As controversial as the industry can be sometimes, nothing is as controversial as fur. It’s a topic that’s well worth anyone’s attention in the industry, to put it down to laymen’s terms there are two clear divisions; pro or anti. And although this clear divider may be enough for some, it is what lies in between that is worth exploring.

It’s been called a “needless luxury”, presented as “the ugly face of fashion”, attached to the term “cruelty”, fur itself has created an interesting namesake for itself in the industry. And like with any good fashion trend, it’s gone through phases. Just like an indecisive teenager, it’s been “fashionable” to be anti-fur – in the early 1990s PETA released it’s first anti-fur campaign, and it was undoubtedly successful. The industry rejected fur, it was a thing of the past, and retailers such as Selfridges and Liberty placed bans on fur. Naomi Campbell posed for PETA, so did Cindy Crawford, but they both went back on that… (awkward)

But I’m not here to present the backstory about fur in the industry, if you want to know more about that let me know and I might just write a post about it. For the purposes of this post, we’re going to keep it friendly and light, I’m not going to bore you with in depth details nor gruesome photos of animals being slaughtered, just a friendly discussion about fur’s place within the industry.

Fur is far from the only animal material which is used in the industry. Among it’s ranks stands wool, angora, leather, silk (yes silk), mohair, camel, pony hair, cashmere, duck down and the list continues… All of which can be “ethically” or “unethically” sourced. Hell, even, plant based materials which are used for textile production can be unethically sourced.. Let’s face it the fashion industry is far from ethical.

Fur was a necessity at a time in history – when they didn’t have fancy textile technology to keep them warm, it was a way of surviving but, of course, in our 21st century, we don’t really have to forage the forests to pick berries for dinner so that’s not really a issue. Fur is seen as a luxury nowadays, not a need, but, a want (like most of the things in the industry). Once upon a time, it showed status, superiority, power, it gave integrity and dignity to a person, and I think in a way it still does… Fur in our 21st century still represents wealth, and extravagance. The mere significance and survival of fur as a viable material still in production today within the industry is due to the fact that it is opulent. This close association between fur and this atmosphere of pure luxury is one which has been reinforced again and again throughout the years. It’s expensive, therefore it must be exclusive. And in the fashion industry it really is as simple as that.

As a material, fur is the least worked material within the fashion industry so here’s where it differs from it’s neighbours wool and leathers. What I mean is this, Fur is left mostly in it’s natural state and the value of fur is highly dependent on this. In most cases, fur is not re-worked or tanned or woven. It exists purely as how it was when it existed on the animal from which it came. Even if it is dyed and manipulated as it was on the runway (see: fall 2013 collections), it primarily still looks like fur. Whereas, materials such as wool and angora, are re-worked. The protein fibres are woven into textiles or yarn which are then knitted or sewed into garments. They’re more commonly dyed into every colour of the rainbow and then produced into garments. In the end what you end up is a soft cozy jumper or top which looks nothing like the original raw material. It’s processed, then worked and then re-worked until it’s refined into a design. Which is probably why wool, cashmere, mohair, angora, silk and other protein fibres are much more accepted than fur. No one really thinks about it because it’s a material that has been worked for so long that it no longer represents that of the raw material. Isn’t that really just ignorant on our behalf? I’ve heard people complain about the collection of mohair but never really wool or cashmere. It’s as if we’ve been desensitised to the production and possible cruelty associated to the production and collection of the two fibres. And what about silk? Those poor worms…

Lastly, let’s talk leather. Most people would’ve worn leather at some time in their lives. It’s practically the norm for footwear these days. Again, it comes from an animal. A presumably dead animal. Sorry if that offends you but it’s the truth… From raw cowhide or lambskin, it takes so much work to become the shiny leather that forms your footwear. When it’s first collected, what it is essentially is just the skin of an animal, fur attached and all. From then it is prepared, tanned and crusted which takes a number of processes within them. It’s claim to fame in the environmental world is associated with it’s tanning process which involves the usage of a number of chemicals as well as the chemicals it produces during the preparation process. So when you think about it isn’t leather just as bad as fur?

