a weekend writing retreat...

...that was somewhat railroaded by food poisoning. I nevertheless managed a solid start on the edits as mentioned in the last post, and a two-hour walk around the Cape Byron Lighthouse on Sunday morning.

The view north, from the forest walk from Byron Bay proper to the lighthouse:


The view south:


Another northerly view across the Bay from the lighthouse:


Two humpback whales making their way north - when they should have been going south - between two kayaks:


A closer view:

Whilst these two kayakers were taken somewhat by surprise (the whales simply swam straight for them), about ten minutes earlier an idiot from a larger group of kayaks made a beeline for the whales, despite clear regulations to stay away. Anyway, there were another two whales further out to sea, as well as a pod of about fifty dolphins that went majestically past the lighthouse.

A somewhat fearless Laughing Kookaburra also watching the whales and dolphins:


An Australian Brush-Turkey at the car park; these guys were everywhere:


A Masked Lapwing at the beach; their calls were incessant, night and day:


It's spring for everyone, including these Greater Crested Terns:


A farewell message I stumbled upon yesterday morning:

no-waste and less-waste fashion designers

The aim of this post is to provide a bit of a list for anyone interested; please do email me about anyone I've missed. I'm more than happy to update.

Holly McQuillan emailed me yesterday; her recent zero-waste garments are now online. I actually saw the process work when Holly was here for Fashioning Now and was completely blown away by it - truly inspiring! Have a look:
Precarious Cut
Wolf/Sheep

I actually saw this mentioned on Clara Vuletich's blog last year but somehow didn't check it out until this week: Flora2. Download the book, it is well worth a read. I think Dorothy Burnham would be delighted with the work, too.

Siddhartha Upadhyaya first emailed me last October and thankfully again this week about his work. In particular, the idea of fabric getting woven for a specific garment resonates with me, as a complete contrast to how things generally occur. Have a thorough look at August.

At the Fashioning Now symposium (we'll be uploading all of the speakers' audio on the website in the next few weeks) Susan Dimasi spoke of the system Materialbyproduct (the other half is Chantal Kirby) use to cut their no-waste garments. Of particular interest was their approach to sizes; unlike conventional manufacture, each size of a Materialbyproduct garment is not a replica of the sample size in terms of design. This has been a hunch of mine for a while - what is wrong with making each size slightly different - and I admire Susan and Chantal for doing away with that rule. One could say that each size is designed rather than graded. Sure it may slow things down, but on the upside, arguably each size of a style receives an equal amount of love from the maker.

At this point I should note that all of the above will require some rewriting of a thesis chapter, but I am quite excited about it. Each designer is addressing waste and each designer's handwriting is completely unique; no-waste isn't limited to a particular aesthetic.

And here's a list of people I've mentioned in the past:

The pioneers of no-waste and less waste:
Zandra Rhodes
Yeohlee Teng
Julian Roberts - not strictly a no-waste designer but his method of designing and cutting (is it possible to separate the two?) lends itself beautifully for considering fabric waste.

The more recent forays into same:
Sam Formo, a student of Lynda Grose at the California College of the Arts
Andrew Hague, also a former student of Lynda Grose; Kate Fletcher featured his no-waste shirt in her book
Mark Liu

Oh and me. Here are two garments from Bad Dogs last year:

I'm sure I've forgotten a designer or two; do let me know.

journal writing: how-to and then, not

The Ideal:
Drawing from Owain Pedgley, what is on my office wall:

The Ugly Reality:
What the last two pages of my journal looked like before Bad Dogs opened, now more than a year ago:

Analyse that.

a friend in need

Over the past year I've been blessed with post-it after post-it from Zoe. I don't want this to sound like a whinge because it isn't, but since the beginning of April, I've had three weekends. I passionately love what I do but Fashioning Now has been a time-consuming project - time well spent, nevertheless! In particular, it was a delight to hear Kate Fletcher speak, ditto for Susan Dimasi (one half of Materialbyproduct), and it was really inspiring to meet Holly McQuillan (more on Holly soon). But rest has been scarce - and I'm writing this on a Sunday night at the office. My last real holiday of more than four days was in 2005. I don't think last October in Finland counts; a month I spent first watching mum slowly lose the battle, and then burying her with my siblings.

So, amid all the hard work the post-its from Zoe have been such welcome little breaks from the grind. Usually I find one on my door after a meeting or a long day of teaching. Zoe is well aware of my passion for birds (see first photo) and recently she added the interweb to the gift-giving (that's how I regard this). The site is odosketch; I love how the sketch appears on screen:
And another finch:As a charming anomaly, the following finch emerges through (traditional) collage:

The following two return to the traditional format. The brain is her latest blog post, but I am proud to declare myself the guardian of the original post-it.

