Quote From McQueen

Quote From McQueen by brimalotke

Corsetry Progress

Pictured left is the corset after all of the side seams were sewn together. I was still debating on the zipper but in the end I chose an all black separating zipper for the front closure. There are no laces, it just zips on and off. Once I sewed the seams I pressed them open and then sewed the zipper. Then it was ready for a fitting to see how it fits over the dress.

Pictured right is the corset all sewn together with the zipper and on my mannequin over the dress for Gabby. I was pretty sure it looked to big but decided to wait for the fitting before changing anything. Also, I couldn't put the boning in before making sure it fit. However, I could have put the boning in the seams in which I wouldn't alter after the fitting. The 3 seams I alter are the center back and the 2 side seams. After the fitting I needed to take the corset in around 3 inches total. 

Pictured left is the corset after sewing twill tape down 4 of the seams to create a tunnel for the boning to go inside. I learned this method in my corsetry class at the London College of Fashion (LCF) and decided to use it for my more modernized corset instead of doing the run and fell seams. I am not using black twill tape for the entire insides. I've been debating on how to finish the other 5 seams, but I'm thinking as of now it'll be 2 red seams and 3 white seams. I'll be finishing the corset by hand sewing black twill tape along the top and bottom. I may be taking the corset with me to France to do some hand sewing while in the airport, but that's not set in stone since I haven't packed yet and don't know how heavy my bags will be. We shall see :)

2015 in Review

This year has been a whirlwind of amazing times for me. Of course there's been some not so wonderful times, but I've done so much this year it's hard to believe it.
In January I headed off to London for a semester abroad at the London College of Fashion. I made some friends and got to travel to other great places like Scotland and Paris. When I came home I got to see my school's fashion show and my friend model my sustainability piece. 

A collar I patterned, sewed, and stitched
on an apron for "Hay Fever."

Then I was off for the summer to Illinois where I interned with the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company and got to help out on a few shows for my boss and her freelance costume design jobs. I was also lucky enough to land an internship for Fashion A Magazine and have been writing for them and doing social media posts since June.

In August I started my last year at Purdue and began working on my senior collection that will be shown on April2nd, 2016. I interned with the Purdue Costume Shop again this fall and was even lucky enough t be he costume designer for a small production. It was wonderful! I've finished the year with seeing John Oliver in Chicago and getting to spend some quality time with family. I'm really looking forward to this coming year, mainly the whole graduating college part but who knows what will happen after that!

 

Goodbye 2015 & Hello 2016!

 

Enjoying tea time in London at Sketch.

 



Packing & Moving

A snip-it of my wardrobe.

As of now I have a majority of everything I need to move packed, however, I haven't packed any of my clothes. I'm trying to decide what I need and what I won't wear so I shouldn't waste space, but it's really hard because I have a lot of options and the weather changes so often I need a variety of seasonal choices. Part of me is saying if I didn't take it to London in my 1 suitcase, and if I didn't take it to Illinois for my costume internship, well then I shouldn't take it school. But the summer is all hot weather so of course I'll need to take stuff I didn't pack for Illinois like all my sweaters. Also I didn't take a lot of stuff I loved to London in case something were to happen, that's one reason I managed to take only 1 suitcase, I took stuff that could get ruined or whatnot and it wouldn't be the end of the world. So I wasn't the typical fashion person at the London College of Fashion, but it wasn't a big deal to me. Everyone's style is different, so what if I rocked some old school batman tees while everyone else was dressed head to toe in black, the clothes part didn't matter because I was there for school. Now going back to Purdue (IN) is completely different. Whatever I don't pack for the year I'm going to need to rethink about keeping it in my closet here in Ohio. Some stuff is meaningful and I'll keep it, but if my white jeans don't make it to school I'll probably donate them in the spring. I need to declutter my closet and thus declutter my life. I do think that I might hold on to some unique pieces however, that way if I do go into costuming and I freelance for community theaters, I'll have a good size stock to pull from for certain shows. We'll see what happens. It's going to be hard to write for the next few days so this might be it for a bit. Stay tuned for what makes the cut and what gets cut from my wardrobe.

Exhibits From Around the World

Right now there are 3 exhibits that I would love to attend. The first, and most practical, is at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and is called Cutting Edge Fashion: Recent Acquisitions. The exhibition "seeks to explore how various designers were considered avant garde in their own ways, drawing from new acquisitions it has painstakingly made since 2006" (Indiana Museum...). I'm hoping to go to this over the summer, it's not too far away and I think it'll be really amazing to see the different avant garde pieces they've acquired over the years. One of the pieces (pictured in this post) is an evening dress from the 1920s by Callot Soeurs. It's a stunning dress made of silk velvet, metallic threads, and faux pearls. 

