JAA Week 10: The Finale

Whose Line is it Anyway?

 

 

 

Well here we are then, reporting from the last week(okay the last day, I have been sewing like the wind all week after assessment and the writing always gets left to the end!).

 

 She is done, I have the photos to prove it, not currently looking her best in my front room, where there is enough thread on the floor to create a second carpet so please excuse the bad photos. This is a relatively short post but I would like to share some final musings before I write up my academic evaluation of the unit.

 

 

Contextualisation of my work is important. Its one of those buzz words used in the academic blurb handed out with the unit brief.

 

I don't just make things, I create, and behind creation is intent and thought. Yes I am making this re-creation for a competition, but the original dress came from a museum and has been dated 1878. The dress was once worn by someone, and as my work has progressed I have thought a lot about who that person was, where they wore their dress. I feel I have an intimate relationship with the original wearers figure, as it has been somewhat of an enigma, being quite different from a modern silhouette. At some point I named the dress "Eva", a Victorian name for a Victorian dress, a dress not for the faint hearted, the bold stripes, luxurious fabrics and bright colours.

 

But what does this piece of work mean to me? What does it mean to my degree? What will it mean to the professional world of my peers? In industry? The questions go on, and I have to consider them, because my work needs to be relevant.

 

 

In general, I am hoping this piece of work will be a stand out portfolio example, showing employers my level of capability. At a cost of around £800 to myself in fabrics, this dress is also an investment but one I feel will be worthwhile, so on some level it is also a business decision.

 

I must also include the fact that this dress is for a competition, there is the chance of winning a cash prize, but more importantly the accolade of winning such a thing- it would look very positive on a CV.

 

For my degree I am hoping this dress earns me a first class mark, a bold statement perhaps, but I think I have earned it, along with the undergarments, it represents a huge body of work produced for this unit and I hope I have done it justice. I should also be aiming to do better than my last result because my level of work should be improving.

 

In industry this garment demonstrates my ability and growing knowledge of historical costuming, along with my love for balletic costumes this dress could represent jobs such as making historical character costumes, replicas for museums, film and tv period dramas, private commissions for historically inspired costumes or wedding gowns and a platform to go on and study costume history at a more in depth level(MA).

 

 

Considering all these aspects helps me to be able to focus in on what I need to be aiming towards to get the most out of my studies and making sure I am heading in the right direction, because after all there is only one more practical making unit between myself and graduation.

 

 

 

 

 

Finale

 

 

 

Here then are the last photos before hand in. I will take some photos when I have the dress at uni, but they will be too late to add to this blog( which will be assessed so there is a deadline), but I will add some in a subsequent post, for all to see.