EVALUATION

My final outcome is a halter top with a fringe trim, a jacket with pleated sleeve and a pair of flared trousers. At the beginning of my project I had no idea what I wanted my final outcome to look like or where I was going with it. All I had was a list of designers, artists, photographers and musicians who inspired me and they were going to direct my project.

My main of working has been through the use of my sketchbook. All of my ideas go in here and it has become a visual diary of everything I do from research to development to final designs. Have all of my work in one place has helped me to develop my ideas because they're all in one place so I can constantly look back on what I've previously done in order to help know where I want to go next. While using my sketchbook I tried to forget that it is something that will be marked and graded but examiners at the end. By doing this is helped me to express my ideas in my own ways such as collaging, writing little notes to my self and drawing. Because I was focused on how I wanted my sketchbook to look, not how an examiner might see it, I think this benefited me because my sketchbook now has a very natural, organic flow to it rather than a check list to getting a distinction.

Another method that has helped me develop my work is the use of my blog. My sketchbook is mainly visual so having a blog were I can write down all of my ideas and clear my mind has been extremely useful. Sometimes it can be difficult to visually portray what I'm thinking so my blog has helped me to explain my thoughts. It is also a way for other people to understand my thought process which may not always be clear from just looking at my sketchbooks.

I have found my one-to-one tutorials really useful in this project because it really helps to get a fresh pair of eyes to look at your work because they always notice things or have ideas that you wouldn't have thought of. One piece of advice my tutor gave me was about the models I was using in my collages. My project is on black feminism but for a lot of my collages I was using white women's because black women were harder to find in magazines. She told me that the collages were great but I have to keep my theme running throughout the whole project and stay true to what my theme was. Although it seems like a simple piece of advice it made me think that I always had to go back to my theme and my research because if I didn't refer to it there was no point doing any research at all. This is something that I tried to carry throughout the whole project which is why I was still researching right till the end.

One thing that I'm going to take away from this project and try to improve on is my time management. Although I made a timetable at the beginning of the project I only looked at it a few times. I was never falling behind but I think if I had continuously looked at the timetable I wouldn't have had to rush toward the end to get everything finished. I'm also going to try to become more organised with written task such as blog. I was on top of my blog till around week 5 when I became lazy and once I'd stopped doing it, it was hard to start it up again without think about how much I had to catch up. This is definitely something that I need to find a way to keep on top of.

The main skill that I have feel I've improved on in this project is to think of my designs as clothes not illustrations. By thinking this way it forces me to think about how this item of clothing will be made, what will it be made from, what kind of zip will it have etc. By having this 8 weeks I was able to have time to think about these things rather than push them aside like I did in the two week projects. Another thing that I think I was good at was the research. Having nearly a whole sketchbook dedicated to research was amazing for me because any time I was slightly stuck about where to go next I had masses of images, texts and drawings to look back on to inspire me. Doing extensive research before I begin to design is definitely something I will continue doing as it helps so much with the design process.

Next year I am going to study a degree in Womenswear Fashion Design at the Paris College of Art and I am excited to see my skills continue to develop in a new environment.

WEEK 9

I spent this last week putting together the final outfits for my final lineup. I used the Sam technique as I did when deciding on the colours for the outfit I made. I tried out lots of different combinations because even though I loved all the clothes the outfits could have a completely different vibe depending on how I put them together.

Once I'd figured out most of my colours I went fabric shopping again to get the specific swatches that I needed for my final lineup.

Then I experimented with different ways to draw my models and decided to draw them the way I'd styled the photo shoot, with a head wrap and smart buckled shoes rather than trainers like I usually do.

Finally I drew my final line up, flats and stuck the fabric swatches next to each outfit.

WEEK 8: DAY 3

Today I went through all my photos and chose the best ones to edit. I didn't change them too much because I wanted everything about the photos to be as natural and untouched as possible. I'm really happy with the outcome and I feel like the photo shoot perfectly sums up my project

WEEK 8: DAY 2

Today was photo shoot day abd from morning to end everything went smoothly. Luckily all the garments fit her and when I put the head wrap and makeup on her I was really pleased because the look turned out just how I had imagined it in my head, if not better. I'm really happy with how the photos turned out and there are lots of great ones for me to choose from.

WEEK 8: DAY 1

Today I prepared for my photo shoot by making a mood board of the look that I was going for and how this could be achieved through styling and props. I want the model to look quite ethereal and very calm and at peace. I knew I wanted to incorporate my research on flowers in the shoot so I picked some flowers the morning of the shoot to use as props. I don't want any accessories because I think they'll E just distract from the clothes but instead I want the model to have a headwrap as iris a very common hairstyle for black women to wrap their hair in a scarf. I found a really nice beige mesh that I bought a while ago which I think will be perfect because it won't stand out too much and overpower the model but I am also going to bring in some ther possible fabric choices which I could use. For make up I want it to be very simple because I want her natural beauty to shine through so I'm just going to put some orange eyeshadow on her to match the jacket and some mascara.