I should note, too, that Zoe contributed to Fashioning Now through Alison's project. If I could draw well, I would draw Zoe a wall full of giraffes. If I was rich, I'd buy her a trip to Tanzania.

(As well as engaging Zoe as an illustrator, Alison's work highlights the screenprinting skills of Steve Woods and embroidery by Helen Parsons.)

Thank you, Zoe.

some more photos from Fashioning Now

The three pattern diagrams for my garments:


We commissioned Silversalt Photographic Services to photograph the exhibition and the following photographs were part of that commission:

Q: What does it take to be a real man?

A: Put animals in a cage and shoot at them. I mean, just look at Bob McComb:

Off-topic, sure, but I just wanted to clear that one up.
(Image from The Sydney Morning Herald)

pinhead

I love a bad photo of me and this should make the all-time top five:


My head on my no-waste shirt. A thesis cover, perhaps?

The photo is by Aram Dulyan, and I should point out his photography of the event is outstanding; much of it will be on the Fashioning Now site soon. I suspect this one was very much intentional...

Installing Fashioning Now

Some photos from installing the exhibition yesterday:

From front (right) to back (left): Dr Gene Sherman's Issey Miyake Spider skirt, Alex Martin's Little Brown Dress (with the pattern on the wall) and mine at the back:


Romance Was Born:

My pattern diagrams:

From left to right: Three bespoke jackets at various stages of construction from Bijan Sheikhlary (thank you Bijan and clients!), Dr Gene Sherman's skirt, Alex Martin's Little Brown Dress and mine.

Now for the symposium...

Fashioning Now

Our website for Fashioning Now is now live, and it will be added to once the symposium has concluded and the exhibition is open. The symposium is filling up fast so be sure to book in by emailing info_fashioningnow@uts.edu.au We will be publishing the symposium program next week. The UTS DAB website has dates and a bit more on the workshops. Elsewhere on the net there is information suggesting that the two student workshops are different; they are not. Due to high demand, we simply want to offer as many students as possible the opportunity to participate in one.

interesting report

An interesting research report commissioned by Defra from Nottingham Trent University and Sheffield Hallam University is available for download from here. I have only managed a brief glance through it as yet, but in particular, the section on repair seems like a fascinating read.

busy busy busy

The short of it: I spent January writing, started the job at the start of February, writing stopped. It's about to start again this week; over the weekend I read much of what I'd written, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared.

As well as teaching, I've been busy (an understatement) with an exciting project, more on which later. But there is a little bit about it here.

No promises about whether this blog will ever get back to speed again (I'd like it to) but here are a few lines, courtesy of Zoe, that gave me a laugh. And that probably tells us that doing a PhD is not so good for one's sense of humour.

Q: What is your ontological position in regards to your research?
A: Um, I can't afford to go to the gynecologist at the moment...

if only it were a joke

Inexplicably Conservapedia, "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia", has an entry titled "Fashion industry values", clearly written by a passionate but misguided (understatement of 2008?) teenager. On the one hand, it has had me in hysterics, on the other, it makes me cranky. I probably shouldn't give it another thought.

The entry on dinosaurs is worth a read, too. The thing I have trouble with in regards to all these (presumably land) animals squishing on board Noah's ark is geography (and in case you had trouble with that leap from dinosaurs to Noah, read the entry on dinosaurs). Admittedly I haven't read the Bible on this, but was the flood global? And how much of a sea level rise are we talking here? Because if it was substantial, how the hell did them potoroos from Australia and vicuñas from South America cross oceans to get to the Middle East? And how come the two T-Rex didn't gobble them up? I tried to find out on Conservapedia, only to find in one entry that we all "must be" Noah's descendants, and in another that a whole heap of other folks made it, too. I know which level of inbreeding I'm more comfortable with...

This entry wouldn't be complete without a message from Mrs Betty Bowers, America's best Christian; message that is as informative as any entry on Conservapedia. Enjoy:

still 'ere

Just a quick note to pull this blog from the depths of obscurity (hell, I've even forgotten how to ping at Technorati, not that I know what pinging means) and to thank Sandra, Sam, Lynda and Holly for the emails, and Mike for the comment (some time ago, I know). To possible lurkers, I am alive, lucid even.

I just read the last post. Deary me. If Mr Kane ever visits this blog (ha!), let it be known that I am a fan of his work but not the three looks I picked on. And I really didn't mean to turn this blog into a semi-permanent Kane-hate site. Come February, or whenever it is that these women are made to walk funny again, I will make up for it, promise.

I also read that August was cursed and September was blessed. Well, October was cursed in a way that made August seem like month in Club Med if one is into one of those. I'm not, even if the trip to Finland had a definite theme running through it. This has been the worst year of my life to date. Period. All thanks to October. And I shall leave it that.

