Victoria Louise Geaney

Erdem’s New Look

A designer’s prerogative is to reject what has gone before, to shed its old skin and give birth to the new season’s sensibility; so it was with intrigue and anticipation that I approached the Erdem Autumn Winter 2014 show at London Fashion Week. Buried in what appeared to be a disused car park, at the workman’s entrance of Selfridges, the Old Selfridges Hotel was a ghostly backdrop to the show. I began to question my navigational skills. Erdem’s signature show customarily ties in with his feminine floral prints and Victorian inspired tea-stained lace, so is typically set under a gorgeous, adored pavilion in the centre of a florally abundant botanical garden. I was immediately entranced.

A beautiful formation of twinkling white LED’s announced the onset of the show, illuminating and guiding Erdem’s army along the path of their runway. The garments reflected this new feeling within Erdem, exemplified through a noticeable move away from his signature hazy blooms and instead focussing on a renewed sensibility imbuing a Neo-Gothic Romanov princess. Sporting cut away straps, oversized piping outlining the seams and taking elements of garments apart (though in a strictly clean and purely Erdem way) the pieces revealed the elbows, shoulders and necks of their wearer.

Cutout Elements

Black ruled the colour pallette with garments in patent crocodile leather capes, laser cut delicate velvet dresses, lace embroidered silks and tailored woollen coats. Elements of colour included Chinese embroidered and foiled gold, metallic duck egg blue and burgundy red. Even the emblematic primary-coloured embroidery over sheer black chiffon was left unfinished - frayed and with raw threads dangling down. It was as though Erdem was rejecting and undoing what it is to be stereotypically ‘Erdem’ and thus stamping his renewed design authority on the clothing. And it made for a far stronger, attention-grabbing collection.

Wide shoulders, flared dolman sleeves cinched at cuffs and a more masculine shape for jackets

If Erdem’s renaissance was to begin with surface design, then it was rapidly shadowed by shape. Perhaps trend-led, the ever-so-slightly more masculine silhouette was typified through Erdem’s take on the American football, boyfriend and baseball jackets though fabrics were beautiful metallic autumn hues of gold, red and blue and intricately embroidered over a sheer underlay. Once teamed with cutout elements, Erdem might almost have been illustrating the undoing or unmasking of this new masculinity with beauty and fragility shining through in metallic brocade hues and delicate decorative embroidery. Through this design rebirth, Erdem proved to the crowd that he is definitely still one to watch.

Ashish

A technological thread ran throughout the London based enclave of design talent this season, however one show that really caught my eye - quite literally - was Ashish. Showing at the hallowed Turbine Hall within London’s Tate Modern, Ashish attracted a variety of celebrities such as Lily Allen, Jodie Harsh and Madness singer Suggs. This high ceiled site has previously housed some of modern British art’s most iconic works such as the often controversial and politically outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s installation 'Sunflower Seeds’; Anish Kapoor’s almost gramophone-like sculpture ‘Marsvas’; and Carsten Holler’s ‘Test Sight’ which consisted of a series of slides that the public could interact with and use to interpret the previously dead space between the floors of the gallery. What an incredible venue then for Phillip Green and London Fashion Week to house the Autumn Winter 2014 Topshop Showspace.

Jourdann Dunn leads models as LEDs twinkle under netted skirts and along jogger seams

Led by model Jourdan Dunn, Ashish presented a procession of 90s fairy princess meets day-glow, LED-emblazoned, rave sportswear. Coloured LEDs adorned the outer seams of tracksuits and shone through layers of tulle on black, white and Barbie pink netted dresses. LED lights were seen in accessories as twinkling platform trainers lit up the catwalk, announcing a collaboration between Ashish, Topshop and Buffallo boots which are set to be a highly covetable item this Spring. Lily Allen posted a photo of her pair on Instagram after the show. The Buffallo boots will form part of a full apparel collection in partnership with Topshop set to be available in stores from May this year.

'Night night dream shoes, I hope your still real tomorrow. X' - Lily Allen on Instagram

Ashish has a panchant for heavily crystalising and adorning garments with sequins, which was still rife this season. Standout pieces included a pink beaded sweatsuit, American baseball jacket but in particular the ‘ripped’ denim which at second-glance revealed the tears to be strings of crystals and beads dangling in the form of trompe l’oeil rips. However, this season Ashish extended this into oversized pearls, which embellished hems collars, cuffs, seams really picking up on the theme seen in Simone Rocha’s Spring Summer show.

Ashish's glistening take on denim, sport-luxe, oversized pearls and the American Baseball Jacket

Exaggerated and oversized elements were continued into decorative ruffles on jeans and jackets in denim, and in layers of tulle netting on sport-luxe crop tops and dresses. One of my favourite pieces was an American baseball jacket completely covered in black disco plastic strips blurring the lines between sportswear and couture. The collection sparkled and glistened with crystals, sequins, pearls and LEDs, yet it was rhizomic too as Ashish really concentrated on great shapes within the garments. I look forward to seeing if this is the show that heralded wearable technology into the design house of Ashish.

