I am who I am

It is that day after we returned back to Singapore, the first day after a week of no classes, that day when the real struggle begins, THE DAY WHEN I START MY TOILE!! Yes I know it was to be made the week before we left for Hong Kong but well sketching took forever and so the delay in toile making. 

The first look I thought I would make was the one with sequined sleeve and so the idea got bummed as I didn’t have the fabric ready. So I started with men’s wear look 5...

After tracing out the Pant blocks for master pattern, I edited the length of the pants and added/subtracted waist band from the pant and made the extra pieces like the pocket bag, welt, Zip fly and shield.

I faced issues while stitching both the zip and the welt as i could not recollect the right method of doing either one and I made the zip fly on the right side instead of the general left side (silly me forgot that the pant is facing me and will be a mirror image making the right and left different.) 

The pockets of the front had to be made wider and deeper as the shape was fine but it was difficult for me to put my hand in the pocket let alone a male model’s. Thus, I changed my patterns after making the toile fitting before cutting on my main fabric.

It took a while to understand the back welt pocket but once my friend explained it to me i got a hang of it and was able to make it without any glitches. 

The pants fit perfectly though the bottom hem looked too wide and so Joe suggested a push button or a tack on which creates a fake pleat which will add an element to the plain pants.

The cape jacket on the other hand took time to draft as i was confused whether to make a circular cape like a circle skirt or to make it in parts. Also, once the pattern was made I realized that it is too big for the fabric width and so the full circle wasn’t possible.

The cape was cut in muslin and was draped to see the fit after which the collar was to be made. Although the cape neck became too big while making the changes in the circle cape pattern and so the neck size on the patter was changed and normal shirt collar with a stand was drafted and made in muslin.

I thought the look went well together but I had not much time to finish the finishing and so i was disappointed in the way it looked. But I will work harder ad faster, and take more risks to make my collection look more appealing. 

Hong Kong trip was planned by the college since December 2016 and we were expected to finish our sketches by the end of January so that we have a rough idea of what fabrics, trimmings and embellishments to buy once we reach there. Also, this would be the first fabric sourcing trip for Indian students and so we were pretty excited and nervous about it.  We were briefed by Jay and Joe on the trip a few days before the trip in the first week of February and were given a map of the area that the market is in with a detailed information about the shops that they usually take their students to, we were also given sheets of papers to layout our sketches and to start pasting our swatches of things we are considering for our collection for them to see.

On the 12th of February, 2017 we began our trip by reporting to the Changi Airport at 5:30 a.m. The flight took 4 hours to reach Hong Kong from Singapore and both Jay and Joe had to accompany us as we were a large group of 40 students. We were supposed to sketch out 8 final looks and were to source for 9 garments, i.e., we were supposed to choose 1 design to repeat in the collection for later use.

Upon arrival at the hotel and checking in to the rooms allocated to us we all sat down to figure out the 9 looks. Especially for me the last look was still not decided and was imperative that it was put in the layout given to us by Jay and so I sat and sketched out one more women’s wear look. I have 5 women’s and 3 men’s wear in my collection as we weren’t allowed to make an equally divided men’s and women’s wear collection. My collection was based on Lucid dreaming and Surrealism and so the fabrics taken according to me should have been a mix of both stiff and flowy nature.

The first day in Hong Kong went by in making arrangements for daily travels, phone services and most importantly to lay out the sketches and start giving a thought to the fabric options and trimmings that might go well with the collection. Also, because it was the first day and a Sunday on the day we arrived we had the liberty to explore Hong Kong, shop and most importantly window shop and look at various available designer brands to see how they use their trims and buttons along with fabrics and textile manipulations to make their collection look cohesive and attractive to the eye.

We set out on our own to explore, see, understand and learn from the existing brands and make our own opinions on the way collections work. As it was our major collection all our decisions and perceptions should be calculated and well thought upon and so on returning to the hotel that night I reconsidered all my looks to make final changes before the final layout was set and we before we go to the market the next morning.

