Underneath

Finally finished my latest project. Click on the image below to read it.:)


So yeah, it's not really suitable to be presented like this..but I just couldn't think of a better way. Originally it is some sort of little, interactive book that you really have to touch while thumbing through it.
It's quite contradictory..originally I came here to study fashion and now I'm doing a critical anti-fashion project... but after researching about todays fashion industry in depth I simply worked out for myself that this is nothing I want to get involved in. The problems I pointed out in this project are just some of the most obvious, there is so much more lying 'underneath'.
Please don't get me wrong - I really do love fashion!! It's just what some people make out of it...doesn't seem to be quite right I think.If you're interested in some further thoughts and ideas behind the concept here's an extract of my evaluation.

"The theme of Unit 79 - Multidisciplinary Work in Fine Art - was 'The Collection'. We were asked to compose or combine several usually separated branches of learning fields of expertise to create a multidisciplinary final outcome. I got most of my inspiration from our trip to the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford which I really enjoyed. Especially the Body Arts section impressed me a lot, it showed in a very impressive way what kind of ideals of beauty different cultures had during their history. Some of them were quite gross, especially the 'Golden Lily' – the fashionable distorted foot of Chinese ladies which had to wrap their feed tightly in bandages at an early age to stop them from growing. Even though this is quite an extreme example it reminded me of how dangerous and present these ideals of beauty are in our today’s society. To be considered as pretty you have to be slim and tall, you have to have long, thin legs and a face like the models on the cover of your favourite fashion magazine. This is what thousands of people, especially young woman think since quite a while now already, and this is exactly the picture that the media and fashion industry convey. Even if this problem is well known, often discussed and pointed out by many professors, journalists and even fashion designer, it is still very common and dangerous and can be blamed for many of society's problems with weight and eating disorders as well as for cases of depression and beauty surgery.

With my project I intended to focus on these and other problems that lie buried underneath the glamorous, shiny and perfect looking world of the fashion industry today. Therefore I created a critical fashion catalogue - a collection of fashion illustrations combined with mixed media collage techniques that uncover, while thumbing through it, the main problems of today’s beauty obsession.

Franco Moschino was a great inspiration for this project since his approach to fashion has always been very critical as well. His 'Stop the fashion system' campaign, popular 'Cheap&Chic' label and the very first environment-friendly label which belongs precisely to him are only a few examples. He pretty much summed up all the dilemmas plaguing the modern fashion industry: The illusion of the perfect body, the loss of identity and creativity, the endangering of the environment and the issue of sweatshops and child labour. 
The catalogue I created features four pages, each focused on one of these problems and build up of two layers – an acetate layer on top on which I arranged fabrics to create glamorous fashion designs covering up most of the illustration beneath which reveals itself through turning the acetate layer. Additionally I wrote a small poem to back up the message as well as the multidisciplinary aspect of my project.

I am quite satisfied with the result of this project, it almost turned out the way I intended it to. There are some blemishes in the presentation though which I unfortunately couldn't fix due to lack of time but I hope it doesn't distract from the meaning to much."

The tutors didn't like it at all which was a bit disappointing. At least they said not one positive thing about it and I honestly wouldn't have thought it would be that bad...:/