Junk Kouture 2015

When entering this competition we were novices. oblivious to the entent as how large this competition was. after sending our entry away we kept level headed as we didn't know what to expect and whether or not we would get through. when we recieved the news that over 3000 students across Ireland also entered my optimism of getting through was a little knocked. however, i was delighted at the news we had made it to the regional finals and were short listed to the top 80 in northern Ireland.

The regional final took place in Derry in the Millenium Forum. As the day approaced our preporation with 'The Rised Of Lady Titanic' for it built up however, upon arriving we didnt know what to expect so we could not fully prepare. when we arrided it was evident that this was our first year competing as we were a bit lost. however, it didnt take us long to adapt and get in to the swing of things. we were then able to prepare for the dress rehearsals and perfecting Emmas performace as she had to be on the cat walk for 1 minute 30 to our chosen song from the Titanic. the atmosphere and experience of being back stage and seeing how everything works was great. i got and insight to the performace world of being backstage and thoroughly enjoyed it. the show itself was great, being able to gain inspiration from other students from all over the north was great and to be able to take to them and share their designs with us. the show was a great production overall with everything running smothlty and Emmas performance going well.

regional final photos:

However, we were a little disappointed to not hear our pieces name called during the announcment of the 20 chosen to go onto the All Ireland Finals although we were proud and greatful for how far we got. during the regional final they announced 18/20 to go through and reserved 2 'wild card' choices to be given the news at a later stage by Glenda Gilsen, tv personality.

To our absolute surprise we were chosen as a wildcard!! meaning we were to compete against 79 other pieces from across the whole of Ireland. this gave us a great sense of pride and achievement, that our hard work paid off. we then attended the final in April at the 3 Arena in Dublin. this huge set up was both amazing and daunting to be part of, especially for Emma who was to be on stage performing alone infront of the large crowds.

when we were announced as the wildcards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxlWdu3fels

arriving in the morning we were a little aware of the process and were guided by the asigned helpers for each region. we were then given a changing room where we could prepare Emma for the show which we shared with 2 other finalists. this was a great opportunity to gain insight to their ideas and thier pieces for our own inspiration. it was a great experience to be part of.
our day was packed with preparation, media coverage and meeting the judges. during the day we had the opportunity to speak with some of the judges and showcase our work. along with us we brought a portfolia full on my own and Emma boards to show our thought process behind the outfit. this was a great experience as we felt a senese of pride and achievement when they were impressed with our work.
we made it through to the final with great pride and a sense of achievement therefore we just enjoyed the final days an experience overall as the standard was so high we didnt expect anything higher than we already achieved. looking back i do not regret entering this competiton at all. despite the hours of prep work put in it was all worth it as the experience i gained was great. it has really interested me into perusing a career in that industry later in life as this was a great taster of the performace work and a great insight to the reality, i was particuarly interested in the makeup aspect of it as well as seeing everybody elses creations and ideas. that it is not all glamourous and there is infact alot of waiting around. But non the less i really enjoyed this experienced and it game me the drive to successfully finish my first project.

The Process of my Final Piece

Throughout my project i have been intending on creating a fashion piece for my final piecethe only decision i had to make was what sort. through my research of the Titanic i became under the understanding that the sinking of the titanic was known to be the end of the edwardian period. using the Edwardian period along side the film production of The Titanic i gained my inspiration for my piece. through this research i found that hats were an extreamly popular garment. from the opening scene in The Titanic throughout the film hats where symbolic to the wealth of the person. the iconic moment from when Rose steps out of her cart onto the docks with her large hat gave me the inspiration to create a hat myself. this decision by costume designer Debhora lynn Scott was intended to be an eye cathing moment and to draw out emotions of the viewer. these are the intentions when creating art, it must be eye catching and draw an emotional reaction from the viewer, whether that be making the happy or them feeling an emotion or the atmosphere such as in this case, Debhora lynn scott along with the directions wanted all eyes to be on Rose and the initial acknowledgment to her wealth to be understood.

