Portfolio work

I scanned in some of my illustrations and neatened them up in photoshop. I enjoy using both traditional and modern techniques when finishing an illustration, it gives a hand rendered look but with the ability to remove the imperfections.

 This is the final illustration for my Urban Samurai project, in which I designed a capsule collection based on ancient Japanese warriors with a futuristic twist.

 This is a series of illustrations I made using a very loose sketching technique, using watercolours and fat markers.The collection is based on the seven deadly sins, and I used stereotypical images depicting the sins and made them into dresses.

For this illustration I decided to see how far I could get using only CAD software. I sketched the original image and scanned it in, then went over the lines using Adobe Illustrator. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

The Princess Bride

A moment to remember in fashion history.

Kate Middleton wowed the world when she stepped out to the press in this stunning Alexander McQueen wedding dress, designed by Sarah Burton. It has a lace appliqué bodice and skirt, and veil. The bride wore her hair down, with a tiara.

The lace on the dress details a rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock, and was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.

The bridal train measures 2m 70cm, and along with the lace, all other fabrics used in the creation of the dress were sourced from and supplied by British companies.

The lace motifs were pinned, "framed up" and applied with stab stitching every 2mm to 3mm around each lace motif.

Workers washed their hands every 30 minutes to keep the lace and threads pristine, and the needles were renewed every three hours to keep them sharp.

Breaking and entering

The day of the photo shoot for my Anh Mao dress finally arrived! I knew exactly how I wanted it styled - Edgy make-up accessorized with androgynous hair and jewellery.

 This is the illustration I sent to the photographer so he could scout out a location that would suit the dress.

 We settled on an abandoned house, where the walls were adorned with graffiti. After picking our favourite wall we started the shoot.

 To get a nice smoky effect over the lens the photographer bought some smoke in a can, but this just made it look like the lens of the camera was dirty; We needed thicker smoke. To get this effect we set fire to some litter that was lying on the floor.

 Styled with feminine pearls and a masculine spiked collar. Cristy did a great job of modelling my dress.

 This is the graffiti we thought suited the shoot best.

I also styled the hair using jewellery I had made from safety pins, washers and nuts.

Miss Newcastle

 The theme for Miss Newcastle this year is Bollywood Glamour. For my model I have designed a tight fitting corset with gold embroidery, with a chiffon gathered skirt.

This is the final illustration. I kept in contact with my model to see what she thought of it and to see if she needed anything changed. As she is being sponsored by a hair extension company we decided to get rid of the head shawl just to be safe.

This is the fabric that I will be using for the corset. It is a soft duck-egg blue with gold embroidered feathers.

The chiffon for the skirt is a pale yellow with embroidered gold stars.

All work and no play makes me a dull boy

So after a busy day visiting galleries and exhibitions I felt some retail therapy was in order. I decided Camden Market was the best place to go as there are many unusual clothing shops, as well as a huge market which sold an immense amount of custom made clothing.

  My favourite shop by far had to be Cyberdog. It is an alternative brand clothing store dedicated to selling quasi-futuristic clothing. It's such a niche market yet Cyberdog stocks so many unusual items of clothing that people come from all over to see this unique store.

 Upon entering there were dancers everywhere. On podiums, in booths, some of the staff were even dancing on the tables. It was such a lively atmosphere, with dance music pounding from the speakers. It was more like a nightclub with the UV colour scheme and lighting. The energetic environment was so much more entertaining than trudging through boring mass-market clothes shops scouring rails for a bargain.

I had to be quite sneaky with my camera as no photos were allowed. Oops~

Not what it seems...

After visiting the V&A I took a detour to the Tate. I was interested in the display that used shadows to transform sculptures and project a different piece of art on the wall. 

This one was a bust projected on the wall, but the sculpture itself was made of lots of entangled penises (seriously). The exhibition was to make you think about more than the appearance of art and what it could convey from another viewpoint.

Trip to London

 So for part of my PPD project I decided to make a trip to London, as there are so many galleries and exhibitions.

The first gallery I visited was the V&A. There was an exhibition to do with recyclable fashion, which featured clothes made from second-hand materials such as newspapers, rubbish bags and tin cans.

In my opinion this dress was the highlight of the exhibition. It was made from thousands of origami cranes made from old newspapers.