I also pressed all of my clothes so I don't have to rush to do it tomorrow morning.

Today was a very useful day because now I know exactly what I'm going to be doing at the photo shoot and how I'm going to create a look that sums up my theme in a subtle way. I'm going to show the photographer and model this mood board to give them an insight to my project which will help then to understand what I want to achieve from this shoot.

WEEK 7

I spent the whole of week 7 making my garments for the photo shoot. Luckily there were no complications, probably because I spent so much time perfecting my patterns. This meant I was already used to making the clothes so when it came to making the final garments I was already used to all of the steps.

Even though I had fit all the toiles to my model as a made them to make sure they were the correct size, I tried them on her again so that I knew I wouldn't have to make any adjustments on photo shoot day.

WEEK 6: DAY 4

Today I went to Shepherd's Bush to buy my fabrics. I wanted to get either neoprene or something similar to this for the jacket so it would hold the shape I wanted it to have but I couldn't find anything similar to this in the right colour. I decided to go for colour over fabric and found a really nice one which is fairly sturdy in a burnt orange. For the trousers I went for a plain navy cotton and for the top I bought quite thick fabric (not sure what it is exactly) but it is sturdy so will hold the shape and seems comfortable to wear.

After thinking about it a lot I decided that I didn't have enough time to do the print on the material and if I had wanted to it should've been something that I thought about a couple weeks ago. I spent some time redesigning the top using different weaving techniques that I learnt a couple weeks ago. I thought about making the whole top from a weave but decided that this would take too long. I decided on a halte top with a turtleneck and then a woven fringe trim along the bottom.

I also changed the design of my trousers slightly. I bought a really cool embroidered navy fabric last week which looks really good with the cotton I bought for the trousers. I also bought an amazing like green zip which is going to be the fastening for the trousers to match the green topstitching.

Then I drew out each garment that I'm planning to make and illustrated how they are going to be constructed and with what materials. Finally I cut out all the fabrics so I'll be ready to start sewin tomorrow. 

WEEK 6: DAY 3

First thing I did today was fit my trousers to my model and thankfully they fit her perfectly so I won't have to change the size of them. The only thing I'm going to change is to make the flare bigger and more exaggerated.

Next I drew the outfit I want to make for my final piece several times changing small details such as a pockets but mostly I focused on colour combinations and which one I liked most. It took me a while to find the right colours but it was good because it was the first time in the design process that I used
my colour scheme properly so it was good to see what all the colours looked like together and which how they worked together in different quantities.

This was useful to do for me as colour is really important to me because I think they can change the whole look of an outfit so I'm definitely going to do this again for all my outfits as it is the easiest way for me to see all the different options next to each other and then pick the best one.

I'm going to go fabric shopping some time this week and to see what types of fabrics I'll be able to get in the right colours and which will fit my theme. 

WEEK 6: DAY 2

Made a pattern for the top I want to make. It turned out almost perfect the first time, a little too big for my model so I need to make a bit smaller but that will be easy to adjust.

Made a pattern for the trousers and toiled. Too small for me but may fit model because she is smaller to will fit on her tomorrow.

Today I made the pattern for the top I'm planning to make and I toiled it. I want to get all of my pattern making done by the end of the week so I can make all my clothes in week 7 in one for the photo shoot in week 8.

The top is a fairly simple halter top with a peplum and turtle neck. This was really easy to make as I've made several halter tops before so just had to adjust one of my own patterns. I tried it on the model and it's a little too big for her but I'll fix this by adding more pleats around the waist. I love how the top turned out but I'm not sure how I'm going to get the print on there as I don't think I'll have time to trial printmaking techniques this week. I'm think about weaving the print or have some kind of weaving detail on there but I'm not sure yet.

I wasn't sure what kind of bottoms I wanted to put with this top but after seeing it marry definitely needs to be paired with trousers. Using an old pattern of mine I retraced them and made them into flares. I tried the toile on myself and another girl but they were too small for both of us. By that time my model had gone home so I'm going to try them on her tomorrow and hopefully they'll fit her as she is quite petite. I definitely want there to be more of a flare as its only on one side and I want it to be really exaggerated.

Tomorrow I'm going to think more about fabrics and colours so I can by my fabrics this weekend. 

WEEK 6: DAY 1

Today I did lots of weaving samples using the felting yarn that I bought the day before. Over the weekend I read a book on African texitles and I noticed that a lot of their prints and textiles were created by weaving so I definitely want to use weaving in the project.

I hadn't used this type of yarn before so I started of just doing simple samples using one or two colours. I really like this yarn because it has a lot of texture and is very chunky. It also seems like it would be very warm to wear which is good as I'm designing an Autumn/Winter collection. Once I'd become used to using this yarn I tried out one of my print designs in weaving. I really love how it turned out and I think I'd prefer to use this than digital print as it will add more dimension to the clothes rather than just being a flat print which could look at little boring.

I used this samples to draw new designs and I also redrew some designs that I already had but added these samples in as pockets and patches. I really like how these turned out and I want to experiment with more colours. This process is quite long so I'm not sure if it will be something I use in my final garment or just in my final lineup I'll decided that later. 

