CONTINUOUS PROJECT: BODY IMAGE & POSITIVITY
Week 1 (29/08/2022) - Week 14 (28/11/2022)
Faith Aimee Choong Jia Yi / 0345509
Fashion Project 2 [DST64404]
Continuous Project: Body Image & Positivity
LECTURE [29/08]
In today's lecture, Mr JR briefed us on the theme of this project: Body Image. We had to make a mindmap, gather ideas about body image and positivity, research fabric manipulation, customer page, etc. I did a mini mindmap in MIRO.
PROJECT BRIEF:
We are to create a collection solely focusing on Body Image & Positivity. We are free to choose any theme relating to Body Image but it should reflect the subject matter onto our garment design.
PROCESS:
[Week 1]
I choose to focus on stretch marks. Stretch marks aren't big of a deal because they are usually hidden or not spoken about. However, people or women, in general, seem to care about them. Stretch marks can appear on the abdomen, breast, hips, buttocks, or other places on the body. They are usually common in pregant women, especially in their last trimester.
Stretch marks are caused by skin overstretching or too much stress on the skin. It could also be because of your hormones. Most females face issues with stretch marks more than men. But that doesn't mean, men, don't have them too.
Mr JR told us to do an illustrative and artistic moodboard and concept board, and he also told us to do some fabric manipulation in the meantime. As well as find a cross-reference and case study.
RESEARCH
For my case study, I chose Ashley Dorough, who is a lifestyle influencer famous for promoting body positivity. She has her share of struggles with body image which includes stretch marks. Ever since she had those markings on her body, she felt she was fatter and bigger which made her fall into depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder too.
I was very inspired by what she said in her Instagram bio.
"Bodies are supposed to change. Skin is supposed to age. Through the different seasons of life, you may feel heavier or lighter. You may be stronger or weaker. Your skin may start to show signs that you're living life. Being truly flawless is being able to own what your body looks like and realize that it's yours and no one else'. And it sure as hell doesn't define you."
For my cross-reference, I chose this art piece called 'The Uncertain Journey' by Chiharu Shiota. The meaning behind this artwork is that there isn't a fixed destination. "It's like one vast network with the boats carrying us to an uncertain yet wondrous journey." In a sense, it's telling us that our journey through life isn't always a straight path, we make choices according to the decisions made in situations or on our own.
Looking at this cross reference, reminded me of the lines that the stretch marks make on our bodies. Quite similar in a sense. The no sense of direction in the lines and natural appearance of our
CONCEPT STORY
Perfection doesn’t come easy on us. We change and improve ourselves every day. On the outside, we see your perfect skin, perfect face, perfect fashion, perfect hair, perfect arms and legs. But what about the inside. What are we hiding beneath those perfections?
We always try to live up to someone else’s beauty standards without even realizing the beauty within ourselves. Living up to the standards could make us attractive but are we really happy with changing ourselves to the extent of achieving perfection. The human body is meant to wither as you age. It isn’t a beautiful sight to witness however it is a sign of you living life. “Being truly flawless is being able to own what your body looks like and realize that it’s yours and no one else’s. And it sure as hell doesn’t define you.” Ashley Dorough
AW 22/23 collection is an artistic and powerful awareness that is using fabric manipulation to bring out the message and creative form of stretch marks. A project with experimentation to make the unnoticeable, noticeable.
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In my concept story, I was trying to convey how stretch marks are always hidden beneath our clothes or through make-up and people have considered themselves perfect just by covering up those flaws. After hearing Dorough's inspiring quotation, I realize that stretch marks aren't entirely signals that indicate obesity but instead signs that shows you living life. This is why I named this AW22/23 collection 'Waves of Time'.
I prepared a presentation of what I've researched so far on stretch marks.
FEEDBACK
By: Mr JR
"This is a really good presentation. I would suggest you try out an experiment of pulling and stretching the skin. Like tieing up a sponge with string and seeing that texture and structure of the aftermath."
[Week 2]
EXPERIMENTATION
I decided to do an experiment on the stretching of the skin. Mr JR suggested using a sponge and tie it up with strings to create that pull or stretch. In the end, I did a comparison between the new and used a sponge to show the exaggeration of the pull and the markings of the lines resembling the stretch marks on our bodies.
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| Comparison |
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| Stretch Mark Scar Effects |
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| Tieing Process |
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| Experiment 1.0 |
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| Experiment 1.1 [Close-up] |
After doing this experiment, I come to see how the strings wrapped around the sponge look bondage. Bondage in a way that the strings resemble stretch marks is like an unconscious act of the stretch marks spreading around the body, bondage as in to say that it's going to be there forever, never letting go nor leaving.
After completing that experiment, I started on my mood board and concept board for this collection.
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| Moodboard |
[Week 3]
I started doing my fabric manipulation. Mr JR recommended trying tie dye as it closely resembles stretch marks. I tried tie-dying with bleach because I didn't have any fabric-colored dye.
Once I had the colored dyes, I tried them on a cotton fabric that I bought at the fabric store.
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| Bleach Dye |
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| Colored Dye on White |
FEEDBACK
By: Mr JR
"I love the tie-dying with bleach, it gives off a nice and natural color gradient but the ones with the colored dye don't really blend well. I think you can start placing your fabric manipulation onto the base here, start sampling."
