Not hugely relevant…

what can i say, i know its all like "hey we're young funky and totaly tune the 80s" but the garments look so amazing under the UV lighting… and the dancing argh, i just love those skeletal lines and shapes! something about linear movements really intrigues me. Minimal volume of leg..maxiumum movement… there's a garment that you can see momentarily which kind of reminds me of the volume that i have tried to get by bunching up the Y front in the big body suit!

anyway, tomorrow morning is the shoot with same.. its exciting… i dont think the studios are going to be all that great, but i figure i can just work at taking good shots of the garments! without being too concerned about the surroundings… i dont want context!

POSTERRRRSS AND BOOOKKKK SSUBBSTAAANNCCEEE

Inspiration for photoshoots:
i just had a look on getty images… bit lazy i know, but i wasnt really sure how i wanted to document the garments, obviously i will be doing some photoshoots and i want them to look plain… so i think these sort of images just hold elements of the sorts of images i want… I looked too at Terry Richardson and a few other "fashion" shoots, but i found that they're either too sexualised/erotic or they have some kind of context...






these photos were by some photographer called "normally" i hadn't really used getty images before.. our graphics teacher in year 11 & 12 instructed us to use it for inspirational images because we can basically type in anything and there will more than likely be pictures of medium quality,.,. sadly with a watermark… these images are really nicely done, i think i will try taking pictures of differnt parts of my garments, particularly the Y front body suit.. because there is so much bulk of underwear that doesnt really communicate far away.. also i thought it might be nice to try doing some photocopies in black and white, i think simone from (now 3rd year) last year did that with her material studies and it looked really beautiful… i also have to think of a good way to present mmyyy material studies (could do this.. )









i typed in sports here.. since the clothes are a little bit informed by this. There is a feeling of sports and sports masculinity in the clothes that i think i should maybe, if only slightly try to get in the images… (dylan, the photographer will need to read this ahaha.) Also, the shoot with Sam and Dylan is in the studios on level 7, and it will be a very minimal white back ground.. with lights… fun fun.





Thinking about the mundane, these are two different photographers. What i like about these shots is the sort of plain nature of the models, its not really voyeuristic, but it could be, easily, and as a viewer i dont feel like we're threatening the men, even though their situations are mundane, we've been taken within their realm, and in a way, something personal is being shown to us… i think i will do a shoot with david and callen (a girl :O) in and around the house, mundane situations.. in the garments..

I've always had this fascination with mundanity juxtaposing something outrageous… ever since i saw roisin murphy's film clip for overpowered a few years ago..

i think the idea behind the film clip was that even diva's have a mundane side…
personally i think its just a bit funny, and the funny side of fashion is always better than the serious side….

These are my final garments, well, the final toiles, the Y front body suit is finished… done… can be photographed.. the other two will be finished next week, i need to elasticate the holes and legs on the white jump-leotard and the yfront singlet suit needs to have the re-drafted Y front pattern … which sort of straightens out those circular shapes that are given when its stretched over the body.. its all very exciting.

what has jack been doing!!?!

good question!
RIght now:
All my toiles are finalised, all i have to work on, 3dimensionally is a proper y front and a good finish for the hood on my 'Y' front body suit, then i am set to have all my garments finished by, hopefully, the weekend, because that;s when i am having them photographed by Dylan Buzolich, an old highschool friend who has worked with my clothes before.. I've given him the brief that the photos should look really plain, not sexual, which is going to be hard, because the penis is visable in the garments.. all three..

So my project response is there, but a friend outlined that i didnt mention i would be doing giant posters… which i guess is what i meant when i said large scale images. That's mainly what the photos are going to be for i think. i really want to take photos of the garments by themselves. maybe while dylan has his flashy $12,000 camera out i can throw them past the lens and take a few garments in motion shots!

Also i want to do some homemade shots as well.








These are the images i used to the stretch generics investigation, they summerized my menswear exploration visually as well as starting my project, which would go down a similar path of mens clothing that reveals.