The reporting time in the lobby on 13th of February was at 9 a.m. and so we rushed out of our rooms by 8:45 to grab some breakfast and meet Jay and Joe by 9:00. There they briefed us about the MTR station we were to go to, i.e., Jordan, and which station to get off on, i.e., Sham Shui PO, and that we will be divided into two groups for convenience sake as we were a big group of students and the streets in the market are too narrow for all to fit at once.

We took the MTR and reached Sham Shui Po from where the market is about 2-3 mins walk away and on the way Joe showed us the different trim, embellishments, fabrics, even leather shops where we weren’t allowed to buy fur or leather from and most importantly asked us to keep in mind the YKK zipper shop at the beginning of the market for later use. The day flew by fast as we weren’t familiar with our surroundings and so it took us time to venture, explore and understand while at work digging out fabrics that we prefer for our collection.

By the end of the day each of us had over 20 samples to start our fabric sorting with, but most importantly for me it was a fantastic first day as I had rarely seen a market this size and fabric options available at this magnitude. There were over 100’s of different shops just for fabrics, not to mention the various colour availability and trims shops. Sham Shui Po was the heaven of fashion designers as well as hell as there was a lot of walking and if you do not know directions properly and are navigation impaired then getting lost should not come as a surprise, though each street is fairly sorted and labeled and shop numbers are written on the sign boards so it would be difficult to be lost there. After returning at the end of day one, we sat down and tried to sort out the fabric samples and put them up with the looks from my collection. Though it was very confusing I managed to allocate a few looks with fabric swatches before going to sleep.

The days that followed were more and more about fabric sourcing and ordering and checking availability. On day two, we all took a time slot and were supposed to meet Jay, but my time slot was in the evening and this would have wasted my entire day. Thus, I quickly did some more research on fabric samples and allocated various fabrics to the looks. I caught up with Jay during lunch where he agreed to see me for some time before he went off to see the other students. After looking at my fabric layout he suggested a few changes and made me consider to keep the sequin fabric as my main fabric around which all fabrics were to be based. Also, for one of the looks he asked me to collect trims/embellishments or even embellishment that will make up a lobster to make the garment look more appealing and fun.

After seeing Jay I had a fair idea of what has to be done and so I set out to order a few fabrics that Jay already finalized while look simultaneously for other fabrics. When I went to order my sequin they informed me at the store that it was out of stock and that if I wanted it they’ll make it but the minimum order will be for a 100 yards. This led me to go out on a search mission for the same or similar fabric for the rest of the day.

It was an unsuccessful attempt to search for a look alike fabric and so at the end of the day once back to the hotel I called up my parents I India and asked them to check if they have anyone who can be outsourced to make a similar fabric. Luckily my mother knew someone and she agreed to help out and talked to the embroiderer who asked me to send the pieces that I need embroidering and he will do it directly on it. Jay also agreed for it and made me reconsider the design for the sequin and we went ahead with the idea of the set Dali made for the movie Spellbound with the eyes of various kinds.

Some fabrics were readily available for me especially the ones that I bought from Moon Yue and I also got one of the fabric sampled for dye, though the dyer would take too much time to get my fabric ready and so I decided to do the dye by myself once back home in Singapore. The most difficult part of the entire trip was the communication barrier as we only knew English while the locals there had difficulties even understanding a simple question like what the price was of a fabric.

By the end of the third day we had almost figured out our fabrics and ordered every fabric and they would be delivered to us by Friday and so now it was time for trimmings and zippers. I managed to find brass shells that reminded me of lobsters and so bought them for creating a lobster on one of the garments and also, I sourced out islets and buttons for a few other looks. By 15th of February I was more or less sorted with my fabrics and trimmings and only zippers were left for the last day.

After finalizing all the fabrics and laying them out individually I was happy with the result on paper.

On 16th February, we were brought down to the industrial area of to The Woolmark Company where we were introduced to the wool making process that takes place in Australia of the Marino wool and how the sheep aren’t harmed in the process. They showed us the various uses of the sheep wool and the oil extracted from the wool. We also learnt about the water resistant wool fabric that was treated to the minimum and still will not absorb water upon pouring water on it. We saw videos and were asked to give feedback and also ask questions if we had any on the different sheep wool extractions that we saw.

