Ziggy Lost

Hallo, see I kept my promise and I'm back :)
I've been working on some new illustrations but I thought I'd post about a past project I did whilst in my third year at university. The project was to design a range of mens shirts for a River Island competition. 
My collection was called ZIGGY LOST and was based upon androgyny and the blurring of sexuality. Below is the collection statement expressing the concept behind the designs.

"Girls can wear jeans, And cut their hair short, Wear shirts and boots, 'Cause it's ok to be a boy, But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading, But secretly you'd love to know what it's like, Wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl." 

Madonna "What It Feels Like For A Girl" song April 2001.

The boys of today's world wear make-up and feminine clothes, have big hair and the freedom of expression.

They walk in the footsteps of their legends Ziggy, Bolan, Freddie and Jagger. 

Iconic's that helped blur sexuality and androgyny. 

Confidence is key. 

They strutt around resembling exotic plumed feathery birds flirting with all they encounter. With their fo-femininity masking their raging testosterone they entice and intoxicate their maiden admirers, who are fascinated by their feminine allurement. 

Boys are expected to act and dress and behave like boys, and girls are meant to resemble girls, but 'nothing is just black and white - there is always shades of grey'. 

The monochrome colouration of 'Ziggy Lost' represents the set ways of sexuality, and within the cut and shaping of the garments the 'shades of grey,' entwining feminine and masculine will be portrayed. 

Fragmented. 

Trying to discover themselves in a stable environment of acceptance. 

Capturing this essence of uncertainty, disorientation and disorder the labyrinth portrays the puzzlement of life.

Escapism from a confused and entanglement state. 

This is ZIGGY LOST.

moodboard

illustration line up

 

working drawings of the Range

 

Inspirational photoshoot shot by Lacey Layne Clements, styled and edited by me Clare And The Bear (aka Clare Heart)

 model: Blane Anthony Chapman

Golly it seems such a long time ago when I was doing this project! Although I still remember the migrain rendering stress of creating what seemed like a million techincal drawings! I definately don't miss those!

Creative Juices.

It has been a while since I last used my sewing machine, I have been a little drained recently but today I felt a serge of creative energy and took to my machine again and made a dress inspired by Goldie Locks. Its not finished yet but the main body of the dress is done. I'll upload pictures when I'm finally happy with it.


I started my day looking upon facebook where I spotted that a friend from university, Charlene O'Rourke, also had a blog. I was really impressed by her style diary which she kept and her fashion imagery she has been researching which corresponded with her style diary. I definitely recommend checking her blog out. 
Her sources from her latest blog were from internet magazines, such as Cheek and Soko. Both were interesting and had great shoots in them. 
They lead me to the website Issuu - You Publish, which hosts thousands of magazines to view online in many different subject categories. One shoot in particular stood out to me and that was in the Dutch publication Blend magazine. 

It was this cover image taken from the Nude Attitude shoot that really excited me.

Here are a few of the rest from this collection.

Its quite simple yet very effective. My favourite is the one with the green wig, I guess inspired by The Joker from The Dark Knight. 

I have seen the use of tights worn over the face with loud bold make up before in John Galliano's menswear spring 2007 collection.

[image from vogue.com]

Watch the show below.

I was intrigued in what other works the photographer from the Blend magazine did, so checked out his site. His name is Tomas Näsström and I was extremely impressed with his photography skills. 

Upon the site where I found Tomas Näsström it showcases other photographers, stylists, set designers and illustrators. I haven't managed to look through at many of the other artists, but the ones I did I quite liked. So you can imagine all of this awesome creativeness I was discovering that I would have a sudden burst of my own creative juices. And I really hope it lasts. Fingers crossed no more being ill!