Botany Exposed

Quick mini mood-board of what is inspiring me, before we get the new project brief when i can specifically pick an area of interest

Botanical Palette

Some images inspiring my Botanical Colour Scheme

Royal Fingers

Today i am giving a big THANKYOU and SHOUT-OUT to Saffiya who did my big applique writing for me because i cannot write letters on a sewing machine freehand to save my life! all i have now is to do a couple more mini words which i should be able to manage and some flowers and joining "lace like structures"
again
THANKYOU! :)

Can you spot the words used for my textiles element?

Styling + Photography

Well i know that when we start photography and switch with Group 2 - we'll be doing shoots on a brief and we'll have finished the royal brief by this point so to continue on with the theme ( 1) since it'll be fresh and 2) my favourite brief ) i'm gonna do my Royal Project.

Here's some inspiration for each different garment that i will have made and how it can lead into a story:

The Hamlet Shepherdess
A promotional picture for Kate Bush - Under The Ivy - has given me major inspiration for my Hamlet Shepherdess garment - it also happens to be one of my most favourite songs - the lyrics are perfect for my garments story

"This little girl inside me
Is retreating to her favourite place

Go into the garden
Go under the ivy
Under the leaves
Away from the party
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose"

White Rose = Purity, Innocence, Silence, Secrecy, Reverence, Humility, Youthfulness,
Ivy = Fidelity, Marriage

Makeup / Hair

I like the messyness of the second hairstyle but the more contemporary height of the first hairstyle.

doubled up with a nice soft blue lip.
The Glistening Jewel Heist

Likin this more decadent photo inspiration for this garment, also relates to the story in my sketchbook of how she had mechanical mirrors that acted as shutters in the petit trianon for privacy.
Hair / Makeup
This whole makeup look is perfect for this garment, and i would want to re-create something very similar with the particles and the darker blue lips.
Again the hair would be an "updo" but this time much more perfectly styled without a strand out of place - hard to find a pic of a perfect beehive that isn't reminscing the 60's
Final Lineup

Royal Garment(s)

Here's my garments so far for the Royal Project
the first is literally finished apart from the collar and hand sewing my flowers onto it.





Time to begin Garment 2 - i came up with a genius solution which involves a lot of pearls and glass paint.




The 3rd garment will be the playsuit if i have time as we still have 2 n 1/2 weeks when we get back and garment 2 will take about a day max! so just depends on funds really.
*pic of design / pic of toille / pic of garment / closeup*

Begginings Of A Royal Extravaganza

Finally started pattern cutting and toileing (if that's how you spell it) my garment for my Royal Brief - if i can finish this one within the next week - i can get a start on my second one - so far i'm on track to do a minimum of 2 which is great!!
Here's some pics of the dress in the design process!
*insert pic*

I've Found A World...Where Love And Dreams And Darkness All Collide

Story
My research into Marie Antoinette led me to find out about her constant need for privacy and a sense of normality in her life. I found more out about this during my research for my story - when she was raised in the Hapsburg Palace she would still play with "normal" children, and be schooled and would have access to gardens and beautiful surroundings. I stuck this in my Sketchbook as this idea of Escapism has captivated me:

The idea of coming from a royal background and extreme luxurious - then wanting to have an escape or a retreat to retire to away from everything - it's so beautiful and reminds me of "Through The Looking Glass"
Trimmings + Textiles
I usually hate adding textiles to any garments i design because i just feel it is so unnesscary especially when i find the most gorgeous material so i avoid it like the plague - HOWEVER - with this project i've opened my mind a lot more to textiles and having spoken to Louise about my initial ideas about what i wanted to portray in my textile element - she has really helped me push those ideas and i can't wait to start sampling them next week.
Heres the rundown of my textiles element:

Above is Grayson Perry - renowned for his gorgeous artwork from afar but as soon as you get close and examine it, it reveals its hidden horrors ( I'll let you research what i mean ).

I want to embroider a part of my story onto the train of my garment(s) - The stories focus is the Libelle's (french pamphlets) ruining Marie Antoinettes image and constantly gossiping about her until her death by guillotine. Some things that were reported on where Lesbian affairs, Affairs in General, Orgies, Louis Impotency, Incest, Theft (Jewel Heist), Austrian Women in french is easily twisted intoOstrich Bitch etc.
These pamhplets began to circulate when the marriage wasnt consummated and rumours of Louis erection problems were the butt of jokes - as her popularity declined they focused more about her until her death - i also want to include the september massacres.
Here are some images...:

Her last words were "Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose." For stepping on Sanson's foot ( the executioner ) i wanna embroider this into the train aswell at the bottom to symbolise the last words of Marie Antoinette but i would like to interpret it as a she is saying it for anything she may have done in the past. Louise suggested i could print those pictures onto fabric and make the printed fabrics into roses so the horror is concealed and only partially visible when close - i love this idea but im still not sure whther the images will be seen enough because i dont want it to take away from the shock of the images - i will try this in my next textiles class.
Current Samples

Above are a selection of trimmings along with - Ink print over lace, Quilting which includes a patterned version and a cut out version.
Lace in it's original form and then dyed royal blue - Shearing Elastic in organized rows and randomly to created ruffles and Smocking which i definitly won't be using. I will definitly be using the lace but im not sure i've found the technique i want to use on my garment yet.

Designs
My designs are split into 2 seperate stories of Marie Antoinettes life - The first 10 are from her structured, public, and extravagent life full of partiesand gambling at the palace of versaille - and my 2nd 10 are inspired by the escapism to the country retreat and the petit trianon playing dress-up as milkmaids and shepherdesses with her closest friends and children.

Palace Of Versaille
"Pillow Talk" + "Consummation" + "Glistening Jewel" + "Whalebone" + "Gamble Gala" + "Playful Princess"



Country Retreat
"The Hamlet Shepherdess" + "The Harp" + "Green Pastures" + "Hamlet" + "The Grand Staircase" + "Fragonard Has Swung"

"Court Petit" + "Hidden Admirers"


Musical Sidenote
Heres a few songs that i would consider using as a catwalk for this royal collection - each section ( Palace of versaille + Country Retreat ) would have a different song as well as a transitional song to show the change.
These songs have really inspired me while designing and helped create an image of an overall product in my head.

Embroidery Samples

Emroidery Schmoidery

I absolutely hate emboirdery, i really hate adding anything to a garments material, i'm quite simplistic in that sense HOWEVER this is an embroidery project and the skill will come in handy so i can't completely dismiss this or lack in this part since everything else is looking brilliant.

I've finished my general research into marie antoinette and found all the focus points that im basing my designs on ( currently have 9 with about 4/5 more to draw up and obviously anything else that comes into my head while continuing this project )
After this i was gonna start putting my designs, however i have decided not to and am gonna have the next part of my sketchbook dedicated to developing embroidery techniques that can be applied to my material for this project. Then i can re-edit my basic designs with the new techniques.

Embroidery Story
I also think that the embroidery has to mean something and tell a story not just something that looks pretty. ( will check the brief )
Keeping that in mind after looking back at my research and genereal designs i have ideas for genereal embroidery of the time and then my initial story which for me will be apart of an added detail to each design (secret).

I'm gonna be looking at embroidered flowers:


Fabric Flowers:

Thankfully my nan has been a florist all her life and can do anything to do with flowers!
Porcelain Patterns (Sevres):


Carpenters Carvings: