Marion McNealy (The S Bend in Context). This type of corset would also be called the ‘Gibson Girl’ as they were idolised as having the perfect S bend silhouette. Women’s bodies completely changed after wearing these corsets for a prolonged period of time, their abdomen was pushed back, the breasts were pushed forward and the back was arched. In my opinion, the whole idea of the ‘S’ shape silhouette was influenced by male opinion as the ideal of the female figure is an hour-glass shape which the ‘S’ shape corset achieved. By learning about the corsetry, I feel that women were very restricted and were not given a life that they could enjoy as beauty would take over by male influence.

By researching about the ‘S’ bend corset, I have found a certain element that I like about the corset, I feel that the silhouette that was achieved from wearing the corset was beautiful but on the contrary, the pain and suffering that women had to withstand to create these figures was appalling. I think my final thought about the corset is that it is awful because of the way that women had to cope with restricted breathing and ill health.

When researching into the period of 1900-1910, I also found that there was another movement in fashion called the empire revivalism which brought less tightly-laced corsetry into tact and also, relieved women of their restrictions of being a certain silhouette to look beautiful. It also shattered the idea of women being incapable of performing tasks as now there was more movement for women and more freedom.

My comparison between the ‘S’ bend corset and the empire revivalism eras is that both were extremely different but both gave beautiful bodily figures to the women. The main differences are the health problems of the ‘S’ bend corset compared to the empire revivalism, I feel that women gained more of a life to live when the empire revivalism was introduced as they were given a lot more freedom and more rights for themselves. Also I feel that when the empire movement was introduced, the men had less control over what women wore and less control over women altogether.

I have decided to pick Jean Paul Gaultier as my designer as he has previously designed a range of corsets that were inspired by Victorian corsetry but had a modernistic look.

The Materials that seem to be used in this garment may be a type of metal to hold the structure of the piece. I see this piece to be more of an artist statement rather than a fashion garment as it makes a statement and is definitely only to be worn on the catwalk.

I love the colours that Gaultier has used in this garment as they relate to the modernistic elements but also, the structured form stays with the inspiration of the Victorian corsetry.