In coming weeks this blog will return to form (if it ever had any) - so many exciting news, so many exciting people that have contacted me. I will quickly mention Sam Formo, who, like Andrew Hague*, has under the guidance of Lynda Grose created something quite beautiful that deserves a blog post of its own. Soon, hopefully; I just don't want to exclude Sam from certain possibilities by blogging about the work just yet.

*Yes, I have turned into one of those academiacs who refer to self endlessly. And talk. Andrew actually has a fantastic website of his own.

So here we are, another 5000 years into my unfinished PhD, another year nearly over. But the writing is picking up speed and I sort of dare to be optimistic again. (A word I forgot in October.) The thesis is starting to have balls and they are meaty!

On the likely off-chance this is my last post for the year, happy holidays, thank you, and bring on 2009! (And let's never mention 2008 again, ok?)

bulk (or hips full of fashion)

As a brief respite from writing writing writing, I popped over at style.com to ogle at whatever we're meant to believe is what "women will be wearing" in the northern spring next year. Christopher Kane caught my eye, for better and for worse. This is how big he made two of his models' hips look:
Flaps. Jessica Stam may not be tallest model on the block (and this is good - I'm all for diversity of all kinds - and she may well have the sexiest walk out there); or should that be blocks? Even with those phonebook soles this makes her look 4'4. And as tragic as it may be, I now look at everything in terms of wastage; the entire collection is a nightmare in that respect. But, when Kane works the circles in sheer, the results are much more exciting:


Even this works works for me:

For this particular skirt, I think the inspiration was the reproductive organs of women AND men (look closely and try and convince me otherwise). On the other hand, I wasn't nearly as taken with Kane's use of marabou or whatever fluff edges this:

It has the sophistication of a Mardi Gras outfit cobbled together in the hour before the parade but at least the shoes match, I guess.

But, going back to the dinosauresque (bugger off, spell check) cut-outs, they remind me of Zandra Rhodes' Dinosaur Coat from 1971, in technique if not in look:


As for the writing, it's going well-ish. Admittedly the fear is building; as much as I pretend to ignore the elephant in the room (or on the screen, rather), questioning and challenging how we view and teach fashion design and patternmaking is a frightening affair.

In other exciting news, as of February 2009 I will be employed full-time. The interview, it turns out, went very well. And there are other exciting things in the pipeline, too. Cursed as August may have been, September has been blessed.

[NB: I just checked; Jessica Stam apparently is 5'10 so not as short as I thought. And according to this hilarious piece, she is known for "her trademark eyes" and "personality". I think she should sue whoever wrote the entry.]

"zero waste designers"

From White Apricot, by Laurel House.

Great to see this written about but once again, the pioneering works of Zandra Rhodes, Yeohlee Teng or Julian Roberts do not get mentioned. This amnesia by fashion writers* is a continuing concern; there is so much to learn from all three. (In a similar fashion, the current Australian issue of Marie Claire is "the green issue" which probably means that they've now ticked that box and who knows what next month brings. I hope, but not much.) Furthermore, the seminal Cut My Coteby Dorothy Burnham is once again left out. Reading it was one of those moving fashion moments for me, kind of like seeing the books by Janet Arnold for the first time way back in 1994.

On Roberts and his Subtraction Cutting Tour, the dates and places are listed here. To be on the other hemisphere...

Interview less than two hours away. My toes need liberating and a thinner neck would be good, too.

*If the author of that article reads this, rest assured this is not intended as an attack on you. Rather, it's an outburst of accumulated frustration about the fact that most 'green' fashion journalism has inherited some undesirable aspects of traditional fashion journalism unnecessarily. I do acknowledge that we are all here to learn but I do get at times frustrated at the pace of that learning. Apologies for any offense caused.

limits

One of the comments that mainly other fashion designers have made over the years about fabric waste elimination through design is, 'Isn't it very limiting for design?' I won't give my view on that just yet (but of course I have one), but the statement itself is something I can't back up with literature - there is virtually no literature (except maybe things I've written but I have done no research into other designers' perceptions of this kind of designing and making).

So, even if you're not a fashion designer or patternmaker (evidently to many the two are completely separate things), I'd love to hear your views on this - whether or not you think designing without fabric waste is limiting to design. There is no right or wrong answer here so no stress. I may use your comments in the thesis, without permission but anonymously. Tough titties.

as i prepare for my first real job interview in seven years...

...I am also writing up findings from my project. I've drawn a diagram that looks benign enough - for a moment even I thought, 'Is that it?', after four years* - but when you really start thinking about it, it completely challenges what we conventionally perceive fashion design and patternmaking to be. Mostly patternmaking, though. But enough of that for now - no, I won't post the diagram and no, I won't elaborate just yet. Having seen others present my thoughts and ideas as their own a lot this year, I don't feel safe sharing just yet. Once the thesis is in and all avenues for publication have been exhausted, I will share as much as I can. But here is something to think about; what we say about how we teach patternmaking at UTS:

In first semester first year:

"This subject introduces students to the basic technical skills essential to begin interpreting design into a three dimensional form. Students participate in workshops that incorporate flat pattern-making and garment construction where they learn the various techniques, finishes and specifications required to generate fashion design and concepts into realised outcomes."