And while we’ve covered all the protein fibres and raw materials which exist from animals, let’s talk cotton, nylon and all of the other wonderfully ethically wrongs of the fashion industry. First of all, the fashion industry really is not for the lighthearted. If you’re looking for a wonderfully ethically and sustainably made and sourced jacket, you ain’t gonna find it in Prada’s next collection nor H&M’s “sustainable” collection or whatever it’s called. While I’m all for the fashion industry to get it’s act together and stop being so wasteful and cruel, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. If you’ve ever bought any garment from most of the shops in Australia, you’ve probably purchased that’s been made in a sweatshop. But of course, you don’t get to see the garment being produced by women crammed in a factory in Bangladesh so what is it to you? It’s only $5. I mean where’s the PETA equivalent for sweatshop workers, campaigning for fairer working conditions and labour costs? Oh what? There isn’t one? Hell, I don’t think the Age or Herald Sun ever mentioned it in their newspapers… If you’ve ever bought a pair of leather shoes, I don’t see how that’s any different than buying a fur jacket. Just because you don’t realise the environmental impact of leather, and the many presumably unethical ways in which the leather was sourced from a dead animal, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. If you’ve ever bought a wool or cashmere cardigan, I don’t see how that’s any different to buying a fur jacket. Just because you didn’t see a rabbit struggling free from it’s cage in some god knows where factory in China while it’s being clipped of it’s fur doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

There are so many ethical issues surrounding the fashion industry, but don’t just attack fur because it has the most impact visually.As controversial as the industry can be sometimes, nothing is as controversial as fur. It’s a topic that’s well worth anyone’s attention in the industry, to put it down to laymen’s terms there are two clear divisions; pro or anti. And although this clear divider may be enough for some, it is what lies in between that is worth exploring.

It’s been called a “needless luxury”, presented as “the ugly face of fashion”, attached to the term “cruelty”, fur itself has created an interesting namesake for itself in the industry. And like with any good fashion trend, it’s gone through phases. Just like an indecisive teenager, it’s been “fashionable” to be anti-fur – in the early 1990s PETA released it’s first anti-fur campaign, and it was undoubtedly successful. The industry rejected fur, it was a thing of the past, and retailers such as Selfridges and Liberty placed bans on fur. Naomi Campbell posed for PETA, so did Cindy Crawford, but they both went back on that… (awkward)

But I’m not here to present the backstory about fur in the industry, if you want to know more about that let me know and I might just write a post about it. For the purposes of this post, we’re going to keep it friendly and light, I’m not going to bore you with in depth details nor gruesome photos of animals being slaughtered, just a friendly discussion about fur’s place within the industry.

Fur is far from the only animal material which is used in the industry. Among it’s ranks stands wool, angora, leather, silk (yes silk), mohair, camel, pony hair, cashmere, duck down and the list continues… All of which can be “ethically” or “unethically” sourced. Hell, even, plant based materials which are used for textile production can be unethically sourced.. Let’s face it the fashion industry is far from ethical.

Fur was a necessity at a time in history – when they didn’t have fancy textile technology to keep them warm, it was a way of surviving but, of course, in our 21st century, we don’t really have to forage the forests to pick berries for dinner so that’s not really a issue. Fur is seen as a luxury nowadays, not a need, but, a want (like most of the things in the industry). Once upon a time, it showed status, superiority, power, it gave integrity and dignity to a person, and I think in a way it still does… Fur in our 21st century still represents wealth, and extravagance. The mere significance and survival of fur as a viable material still in production today within the industry is due to the fact that it is opulent. This close association between fur and this atmosphere of pure luxury is one which has been reinforced again and again throughout the years. It’s expensive, therefore it must be exclusive. And in the fashion industry it really is as simple as that.