After the presentation, we were met by Brain who was a former trainer at Raffles Hong Kong and so he was happy to have us there. He was the head of the Wool Lab also known as the research center of The Woolmark Co.

He explained to us his work as a researcher and how they layout trends to companies and designers and he gave us the permission to see and research for our own knowledge and understanding. It was an amazing learning experience at Woolmark and we ended our day there before returning to the hotel.

And it all starts again, from concepts to sketches to more sketches to fabric selections and so on so forth. It is time for the major collection as the term begins, and guess what?! We have Joe this time!, Lucifer save us (JUST kidding). As always confused with what to do, I decided on something that I have been a little too addicted to especially because I haven’t reached the end of it, thanks to the unfinished books and series, so I started digging into the infamous GAME OF THRONES for inspiration. Guess what, a boy named Brandon in the series is a skin-changer (someone who has the ability to transfer their conscious into an animal so as to see the world from their eyes). This gave me a direction to think. Lucid dreaming and Astral projection has always been a part of my life, giving me both guidance or scaring me. But both the ways it helped me with my major collection theme selection. (Jay almost shot me as I couldn’t explain it properly, can’t blame him either).

After discussing the concept with both Joe and Jay (in a less confused state), both of whose reactions were pretty similar on Game of Thrones, but after listening to the whole concept including the Lucid dreams and Astral projection, they agreed on giving me a chance to work on it. Well they should have shot me down, I am having hard time to think crazy (never done crazy things in life so....). Instead of getting too much into the concept of Astral projection and lucid dreaming, I’ll explain in short: Astral projection is when one leaves the human form behind after sleeping/meditating and goes wandering in a parallel universe also called the Astral plane, while lucid dreaming is when one dreams consciously and can make changes as they please (controls the dreams). 

The well known artist Salvador Dali along with Disney artist John Hench made a story board in the years 1945-46. It is a 6 minute short film describing the love story of Cronos with a mortal woman called Dahlia. It was titled rightly as “Destino” - spanish for destiny as almost all love stories between mortals and immortals are ill-fated and has no happy endings.

The story is depicted through the famous Dali’s Surreal paintings and has no dialogues to describe each frame, but it is so intense that any person will be both enchanted and lost in the depth of the story. Though, due to the financial issues faced by the then Walt Disney Studios after World War 2, the movies production was halted indefinitely till 2000 when the storyboard unearthed itself in front of Walt Disney’s nephew (MAGIC!)while making Fantasia 2000 and was finally released in 2003. 

This was a must watch suggested to me by Bryan when he saw my inspiration for major collection along with Schiaparelli’s autobiography “Shocking Life”.  Also, Jay suggested to look into the sets of “Spellbound” a movie by Alfred Hitchcock. Dali has come up with a set painted with eyes which sets a trance state for the viewer especially the way it is pictured in the movie. 

Brian: (thumbs up)

Me: In the rain with coffee...

Brian: (Evil smiles)

Me: (almost muttering) I love playing with babies and seeing them smile.

Brian: (shocked) A) I'm old, can't hear so talk a little louder & B) you know that sounds wrong right. it seems you like playing with babies... (smirks)

Me: (Speechless trying to gain my composure)LOL

Friday, week 1, Term 3, the key to enter the class: Phones are to be kept outside next to the door. No jokes! A futuristic approach to the technology that we possess today our trainer is infamous for his dislike towards technology in the world as in his words “It connects us to the world but disconnects us from the beauty and relations around us.” Well said Brian W. Frost. In love with his teaching and class since the first second I set foot in the class. 

The entire lesson we didn’t have our phones and we didn’t have our laptops which resulted in paying more attention to the class, making more remarks, having related and non-related (sometimes, don’t shoot me Brian) communications etc. But most of all, we all participated in the discussions language known or not known and laughed together, got to know each others likes and dislikes after studying together for 6 months. Also, we did not realize where time flew in the module time given because of the same reason. 

