So I missed out but never fear!

So I missed the last session but I was lucky enough to get my hands on the notes so I'm going to do my best to write them up!
So it seems to me that last weeks session was regarding Structuralism, Deconstruction, Modernism and Postmodernism.
Modernism was basically a movement  by designers to use only what was necessary to create something. For instance, in the war, it was illegal to use excess fabric or embellishments. This however was overrun eventually by post-modernism which valued art for the sake of art; things that didn't have a functional purpose or restriction. This is what I learned, in a nutshell, about Post-Modernism and Modernism last year.

Now considering the notes I have now it seems that Structuralism is based on binary oppositions e.g. Male/ Female, inside/outside, day/night etc. It was highly influential in the 1960s and 1970s and "in the mid-20th century, two major European academic thinkers, Claude Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes, had the important insight that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as they called it 'binary opposite'."
"For example, our understanding of the word 'coward' surely depends on the difference between that word and its opposing idea, that of a 'hero' (and to complicate matters further, a moment's thought should alert you to the fact that interpreting words such as 'hero' and 'coward' is itself much more to do with what our society or culture attributes to such words than any meaning the words themselves might actually contain)." (http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/popups/opposition.htm)

I can't think of any difficulties that I might have taking a Structuralist approach to my work. I think that when I do something is considered controversial in fashion, it is only considered controversial against the backdrop of what is considered conventional usually in fashion.

Deconstruction seems to be the opposite of Structuralism (the key being in the name). In the notes that I have it seems to describe work that have no fixed meaning (death of the author). Established modes of thought and binaries are questioned and there is special attention paid to written language and its graphic characteristics (so a favourite of graphic designers) such as typography, page layout, spacing, punctuations etc.
It seems to be something that I would enjoy because it focuses on taking things apart to understand them better.

According to my notes, 'Mr Woggle' is a practitioner of deconstruction who I need to pay attention to and that his work is available on SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/woggle/sets/mr-woggle).

It was interesting to see there had been discussion about Physical Context because, as a fashion designer, my work is based around its physical appearance and what people take from that can be vastly different to what I set out to do. Because it is a utilitarian object people focus on the physicality of my work rather than any message that I might be trying to convey.

I would have to say that my work is purely Post-modern. It will always have that element of practicality as it is a garment to be worn on the body but the more outrageous my designs become, the more it becomes about fashionable art for fashionable art's sake. For that reason I'd have to say that I'm a post-modern practitioner  As well as that, I am much more into deconstruction that I am into structuralism because the whole point of modern pattern cutting (2005, Pattern Magic, Tomoko Nakamichi) is to experiment with constructing a typical shape and then adding, drawing onto, cutting into a flat pattern and then making it back into a garment. At the moment we are doing a shirt project and we have to design a fair trade white cotton shirt by pushing the boundaries of modern and classic shirt construction without taking away from what a shirt is by definition. You could say this is a very post-modern project and as we have to take apart a number of shirts to understand their construction, it could also be counted as a deconstruction method.

Wow, I was really on roll there! I think I really understand this now and hopefully I will get a little more knowledge as I read around the subject and continue the lectures :D

Mr Woggle - Apocalypse Boneyard

Mr Woggle

Here are some samples of his work and its amazing! I particularly like Apocalypse Boneyard!
Take a listen, it really is deconstruction in sound!

A new dawn, a new day!

And a new year foooooor me!
So I started my second year of my Fda in Creative Practices at UWE :D So that means I'm going to be using this blog for my Creative Culture lecture notes and exploration again!

So in this session we were just introduced to the new aspects of this module and were given a list of our deadlines and what was expected of us. So you might be wondering what Creative Cultures is?! It's a subject that looks at the context of visual culture, at art as a text, at brand and identity, at symbolism.
We are going to be exploring new types of analysis and also what relationships we can create between our practices and other disciplines.
We will also be looking at subcultures and completely questioning what we think we know.
We looked at Content, Form and Style Analysis.

Content Analysis
This is looking at the content or meaning of the object/ text you are analysing.

Fact - real scenes of people
Fiction - imagination
Manifest - literal content/ function
Latent - content beyond original intent

Denotation - Literal meaning
Connotation - meaning beyond intended meaning/ use
Iconography - writing about images. It is descriptive using the meaning of the art/ design works to classify the works.
Iconology - Interpretative. Taking into account the time it took to create artwork, who created it etc.

Now I'm going to list some genre's or types in my disciplin (which, as you know, is Fashion).

• Haute Couture
• Pret et Porter
• Luxury
• Affordable Luxury
• Mainstream (highstreet)
• Discount (highstreet) 

Form Analysis

Materials - What is the art made of? The techniques used, what kind of lighting, texture etc

Form - How is it put together (I need to refresh my mind about what this means again because my notes weren't thorough enough)

Style Analysis

Styles - Historical phenomena/ occurrences  ways of working/ fashion that have limited lifespans. Ofte related to subcultures and trends.

Now I'm going to list some styles from a fashion standpoint, although this can be hard because a lot of fashion is recycled long after it is considered fashionable.

• Punk
• 80s Power dressing
• Boho/ gypsy
• Heroine chic
• 20's flapper
• Scene
• Emo

"The Art of Happiness"

In the second half of the session we were asked so select an object and analyse it's form and content.

I picked a book I had written but the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler.

Content

Manifest - It's a book for reading.

Latent - It's a stand to stop your computer over-heating, it's a tray for a hot food bowl, it's a door wedge. 

Connotation - It's a book that will help you.

Form/ Materials

A book made form paper and ink with a glossy front. Put together in A5 so it can be easily held, read and carried. Put together using the writing techniques of Howard C. Cutler.

So I make clothes ;)

I just launched my lolita brand 'Hatchi Cute'!

Take a look! ^^

http://hatchicute.blogspot.co.uk/

Oh yeah, I make videos!

Here is a video about my first pair of circle lenses and also a little bit about how to wear them and how to look after them!

Thrifting

Made these shorts today out of denim skirt I got from a charity shop.

The denim is the perfect colour and I searched for ages for the right amount of wear. The studs I used came from the belt I'm wearing which I also got at a charity shop.

The leatherette that I used to make these patches was £2.50 from a fabric shop! I got so much and all together these shorts cost me £8.48 :D Cheaper than ones that I found online for £48!!

I haven't posted for a while!

But now I have sort of an idea about what this blog actually means. For me anyway. It's a place where I can plant my ideas and inspirations.
I saw this video and it made me think about where my life on this course and in my future will head and what I can do to get where I want.

This made me think about where I want to take my brand and how I want to start my business