(From website, see Bibliography,
photo Courtesy Indiana Museum of Art)

The second museum exhibit I'd love to see happens to be in London at the Victoria and Albert museum titled Shoes: Pleasure and Pain. The exhibit contains around 200 pairs of both women's and men's shoes from around the world. It aims to explore "the complex relationship that people have with shoes, including the cultural significance and transformative capacity of footwear" (V&A...). I really wish I was still in London so I could go see this exhibit. I loved the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit and I know there are a few more amazing exhibits going on this summer that would be wonderful to attend. 

Lastly, the third exhibit I'd be thrilled to see is in Madrid. The exhibit, Vogue Like a Painting, opens later this month and illustrates the artistic connection between the photographs in Vogue and the original artworks. Kolesnikov-Jessop writes that "Botticelli, Vermeer, Van Eyck, Degas, Hogarth, and Rossetti are just some of the painters whose works have inspired fashion photography in the pages of Vogue magazine" (Vogue like a Painting...). If only I could just up and go to any museum exhibit I want, I definitely would go around the world nonstop just visiting museums and art galleries. Maybe someday my career will involve lots of travelling and I'll get some free time while working and I can visit the sites.

Bibliography
Kolesnikov-Jessop, S. (2015, June 3). "Vogue like a Painting" Coming Up at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Retrieved from http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1171691/vogue-like-a-painting-coming-up-at-the-museo-thyssen
Tay, M. (2015, May 11). Indiana Museum of Art Shows off New Acquisitions in Avant Garde Fashion Exhibition. Retrieved from http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1152499/indiana-museum-of-art-shows-off-new-acquisitions-in-avant  
Tay, M. (2015, June 8). V&A Explores Pleasure and Pain of Beautiful Footwear. Retrieved from http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1147857/va-explores-pleasure-and-pain-of-beautiful-footwear

Library Visits & Missing London

Since I'm only working at the costume shop in the mornings Monday thru Thursday I have a lot of free time on my hands. This week I've been a little lazy and really only been running errands and watching a lot of Friends on Netflix. I went to the library early this week and got a handful of books, one of which makes me really miss London. This V&A book titled "400 Years of Fashion," is pretty great and filled with a lot of useful information and a variety of looks for the different periods. I've included the front and back covers because they show some of the great looks included inside the book.

1905 travelling gown

While reading this book I've just really missed being in London. In London I could go to any museum or art gallery whenever I had free time and I could see amazing exhibits. Here in Illinois I don't have that access to the fashion and art world that I did in London. I'm about an hour and a half away from Chicago, so I can go to a decently big city and see exhibits and fashion, but it's just not the same as walking to a museum about 20mins away from my apartment. But still, books like this are amazing to read, not only for their information but because they can help ease the fact you can't just up and go anywhere you want any time you want. I'm not all the way through the book yet, I've been taking some notes and really looking at the pieces included. In the costume shop we've been organizing all of the costumes and I really wanted to make sure we get the years right for when we go through the 1900s. I'm more focused on the past 100 years because their stock of costumes is mostly 20th century looks and most of their performances can use pieces from those decades for their shows. I'm just really excited to help create the inventory of all of the pieces and to see what all we have in the shop. And so far this book is a great resource and I definitely recommend it to those interested in the changes in fashion.

Exhibit & Book: Thea Porter

The inside of my book.

 While in London I went to the Fashion and Textile Museum a couple of times. The first time was for an exhibit titled "Knitwear Chanel to Westwood." Then the second was for an exhibit on the designer Thea Porter. It was called "Thea Porter 70s Bohemian Chic" and it was lovely and I enjoyed the variety of pieces they had and how they displayed them in the exhibition space. When you first walked in it was aminly pictures and a few stand alone pieces. then the ones in the main spaces were in cases set up each with their own personalities. One 'box' was set up like her dining room and another like her shop. It was just great and i loved all of the different patterns and colors Thea Porter had used in her designs. She did one of a kind pieces in different styles and also worked with interior design for a bit. her main seven looks included: the Abaya & kaftan, the Faye dress, the Gipsy dress, the wrap over dress, the brocade panel dress, the Chazara jacket, and the Sirwal skirt. i definitely reccomend looking more into Thea Porter and her designs! She wasn't great with the business end of things and that's why she stopped running her shops but she was a brilliant designer.

