• 1. Circus

For this project we were able to set our own brief. I chose Circus as I loved the quirkiness, vintage elements and the magic atmosphere it conjures up. I really enjoyed researching different fashions from the Circus over the decades, for example, Cirque Nouveau, Alternative Circus and Vintage Circus.

I did a series of photoshoots with my wonderful friends, creating characters based around different Circus acts. I had fun forming their personalities which I tried to get across in the photos, creating an attitude and emotion behind each one.

I did three photoshoots in total. To help tell the story and get across the themes I gave the models (my friends) characters. The first photoshoot I based around a character called Babooshka – a tired show-girl from the Alternative era. I tried to get this across by contrasting her bright cropped wig and make-up with a simple but child-like costume in traditional Circus colours of red and white. I used the Babooshka character twice in different era’s to experiment with how her character would change between the Alternative to Vintage era. I drew sketches of Babooshka to try different poses in different situations and used them throughout my Book, for example she appears in my timeline page on the tight-rope under the watch.

The other character that I developed was Persiphone who was inspired by the French Pierrot. The character I was trying to develop was shy but creepy and I gave her an extravagant costume to help contrast with her introverted nature. I used Persiphone in two shoots and developed her character through various sketches that I used in my Book. She features heavily in the second photo-shoot above. I found using this technique helped create a story throughout my Book. Having characters also helped my models really understand who they were trying to ‘be’ and added real intensity to the shoot.

My outfit on show at our school fashion show

2. Costume Connoisseur business concept

I am studying Business as an A-Level and my idea is to create a costume hire business called Costume Connoisseur. The business idea is to make and rent Costumes for events and local theatres.

For the last 2 years I have been researching and creating my Costume rental business idea, which i called Costume Connoisseurs. In my moodboard you can see a handful of the logo’s and the Loyalty card I designed. Also in the moodboard are a range of sketches and images that I think Theatres and Event companies would need. I wanted to make sure there was a Sustainable theme to the business, which led me to researching fashion businesses and the importance of sustainability as a core value, to them. My focus was on the Regency era, althoug there were a few Asian designs to reflect my Singaporean roots (I was born and lived for 5 years in Singapore).

3. Kings and Queens

The brief was to design a piece that was associated with Kings and Queens. I researched different types of collars and Bolero jackets that included detail and embroidery. I chose a regency era Bolero jacket as my project.

This was my initial moodboard and mindmap for my Kings and Queens project. Whilst I settled on a Bolero jacket during my research I was really drawn to the gothic and ‘anarchy’ images that I found.

This interest in anarchy themes, led me to research Vivienne Westwood and her work related to the title Kings and Queens. I was inspired by her use of edgy designs, bold patterns and powerful feminine silhouettes with attitude and I wanted to bring that aspect into my Bolero jacket project. I absolutely loved how she defined punk and was one of the most influential designers of our time.

After looking at Vivienne Westwood’s career, I then went on to research different textile techniques I liked from her work and I made some samples, such as the layered reverse aplique.

These were my initial design sketches where I looked into different types of Victorian and Regency styled sleeves that I could incorporate in the final design of Bolero jacket, to add more punch and impact to the overall piece.

These are my final design pages where I put together all my past research and sketched my final piece that I would be making. I decided to go for large puff sleeves and use quite gothic colours with added embroidery detail and lace trims and beading.