DKNY Evaluation

The idea of designing for DKNY seemed quite straightforward at first. Yet through researching my initial ideas, I realized that designing for a popular, commercial and highly throughout brand would be harder than designing for myself. I wanted to take this college in unit x to teach myself how to work more in industry as I feel my work can become too self absorbed and unmarketable, whereas I would like to find the balance for my final year of intricate design, yet wearable and practical clothing.

To begin the project, I began looking into how I would invasion the DKNY man myself, where he would live, work, the journey he would take to work, pets, hobbies and general interests. I created a man who held interest in modern contemporary minimalist city design, who had an eye for graphics and bold street art too. His job left him having to keep quite a corporate feel and approach to his look, yet through the use of finishing’s, fastenings, linings and colour, he could express his tastes discretely, yet stylishly.

When we came together as a group, I was surprised to find out that we would have to work and three menswear and three womenswear designers. Therefore we planned to separate ourselves into two groups to begin with and then find elements off each to work with each other cohesively. The group had a wide range of uses and characters, which has its advantages and disadvantages. Having a diverse group meant that most areas needed in the project where someone’s area of strength, yet I felt this made the final result to come out a bit pieced together and less fluid. I also felt that there were a few stronger characters in the group who found themselves making executive decisions when we should of looked at the idea as a whole choice. Despite this, I learn a lot from my fellow peers in the way the not only design, but their style of presentation, layout, sampling and time management. I also liked that in the end the group result did stem clearly from the research and had obvious roots, plus the final line up wouldn’t of been something I would of particularly designed on my own, which made me broaden my tastes a little.

As a whole I have really enjoyed this project as I took it literally and treated it like it was a real job in the industry and I felt I got a good taste from the experience. Even though working in a group was sometimes a struggle to get my point across, I did learn a lot from others and about myself. It has helped me to question whether I want to continue menswear next year or progress into a more tailored women’s approach, due to my connection with the womenswear side of our project. Overall, I felt like it took me out of my comfort zone of print and lead me to look as garment construction more, which I felt like I needed to explore more in my own work. 

DKNY Progess

If you've ever been to New York, where DKNY is based, the first thing that will strike you is the people. Sure, getting off the aeroplane and driving across Brooklyn bridge is spectacular, but once you get into downtown Manhattan the reason behind the life and soul of New York is its people, its residents it elite east side, to artistic Meatpacking district and more suburban south. It all makes up a mini world in which you feel like you could live forever. Whenever I smell a sandwich sub bar or a subway station itself the smell engulfs me back to my time in new york, admittedly a few naive years ago, but a time where I was still very visual to what was around me.

One area in particular I had a hankering to visit was Mercer Street in SoHo to go to the shop Seven new York, which has since closed. It held well to my stereotypical view of New York building structure of lower basement steps off the street and oozed a modern cool vibe even in the year of 2007, which I would still say was modern now. I remember seeing a lot of stylish men in New York. Not particularly because they were sporting the latest 'go to label' but because of their attitude, the day to day way of life, the way the oozed calm and style by you making up the picture of them living in a contemporary brick apartment with old trinkets and art deco furnishings. 

This is what I wanted to base my brief around. Not a particular image or typical New York landmark, but recreating that DKNY man I saw those few years ago. For men I feel style is more in the mind, whereas for women it is in the eye. By looking at the 'DKNY man' and his attitude to life, living and style I hope to create functionality, modernism and style of a trademark level to who he is personally. 

I wanted to look into puff coats and jackets. This image of lava heating and cooling provided me with botanical and natural inspiration for a more create puffa effect than the stereotypical puff formation. 

Previous DKNY lookbooks achieve a very modernist look. I want to expand on this by adding contemporary menswear.

New York street images they are significant in the development of my ideas. 

One pages of design ideas I have been playing around with 

A waxed cotton fabric I sourced which I love to either feature as a lining or as the outer jacket itself.

Drawing I have done keeping the DKNY man in mind. 

Visionary extreme puffa jacket. Think large and reign it all back in.

Making the Sweater and Suit

After my last unit of work being solely based around experimentation with digital printing and photoshopping images, I thought it was about time to loosen up my approach to printing. Sarah Easom said in a tutorial that my work would of looked better screen printed or even with a potato printer method! I was intrigued to see what a different result it would give to my printed garment and thought I would us the shapes I created in my photoshop digital prints for this unit to create a series of potato prints and stencils to get a layered more folksy botanical look. 

I sourced a vintage lightweight shirt material from an end of line fabric store which I had laying around for a couple of months in my fabric box. By looking at the colours in the weave and my previous designs in the unit I choose a few colours to get me started.

Here a started with all the underlays of base colour for the finer stencils to go on top. After doing this layer I felt like it was really getting somewhere and quite liked it as it was, but i wanted more of a bolder print of my suit so persisted in the geometric shapes. I was quite time consuming but i throughly enjoyed the process and the ability to control the print a lot more than normal. 