A glimpse of her shop.

While I was in Bath, which happened to be during Bath in fashion Week, my friend and I managed to snag tickets to the talk on Thea Porter & the exhibit. it was supposed to be held by Porter's daughter and the curator of the exhibit, Laura McLaws Helms, but was only held by the curator. She gave a great presentation and it was really interesting to see how someone goes about curating an exhibit and hearing what goes in to pulling it off and it turning out amazing. My friend Amanda and both ended up buying the book on the exhibit, especially since we had gone to see it in London, and we got them signed by Laura. It's pretty cool to have a signed book, especially a fashion book. It's a good read and has a lot of references and great pictures. If you can, check it out!

Perfect Pattern

If you've read more of my blog then you know I love the pattern houndstooth, especially when it's black & white. While I was in London one of my classes, British Cultural Studies, went to a vintage store during class and I snapped this picture. To me it's a great selection, to others they're all the same. I like the variety that a same colored pattern can have despite sharing the same basics. They're all black and white, all blazers, and all houndstooth but they each have their own vibe. i think it's great and I really wish we had had more time in the store because I would have tried to get one. I did buy a hat that I plan on fixing and using in my senior collection next year. 

My France Shoes

 While I was in France on my spring break from my semester at the London College of Fashion, I bought a pair of shoes that I am still in love with every time I wear them out. They cost me a little bit more than I wanted to spend but they were my splurge item I had planned on from the beginning of my trip. I bought them at the Galeries Lafayette in Paris and they're by Claudie Pierlot, a brand that rocks a lot of black & white combinations. I'm definitely going to somehow include these bad boys in my senior collection even if they're the shoes I wear during the fashion show. I'm really hoping I find some great models that wear US 8's because I've just been collecting and hoarding shoes I think might work for my senior collection for a while now and they're all around a size 8.

LCF Grades Arrived!

I finally got my grades back from my study abroad semester at the London College of Fashion! I've been really anxious about getting them because the grading system for London is different than the US. I'm really proud of what I managed to pull off, it's not straight A's like I had wanted but it's close and that's great. During orientation we were told that barely any A+'s were given and that no one ever got straight A's, so even just getting an A+ is amazing!

I managed to get an A+ in Corsetry, an A in Fashion, History, Art & Artifact (my journal was graded for this class) as well as an A in British Cultural Studies. Then I got 3 B+'s: Theoretical & Contemporary Fashion Studies, Creative Footwear, and Mastering Millinery. Overall I'm pretty thrilled with the results of the semester. I know my journal turned out well and that's such a relief. Also to see I did well enough with my presentations, mainly my pecha kutcha and then my shoe collection presentation. I'm just in awe of actually doing well since I wasn't really prepared for a different grading system and how they get transferred into credits at Purdue and go in with my GPA. Hopefully I manage to do well my last year & finish strong! 

Collection: Postcards

When I went to the exhibit on Rudi Gernreich at the Cincinnati Museum titled "The Total Look" I had a blast! You weren't allowed to take photographs while in the exhibit, so I got the two awesome postcards of two of the looks in the exhibit. The model is Peggy Moffitt and the photographer is William Claxton while the outfits were done by Rudi. One of the information boards in the exhibit was on Peggy and one of the fun facts I walked away with was that she did her own makeup for the shoots. Another tidbit was that when she modeled the infamous topless bikini she only agreed to do it if Claxton, her husband, took the photos. Once again, I really enjoyed the exhibit and the looks they chose to feature. It had such a rich variety and showcased the different styles of the sixties. Also, the fashion video was amazing to watch, cool and comical.

Anyways, I'm pretty stoked to include these postcards in the mini collection I started in London. While I've always gotten postcards at different places, it wasn't until London that I actually thought that spending my money on so many was a great idea. They are a great resource to have, and they're pretty cheap which means I can get a lot and not feel guilty. I have quite a few from my time abroad and a small set of ones I already owned before I left. The two pictured in this post are my latest, and possibly most vibrant, of my collection of postcards.

Bath In Fashion

A couple weeks ago I was in Bath for a weekend trip with a friend. We didn't know about it when we booked our trip but Bath was having their own fashion week events. They called it Bath In Fashion and had talks, designers, and shows going on. We managed to go to a talk on Thea Porter from the curator of the exhibit that is on at the Fashion & Textiles Museum in London, which we had gone to the week before. We bought copies of the book and got them signed! One of the other main things we did was go to the big fashion show on Friday night. It was pretty great. The clothing was from shops in the city & so if you wanted you could purchase them the next day in store. 