As a material, fur is the least worked material within the fashion industry so here’s where it differs from it’s neighbours wool and leathers. What I mean is this, Fur is left mostly in it’s natural state and the value of fur is highly dependent on this. In most cases, fur is not re-worked or tanned or woven. It exists purely as how it was when it existed on the animal from which it came. Even if it is dyed and manipulated as it was on the runway (see: fall 2013 collections), it primarily still looks like fur. Whereas, materials such as wool and angora, are re-worked. The protein fibres are woven into textiles or yarn which are then knitted or sewed into garments. They’re more commonly dyed into every colour of the rainbow and then produced into garments. In the end what you end up is a soft cozy jumper or top which looks nothing like the original raw material. It’s processed, then worked and then re-worked until it’s refined into a design. Which is probably why wool, cashmere, mohair, angora, silk and other protein fibres are much more accepted than fur. No one really thinks about it because it’s a material that has been worked for so long that it no longer represents that of the raw material. Isn’t that really just ignorant on our behalf? I’ve heard people complain about the collection of mohair but never really wool or cashmere. It’s as if we’ve been desensitised to the production and possible cruelty associated to the production and collection of the two fibres. And what about silk? Those poor worms…

Lastly, let’s talk leather. Most people would’ve worn leather at some time in their lives. It’s practically the norm for footwear these days. Again, it comes from an animal. A presumably dead animal. Sorry if that offends you but it’s the truth… From raw cowhide or lambskin, it takes so much work to become the shiny leather that forms your footwear. When it’s first collected, what it is essentially is just the skin of an animal, fur attached and all. From then it is prepared, tanned and crusted which takes a number of processes within them. It’s claim to fame in the environmental world is associated with it’s tanning process which involves the usage of a number of chemicals as well as the chemicals it produces during the preparation process. So when you think about it isn’t leather just as bad as fur?

And while we’ve covered all the protein fibres and raw materials which exist from animals, let’s talk cotton, nylon and all of the other wonderfully ethically wrongs of the fashion industry. First of all, the fashion industry really is not for the lighthearted. If you’re looking for a wonderfully ethically and sustainably made and sourced jacket, you ain’t gonna find it in Prada’s next collection nor H&M’s “sustainable” collection or whatever it’s called. While I’m all for the fashion industry to get it’s act together and stop being so wasteful and cruel, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. If you’ve ever bought any garment from most of the shops in Australia, you’ve probably purchased that’s been made in a sweatshop. But of course, you don’t get to see the garment being produced by women crammed in a factory in Bangladesh so what is it to you? It’s only $5. I mean where’s the PETA equivalent for sweatshop workers, campaigning for fairer working conditions and labour costs? Oh what? There isn’t one? Hell, I don’t think the Age or Herald Sun ever mentioned it in their newspapers… If you’ve ever bought a pair of leather shoes, I don’t see how that’s any different than buying a fur jacket. Just because you don’t realise the environmental impact of leather, and the many presumably unethical ways in which the leather was sourced from a dead animal, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. If you’ve ever bought a wool or cashmere cardigan, I don’t see how that’s any different to buying a fur jacket. Just because you didn’t see a rabbit struggling free from it’s cage in some god knows where factory in China while it’s being clipped of it’s fur doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

There are so many ethical issues surrounding the fashion industry, but don’t just attack fur because it has the most impact visually.

“TELL PETA MY MINK IS DRAGGIN’ ON THE FLOOR.”

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Wearable art is a new art form introduced with the invention of the sewing machine and its practitioners interpreting fashion the way they think it should be. Vince Quevedo discusses about Japanese influences in fashion and the techniques of creating wearable art.

Results of these experiments were quite successful, giving women one way to express themselves. The famous designer Elsa Schiaparelli introduced use of unconventional objects and silhouettes as acceptable in high fashion. That's how you may have faces emblazoned on the front of shirts and jackets. Yarn on sleeves has hair for those faces, and plastic bugs for buttons. While couture fashion was out of reach for most women, the outlandish styles they portrayed were art forms worn on the body.