As you've probably read in my project response, i've looked at garments for men that have a utility, because its these garments that allow for skin to be revealed. so naturally i have this urge to contextualise the clothes i'm creating into some kind of sports-ish theme or some sort of dance or movement look.. i have to try really hard to avoid this, so that i give the garments little or no voice, and the model no feelings, emotions, no erotisisms, no notions of sexuality, just plain old garments being taken photos of… the garments will talk i guess.. but in their own way, i dont want the photos to dictate what they have to say.

here is some images of the toiles (excluding the full body suit, which is the most exciting.. but i havent managed to get any good shots of it yet)



this is a one peice.. with the 'y' build into the lower with net revealing the penis.. looking back on where i've come from, i've really just sort of jumped straight to showing penis.. no shying away from this..
These simpler one pieces should look like two garments, which means that it almost softens the blow for men wearing one peice garments. I was considering making a one piece which used the idea of a connected loose singlet and a pair of the men's cut leggings which i toiled during the generic garment investigation. It would be incredibly wearable in everyday contexts!

Project Response - the big catch-up to follow

playing

This evening i had a play with an old jumper i bought ages ago in an opshop.. its a linen knit, Weird i know.. i thought that linen cracked when it was bent….

There isnt a lot of stretch to the garment, but its rough edges roll really well,

Initially i just wanted to have a cut in the back.. sort of trying out my new rotary blade (which i am still scared of)

The idea of removing that rectangle from the back came from reading "showing and hiding: equivocation in relations of body and dress" .. another chapter recommended by ricarda..

In a summery, what i pulled out of it was that menswear, and men in general, covers the entire male body. Men use the trick of layering to show, but hide. His ideas on the male gaze on women (and also the gaze cast upon men as well.. ) to be what dictates how we dress.

"a generalised male witness [came] to structure women's consciousness of herself as a body being"

Obviously the text went on about the progression

of female attire.. and how .. slowly.. more and more became revealed, wrists, forearms, shoulders etc. But men have generally stayed covered.

I dont really like this writing at all.. i think there are far too many presumptions and assumptions made about men and women.

Anyway, i wanted to think / play about with spaces

that can be shown on using holes etc..

Obviously i am wearing a garment underneath… fitting in with the idea/rule that men always show by hiding.. i like to relate this idea to 17th century hose… the leg shape was obviously visible, but skin was never shown.. also there was generally always some mass of fabric, if not a codpiece covering the .. doodle (hehe).. which again.. sort of played on revealing something by covering it up.. Especially the codpiece..

Here i cut a line up the centre of the sleeve and then created strips either side of the cut, then i plaited, from the top, slowly integrating each strip.. i guess i just played a bit with the tying

here is the money shot.. ahaha.. SKIN!

I have also decided that no-matter what i design.. for the final project.. it will be covered in bright colourful floral prints...

Thinkings

Even before starting stretch, i knew i wanted to learn how to sew and design with really low denier. I can't deny that its inspiration coming from last year's stretch students and thier use of fleshy coloured fabrics.. which made me think of panty-hose..

After reading the suggested text: Helmut Lang; Fabric, Skin, Figure, One particular line st

ood out for me

"The male body remains, clasically, fully covered; uncovered, it is at best, sporty, at worst, ridiculous. It is never erotically invested. The Contrast between bare skin and fabric

material dominates the matrix of feminine fashion"

Thinking about men's fashion, the ways its changed in the past century.. the way women's wear dominates the industry, its almost a pay back for the way women were oppressed in western culture (and ofcourse in other cultures). We outline fashion legends as those who liberated

women; Chanel, Yves Saint.. But its now been taken to a point where the mens styles incorporated into women's wear are "ridiculous" in the context of male attire. Think of something as simple as the skivvey or the turtle neck..

So, obviously with this notion, i want to explore a change in menswear.. a revert back to feminine attire.. or .. original masculinity ..

Something that got me thinking a lot was the use of knits in sportswear and the line "uncovered, it is at best, sporty, at worst, ridiculous" Noticing the level of knitwear around.. on men.. it really does usually just look sporty, especially if the guy is particularly masculine.. otherwise his appearance could almost be label

led as queer…

anyway, i found some big designers who sort of seem to (subtley) push these boundries too

Gareth Pugh:

Includes Spring 2010

Autumn 2010

Images Taken from www.style.com on the 14/3/2010

low denier knit shown below..reveals the body

This image below is particularly interesting. It reminds me of the Jean-Paul Gaultier outfits from the Fifth Element (1997) .. Leeloo wears a thermo body strap outfit. There is no need to have the body covered, because the utility of fashion for warmth is erased by modern technology… If only it were that simple