Here are just some pictures (some of my better ones, we were 2nd row) of the fashion show:

Great coat

I loved the millinery in the show

Finale 

Mad Hatter: My Second Hat

Head piece and feathers.

For my second hat I chose to make a head piece. I bought a head piece, 2 ostrich feathers, black veiling, red swarovski crystals, black textured fabric, red dye, and a headband. First I sewed the fabric on to the head piece, one piece at a time following the curves of the piece. Then I dyed my feathers red, steamed & curled them, and finally sewed them onto the side of the head piece. 

Added the crystals.

Outside of class I glued the crystals on to the veiling. I did about half a meter of veiling with crystals. Then I needed to put holes into the head band and sew the head piece on to the headband. After that I bound one side of the veiling- I had decided to lay a piece without crystals over top of the piece with crystals- using thread and glue. Then I attached it to the inside of the head piece where the feathers were (on the outside). Next I needed my professor's help to figure out the right lay and pin the other side as well as the top of the veiling. Then I tack stitched where the pins were and I was done. 

Sewing on the textured fabric.

Inside view.

Final look.

It all seems so easy from the amount of steps, but it took a lot of hard work and effort. I'm pleased with the results, it's not quite what I had in mind originally but I still like it.
They will both most likely be in my collection next year, or even just at my senior table in the art gallery. We shall see when I figure out my designs for the runway! I definitely want to continue to make hats though, I think it's a lot of fun, albeit expensive, but fun!

Final 2 Hats.

Side view of top hat with head piece.

Corsetry Progress 3

Lacing up the back.

Yesterday I had my last class for corsetry and I had finished my corset over the weekend (while I was in Bath). All I had to do during class was lace it up, try it on, and get photographed. I also had to present my sketch book, which i can post about another day because it is basically a full book of research, sketches, photos, and samples. Probably a little too much for this post.

The finished corset!

After my first fitting I only had to finish the two side seams, sew the boning, and finish the top and bottom of my corset. I chose to hand sew my top and bottom so that I could finish my corset while on my mini vacation to Bath over this past weekend. Since I only had enough tape for the top from what I had used on my seams, I needed to dye more white tape, which I did using English Breakfast Tea. I also redyed my laces so that the two would match. My top and bottom taping aren't the same color, but the laces match the bottom and my seams on the inside match the top. 

The fit from the front.

I didn't get a chance to do any embroidery, but I have the materials to work on some samples when I get some free time. My corset fits really well, it laces up almost entirely in the back- which means I will most likely take it in so that if I ever chose to I could work on lacing it and take in my waist up to 2". After my first fitting my professor told me to take it in but then during the next class told me to let it out instead, which I did. So now I have a not super tight corset, but I'm happy with the results! No complaints here, I'm ready to take what I've learned and apply it to another corset. 



I'd like to make another basic one, but work with different fabrics. After that I'm going to move into more challenging tasks such as lining a corset or making one of my personal designs that look difficult and involve a lot of structure. All I can say for now is that there will most definitely be a corset of some sort in my senior collection next spring!

Gender Bending and Androgynous Dress

For my Theoretical and Contemporary Fashion Studies class I am doing my final paper on Gender Bending and Androgynous Dress on the cover of magazines being a good movement for the fashion industry. I spent many hours researching the topic and in the end I had about 14 books that I had notes from and could potentially use for my paper. We needed at least 10 quotes, 5 direct and 5 indirect, as well as a minimum of 5 sources, 3 coming from the list of recommended books. In the end I had 8 resources and 13 quotes. 
I've decided to include the introduction of my paper to just give a little taste of what my paper was about.

Check it out below:

Fashion, Gender, and the Body: Gender Bending and Androgyny on the cover of Magazines is a Positive Move

By Brianna Malotke

In The Face of Fashion, Jennifer Clark states that “the model constitutes the technical body of western consumer culture” (Craik, 1994). With this in mind magazines across the world should be more conscious of their model choices and the impact that those choices have on the consumers and viewers of their magazines. Diversification, through the use of gender bending and androgynous dress on the cover of magazines, is a good movement for the fashion industry. It will elaborate on the diversity in the world and allow magazines to expand the reach of their target markets by redeveloping their main demographics. In fashion there is a tension between the desire to fit in and stand out that can be further explained by Joanne Entwistle in The Fashioned Body. Entwistle writes that y expressing “the contradictory desires to fit in and stand out: ‘fashion is the imitation of a given example and satisfies the demand for social adaption…at the same time it satisfies in no less degree the need of differentiation, the tendency towards dissimilarity, the desire for constant change and contrast’ (Simmel 1971: 296)” (Entwistle, 2000). With all this in mind it’s important for magazines to take who they put on their covers as a serious issue and use it to their advantage. 