It was this freedom that allowed women to be more creative in their clothing choices. Instead of going to a couturier, some people took on the task of creating original fashion using the best technique they could in producing these clothes. Those who can sew well and could interpret their concepts into something wearable, were able to mimic couture quality clothing. Those who did not have the skills still created original art that turned out beautiful or failed at making a successful garment.

It is this differentiation that caused the variation of defining wearable art just as it is easy to determine good painting from bad ones. There is another contention among artists whether wearable art is truly an art form. While I believe the wearable art movement is still in its infancy, some of the driving forces that affect its legitimacy are technology, access, concept and skill. While making clothes does take a level of skill, it does not make one an artist. With technology giving people the ability to transfer their ideas into something a machine can interpret, it is almost always a pre-determined selection such as machine embroidery, machine applique, machine long arm quilting, sewing patterns and kits.

Access to technology and lack of skills do not prevent anyone from calling themselves an artist. There are many sewing and quilt guilds as well as hundreds of workshops and conferences across America that are open to all. Women wearing vests they've made with flowers and butterflies with machine appliques or sewn by hand are the result of attending such a workshop.

Cultural Influence in Fashion

The nude, they say, is the naked body clothed in culture, yet fashion is difficult to define. One thing that comes up frequently in defining fashion is its ability to move fast within the confines of culture. Along with fashion, beauty is almost always intertwined in defining it yet culture has more to do with defining beauty. Fashion is a complete reflection of society. It seems, internationally, the western ideal of beauty was adopted and stood as a standard for all to follow beginning from 1760 to 1840. The industrial revolution introduced technology that exposed new scientific inventions and communication around the world. In the late 19th century, the rotary printer was invented and the fashion magazine was created.

A good example began with copying naval military uniforms of the British by the Japanese soon after the Franco-Prussian War. In 1872, the Meiji emperor mandated men of the Imperial Court to wear western clothing consisting of a frock coat or hat or military regalia. In 1886, the women had to adopt the same rule by wearing corsets and bustles. It was during this period the Japanese elite realised a near-perfect imitation of western wear.

The Mechanism of Change

American advertising has helped distribute fashion especially after World War II. Reflections of lifestyles, fashions and trends made consumers aware of what was available. A massive amount of magazines were published just prior to the 20th century and among them was Vogue. In the forefront of American industries were fashion and publishing. The two united made for a unique blend that American women adopted and depended on for fashion news.

France has been considered the fashion capital of the world since the country's influence in European fashion towards the end of the 18th century. Even with the world in turmoil and fashion magazines and advertisements terminated during the German Occupation, France withstood the challenges and continued to be the capital for fashion. The introduction of new collections by designers in Paris exposed the country to the worldwide fashion audience while earning high credentials from the world of fashion. In 1981, Yoji Yamamoto persuaded Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo to show their collections. These Japanese designers made an impact that influenced the fashion industry because it demanded female independency which was quite controversial at the time.

Japanese Concept

Post-Apocalyptic fashion has been part of the fashion scene since the 1980s when Japanese designers received international notoriety for a new perspective on fashion. Asymmetry, architectural shapes, bold textures, Asian nuances and subdued colours were mainstream concepts accepted as Japanese fashion. They questioned conventional attitudes towards fashion and were considered to be subversive to western standards of clothing. The Japanese fashion aesthetic took on complex, multiple and multilayered ideas as part of their normal approach to designing clothes.

Segments of cultural pop assisted in the acceptance of the avant-garde lifestyle. The popularity of science fiction movies depicting the end and what life will be like after Armageddon or the Biblical Book of Revelations as concepts for movies have popularised the depiction of post-Apocalyptic life. First introduced in the 1980s, this unconventional design style was called The Day After and Post-Hiroshima. While Issey Miyake may not be the first Japanese designer to introduce Japanese-influenced designs, he was the epitome of Japanese aesthetics rooted in its country's history.

