Different colour, yarns and Maggot sizes!

Today the CAD session with Simon went really well. The first tiny maggot sample that I did, I liked it so much that I wanted to see if maybe I changed the yarns and the machine gauge, I could get different effect of maggot knit samples.

I really enjoyed this session as it gave me the chance to have fun experimenting with different colours and textures of yarn. This is what I enjoy the most about knitting.

Using the 10 gauge knitting machine I knitted three samples of the knitted maggots. I liked how they came out but I didn't love them, I thought there was still something missing but I couldn't put my finger on it.

For this sample I used a mohair yarn which I thought would be more interesting but I don’t really like how it came out. You can’t really see the shape of the maggots but I like the colour of the yarn.

For my next two samples, I used the 14 gauge machine. These samples came out amazing, I love them. My only complaint would be, I wish that I could try and get smaller maggots but the problem is there isn't a smaller gauge machine so this is the smallest I can get!

I plan to keep experimenting because you never know what can happen, in the business of knitting!

The Launch: The Unfinished Conversation: John Akomfrah

Today was very fun and educating, I am really happy that I went to the event. It gave me a personal insight on Stuart Hall’s life in Jamaica and then his life in England; I loved this, as my project is about combining both cultures together. I also enjoyed the way the video was presented. They had three large T.V screens side by side. As Stuart Hall was talking (voice over) the screen was showing two different things. At first it was a bit overwhelming because, you wanted to see everything that was happening. At times you could only focus on one screen, so I had to watch it twice to really capture everything that was happening.

At the event there were a lot of people from all different parts of the arts, which was interesting.

At 7 pm there was an hour seminar with the man himself John Akomfrah: he is an artist, film director, screen writer and founding member of black Audio Film collective. So as you can see, he is well established in his field.

Watching John talk about his work and his interest in the black culture, made me think about my own work and the reasons behind my project.

I loved his video that he showed us, it was so good. It was raw and had so much meaning to it. If I do decided to go ahead with the mini commercial/video idea, because of his talk, I have a few new ideas.

Here is a video from his talk. Hope you enjoy!!

4http://vimeo.com/59479574

Dance the night away!!!!!!

I love this image of Denzel Washington (Malcolm X) and spike Lee (Director of Malcolm x), in their zoot suits in the film Malcolm X. I love how over the top they look and the fabric colours and pattern of their suits, this is the kind of idea I have for my collection, I want to try to have the same fun and excitement within all my garments.

This is the Lindy Hop swing dance scene from Malcolm X, I love the energy and everyone looks like they are having fun. This is the kind of of energy I want in my collection.

Live In Colour!

I have been in love with this image; originally I could only find it in black and white. Finally I have found the coloured version and to my surprise my colour palette is very similar to their garments in the picture!!

WHOOP WHOOP!!

LOL Good old Days

I really like this video because of the energy and also how symbolic it is for the Mask (Jim Carey) to be wearing the Zoot suit.

Have Fun watching the video!!

watch her style dough!

One person who I think their style truly represents their personality is Kelis, I Love her style and attitude and the clothes that she wears, looks and feels like her.

I am infatuated at the moment with these two Music videos of hers because of her attitude and the songs. The songs have a cool vibe and each song reflects different aspect of herself. As an audience, you can straight away identify that this is Kelis no matter how different each song sounds.

This is what I want to create with my brand, everything I do I want it to reflect ‘Delores’. Adding my own spices and flavour to my work, I want you to look at it straight away and know it’s me. I want my brand to reflect who I am……DELORES!!

Enjoy!

Finding Where You Fit In

Ahh anit nothing like being back home! But still no rest, I have to get so much work done.

Today I went to Selfridges to do some Market Research and thank God I managed to get my little brother to go with me (with a great amount of begging), so it could look like he was shopping for himself. This also benefited me because when I liked something, I gave it to him to try on. This helped me understand how different yarns felt on the skin; also it helped me to see different silhouettes and the fit.

Shockingly going through Selfridges, there was nothing there that was similar to what I am trying to achieve with my collection. Most of the colours there was so dull, but they did have some interesting things but just not what I was trying to do (which is a good thing for me).

We went to all saints, which was interesting because of some of their silhouettes. They had some cool shapes (which are kind of similar to what I wanted to do) and their concepts were similar to mine too. They too were playing with the string vest and transparency idea using knit. Which was really cool, but there was no life with their colours. But I really like their quality of their garments.

I don’t think All Saints would be my competitors but we are very similar with some of our ideas, so I will probably put them down as well.

The price they were charging for their jumpers were decent, I think I would charge just  a bit more as my garments will be a bit less generic and have a twist to them

Here are a few pictures that we took.