Mandatory Journaling the LCF Way

During orientation week every student in the study abroad section received a black journal. The are plain sheets with a little pocket on the back cover and they say "UAL: university of the arts/ london/ london college/ of fashion" on the front. It's small and compact. It doesn't fit in my purse but that just allows me to carry a bigger bag (full of things I don't need of course). We are required to document our time here as well as our main three required classes: British Cultural Studies, Fashion History Arts & Artifacts, and Theoretical Contemporary Fashion Studies. How you go about keeping your journal is up to you, as long as it isn't purely just found images (for example solely pictures of your trips). It basically has to contain notes/sketches/pictures of the three mandatory classes and MORE.

I thought it would be a great idea to share some pages from my journal as a way to illustrate the methods I go about keeping a journal of my time here studying in London.

I'm definitely an avid note taker and love to keep my ticket stubs in my journal. I love color & chaos but I'm a little OCD about the order of my journal, as in it's basically a timeline of my classes & museum trips & outings.

Visited the Chanel store & a Rubens exhibit.

Some of my sketches from the Edward Steichen
exhibit at the Photographer's Gallery.

Some of my notes from the Natural History Museum
and part of my review of a Photography exhibition.

More of my Rubens and His Legacy notes.

My notes from Guy Bourdin: Image Maker exhibit.

Some of my notes from visiting the Courtauld Gallery.

Corsetry Progress Part 2

Close Up

I have made a lot of progress on my corset, despite a few mishaps. In the first left hand photo I am lining up the front hook. I had used an awl to punch hole for the rounded parts to stick through. Then I figures out where the hooks needed to be, marked them, and used the button hole machine to make the holes. 

Next I sewed the nude colored taping to the seam allowance. The picture on the left is a close up, the last right hand picture shows the inside panels I am referring to (the straight lines have the taping).








One of my mistakes was cutting my notches too long, so I had to give up doing running felled seams. Instead I sew my seams, open and iron them, then cut them down. Next I pin the taping over and sew down them down.

The final two pictures shows the front (outside) and back (inside) of the very front of my corset.

I have made more progress since this, but will upload my pictures when I make more progress since I am almost done!






All I have left to do is maybe 2 seams, inserting the boning, eyelets, lacing it, hand stitching the side seams (this is so I can adjust the size for a perfect fit), and then using the taping along the top and bottom of my corset at the very end after deciding if there are any alterations I need to do. That sounds like a lot, but I will make a lot of progress in this week's class and will be finishing it after break for sure!

After I am done with my corset I will be working on creating samples for my sketch book and also doing embroidery samples, such as roses out of ribbon, on to my corset.

Mad Hatter: My first Hat

Materials

After I finished sewing my crown and brim together I finally had a hat!
The next step was to think about trimmings. I knew I wanted to a black and red piece because as of now I plan on using black and red for my senior collection next spring. Since I'm using a sort of traditional form I wanted to go nontraditional with my trimmings choices.

I trekked around London checking out a few different stores before finalizing my plans. I bought a red feather base, 3 sets of red coque feathers (the tiny red ones), and two types of ribbon. I ended up using the pleated looking one over the plain black ribbon. I decided to just keep the plain black elastic, I can always make a few simple skirts using it as the waistband material.

I started off hand stitching the ribbon around my hat. I used plain black thread and made sure it was tight enough but not too tight that it would alter the shape of my crown. I finished by overlapping the two cut sides so it appeared as if it was one connected piece.



Next I stitched my red feather base onto the left side of my hat. I then took a leftover piece of my ribbon and made a sort of flower out of it, stitching this over the bottom of the feather base and the seam of the ribbon. 

Finally I separated my red coque feathers and glued them to my feather base. I used my scissors to gently curl some of them so they weren't all the same height and going the same direction. 

Overall I am very  proud of my first ever hat. Everything but hand stitching was completely new to me and I think that I did a great job at challenging myself for my first hat.

Goofing off in class, wearing my hat!

Exploring London: A Few Pictures

Goofing off in M&M World

Sample Sale: New Scarf, lamb's wool & angora

Eye Hospital: Look at that clock!

Hanging out in the sun

Loving the architecture 

National Portrait Gallery for class