Wearable Art Defined

Difficult to define, wearable art is controversial among many art enthusiasts. "Serious" artists reject this new art medium that does not seem to fit the realm of fine arts. From painting and sculpture the top echelons of the art world, followed by photography then crafts. Crafts seem to be the best fit for this relatively new art form because it dealt with using textiles. While rejected by the fine arts for not having a concrete definition of what it is, fashion introduced the wearer as part of the work itself. Unlike the realm of dance or the use of space to build installations, wearable art doesn't require a level of intricate dexterity.

Most wearable art takes the form of clothing without a sense of real meaning or purpose but rather, more for decoration. The usual materials used are fabrics and textiles of many forms. Sewing is usually the method used in producing these pieces of "art". While couture is the highest level of fashion, couture can also be considered wearable art. But not all wearable art is couture mainly because it may not have been produced using the best techniques and/or materials. The end product is mainly concerned with the concept of the design, rather than quality. There are many levels of wearable artists and some of them may not even consider themselves artists. What defines wearable art is its intentions. And the more serious art with concrete concepts and intentions almost always is considered couture. It is this undefined meaning that helps to cause this art form to be taken seriously by others.

Moreover, it is the artists who separate themselves from sewing enthusiasts. Fibre arts, in comparison, are created by artists who specialise in the making of textiles. There are quite a few wearable artists who also consider themselves textile artists or fibre artists. But the two can be very different from each other, mainly based again on intentions.

Techniques Used in the Making of Wearable Art

Quilting

Quilts are technically defined as three layers consisting of the exposed layer, batting, and the back. Quilting has been an American tradition which utilised old clothing to repurpose by cutting into shapes sewn together either at random or in prescribed patterns. This was a good way to recycle fabric into a usable object for warmth as well as decoration on the bed or the wall.

The Art Quilt started during Victorian times as a way to use scrap fabric, mostly velvet and velveteen, to put together a quilt using random shapes of fabric. Seams were covered with ornate hand-stitching with thread and/or ribbon. Because these quilts did not resemble the usual symmetrically designed quilts, they were also called crazy quilts.

                         

Title: Sherukamaya (Quevedo, 1996)

Small pieces of fabric cut and then re-sewn form the first layer of a quilt. This quilted panel garment was influenced by stained glass and liturgical clothing.

itle: Susan (Quevedo, 2004)

Stippling is the sewing of meandering patterns of stitching to create textures on the surface of the fabric. This design can be interpreted as wearable art or couture because of its conventional style yet unorthodox way of wearing clothes.

Fibre/Textiles Arts

Fibre/textiles art consists of printing, dyeing, painting, stencilling, discharging (take colour away), weaving, knitting, crocheting, and hand-stitching, among other techniques that can be used to create a wearable art piece

Title: Matrix (Quevedo, 2002)

Originally, the fabric used to make this garment was black. Discharging takes colour away like bleach. Strips of fabric were uniformly cut into half-inch strips, tied together and made into a ball of yarn. These strips were then crocheted together to make the scarf and sweater.

Digital Textile Printing on Textiles

One of the most important technological advancements in the development of textiles is the use of textile printing using dyes. Overall, digital printing on textiles works very much like a regular desktop printer but on a much larger scale. Textile printers can be wide enough to accommodate 60 to 84 inches wide fabric of any length required for the design.

Title: On the Seventh Day He Rested (Quevedo, 2003)

This quilt was digitally printed on cotton sheeting and quilted using Channel or Shadow or Echo stitching, where one row of stitches follows another row of stitching a quarter of an inch apart from each other.

Hand Manipulation

Hand manipulation is literally the use of your hands to create special stitches or knots such as crocheting, hand knitting, machine knitting, embroidery, applique, knotting, weaving, ribbon work, felting and many other techniques using specific muscle dexterity.