Yes, you might be thinking “who likes theory classes especially when it is about well global warming, effects on the planet Earth (which BTW is a very serious issue so no laughing) and most funnily our needs and wants and loves and hates! But hey, what will you know! Brian knows exactly how to keep all of our attentions focused on him, with his style his looks (killer at times) and most importantly he knows how to pick out that one student who isn’t paying much attention or is shy or less conversational in class. 

God never use, ACTUALLY, BASICALLY, NOW A DAYS etc. in front of him, trust me on this one, or in our matter our Tuesday class professor. He distastes these words from the bottom of his heart. Oh and how can I forget he loves MUSIC, reading and makes everything seem so nice fun and till a point entertaining. 

The fastest possible way of finishing my look was learnt while making look 4. Last week, tons of submissions and work, and here I was still fidgeting with the idea of look 4. The initial look was simple but with various panels on the top with a simple neck which did not look too alluring. After making necessary changes in the patterns and making sure that they were of the size required I cut the patterns on real fabric.

The texture took some time to stitch but overall the shell was prepared pretty soon and unexpectedly I liked the way the top looked. Though, the armholes of the top were left unfinished as I wanted to experiment with the way it looked unlike the rest of the looks. Also the hem of the top was uneven as one side of the zip was shorter than the other.

After all the looks were finished, I realized that I could have done a much better collection by experimenting more with the fabric and embellishments. Even then, I made it a point to make these 4 garments look as cohesive as possible to portray the theme of reinvention so as to lessen the amount of pollution caused in the world due to fashion. 

That’s how my movie was made in various takes and came to an end as a one collection that we call Capsule collection here in school. 

Its time for a break in between two terms, time to relax.... Nope that’s not how students work in our college, we had a few things to do in the break and guess what one of them was! Photo-shoot for our capsule collection. 

The best part about the photo-shoot was that it was my first time ever making a look book and making a photo shoot take shape. After contemplating options on location, photographer, model, make up artist etc. I narrowed it down and it was the time to do my photoshoot along with my friends. 

The look book is still under process but here are a few photo’s from the shoot which I might use for the final look book. Also, it was a very learning experience as handling everything, thinking of poses, themes and most importantly keeping everyone happy so that your work is not hampered. I had to make my look book better and more interesting as my garments were plain and my presentation before break did not go too well, so I decided to edit them by myself and try and make them interesting and more inspiring.

The look book will be uploaded soon on the blog. 

I got to tell you this before i jump into a description of look 3, there is barely time left before the final presentation and I am not able to decide which look to do 1st and so I am well acting like an explosive! 

Its the third last week of the term and by now with the schedule in mind I should have been done with look 3, But, me being a student (generally we are known to be procrastinators), well lets just say I should have listened to Jay when he was screaming out his lungs to be on time with the looks. Given the scenario, one thing I had optimism about, my look 3 as it had no fitting issues like the other looks leaving aside the exaggeration on the sleeves and its length. The necessary changes that were made in the front and back panels were minor and the reason why they were made is because the other looks were very much symmetrical and suddenly the toile of look 4 had asymmetrical style lines. The front panels were shifted below the waist line while the back panels remained at the same place as the ones in the toile. 

The collar was also changed from the ribbed collar to a simple neckline with finishing and also sleeves were accessorized by inverted pockets back pockets. 

After the look was completed I realized that it will fit properly as an oversize jacket dress with exaggerated long sleeves in the petite section but will be a fitted dress with normal long sleeves to a model or tall women like myself. 

That’s a step closer to finishing the collection finally and so i was excited to do look 4 and see how the collection looks together.

Out of all the 4 looks finally selected, Look 2 was the first made in toiles that were formed last term. The top was fairly made, but after making the toile Jay pointed out to me a puckering that was occurring due to the fabric being on bias and so we added a small dart on both sides at the armhole. Also the front was divided into 2 parts, the top and the bottom panels were different as a style element along with use of textures on the top panel.

Again laying out the patterns was a bit difficult as the hem of the top was to be cut out of the waistband and had to be managed in the denim available to me. Also, after the patterns were cut in the real fabric and stitching the darts in the front, the top stretched puckering even more than it did in the toile due to the stretch present in the denim. This called for adding more in the darts to make it fit the mannequin and look more graceful than done haphazardly. 

