Emily Jayne

If you saw my blogpost from a few months ago I mentioned I was on the UAL Art Foundation Diploma for the year after finishing my A-Levels and before I go to university. The images above show my final collection I created based on both books "The Secret Garden" and "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" where I looked into the hidden messages of mental illness in both books, as well as the clothing in mental asylums in both time eras of these books. I could talk about this project forever, this is literally the best project I have created so far. This will probably change once I'm at uni.

I looked at many artists and designers throughout this project but the most inspiring designer I looked at was Alexander McQueen and I was lucky enough to go to his exhibition at the V&A - Savage Beauty, while I was in the first part of my research even though I found research and inspiration was key though out this project.

All the garments and the wall hanging are green because in my colour theory research and questionnaire I found out that Green represents Healing and Earth, both topics that I thought linked well to both books.

The first garment was based on the modern hospital gown, very much in the style of a T-Shirt dress, but with an added sling used for restriction, just like belts were used in the older centuries.

The second garment was based more on feelings. The rips in the dress represents how much mental health has caused destruction in themselves or to their families. However from looking at The Secret Garden, I attached flowers as that represented the patients getting better and recovering.

My favourite garment I created was the third one as it really tested my skills to manipulate the pattern as I wanted to make the sleeves longer so they could be tied around the body, similar to the straitjackets. I also made the collar higher as I wanted to put as much restriction into the garment as possible, this was the trickiest bit due to it being so large.

I also made a wall hanging to go along with the garments, where I was able to manipulate the fabric and surface as much as I wanted to. In all the garments and more so on the wall hanging, I loved using dissolvable fabric, which linked back to my research of some patients feeling disconnected to the world.

Obviously if you read my sketchbook you would see a more detailed review into why I made each garment and the meanings behind the colours and techniques used.

I got my results back in June and I'm proud to say I could a Distinction for this project.

Next week I start a new chapter, as I move to London to study fashion textiles and surface design, I hope to focus more on knit wear and innovative fashion.

What do you think of my collection?

Love You All

xxx