Title: Trebor (Quevedo, 2002)

Strips of rayon fabric were cut and crocheted to make this sweater and scarf. The head piece was made from strips of fabric that were dyed, then stitched together again.

Untitled (Quevedo, 2001)

This vessel was created by cutting strips of thin synthetic fabric wrapped over a metal form that was then melted. Once cooled, the metal form was taken away and the fabric was plasticized.

Untitled (Dewey and Quevedo 2011)

Repurposing in fashion is about finding another reason to make something into another idea you can still wear. This fifty year old white wedding dress was ruined in many parts including the veil. By cutting out only the useful parts of the wedding dress, a new dress was made to fit the person who owned the wedding dress. Dyed to an aged and feminine look, this former wedding dress is now a vintage evening gown.

Design Proposal

This design proposal will include salvaging post-consumed textiles found in thrift stores and reclaimed retail depots. The concept for the design will be conceived from a story I wrote years ago that included societies created from having to protect themselves from a failing atmosphere resulting in an apocalyptic event due to war. These societies were conceived based on materials available to them from having to live deep into earth's surface. After centuries living underground, these societies apart and dependent from each other produced unique cultures based exclusively on what was available to them. Not all were successful, but those that failed equally had their own communities dealing with everyday events as well as those that were significant to their situation.

From this narrative, a selected community and their fashion will be created. Considered to have succeeded in surviving this horrific event, these people were able to yield from a substantial amount of textile waste. These stories are a collection of communities throughout the planet earth. This unpublished science fiction collection of stories was started as a project to help student's jumpstart a creative and conceptual design process. Because communities based from different locations were used, parameters were created mostly based on environmental impact rather than societal but were not exclusive of each other.

Experiential Learning and Interpretation

The story selected to introduce this specific project came from a community rich with post-consumer products that were reused from procuring clothing to its most basic element without the assistance of technology. Strips of fabric were used to create new yarn or trims were put together to create fabric or newer trims. For this project, a store was located. It sold only pre-consumed products or things from another era. Many of the items in the store were from the 1970s and the 1980s with original prices as the final sale price. Rayon tapes of various colours were available and two boxfuls were used for this garment.

Keeping to the original concept of not using any type of technology to create this garment, several tests were attempted that only used hand techniques such as hand-sewing, hand-knitting and hand-crochet (Figure 1). Hand-crochet was applied due to its ease of use and unique surface texture, when completed. Since each roll of rayon tape was discoloured because of age and dye lot, it was important to camouflage the colour inconsistencies to reveal a newer and coherent textile -  

Figure 1. Crochet Technique (Quevedo, 2000)

Finishing the edges needed a sturdier yarn which the rayon tape could not provide. Instead, a two ply yarn was crocheted at the edges using a smaller crochet needle size for the sturdiness of the garment at the edges like hems and necklines.

Style Selection

The garment consisted of a dress and a jacket (Figure 2). This outfit was close fitted and seemed translucent owing to the transparency effect of the large crochet stitch used. Lining was not an option because the garment was crocheted. Stretch was an obvious compliment to this design for comfort and ease of care. An undergarment such as a swimsuit was intended for this beach cover-up or poolside hostess dress which has become part of the luxury market these past seasons. Companies are now producing swimwear that is not intended to get wet. They have expanded their textile choices to go beyond the usual spandex. Instead, these poolside garments were specifically designed for warm weather pool parties and cruises.

Versace, Dior and Missoni are some of the companies that produced dry-clean only swimwear that is not meant to get wet. Many of the fabrics selected for these don't fare well in water. Sequins that fade in the sun or metals deteriorating from creams are a far cry from the wash and wear care labels.

Summary

Japanese fashion designers have made an impact in our fashion history. The rich traditions of Japan as well as the translation of the Japanese aesthetics have catapulted The End of Days and Post-Hiroshima fashion into the mainstream globally. The styles of Kawakubo, Miyake and Yamamoto encouraged a non-western visual of the avant-garde. This project has that sense of beauty and did not apply technology in the production of the piece. Crochet and dyeing were the only techniques used in keeping with the story.