Patterns were fine for the skirt except the length and shape of the center back and so i had to re-make the last skirt panel pattern to straighten the hem and to increase the length of the skirt. Not that the skirt has a symmetric style line or panel but after the first look at the toile I realized that not only the hem is looking unattractive at the back but also was too slanted towards the waits line and made it look shorter than it actually was. (One doesn’t want too much exposure do they?!). 

That is how look 2 came to be and i was relieved that there were only 2 more looks left, but as usual i dreaded the mistakes I must have made while making the toiles. So while making look 2 I also managed to point the mistakes out in the other looks so it takes lesser time to alter and make them in the limited time left for us in this term.

Well all the competitions so has been revolving around the idea of making it personal or making something that makes some connection to us. This time was no different except this time it was LEVI’S!! (can you believe it!!) 

Yes yes, the same denim company that is famous for its rivets on the pockets apart from the obvious comfort, fit and quality of denims. To add to the fun and excitement to the competition, the winner will be given a paid 10 week internship in summer 2017 at the HQ of Levis in San Francisco! 

Believe it or not, its a fact and to cross check it you can go to the Arts Thread website and see. None-the-less, because we had to make a collection for the brand obviously there is a lengthy process to it. This meant thinking of a theme, making mood-board and searching for inspiration sketches and illustration. Also, they wanted an entire package including packaging idea’s, store layout etc. The final line-up required around 4-8 garments, though it was up to us to make it for whoever (and by whoever means all modern genders and age!) 

When I were to discuss my theme with Jay, the realization struck me, I HAVE NO IDEA! In a span of 5 mins and biting a few of my nails off I came up with an idea of Graffiti on denim. (Also thanks to Singapore and its wonderful artworks, the likes of the one below).

There are competitions that takes place in Singapore for graffiti and it, according to me, is one of the best ways to communicate, express and make an impact in the society. 

After taking forever on the mood-board, I started making the inspiration and trend board to get an idea on what all to sketch for the collection.

Then it was a matter of time that the final line up came about and I stuck to the colours of the mood-board as the colour palette of this collection.

As mentioned earlier they wanted an entire package, though I managed to only do the packaging ideas part out of it. 

Not to forget the customers (obviously they are not selling to ghosts, how lame to even think there won’t be a Tribe/Customer Board.)

Finding used old denims was difficult, especially because mostly people throw away old clothes immediately after buying new ones. But managing to buy old denims from second hand markets and collecting a few from friends beginning production of the looks would have been simple (That’s what we all think before the process start). 

First class of the term we showed our final looks to our professor along with the toile’s so that we can decide which ones to finally choose and alter before starting on the main fabric. 6 of the looks i made were as follows:

Toile’s: 1, 2, 5 & 4 & 6 were selected as the final looks for my capsule collection for which Jay needed to see the patterns. 

I wanted to start with the dress first so I Started with toile 2 as my first look. To be honest I knew there would be many alterations needed to the pattern as discussed after the presentation last term and so I prepared myself for work, but i never knew that it won’t be the patterns that will kill me but the textures. Jay explained to me what all is to be altered in the top patterns and also asked me to make the bottom of the dress again as there was a little puckering that occurred in the middle where the straight panels of the bottom met the top panels. This meant that I was supposed to make the calico again and mind you THIS i was not prepared for. I ran and searched for calico which my friends helped me get from Chinatown while I changed my pattern with the measurements that I got. After cutting and sewing the new pattern in calico i was allowed to start with my final cutting on denim under Jay’s observation so that i don’t mess up and waste fabric (yes I get panicked and mess it all up).

I started by cutting the top patterns and stitching 2 cm’s thick strips side by side as the texture o top of the first 2 panels as shown in the picture below:

Though, after making the texture I realized it’ll be difficult to stitch through all the textures if i made more panels of textures and so Jay suggested that i make the texture only on the top panel leaving the rest of the panels plain while choosing denim which has its own textures. 

