Culture project

The two contrasting cultures that I chose for this project are:

Berlin Wiemar culture

19th Century Clergymen and nuns

Research

Wiemar culture was a lavish, decadent era in Germany between the two world wars. It was prevalent in Berlin, and incorporated new music, dance and styles of the period. The relaxed social attitudes to gender, sex and urban life were a result of the freedom of Germans Authoritarian government. The cabaret costumes were highly elaborate, they were influenced by the style of the era, other cultures, and cross dressing. The garconne style was popular among the women, the silhouette was transformed from voluptuous to slender and boyish. Skirts were shortened, hair was bobbed boyishly and women wearing trousers started to emerge.

Popular cabaret artists of the time; Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste. Berber was a cabaret dancer renowned for her nude dancing, cross dressing and androgyny. Droste also experimented with androgyny, he was also a poet, actor and dancer.

Marlene Dietrich was one of the most famous cabaret singers of the 20th Century, although only sung later in life. However the influence of the Berlin cabarets are evident in her films The Blue Angel and Morocco. For part of the research i watched these films and sketched some of the outfits she wore and took some print screens.

When researching Clergymen attire I sketched the different parts of the vestments. I learnt about the different features of the clothing, such as the clerical cravats, cassocks and tabs. Clergymen and Nun attire was often monochrome, and modest, such that only the face was shown.

The clergyman and nuns had pretty basic and standard attire, whereas cabaret clothing varied alot. I watched the film cabaret and sketched the outfits of the 'KitKat club performers'. This helped give me an idea of the colour of the garments as most films and photographs from the era were black and white.

I attended a sunday Church of England church service and baptism and sketched the priest and his attire. I looked for detailing in the cravats and rosary. I also got an idea of how the material fell and I could get a closer look at the seamlines and cut.

Development

 After researching the contrasting cultures and their clothing I created a series of muses combining elements of both styles together. I focused on the modesty of the clerical clothing and the flamboyance and androgyny of the cabaret style.

I then explored the embellishments and shapes of the 1930s cabaret performers clothing. Using images taken from original 1930s shows I traced patterns, shapes and textures of the garments, stage set, and accessories. This will be important when I start designing the prints for my final results.

I took a closer look at the embellishments of the clothing. I started by photocopying a 1920s/30s style dress to study the beading, sewing lines, embroidery and patterning. Beads, sequins, and fishnets are all elements of the design, and I would like to incorporate them into my final outcomes.

Colour scheme

Using the film Cabaret as the inspiration for my colour scheme, I used photoshop to extract colours from the costumes and create various hues from them which I intend to use in my final design.

After my research I decided to start doing some basic initial designs. I used the shape of the clerical cravats as inspiration for my designs.

Overall I like how my initial designs came through. My objective was to focus on the shape, making sure it was simple, modest with clean cut lines, inspired by the clergy vestments, and I feel I achieved this. I also incorporated elements of the cabaret shapes, like the androgynous Garconne style, the clothing is not tight and intended for all genders to wear. Fishnets, braces, trousers and shorts were all inspired by the kitkat club cabaret style. Some designs however are weaker than others, and perhaps did not work so well, such as the stripey shirt and so I will modify, or not include them in my final designs.

Prints

Using the seamline guides of the Cassocks as a template I created some experiments with patterns. Using the traced patterns of the 1930s cabaret style I experimented with overlaying them, or incorporating them into a repeated pattern.

I then created a print using photoshop. This incorporates the feather boas and feather headpieces of the cabarets. I overlayed images of taken directly from 1930s photographs and repeated, flipped and merged them together. I used techniques such as opacity adjusting, light balance, tone warming, and replication, to create the final pattern.

I then experimented with placing them on the clerical vestment templates in a variety of styles.

Using the colour scheme I had determined for the final collection I adjusted the hue of the pattern to match each of my chosen colours.

Designing Outfits

Before creating my final selection I created a series of outfits incorporating my earlier designs. This gave me an idea of how they would work together as a whole outfit, I could determine what worked and what did not.

I like the outfit on the left because it is simple with a patterned waistcoat and reflects my initial muses. The centre design is not as androgynous as i would have like i would want for my final designs so I shall not be using it. Whilst I like the trousers on the right hand figure, I am not satisfied with the cut of the jackets, I do not think it is particularly flattering.

I like all of these three designs, they are androgynous, modest, clean cut and not too complicated.

I think that these three designs work well too. However I feel the low gusset of the right hand design is a little unflattering with a short style, it may have worked better with trousers.

The striped shirt on the left I find a little too bold for this collection. I do not think i shall use monochrome stripes in my final designs because they are a little harsh and may clash with my chosen tones.

I like how the influence of the clerical cravat is evident in the design of the shorts but i feel the skirt is a little waspish and does not fit the style of the rest of my designs.

Keeping to my themes I decided to create some designs incorporating the headwear that I designed to see how it worked with the rest of the garments.

I think that with these designs the simpler hats are more effective because otherwise they distract from the print designs on the materials. For my final designs I shall stick with the bowler hat, top hat and skull cap.

Final Designs