Creative writing can be a useful tool in fashion design. Stories most often create parameters designers have to stay within to stay true to the story they are helping to depict. Due to the story's environment, choices of materials have already been made for you as well as the style of garment, if the physical ecosystem is important to the story

- This project was a good teaching tool to help student's jumpstart to a different approach to conceptual design. Because the results were very successful, this approach to teaching and designing will continue. 

Finished Garment up-closet titled: Konichiwa (2015) 

Finished Garment titled: Konichiwa (2015)

Finished Garment titled: Konichiwa (2015)

Bibliography

1. Benbenek, Mary Beth, Crocheting School; a Complete Guide. Sterling Publications, New York, NY. 2002

2. Delis Hill, Daniel, As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising, 2004

3. Kawamura, Yuniya, The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion, New York: Berg, 2004

4. www.Newyorker.com/books/page-turner/post-apocalit.

5. Steele, Valerie, Japan Fashion Now. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2010

6. The dry-clean bikini; and other swimwear you really shouldn't take to the beach... (n.d.) >the Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Dec 07 2015 from

7. www.Thefreelibrary.com/

8. Martin, Richard and Koda, Harold, Orientalism, Visions of the East in Western Dress. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.

9. Nicolay, Megan, Generation T; 108 Ways to Transform a Tee Shirt, Workman Publishing, New York, NY, 2006

10. Michler, J. Marsha, Crazy Quilting- The Complete Guide, Krause Publications Iola, WI 2008

11. Slade, Toby, Japanese Fashion a Cultural History, Oxford and New York: Berg 2009.

12. Withers, Janet 'Rei Kawakubo', The Face, March: 52-3, 1987

13. Zeier Poole, Joanie, Elegant Machine Quilting: Innovative Heirloom Quilting Using Any Sewing Machine, Krause Publications lola, WI, 2005

Co-Design

Dewey, Audra, Repurposed design untitled. Kent State University student 2011.

Japanese and post-apocalyptic influenced fashion design: Konnichiwa

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Street Art: An Introduction

In the early 1970s, urban youth communicated their frustrations in the form of spray painted lines, curves and bubble letters that soon engulfed New York City's subway cars and stations. When the public saw this graffiti for the first time, it had no idea what it was. Today, graffiti and street art, almost always mistaken as synonymous terms, are instantly recognisable.

From its inception, graffiti was declared vandalism by the government and transit authorities, but has managed to continually develop "stylistically and in terms of the industry that has grown up around it." Various forms of mass media such as film, popular videos and magazines depicting graffiti helped the movement spread into a global phenomenon. It was not too long before New York City's art world would begin to consider this new, sweeping form of expression as Radical Chic. While this could mean that some impact is lost, as in any type of domestication process, we believe the power of the art form lies in its ability to continually arouse confrontation, make headlines, and divide public opinion.

It is difficult to define graffiti and street art. Originally, the spray can was integral to graffiti and pieces were usually created on walls and freight trains. More recently, street art has come to encompass a range of materials apart from the spray can, including acrylic, stickers, paste-ups, and even ceramics.

Graffiti is now a global phenomenon with different styles springing up all over the world. It crosses geographical, social and cultural boundaries and there is a constant cross-pollination of styles and techniques. Computer-based work, graphic design, illustration and calligraphy now contribute to the multi-faceted movement.

While Rough Cut Nation, "a collective project to redefine the way national life is depicted, in the heart of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery" features practicing graffiti writers and street artists, it is not intended to be representative of the scene in Scotland. Instead, the presence of graffiti is in the collaborative nature of the show and the coming together of diverse backgrounds and influences.