The bottom patterns were easy to make and to use the denim optimally I used the waistband portion as the hem of the garment which helped me finish the bottom of the dress. After stitching all the panels together the garment looked as follows:

We decided to add straps instead of making it a corset as there was enough thickness at the top and it would help support the dress up, too. Also, the zip used was a metal zip as it would be able to take the weight of the denim. I learnt how to alter the metal zip with the help of pliers and altered its length according to the dress length. 

And that is how finally after 2 weeks I finished my first look.

Here is to the start to another term of competitions, submissions and many more garment makings and fun! No, seriously, pressure or no pressure it is always “fun”, why stress when you can take it easy (till its the final week, cause then its a tornado!) We come to college after the break and realize we have full week classes, and what fun is that as we get weekends off to “work”.  

Anyways, after 2 weeks of torturous break, we all come back to the most amazing concept “competition” one can be in. Artyzen Hotel Uniform project, introduced to us before the term break and we were to research on it during the break, was sort of a competition where we were to make UNIFORMS which did not look like uniforms and made the guests feel more at home than at a hotel (You know all the concept cafe’s and hotels that are coming about). The best part of the project was that it was a group project! So much more inputs and excitement than individual projects, right? 

After discussions and changes of idea’s and themes among us group members and our professor we decided upon taking rice fields in China as our basic inspiration. The main reason behind taking the rice fields was that we collectively agreed how inspiring nature can be and also believed that nature is the strongest force that can make or break everything that exists. 

Wavy lines formed by the rice fields with the help of terrace farming led us to include the scallop details on the garments. Along with the wavy lines contrasting piping details are also included as an accent feature to differentiate between the manager and the staff, at the same time not creating extreme hierarchy as mentioned to us in the introduction by the Artyzen officials.

Simplicity and comfort is the main aesthetics we are focusing on while the distinguishing factor is the semi formal looking piped and scalloped garments. As we were told Artyzen considers themselves as a lifestyle brand, our designs are more modern and comfortable.  

Longji and Yuanyang rice field of China were the main inspirations adn so are included in the mood-board! 

Details used in fabrics are embroidery, piping and stitch lines, while fabrics used are cotton drill and cotton given the fact that they need to last long and be low maintenance.

MALE MANAGER

MALE STAFF

FEMALE MANAGER

FEMALE STAFF

FINALLYYYY! End of term is round the corner, there is hardly any time left, day after is the presentation and I am officially dead. yes these are some mixed feelings that we students always have right before the finals that keeps us awake all night don’t they? Alive on redbull’s and coffee’s I managed to finish look 6 which turned out to be interesting. Though, the original idea was to make a jacket and shorts, I made a fitted top with shorts following my look 4 inspiration. 

Wasn’t an appealing look though i liked the back style line and would use it somewhere in the final looks. If given a choice i would not procrastinate in making garments giving me enough time to think and to stitch garments better.

A friend of mine from class inspires me with her style and sense of confidence in whatever she wears. Over-sized or body hugging, she always makes it look so easy to wear it and so look 5 was inspired by her. Also, it WAS her idea of making something relatively loose/over-sized that inspired me to make the jacket dress. 

Making a raglan sleeve on your own! (Not a good idea girl!) So after making the patterns guided by the textbook, I stitched the garment and realized that I messed up somewhere in the pattern alterations and there was a little corner that formed on the shoulder. But I ended up liking it even more (my professor will kill me for it though). 

The idea of using the waist area of the denim in the various panels with the extra long sleeves seemed pretty good, though it took me time to figure out what to do with the collar. 

Given a choice I would change the collar area and alter the raglan sleeve pattern to either make the point even bigger or eliminate it completely.  

Shorts and crop tops are my love! They can make you look cute and at the same time has an edge of sexiness in them. The same idea I came up with the 4th look. Paneled basic top with high waist shorts. High waist as I never got one for myself and really wanted to see how they would look if i made them and well whom am I kidding! I fit in these clothes so why not?

The positives to this look according to me were the placements of the panels and the fit. And also the idea of texture being on one princess-line panel on the top while the other denim panels be plain and make the texture pop.

While for negatives, shorts length made it look little odd and so with the help of bit of alteration to it this look might be one of my favourites of them all by far.