I then went on to add more small diamond shapes and the additional layers of finer geometric shapes. Here the print really came to life and was quite long in size. I then sourced trimmings and embellishments to match the printed fabric to give it the persian folklore vibe i wanted it to have using the same colour pallet. Within an overnight drying session I was ready to take the fabric to the studio to start making the suit...

These are the tailored casual shorts I made to match the suit. They are fully lined with floral material which makes the reversible, yet I would prefer them not to be. I was especially pleased on how easy I found it to create side pockets in the shorts for added functionality and the use of an alternate stripe denim on the bottom added to the shorts to make them look a bit more skilled. 

This images is of the coordinating jacket from the back view. admittedly i found the hardest part of sewing the jacket to be creating the two side flaps at the bottom of the jacket. I am pleased with the finish and fit as I took extra time pressing the material in-between the making. I did find that the paints i used to print did add a stiffness to the material that couldn't be taken out, this was fairly annoying, yet added to the thickness of the jackets and meant using interfacing wasn't as necessary. 

This image is of the front view of the jacket. I kept the stripe denim contrasts within the jacket to in order to mimic a 'pinstripe' effect and stop the overall pieces from looking far too casual. My best achievement from this part of the make was definitely the two side pockets with flaps, they were fully lined and piped and helped add structure to the jacket perfectly. Now I have mastered placement of these pockets I would love to do more experimentation with these on jackets in the future. Perhaps adding multiple pockets, larger ones and with added finishing details. 

Close-up shot of the pocket and trims

Having a great fascination with 'geeky' style fair isle knitted jumpers I decided to create my own brightly coloured modern version using my own geometric shapes and colours from my print and suit. I  started by making my own punch card using one of the main shapes from my photoshop work and combined it with blocking shapes to add further dimension to the overall knit. It was a great garment to create and after fully finishing the make I didn't have any snags or holes so it did look pretty professional and unique. I am really please with this piece as I feel the world needs to see more men stepping out in a good old tank top in the nearby future! 

After making the suit i took it upon myself to craft out a basic shirt style out of fabric I got given from a friend who travelled to africa. The fabric was waxed cotton so went very stiff within a minute of it being pressed, it did crease easily too so I probably won't make another shirt out of this material in the future. Yet from a styling point of view, I would love to see it in a lookbook with my suit and sweater. 

Gender in Art, my opinion and perspective...

I have always loved the question, what is art? To me, art is something which encourages you to look not just with the eye, but with the mind, something which perhaps challenges you beliefs, perceptions, vision itself and the idea of your current surroundings. 

A topic of art which always seems to interest me is how gender is placed. Gender is inevitably the roots of sexist jibes, some political disputes and mannerisms of people in everyday life. We don't have the power to delete or ignore gender, but we do have the ability to question its importance to the modern day person and their way of life. If you take current working situations that have been publicised in the news over and over again, most men are paid around 20% more in the same job as women. This has been the case for many years, yet we still choose to keep the situation the same, thus creating an even bigger divide on the pointless line of gender difference.

A magazine I like to buy frequently for my own interest and collections of menswear images is 'Man About Town' magazine. Most issues keep to one set theme, a man and his dog for instance, or the current, and perhaps more relevant issue, the gay and gender issue. 

It amazes me in it that nothing is placed and shot in too extreme situations, men arent overly made-up in fancy dresses with a Grayson Perry esque vibe, yet it hints at how the modern man is becoming exactly that, modern. 

Self-portrait with Fried Eggs 1996

I love this portrait of the artist Sarah Lucas I witnessed at the Saatchi Gallery a couple of years ago. I del like my own perception of the piece is quite similar to how she would of liked it to be portrayed. The 'tongue-in-cheek' image of Lucas sat loosely in a masculine pose on a workout chair in clothing that wouldn't look out of place on a man itself, with her hair pinned back to create an all round more 'boyish' hairstyle. Lucas suggests all that is missing from the picture to make it seem like she is a man would be the fact to remove her breasts and makes it clear they are there by adding the two fried eggs, this almost sees the breast as inanimate objects with comedic value, All round agreeing with my idea that gender is not as serious an issue as we all like to let it be. 

The gender bender by Kirkwood

Tongue and Groove, Always Goes Down Well 2000 Chair, vest, pants and meat by Sarah Lucas

Cindy Sherman's portraits of a 'woman' were always an inspiration to me, especially when I used to do fine art portraiture and painting myself. Her photography really looks at the gritty underlying factors in the characters themselves creating great personalities of individuality, yet strong in their own rights. I love these images and her work as I see my menswear 'man' holding his own unique fearless personality who fully embraces who he is and how he wants to be. 

Highly acclaimed menswear and womenswear model Willy Cartier is a frontrunner in the fashion industry for his homogenous looks with a carefree gender attitude yet strong masculinity. His recent photoshoots see him dressed in womens clothing and make up, proving that there is still a lot of man to be in a woman. 