Just is a product family based upon the shared themes of its founders: relaxation, protection, light, freedom and the feeling of ‘a cloud’. A combined group action sequence led to a ritualistic progression of movements from yawning, stretching, Just Floating and relaxing, Just Hanging.

Just Floating is an air-cushioned, ‘floating’, translucent cape which remains buoyant by catching, trapping and holding air in its large pocket formation as the wearer carries out the motion of yawning. This use of air pockets (plastic bags) enables the piece to ‘float’ as though a parachute or kite by catching and retaining air within its form. It then retains the air to act as a large cushion for the wearer to lean onto and relax their head, cushioned around the neck. In this way, Just Floating ecologically employs air and the user’s strength to operate the piece. It can therefore be viewed as environmentally friendly, as it is made from recycled translucent plastic bags, and due to its formation. This means that it is powered by the wearer rather than by an energy source such as electricity so is ecological. It catches the air and almost floats giving the user the ‘cloud-like’ experience required. It works together within the Just product family with Just Hanging.

Just Hanging

Just Hanging is a draped garment with an elastic strap fastening and elasticated cord braces integrally attached within the arms, sleeves and waist of the piece to create and echo the yawning movement of Just Floating. The elasticated straps release and then tighten to guide the wearer to move their arms upwards, then out and down, as though yawning. The item is designed for the relaxing feeling after yawning, and for unwinding and resting in or ‘just hanging’ around. Just Hanging can be used alongside this cushioned cape as a casual loungewear item. It drapes over the shoulders and arms, and then flows from a slouched waist (which can be clipped at the strap fastening) down to the ground. It is a full-length item, accentuating the heaviness and droopiness at the front of the piece in order to mirror the feeling of ‘hanging’ or ‘chilling’. Just Floating can then work with the wearer’s movement to yawn or stretch using the elasticated straps to create this shape with the arms and whilst holding Just Floating. The user can then relax with the air-filled cushion cape Just Floating.

My Process -

Tuesday:

I joined the Skills Tour on the second day and tried to work quickly to catch-up to the level of concept already achieved by the other delegates. I wanted to get a better understanding of the work started and to see what concepts and pieces the other people had decided to start working on. On Monday, the workshop focussed on dance and movement to influence designs, specifically looking at your daily routine and how the movement of a favourite ritual or action can inspire products and garments. I thought of the movement of Yawning and Stretching so began to turn this into an idea. Using a stretch fabric, I created a cape with elasticated straps to hold onto whilst holding your fists together, the garment stretching up into the sky and slightly floating before becoming relaxed and a piece of cloth once more when brought back down after yawning.

Diary

I showed this first prototype to the group on Tuesday evening, mentioning the idea of perhaps using shape memory polymers (as we had just learnt about these in the Materio lecture) to make the garment physically move into the shape of a yawn. Feedback from Sietske was to try to develop this idea further, creating a Yawning Gown or Yawning Outfit.

Wednesday:

On the Wednesday, we formed groups to combine our concepts, aiming to mix design disciplines and nationalities. I worked with a product designer and a textile designer and we decided to use all 3 of our movements after brainstorming the key themes that our work shared in common. These included: light, freedom, relieving tension, relaxation, protection, personal space, cloud and wings. Mathilde produced a garment based on a piece to wear in order to protect the body whilst cycling. Marieke had designed a loungewear garment based on ‘hanging around’ and my cape was influenced by stretching and yawning, so we added these rituals and garments together to produce an end piece that worked separately and also when combined, to create one end amalgamation for the wearer.

Diary

We then draped a hanging garment over Marieke, after deciding on a suitable material which fitted our relaxing and ‘cloud-like’ theme. I then helped Marieke by pattern cutting her vision, and thus combining my fashion background and skills with her product design. We thought about how the garments could fit together by considering the cape also acting as a hammock and how the products could work together as a product family. This led us to look forward to how we could expand the range to create a brand - ‘Just’…

Just Hanging

Just Floating

Just Cycling

Thursday:

Marieke and I worked together on Thursday morning exploring my design idea and theme to produce a floating cape made out of a really lightweight material. This materialised as a series of translucent bin liners attached in a beautiful arrangement using tape in order to catch and hold the air during the yawning and stretching action. The result was a product that literally floated down from the air and then held the air, acting as a large wearable cushion for the end user.

Film and Techniques

We made a film together showing the garments being worn and used within our theme and concept, using a skyline background as if the wearer was floating. I filmed the piece, Marieke modelled the products and she edited the films together, creating a beautiful film called Just.

Which techniques did you use?