As i progressed in my project i had decided i was to create a piece, similar to the style of those worn on the ship with aspects on the shipyard brought in to satisfy both areas of my project. 

Whilst working on my project, the opportunity to enter Junk Kouture arose. this was a great opportunity ti display my work along side other students across ireland. myself and another art student, Emma Hughes came together in designing an outfit that we could enter into this fashion competition. i was to create the hat whilst Emma would make the dress and be the model.

this competition asked us to create our piece using recyclable materials, and as both my own and Emma project focused on interiors we decided this was a great opportunity to explore the use of waste interior materials such as carpets, lampshades and so on into creating a fashion piece.

From the aim of creating apiece out of recycled materials and entering this competition i began the planning process of my final piece. i came up with a range of design drawings as seen on my pages that i could potential make out of recycled interiors. I wanted to create a hat that would represent the oppulance of the titanic as well as incorporate aspects of the shipyard.

My design process lead me to creating a final design which i could then work from and develop upon when creating my piece.
I aimed to create a hat that almost resembles a tea cup in shape. i wanted it to be eye catching and unique. i combined elements of both the ship and the shipyard or engine rooms in my design.
the base of the hat was created from a circle cut off out of a carpet which we were donated  by a local interior shop that was about to skip it along with curtain tassels and edging that we could use at a later stage to decorate. onto this base i decorated it with glass paintings onto scrap plastic. these images consisted of ropes, chains and floral patterns found on the china and fabrics of the ship. i then edged the hat using scrap table clothes and sample cut offs of fabric which i ruffled up on the sewing machine.
The large cup like shape of the hat was created using a lampshade for the structure onto which i sewed curtain cut off panels. to enhance the decoration of this i edged it with curtain ties and tassels and began to paint patters onto the fabric using glass paints. in the inner side of the hat i wanted to focus on the engine rooms and shipyard aspects of the ship. i created a disk like shape of fabric which i printed images of thee workmen engine rooms onto, which i then distressed using black oil aswell as embroidering into it using dark threads. i then created loose pieces of vanishing muslin lace to create the illusion of oil and darkness to portray the harsh conditions in the engine rooms in contrast to the first class quarters of the ship. in this part of my hat i wanted to create a center piece focused on the workmen. using a smaller lampshade i distressed the metal which i then covered in nuts, bolts, coggs and chains. i then twisted wire into the shape of a handel and added it onto the frame to make it look a little more like a tea cup shape.i wired this into the centre of the hat using clothes hanger wire. i then decorated the hat  with two large bird feathers which would have commonly be found on the hats of those on board the ship and in the edwardian era.
a challenge i found with my hat was it was very heavy considering the materials used as well as the fact it was difficult to balance. to overcome this issue i created a bowl hat which would sit onto the models head without pain to help with the balance of the hat. onto the bowl i added images of the workmen which i then embroidered into and added vanishing muslin lace pieces to hide the joints. on the inside of the bowl i padded it with wadding and covered with hessian as found on the ship yard and curtain edging to again hide the edging. to make this bowl a little more discreate i created tighter vanishing muslin lace pieces for sll around the circumference of the base of the hat.this was designed to mimic the vail like face guards found on many of the hats on the titanic.
after this step was complete the only task i had left to do was create broahces which i added onto the base of the hat using images of the workmen in the centre i worked around each of them with fabric cut offs and tassels. my hat was them completed.

i was happy with the overall finish of the hat which gave us the confidence to put it forward in entry for Junk Kouture 2015.

Further Reflection

Upon further personal reflection on my overall project i was not fully satisfied with my work. Especially in my textiles. This drove me onto working into each of my pieces with more embroidering and embellishment to bring the standard of each of my pieces to the next level, showing progress in my work. when embroidering into each of my pieces, i concentrated on bringing out simple shapes and textures to enhance the appearance of each of the pieces. this was because i had began to think of the final piece i wanted to create and i wanted to include some aspects of embroidering therefore it had to be up to standard in my experimentation and sampling stage before i began work on the final piece.