Final Graduate Project

“This exhibition is a fashion collection inspired by personal influences within my culture and home Lincolnshire. I wanted to narrate a story through each garment.”

Within the study of cultural appreciation vs appropriation for my dissertation this year, I have learnt the importance of showcasing other cultures in a positive way. Before using anything from another culture, we must gain background knowledge to celebrate that environment correctly, to give them credit, and not take advantage for our own gain.

I have specifically taken inspiration from Africa for my project. I love the vibrant colours and patterns of African countries and so I wanted to let those influences come across in my collection. However, as I am not from Africa myself, I decided to create my collection based on where I live, to avoid culturally appropriating. In Africa, there is so much symbolism within fabric’s colours and patterns, therefore I decided to create my own fabrics with symbolism that means something to me. I also wanted to include some symbolism that would not be too obvious, to interest people to learn about my culture. I have chosen four themes to portray within my fabrics.

They include:

“Beside The Seaside” – This theme is all about the Lincolnshire seaside, and the things I got excited about when I was younger going on my holidays. My young model said that she loves collecting shells when she goes to the beach, so I have taken advice from my target audience. Some history is also highlighted as the ‘Time and Tide Bell’ in Mablethorpe and the old Helter-Skelter in Mablethorpe are illustrated. The colours are inspired by the sunshine.

“Down At the Farm” – This theme takes us to the Lincolnshire countryside. I have added wellies to symbolise when I go on walks in the fields. My young model said that he loves pigs, so I had to draw a little one skipping for him. The surface pattern itself has been made to look like rows of brown and green tones in a farmers’ field, and I especially like how yellow highlights the wheat.

“Pray For Us” – This theme is inspired by church architecture around Lincolnshire, as I am a Christian, and these buildings connect to my faith. It is specifically portraying my local village church, with imagery of a window, the welcoming front gate, and the north side of the church as viewed on a building plan. The colour blends are to symbolise royalty and clarity.

“Remember” – This theme is to honour and remember the RAF war history around Lincolnshire. It includes illustrations of the ‘Lancaster Bomber’ and a ‘Red Arrow’. The Poppy is featured as it is a symbol that reminds us to remember those that were part of the Armed Forces. The blue colour was chosen to stay in keeping with the RAF.

To create the bright fabric colours, I followed traditional techniques like Africans use. Those include ‘batik’ (making relief patterns with hot wax) and ‘tie dying’. The main technique seen for my final produced fabrics was the use of ‘Brusho powder’, which is ink in a powdered form, that when in contact with water, explodes into highly pigmented bursts of colour.

For the illustrations, I used Procreate to digitally draw. As I had decided the colour would come from the fabric background, this gave me a challenge to portray imagery without the use of colour. People need to understand with only the outlines.

I then used Photoshop to combine both the traditional and digital, to form my final surface pattern designs. Once the fabric was produced, I have sewn my collection based on fashion illustrations I have specifically designed for my chosen models. I have shown versatility by creating for adults and children.