I bought the cotton gauze and crotchet to try out the fabric as. I even bought double-sided interfacing so that I can glue the fabric manipulation onto the base.
[Week 4]
We had a visit to the SKBS Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Sunway, where we had to ask the students about what they understood or know about body image. We had to also prepare questions to ask the students about our specific topic on body image. Since I did research about stretch marks, I have come up with some questions to ask them.
- Do you know what are stretch marks?
- Do you know how they are formed?
- Do those lines look beautiful or ugly to you? If so why? (Elaborate in terms of description or comparing something)
- If these lines started forming on your body would you erase them or embrace them?
The overall answer from the students on these questions; they didn't really understand much about what stretch marks are.
Using my cross reference and experimentation, I developed 10 initial ideas. I developed designs for normal model sizes.
FEEDBACK
By: Mr JR
"I love the contrast between all your designs. However, you should try and include your experimentation into your design, the idea of wrapping and tieing. You could try making a harness detailing to resemble the tieing method. For the 2nd design add a jacket design so that the design is in sync with one another."
Here are my final three designs, which I've chosen out of my 10. Out of these 10 designs, I choose to further develop Look 2, 3 and 7.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT [LOOK 02]
Design 03 was chosen.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT [LOOK 03]
Design 04 was chosen.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT [LOOK 07]
FEEDBACK
By: Mr JR
"I love your design developments for Look 02 and 03 but for Look 07 all of the designs look monotonous due to the similar silhouette. Try experimenting with new silhouettes and colors so that it looks different from the others."
[Week 5]
We started doing fabric manipulations for our chosen theme. Previously I did the black tie dye on bleach and white tie dye with color.
Mr JR, told me to overlay the cotton gauze on top of the bleach dye fabric. Here is the experiment using cotton gauze. I tore up the cotton gauze so that the cotton thread is messed up and all over the place resembling the stretch marks. Some parts were thicker and some were thinner.
Here is the outcome of my first fabric manipulation.
Fabric Manipulation:
Sample #1: Black tie dye with cotton gauze and crochet
I also tried placing the cotton gauze and crochet texture on top of other bases like the black mesh and colored tie dye on white fabric.
Sample#2: Colored tie dye with black color cotton gauze and crotchet
I wasn't really impressed with the tie-dye colors that I bought previously so I bought orange instead since it resembles closely with my concept and the bleach dye. I wanted there to be contrast so I dye the cotton gauze in black fabric dye and used black mesh and strings to make the texture.
Sample#3: Mesh black with cotton gauze and crotchet
Mr JR recommended adding black strings to bring out the texture more since it's just plain white for now.
[Week 6]
We had another visit to the SKBS Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Sunway, to present our 10 initial designs, concept board, and mood board.
Since I didn't join the previous meet-up at the school, I joined an existing group and present my ideas there.
After our presentation, the students had to write a slogan about body image
The slogan is "Ugly, Bad or Very Pain but they want to be beautiful.
[Week 7]
This week we continue our fabric manipulation. Mr JR asked me to add a new manipulation which is relating to the experimentation (tieing the sponge with string).
I also asked Mr Jr, about my finalized designs. For Look 7, I decided to change it into menswear. For menswear, it's pretty simple, just a blazer paired with trousers.
FEEDBACK
By: Mr JR
"The design looks marvelous. But I think black color pants look better on menswear. As for the manipulation just overlay it on the top of the pants, so the pants act as the base."
*Independent Learning Week*
We had one last visit to the SKBS Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Sunway, to hear them present to us about body image. Even the Ms Plus Malaysia came to give a talk to the students.
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[Week 9]
I've completed all my fabric manipulation. Mr JR told us to present our fabric manipulation by making a black window frame out of the mounting board.
SUBMISSION
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Moodboard
Final Design
Technical Drawing
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| Look 01 |
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| Look 02 |
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| Look 03 |
Progress
Fabric Manipulation
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| Sample #1: Leather Wrapping |
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| Sample #2: Colored Dye on White Fabric with Black Cotton Gauze and Crotchet Texture |
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| Sample #3: Black Mesh with Cotton Gauze and Crotchet Texture |
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| Sample #4: Bleach Dye on Black Fabric with Cotton Gauze and Crotchet Texture |
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| Sample #5: Bleach Dye on Black Fabric |
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| Sample #6: Colored Dye on White Fabric |
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| Sample #7: Looping & Wrapping Technique on Fabric |
PRESENTATION SLIDES
LOOKBOOK
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EXHIBITION:
We were invited to display our Body Image & Positivity collection at Ken Gallery, TTDI.
REFLECTION:
Overall I think that this semester is challenging for me because I had to tackle two projects at the same time. But I also really enjoyed making this collection because I loved what I made and I'm proud of the process I've been through. I was so happy with the outcome because I'm bringing what I designed to live. The styling for me was also on point. In choosing the theme, which is stretch marks, I actually had the idea by looking down at my thighs because I have them too and I had a sudden thought of how nobody is talking about their stretch marks. When I did further research on this matter, there were articles and case studies where people were insecure with stretch marks as well but didn't bother to speak of it. I found a pin where it wrote 'You have the waves of the sea written on your skin'. The quote was so beautiful and relatable that I decided to name my collection 'The Waves of Time.
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