#contextual studies

1950S Designer Research and Design Piece

For this lesson I was instructed to get into a group and create posters. We each created a different poster based on different designers.

My group was with:

My poster was all about Hubert De Givenchy.

Hubert De Givenchy was a very famous French fashion designer who established the well-known fashion and perfume house Givenchy in 1952. He was known for his elegant, chic, feminine and simplistic designs which became popular with stars such as Aubrey Hepburn (his iconic and loveable muse)

Although Givenchy passed away on March 10th 2018 at 91, He is still remembered today as the legend he was with his creative designs still flourishing and meeting eyes of today's society.

-Once we made posters we then went onto designing a modernized fashion look with inspiration from one of the designers sort of style in fashion.

I chose to take inspiration from Hubert De Givenchy's work by making the hips of my illustration's skirt quite voluptuous to show that hour glass and 'womanly' figure. I then used a polka dot pattern to really represent Givenchy. For the top half my fashion look I have drawn out a cropped top as these are very modern and you see a lot of people nowadays wearing this style of top. Belts have recently became a popular trend in 2025 with people now layering them so I have decided to add a belt to create that depth of the outfit.

In conclusion, I think this lesson was one of my favourites as I loved creating a poster (especially about fashion designers) and then making my own modernized design inspired from a specific designer.

It isn’t entirely clear to archeologists the exact time that glass appeared in the world, and many have attempted and failed to pinpoint a time period for its discovery. Though glass beads from as far back as the third millennium BCE have been found, glassware truly sprung into popularity during the bronze age. It was massively popular among kings, being that it was able to be coloured and set apart from other wares during the bronze age. It is said that glass was valued at a similar rate to gemstones for ancient Egyptians. Back then, glass was usually opaque and heavily saturated in order to retain its value in its colouring. It was also previously made by crushed quartz as opposed to sand as it is nowadays.

One of the reasons it is so hard to pinpoint its beginnings is that glass was a highly exchanged material. It was often used as peacekeeping and gifts between ancient kings, and would be exchanged both as final products and raw material. Alongside this, the procedure of making glass items is very resourceful. The lack of waste produced by glassmaking makes it harder again to understand its origins.

Under reference on the Consumerism lecture, the documentary “Minimalism” ended up by being an excellent add to my watch list.

In this documentary directed by Matt D’Avella, amongst a lot of testimonials from the growing minimalist community, we follow mainly the Minimalists Joshua Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, creators of this movement, that also have a book, youtube channel, podcast, spreading the word on this lifestyle where people live with less in order to be able to focus on the important things. 

Such an important message, that makes us critically question the bombardment of images we are exposed to daily, and wether we want it or not to tell us what to do, like “Buy this!”; “Buy that!” 

The minimalist movement brings such good improvements to our society, or perhaps is just human kind returning to its roots, as this shows improvements on the communal sense people have, of cooperation and helping each others and sharing stuff.

The importance of owning and consuming less and breaking this consumption cycle urges so much, as doing so doesn’t actually fulfils us and our purpose as humans. Two of my favourite quotes: “ Imagine a life of less, a life of passion, unencumbered by the trapping of the chaotic world around you” 

Day 256

I’ve been trying to finalise my ‘pictionary biography’ piece. I’ve also been making some notes/reflections on the contextual studies and drawing fundamentals that we have done so far. 

Got up kinda early, but it was a real struggle, then my plans were cancelled, which was a bit annoying, but meant I could spend the morning doing those arty things, and start reading A Dance with Dragons 2, After the Feast ( I finished the lovely bones last night, and to be honest... I didn’t like the end of the book, I didn’t want it to end like that )

Then it was work this afternoon, and then straight to a Trefoil Guild meeting ( well rehearsal for our entertainment at the harvest supper next month ) It was a wonderful evening! And then I popped to the supermarket... boy it took what seemed likes ages to find some tea bags that weren’t wrapped in foil or plastic... 

Art Nouveau Work

For this lesson I created two illustrations inspired from tiffany lamps and Louis Comfort Tiffany's wonderful creations such as: stained glass.

-The Edwardian Era is associated with elegancy and luxury especially among the upper-classed people. This Era was a time of calmness, piece and economic security which created a very lavish life for the high-society people. Although not the same as the Edwardian Era, Art Nouveau did coexist and live with it.

You may be thinking what Art Nouveau is?

-Well Art Nouveau was a world wide style of art, architecture and designs what became popular between the 1890s to the 1910s.

A few facts:

Came from the British art movement (Arts and Crafts movement).

Inspired by nature- especially flowers.

Flowing Lines, curved architecture and repeated patterns.

1960S Space Race / Space Overall Piece

For this lesson, I learnt all about the 1960s- the icons, artists, designers and fashion overall. After I had studied and learnt about these things, I then was instructed to create an illustration design based on the Space Race movement.

The Swinging Sixties: The swinging sixties was a cultural shift in fashion, music, makeup and art. This was based in London where the younger people changed trends and uplifted self expression.

A few facts:

Patterned fabrics Used

Bright Colours Used

Pop Music

Fun

Quirky

Popular Fashion Items/ Pieces:

Go Go Boots

Mini Skirts

Baby-Doll Dresses

Hot Pants

Culottes

Poster Dresses

Pale Lipstick

Drawn-On Lashes/ Dramatic Eyes

Vidal Sassoon Haircut

Tailored suits

Turtleneck Sweaters

Chelsea Boots

Fedora Hats

Sunglasses

Slick back, Side-Parted Hair

Nehru Collars

Bell Bottoms

-André Courrèges was a French Fashion designer in the 1960s who was known for creating that "Space Age" look. He presented designs with geometric shapes, futuristic materials and outstanding colours.

From above, you can see the fashion illustration I created inspired by Space Race and Space in general. I wanted to represent a space suit by the puffiness and roundness of the jacket/coat. I have used a Halloween cobwebby material to add depth and make my design 3D. For the dress underneath the coat, I took inspiration from Paco Rabanne's famous chainmail dress and made it have that 60s A-line dress collard cut. I tried to make the shape of the chainmail pieces a star to symbolise the stars in the night sky. "Eyes are a window to the soul" a quote linked to William Shakespeare suggests that eyes reveal a person's true, deep thoughts and feelings. The Soul could often be considered apart of the universe which links to space. So, I have added eyes all over my design. I then tried to create that 'alien' look by making the hair of my illustration spikey and the glasses geometrically shaped. My illustration also wears Go Go boots painted in galaxy colours and socks in the shape of clouds which protrude out of the boots.

In conclusion, I really loved creating this piece of work as I loved how creative and unique I could get with shapes, materials and colours. This lesson was great as learning about the 1960s is always enjoyable since this decade was overall amazing and iconic!

101 Dalmatians has a very distinctive background work. I am very fond of the colour palette used and how it is coloured outside the lines rather than being constricted by the line-work.