Voyage to the planets

The documentary series 'Voyage to the Planets' is on ABC at the moment, it's a stunning and visually beautiful series that takes you on a journey to a different planet each week. You can watch 'Voyage to the Planets' online at ABC iView 

Print development

Despite the fact that my photoshop skills are extremely rudimentary  (consisting only of: Copy, Paste, Rotate, Opacity) I have managed to create some images that I feel are a more refined step towards my final prints for the collection. 

It's just something I did really quickly, so there will definitely be improvements before I get to the final image to be printed. My favourite is the last image. It would look great on the mesh dress worn over the lingerie...

Pastel sky

Photograph from my bedroom window, 

...and my colour palette 

In Orbit - collection board update

Since the previous design selection assessment and the arrival of my neoprene, I have re-thought and re-designed my collection. 
As a reminder, this (below) was the original collection board:
I was unsure of how the neoprene would behave when it came to sampling the garments. Once I got my hands on it and its 4-way stretch, I decided to embrace the stretch rather than fight it to make tailored/structured garments - like the cropped jacket, above left. This is one of the reasons for the evolution into mostly stretch  garments. I will post photos of my samples on the models we had for assessment yesterday as soon as I get them off the studio camera. 

Here's some details on the individual designs:

Cropped shirt in white cotton organdy (below: back view showing circular 'moon' cut out)

Skirt in printed organza - circle skirt base with repeated gradating circles sewn on top. 

Raglan sleeve dress in white neoprene with crescent and star laser cut-outs. Shorts in printed stretch mesh worn underneath. 

Lingerie set in white neoprene with white mesh overlay in panels. Crescent Swarovksi crystal bead at the centre of the bra. Underwear have a crescent seam detail at the back. 

Maxi dress in printed mesh, lose fit with extended arm holes and racer back. Tights in jumbo spandex with crescent seam detail at the front. 

    

 Cropped jacket in neoprene with an exposed zip at the front at large 'tuck'  sleeves. Skirt in printed duchess satin.

 

Dress in lavender neoprene with printed mesh inserts at the front and in the sleeves. 

Neoprene and prints

I didn't think I could get so excited about a package arriving. When I went to Sydney last week,  I received this picture message from my housemates and couldn't wait to get back to Brisbane to get my hands on its contents...

"You've got package love!"

The box contained my fabric order that I had been waiting on to begin sampling: neoprene, mesh and spandex. 

It was exciting to get the neoprene in particular as it is pretty much impossible to find a similar fabric to sample in - a thick 4-way stretch fabric (think wetsuit material) is definitely not stocked in Spotlight. 

For some reason, the white is significantly thinner than the colours, and the black is the thickest. This will effect the fit of the garment, and I will soon see how and in what way. 

These Neoprene colours are what my dreams are made of. My recently developed aversion to black clothes and the fact that the black Neoprene feels to thick and rubbery has helped my decision to avoid black in my final collection. Therefore, I have some 'design development' to do, which I knew would happen anyway as my drawing skills sometimes don't effectively communicate the 2D to 3D. 

Prints:

More exciting developments! My fabric prints are done and look amazing! The quality is better than I expected and the colours are true to the photograph. 

The beginnings of a circle skirt using the polyester satin fabric. 

The printed mesh provoked poetic ideas... 'a window into the night sky' (neoprene cutout over printed stretch mesh)

Now I know of the quality of the prints, I will get many more meters of both the mesh and satin printed. Now the hard part will be choosing and modifying the images for printing. I aim to rework the images to make them more refined and with less colour variance.  

I am hoping that the prints will add depth to my collection, giving it a more personal and unique touch than just block colours. 

Sydney:

My trip to Sydney last week proved useful for  ideas on garment construction using neoprene... unexpected yet useful ideas! The Cynthia Rowley for Roxy stand in David Jones gave me the chance to look at construction using neoprene. This was very helpful, as I have mostly worked with woven fabrics to make garments, and was finding it difficult to understand how I would construct the garments using neoprene and stretch wear sewing techniques. 

Apologies for the bad photographs, I was sneaking them with my iphone...

Swimwear for the fashion-consious surfer girl... 

Nice use of pastels Cynthia! 

Cover stitched leg opening

The inside of the garment appeared to be glued or bonded together

Feature binding

Seamless zipper

Raw-edge sleeve finish

Colour:

The Australian Museum in Sydney had an exhibition on crystals and minerals...such beautiful colours and forms found in nature.

pastel combinations with white... thank you universe!

In Orbit

In Orbit - By Maya Sundari

Spring/Summer 2011

In Orbit represents my interpretation of orbital paths in space. The collection could be seen as a representation of clothes that orbit the body... either at a safe and regulated distanc eor close and comforting. The concept of space as close and comforting can be likened to our own familiar milky way galaxy that we see every night, appearing slightly different each time, but always softly fluid and gently sparkling.

That above photo is taken from el fotopakismo's flicker photostream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotopakismo/2907866048/

My collection In Orbit is futuristc yet feminine, interpreting the cyber/galactic influence in a soft and inviting way - not cold and hard which is how it is often seen in fashion. I want to achieve this through a combination of a pastel colour palette and designs that are rounded, floaty or voluminous. In Orbit is positive, colourful and fun... it's clothes that make you want to move and twirl. I hope that this collection will provide a reconnection with our universe that I feel is often missing from our everyday lives.

Colour palette and inspiration source:

Design selection on Monday went well and I'm looking forward to the next steps(sssssss). Next on the 'To Do' list is to get images and fabric sent to the printers for my digital fabric print samples and order some neoprene to start sampling.

Sunday is not a day of rest.

My Sunday (as usual) was not a day of rest like it should be...although I did enjoy spray painting ping pong balls to use for my presentation tomorrow. For some reason, I always find spray painting very satisfying. 

To explain: I am going to (eventually) make hollow sterling silver balls to attach to the hemline of one or two garments in my collection to represent planets on an orbital path. This will be my complimentary project this year -  called 'Wandering Stars'. The word 'planet' comes from the Greek term 'planetes' meaning 'wanderer' as ancient astronomers noticed how certain lights moved across the night sky. They called these lights 'asteres planetai' or 'wandering stars'. 

Below shows some initial inspiration for the project:

Some scans of my sketches of some initial ideas on construction and application:

And the ping-pong ball substitute... workin' the hemline. 

 

Finally... my rough toile for one of the 'outfits':

I will need to get my final fabric to move forward with toiling, as I am using neoprene (in this case, for the jacket) and finding it difficult to find a suitable substitute that drapes and handles in the same way. Overall, I am happy with the garments, although adjustments will have to be made to achieve my ideal form and shape.