Heavily Influencial Designers: Agi&Sam, Matthew Miller, Jw Anderson Menswear

Through designing for menswear, I do like to keep a watchful eye on the latest menswear design and influences that reflect my own designs and styling. 

Agi&Sam

Agape Mdumulla and Sam Cotton began the brand with the fundamental thought of designing for 'men'. After years of countless menswear collections displaying either a fear to create something different, or collections, which push too far and never seeing the light of day, they aim to sit firmly in the middle. With a strong emphasis on print and humour they believe that fashion should never be taken too seriously. 

The designer's hold a very similar virtue to my own when it comes to designing. I always have an urge to create bold, 'unwearable' garments which test peoples ability to see their perception of menswear classically, and to create something which essentially is commercially viable. 

Personally, I feel that menswear has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years. Men no longer wish to stick to a rule book of neutral tones, three of four basic garments and hold back on becoming in any way 'metrosexual'. Print will always be in fashion. The way Agi&Sam create their prints, drew me towards them as designers initially, I love fabrics to co-ordinate within an outfit, such as two-piece of three-piece garments, which they are very skilled at doing. I also need to challenge myself to create bolder user of the digital print facilities, the duo create lovely prints based upon the textures of existing fabrics, such as knit to create very contemporary designs. 

Matthew Miller

Miller's design again  holds great use of co-ordination in his pieces and beautiful use of digital print and photoshop manipulation. Like I previously explored in one of my earlier documents, my findings in a city hold the key background to a lot of my work, prints and colour ways. Miller's collection featured here uses prints that heavily address images he took from pavements, billboards, graffiti and other city dysfunction he found. Again, Miller's work pushed more boundaries of menswear, although his latest collections seem more commercial, by launching this collection (shown below) as his debut, Miller really set the bar high for creativity in menswear styling and outfit ranges, making him a great figure in the evolution of bold menswear ready to wear garments. 

JW. Anderson

Through his origins in menswear, Anderson continues to explore the relationship between boy and girl and seamlessly creating a homogenous wardrobe between his two collections. He blurs the lines of gender in each of his collections, the label started in 2008 with a mens collection at the beginning of 2010. 

Anderson's menswear collections seem to overlook his womenswear shows in terms of outcry in media publications. Yet very aware and grateful of these desputes, Anderson continues to gender bend his garments to an unexplored level. Take the question; 'if women can wear trousers, why can't men wear skirts' and putting it into a literal perspective is definitely his movitive, and I applause him all the more for it. For centuries men have worn what would now be called as 'dresses' in robes of 'skirts' as in kilts, yet we wouldn't batt an eyelid. Are we too caught up in what is considered normal, moral and sexually correct that we refuse to see anything else?

I remember seeing the beige jumpsuit on the cover of a popular tabloid the day after the show on London fashion week and new instantly it was JWA. I hope to be able to create a label and brand myself which holds that much poise and reflective character that it literally wouldn't need a label in its lining, yet you would just know...

My Digital Print Processes

Creating my own unique paisley design. 

If i had to pick one print to favour amongst all it would have to be the paisley. Its Scottish background reflect my own, yet even though created in the 18th century usually on a Jacquard weave, modern replicas of the print are sometimes given Moroccan connotations and eastern influence, yet still creating a peaceful allure in its imagery. 

I started out in a classic format of creating a repeat 4 square print 

then cut the image up equally, and drew in the middle for a seamless repeat print.

Layering with the imagery of the graffiti didn't first give my the seamless result into i had to blur the edging, this is now in the final design

Editing the contrast, saturation and colour ways of the image blurred it into a new directional piece of art

These next prints came from images of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial and Berlin wall art, combined, mirrored, retouched and painted through.

I chose the aqua variation as through sampling I believe it worked better than the others with the red paisley choice. I also loved the deep blue version, my influence for such a geometric city inspired print came from recent works of Matthew Miller (menswear designer, featured later) and Louise Gray's womenswear prints. Again, keeping with the theme of Juxtoposition, intertwining two prints of such different tastes backed up my thoughts on political madness, unity in families and religion yet madness and confined spaces. 

here is an image of the final piece on stand. I does have matching trousers, and is typically in a pyjama style of suit. This reflects the historical reference to Jews wearing 'pyjamas' in the concentration camps and the famous novel which I read prior to this 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' 

Adding over-embellishment to the outfit gave the piece a bolder, more high fashion perspective on menswear. 

For my next printed suit I designed around these two geometric shapes I created, building on them through repeat, scale, blending and colour.

The first stage is the block stage, I like this print in terms of commercial use for labelling, yet a repeated print would work better on fabric. 

Exploring more with seasonal colour ways I like the idea of using more earth tones in this particular print. 

a rough print I created using paint and bricks, quite a nice touch for small accessories or panelling