We didn’t utilise soft electronic technology within the Just product range. Marieke used the laser cutter and heat press to emboss the Just Hanging logo onto the back of the draped garment. However, during the Crysalis Skills Tour week, the techniques that I used were:

-Overlocking

-Laser-cutting

-Attending the electronics workshop where I created a circuit using conductive thread, conductive fabrics and LED strips

-Learning how to use CAD embroidery machine

-Learning about innovative Materials in the Materio lecture

About The Skills Tour

How did you find out about the Skills tour?

I was contacted by Serena Williams who informed me about the tour as an alternative option to an upcoming one-day conference in Plymouth. She suggested that it may be more applicable to my interests in LEDs, electronics and innovative textiles.

What made you decide on to send your CV and portfolio?

I sent my CV and some photos of my light-up collection to Serena as I wanted to apply to the Skills Tour in order to learn about electronics and interactive textiles and to learn how to use the equipment, such as the laser cutter and machine embroidery, in the studio.

How was the accommodation?

The accommodation was spacious and clean with a lovely breakfast provided by our cheerful hostess each morning. They kept sheep and a lovely dog and the owner is a renowned children’s author. Homemade jams and marmalades, pastries, breads and freshly made fruit juices adorned the breakfast table.

Did the program match your expectations?

I think that the program both matched and exceeded my expectations. I feel like I have come away bursting with ideas and with some practical skills to apply them. It opened my eyes to some new possibilities in materials and in the methodology behind concepts and products. It made me think in a new way – how can the product better benefit the user (rather than the designer forcing their vision on the end user) and how technology can aid and enhance this user experience. It was great to work with other designers (product, graphic, textile and other fashion designers) and to combine our approaches to produce new ideas and a final product or garment family - Just. In particular, I loved learning about electronics in Marina’s workshop and the Materio lecture by Karen was fascinating and very useful for my brand.

Did you meet interesting people for your network?

The group was made up of a variety of different nationalities including Belgian, Dutch and British designers, and from differing design specialisms, such as Product, Fashion, Textile and Graphic. This made for a really interesting variety of ideas and concepts. The tutors and TIO3 staff were excellent and so motivating, thought-provoking and exciting to work with. This included Karen Sprengers of Materio, Marina Toeters of By-Wire, Sietske Klooster and Sofie De Ville. My hope is that new opportunities will arise from these new network contacts.

Did you have a good time?

I had a great time, learnt lots, ate well and met new, interesting and exciting people with great ideas to help me to move my own design work – sportswear fashion technology brand – forwards. I would thoroughly recommend that other designers attend the future Crysalis Skills Tours and Workshops.

Alternative Fashion Week 16.04.12

Alternative Fashion Week hosts this debut womenswear collection from the studio of young, up-and-coming designer V I C T O R I A G E A N E Y Taking initial inspiration from the power of an unhatched egg, and borrowing Salvador Dali’s painting title ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’, the collection takes the concepts of power and energy literally, making use of electrical wires and light to ‘power’ the garments. Electroluminescent wire is encased in transparent egg sculptures and radiator reflective foam is used to create a reflective, egg shaped skirt. LEDs and electroluminescent wires hang down, dripping and dousing garments with illuminating light.

Informed by the emerging Post-postmodern movement, the conceptual womenswear designer V I C T O R I A G E A N E Y produces multidisciplinary fashion, art and science amalgamations during this socially and environmentally aware green era. Metamorphosis of Narcissus explores the possibility of garments which can be viewed as fashion and art, whilst exploring the reuse of hardware materials. Technology, fashion and art converge in this debut multidisciplinary and environmental collection. With accompanying film ‘Guir’ directed by Andrew Seot (Guir on youtube.com).

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Bucks Free Press article

This morning a photographer came from the local paper, the Bucks Free Press, where they are running an article about the shoe competition. She came and took photos whilst I stood in front of my Graduate Fashion Week final collection and holding the shoe designs - quite embarrassing but also exciting! You can check out the article on their website- http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/8230529.Student_chosen_by_Italian_fashion_collection/ or if you live in Bucks, look out for it in the paper either this Friday or next week sometime!
Vicky x x x

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Graduate Fashion Week

I am so excited about this Sunday, as I will be showing my final year collection at Graduate Fashion Week, in Earl's Court. The UCA Epsom show starts at 8pm and I am 12th in the running order. My collection is based on humour and the motion of laughter, with trompe l'oeil influences and a tailored menswear look taken from Charlie Chaplin, for my final womenswear collection. I have uploaded my portfolio online and the website link is: http://victoriageaney.carbonmade.com/
so check it out!
Vicky x x x

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

What's More Alive Than You!

Hi everyone! This is my first official post on Blogspot as I just wanted to let you know that after designing a Shoe Collection over Summer for the What's More Alive Than You! Competition, I have been chosen as a Finalist! Hopefully my shoes will be on sale from their website soon. To check out the Profile Page (coming soon) please visit http://www.wmaty.com/ !! Also, the Revolution Art Magazine website has written an article on the Competition and posted the finalists names, and their website is: http://revolutionartmagazine.com/wp/

Vicky xxx

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)