Style and Swap:Two Day Challenge

In collaboration with @gingernatalie and @knapple the first year fashion students were asked to create a piece in groups to be shown in a catwalk show on the 22nd.

Basically, we had to take a whole load of old clothes, deconstruct and reconstruct them into something totally new. It could be as bizarre as you wanted, as long as it could be worn on a catwalk.

I was skeptical about this challenge to begin with, being one week till our final deadline and taking up two whole days. However I decided to grin and bare it and see what our group could come up with.

After playing around with different fabrics and ideas on the mannequin, we decided to stick to different denims.Using different parts of skirts and jeans we began to create, tearing up pockets and moving them around and moving pieces so seams created new lines. We also took a large blazer and pulled it apart, removing the lining to expose all the seams and patches. I really love this idea and was really happy with it.

Not really certain where of ideas were taking us we continued to play around with ideas. this lead us to create a form that kind of reminded us of dungarees and workwear. full of bold lines it seemed to match the theme of "empowerment" well. This was the theme we has been given for the show.

The second day of the challenge I was by myself which was quite irritating at first as I just wanted to get it all finished. Luckily my friend Katie came to help and we managed to finish. On the plus side, because it was just me, I was able to do what I wanted to do with the design without having to consult the others.

On the previous day, one of my teammates ( also called Katie) came up with the big knotted denim feature, we didn't really know where to put it so it kept ending up back on the shoulder of our model. I wasn't sure about this idea but after several people suggested I keep it there I decided t go for it and I'm really glad I did because it looks great.

@ginernatalie and @knapple spoke to us about adding colour and as our outfit had hints of yellow in it and reminded me of workwear I decided to paint caution tape down the middle, but keeping the theme of Empowerment change the words to "caution she is fierce."

I really love how it turned out, I found it interesting to do something and not really know where it would end up. Not having a set idea at the beginning allowed us to really experiment and create something new and interesting. I hope to do more experimenting and seeing where it takes me. I was also really grateful for others creative input and criticism. as I felt this strengthened the design without taking away from what I wanted.

I can't wait to see it on the Style and Swap catwalk!