FROM GRAFFITI TO STREET ART

When graffiti is mentioned, thoughts of indiscernible lettering and spray paint typically come to mind. Several new types of the art form have emerged in recent years to include stencilling, stickers and other developments now labelled as street art. Graffiti and street art vary by technique and also sociological elements. Nicholas Ganz mentions in his book, "Graffiti Women: Street Art from Five Continents," that graffiti is "largely governed by the desire to spread one's tag and achieve fame." Writers are greatly concerned with the act of tagging and 'getting up' as much as possible in order to establish their work as better than everyone else's. Street art, on the contrary, "tends to have fewer rules and embraces a much broader range of styles and techniques."

he Emergence of Street Art

While it was letters that once dominated, the culture has (since) expanded: new forms are explored, and characters, symbols and abstractions .Personal style is free to develop without any constraints, and stickers, posters, stencils, airbrush, oil-based chalk, all varieties of paint and even sculpture are used. Most artists have been liberated from relying solely on the spray can. This is reflected in a newer form of graffiti, now referred to as street art, that developed as artists began to use more innovative approaches to form and technique that (went) beyond traditional perceptions of the classic graffiti style. Many graffiti writers were after recognition by means of spray-painting the most trains or the best pieces. The street artist, on the other hand, wanted to communicate with the passerby or shape their environment without any constraints. Spraypaint, as the original graffiti tool, remains vital to graffiti artists around the world, but the choice of material available these days-oil or acrylic paint, airbrush, oil-based chalk, posters and stickers, to name a few-is extensive and has widened the scope. Graffiti continues to evolve, as it is the very nature of the art form to try new techniques, which often results in a shift from the original concept to completely different areas. In its creative drive, it continually transcends its own borders as it devises fascinating new variations to bring life and colour to public spaces.

STREET ART

Street art has gone mainstream. Artists who started on the street now show in museums and galleries, rather than on them, and their stencils or posters can be worth millions. Cameras watch to catch people defacing what's already on the walls.

Objectives of street art for Punjabi Rajput bridal lehenga

1.       To collect the pattern of street art

2.      To enhance new patterns of lehenga

3.      To use motifs of street art in various designs of lehenga

4.      To find acceptability for the new creation

Methodology

A methodology is normally used as a guideline rather than as a strict set of instructions. This section deals with methodological details of the present study, "Design Concept on Street Art for Punjabi Rajput Bridal Lehenga."For the purpose we collected both primary and secondary data through different means including books, Internet.

Process

First, we collected the information about our target market Delhi, Rajasthan and Chandigarh wedding reception and inspiration. Two types of data were researched. The first is primary data collection based on direct client attributes and the second is secondary data collection from secondary sources like the Internet, books and magazines.

Later, we made a story board which includes style board, mood board, colour board, inspiration board and swatch board.

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Result and Discussion

Fifteen designers from Delhi and several other places like Chandigarh, Rajasthan were evaluated. The experimented works, as respondents, were selected purposely to access and select developed motifs of street art. The order to find the acceptability of articles was carried with the rating.

Summary and conclusion

Working on a project entitled, Street Art for Punjabi Rajput Bridal lehenga, we had surveyed fifteen designers. They were given 16 questions framed according to the article and motifs. The result of the questions is shown in a bar chart in which most designers said that total expenditure on a lehenga is between Rs. 5,000 and 10,000. The preferred colours are warm/bright colours, mostly picked up by the Punjabi Rajput bride, and the selection of design pattern is both abstract and traditional. They prefer to use accessories and embroidery in lehengaand the preferred fabric is cotton/silk and they required the packaging of the material for lehenga. The suggestion from designers was good and according to the Punjabi lehenga.

References

1). Conservancy.umn.edu

2). Crln.acrl.org

3). Articles.latime.com

4). Scuplure-museum.com

5). Wikimedia.org

6). Mentalflos.com

7). Barnard Nikolas, Gillo John, Traditional Indian Textile, 1951.

8). Dr.Shailaja D. Naik, Folk Embroidery and traditional handloom weaving, S.B Nangia, A.P.H.

Design Concept on 'Street Art' for Punjabi Rajput Bridal Lehenga

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