In second semester first year:

"This subject aims to further develop understanding and technical abilities in flat pattern making and garment construction. This allows students to gain a critical understanding of block construction and the possibilities of producing more complex design solutions through pattern development. The content preempts the design subject in the following semester."

As for those exhibition photos, soon I hope. I don't have any problem posting them, and it is my full intention to share all the patterns here, too, but I do need to clear a few things up before then. No insecurities as far as plagiarism goes; all the garments have too much of my handwriting to be of much use to any creatively challenged company out there, and like one of the posters in the exhibition stated, I'm more than happy for anyone to copy as long as they waste as little fabric as me in the process. On the posters, I thought they made rather clear what my project was about so I was somewhat baffled when someone commented on my exhibition "of trims and notions" (buttons, zips, etc). Please. When I informed the person that fabric waste elimination through design has been my topic of inquiry for the past four years, the person doubted this was even possible. Yes, the walls were covered in no-waste patterns and yes, the person visited that space. Ok, like this:

For the record, the bit of pattern is from a square-cut pair of pants, not unlike Thayaht's tuta:

(Thayaht's tuta from Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto)

But in principle only - I'd like to think I was a little more creative when it came to some of the leg shapes (seven different versions, of which I used three in the final garments). And I couldn't get the fit how I wanted with a triangular gusset, hence the curves in it. But more on that later.

After August 2008 turned out to be the crappiest month ever, here's hoping for a fantastic September and rest of the year. And fingers crossed for Kim who is likely to be released from hospital next Tuesday; by then she'll have been there for more than five weeks.

*Yep, four years since I put my PhD application in. And unlike some, my topic has not changed from what is at the top of this page. It's a long time to think about one thing.

i like my style and wordle

It's highly narcisistic and a huge procrastination-enabler, but I can't stop obsessing about ilikemystyle.net

My favourites include MKNYC, Peterkempe and koeque.

Totally addictive.

And thanks to Zoe, another time-waster: Wordle. Here is my blog as a word cloud:

is this a test?

(Off-topic and too personal but it's my blog so there)

I wrote this in an email to a friend today:

"And being on the edge of a breakdown of some flavour or another doesn't help in that respect, either. Fortunately I've yet to flush my underpants, something a friend of a friend did at a late stage of her PhD; she realised her mistake just as the panties disappeared from view. But it can't be far off for me, either. Once recently I put the coffee grounds in the cup rather than the coffee maker, and stared at it all for nearly a minute knowing something was wrong but couldn't work out what. "

Maybe it's selfish, but when at the final stages of a PhD, one does not expect to have to deal with a friend's near-fatal accident and recovery that will take months, possibly years (but that she will recover is a small, happy miracle that we didn't dare dream of just over a week ago), and then, the death yesterday of another friend from advanced, inoperable, terminal cancer that even she didn't know she had less than three weeks ago, when I saw her on the day of the opening (and was too busy to talk to as she came early to say she couldn't make the opening as she was not feeling well). The exhibition comes down on Friday and I can't wait, simply because I associate most of its duration with so much sadness it's almost suffocating. The past fortnight has felt like some cruel endurance test thrown at my friends and me by the universe.

Pat: love'n'quacks - I miss you so much already and so do the ducks of this world. Thank you for letting me into yours.

(It seems banal to even mention it now but in reference to an earlier goal, I shaved off nine minutes from my time last year in City2Surf. I didn't quite meet my fund-raising goal but $900+ is still pretty damn good, don't you think? Thank you, everyone!)

survivor

So, I've survived my first ever exhibition. I will post some photos within the next week or two, and am happy to report that the response was quite positive on the night. More importantly, having made the garments, I've got an entirely new sense of this kind of making. It's empowering: I now know I can design everything from now on like this.

A number of people (including many women) on the night asked as to whether I'd be selling the work. I will, I think, produce on a made-to-order and -measure basis, but not until the thesis is out of the way. Being a winter collection, I think February would be an appropriate time to begin taking orders. Some further thinking and planning is required in this respect but if you are interested, shoot me an email. As for getting into wholesale, I'm not interested, at least not for now. Been there, done that, got burned, etc. And I think made-to-order discourages impulse buying, something we are all sometimes prone to. Having to fork out cash for something you won't see for some weeks hopefully makes you think about whether you actually need it a bit more. I only want to make and sell something if the wearer absolutely loves it, and will keep loving and wearing it for a considerable period of time.

Now for the five kilos I lost in two weeks...