This year, I have joined the insights team, to build on my teaching skills through a mixture of students that are pre-higher education entry level. Hopefully providing me with a more rounded knowledge on inclusive education that teaches across all levels of entry.
The start of this meeting, we had to communicate our aims and outcomes for this spring school, which is a 4 day event during the Easter holidays. Consisting of 1 of activates that explores all mediums in a small interjected 1 hour sessions, showing the potential of studying these courses at UAL. The second part is establishing group work split across 3 days that each group can experience each discipline and create a series of outcomes related to that subject area.
REcycle/DISruptION – Sean-Henry
Aim: Create a press kit for a label using sustainable materials.
Objectives:
Working like a fashion brand (in a group), create a press kit for a new label launching in SS24. Your press kit must contain the following:
- 1 experimental draped look in second hand clothing – using industrial toolkit of cutting/slashing/pleat and folds.
- A styled look – Showcasing the brands identity, think about body, cultural identity, ethos and who you would think would wear these clothes.
- A selection of knitted swatches – that showcase colour, texture and pattern that resembles the brans ethos.
- A press-release – A portfolio or reflection of work that comes together in a capsule/continuity approach to the 3 studio tasks.
| Subject | What we want students to experience | Group Outcome | Individual outcome for portfolio. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion design. (experimental drape etc) | Distorting, disrupting and reforming garments from previous loved, upcycling, patching and form building. | Creative focus on ‘favorite’ to show peer-to-peer engagement and dialogue on creative output. | Selection of images retaining a sketchbook journey of thought and design exploration through cutting and image making. |
| Textile design (Decorative) | Machine handling and yarn exploration through punch-cards techniques that explores quick colour and fabric manipulation techniques. | An understanding of yarn properties and compositions, finishing techniques and textile interpretations. creating samples that can be used on the body for photomanipulation into garment ideas. | Knitting knowledge, colour exploration machine to shape making. Finalized swatches |
| Fashion Media Styled Look (press release) | The idea of individual style and how silhouette plays a role in cultural affairs along with body image, sexism, ageism and racism. | Shoot day – styling, lighting, cameras, team work, motivational group work. Dialogue around body image and confidence building. Social media aware, and editing tools | A series of photographic evidence pre-shoot and finalized post shoot, exploring concepts in identity and individualism. Concept ready imagery that could be used in a portfolio of examples of brand building. |
The purpose of recycling/upcycling is to establish a connection between a young person’s life and creative output in fashion. Along with this connection we are building a structure around sustainability and the integration with circular design concepts in fashion as well as UAL’s sustainability projections.
Outcomes –
The main outcome with this, is to show how creative a wardrobe could be while establishing the idea of craft in practice through a tactile environment, to bridge a connection between integration, disruption, and wear ability.
The secondary outcome, is to generate a peer-to-peer dialogue on team building and communication, working through industry led vocabulary to generate a portfolio of knowledge in the outcome. Silhouette, cut, drape, sharp, light, colour, hue, integral, volume, pleat, applique, contour. This is to establish a vocabulary around inclusive communication that will break down barriers around body image, ageism, sexism, racism, and sexual identities.
Requirements –
Second hand kilo bags – clothes already made
recycled yarns, mixed with compostable/biodegradable
Scissors
Masking tap
Darning needles and threads
Pins and safety pins
Unusual materials.
The focus – Styling
Wearability and silhouette building with Styling and image making. This is more of an ice breaker, body involved workshop. It’s to get students to think about what they are wearing, how they wear clothes and how clothes represent ideologies around tribes, race, and current affairs.
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The Body – Pattern cutting/shape making
The body is all about interrogation, how the designer is in control and uses industry tools to reshape, disrupt and form new possibilities, this idea about refolding and unfolding techniques, pinning pleats, and adding distortion to combining garment parts together to create shape and form.
The New – Knitting /textiles
The new is about developing the core understanding of how textiles are made, the foundation of considering colour, composition, and texture. This will be used in focus with sustainable materials labelled ‘recycled’ or natural (cottons, wools etc). Removing our practice away from synthetic materials but being inspired by the over production or mass accumulation of clothes.
Summary –
The summary of this exploration of sustainable practice (without using the word sustainable), is to allow the next generation to explore household materials with industry tools. To expand on the everyday clothing to generate an idea around personal identity or cultural identity
With the learning outcomes
Creative and critical design
Pattern adaption and curation
Textile manipulation and purpose
Body and identity
Sustainable and circular practice
Peer-to-peer learning
Team building
Portfolio building
Foundation in industry language and tools.