WEEK 5: DAY 4

Today I went to get more fabric samples which are more specific to my project and themes. When I started looking around I realised that when seeing my colour scheme in fabric I didn't like how the colours worked together as much as I had with pen and paper. So after a while I began to choose fabrics which I liked the look of and worked well together and slowly a natural colour scheme of earthy tones, lime greens and burnt oranges evolved. I like this colour scheme a lot and it relates well with the research I was doing on nature and flowers. I got fabrics such as suede as it is something that was used a lot in the 70s and lots of warm knits and wools as I am doing an Autumn/Winter collection.

Next I went to a yarn shop and bought some really nice chunky yarn which is usually used for felting but I'm going to use it for weaving instead. I want to do some more experiments with weaving after reading a book about African textiles and seeing that a lot of it was made through weaving so I think this will be good thing to incorporate into my final piece.

Tomorrow I'm going to carry on designing but I am going to use these fabric samples to help inform my designs so I can have a better idea of what these clothes could be made from. I also want to do lots of experiments with weaving and see if I can recreate some of my print designs into a weave.

WEEK 5: Day 3

Today I went back to design. I find it easier to work when I'm constantly doing something different so I'm going to keep switching between pattern cutting, toiling and designing.

I started off by going through all the designs is don't and choosing my favourites. I realised that I didn't have any dresses that I liked and although it's not necessary, I would like to have at least one dress in the collection. I tried turning some of the tops and jackets that weren't my favourite into dresses but I don't really like how these turned out and hey ended up seeming a bit forced as they hadn't come to me naturally so this will be something that I will go back to when the time is right.

I used today to develop my designs more. I went through them and changed them all slightly several times until I drew one that I really loved. I also thought about fabrics that I could use by putting fabric samples next to my illustrations and little details such as top stitching, fastenings, pocket shapes and how exactly things would be made.

I didn't manage to do all the designs but today was useful because I went through my designs and started to see motifs and details which were being repeated. There were also some clothes that although I really liked didn't really fit with the other clothes so I'm going to see how I can modify them to fit in or if I'll have to scrap them from the collection.

WEEK 5: DAY 2

Today I decided to give designing a break as it is something I can go back towards the end up my project after the photo shoot. Instead I focused on the jacket I want to make for my final piece. I used a book from the library to make the pattern because I'd never made something with a dropped should and was sure how to do it. I simplified the sleeve of my design so I could focus on the drop shoulder as this made the pattern easier to make and I could then add in the complicated details later. My first toile turned out well but I noticed that the jacket was restricting me from lifting my arm. I wasn't sure how to resolve this so I asked my teacher and she should me what to change on the pattern to fix this.

For my next pattern I added in the sleeve detail and did what my teacher told m so that hopefully I will have more movement in the jacket. My  next toile was a lot better, I like the sleeve shape although it could be a little more exaggerated and I was able to move a lot more. If I added a gusset or a side panel I would probably have full flexibly but this will be something I'll come back to if I have time because it won't make a difference in the photo shoot if the model can't fully lift up her arms.

Tomorrow I'm going to take pictures of my model wearing the jacket so I can see how it looks on her and if it fits her right because so far I have only tried it on myself.

WEEK 5: DAY 1

Today I went through some fabric samples that I had from previous projects and picked some that could be used again for this project. I like some of the such a faux suede that I had a and some sparkly wools but I definitely need to go again soon to get fabrics which are more relevant to this project.

Next I did some collages and illustrations showing different ways that text could be incorporated in this collection. I decided to use some lyrics from Queen Latifahs song U.N.I.T.Y which portray a strong, confident woman, the type of woman I want to be wearing my clothes. Text is something that I definitely want to use in these clothes but I'm by sure if I'll have to time fully develop it in a way that I really like. However, I'm going to do some samples of ways to put text on fabric such as digital print, fabric paints and embroidery and see how they turn out and if text will be something I want to use in my final piece.

After that I went back through my design pages and worked into my initial designs more. Using images that I had left over from my research stage, I expanded on my stand work. I did this because although my I liked my initial designs I wanted to develop them further and have a clearer link of how my research was informing my designs. I really like some of the ideas I came up with and next I am going to choose my favourite designs and develop these more until I have something that I love.

WEEK 4: Day 3 and 4

Today I spent the first part of the day preparing for standwork. I took apart a suit jacket and a shirt, and I photocopied the knit sample I made the day before and photocopied and enlarged some of the drawing that I'd done in my research stage.

For the rest of the day I experimented with different shapes on the standing using the materials I'd prepared in the morning and some tulle/mesh fabrics I'd bought a couple months of ago. I feel like this was a really successful day and I managed to do about 20 designs on the stand including drawings directly from the stand. I created some really interesting shapes, I think the mix of photocopies and fabric gave the work a unique look and I'm really excited about what I could do with these design starting points. Next I am going to print these photos off and use these to do quick initial drawings and start to pick out motifs that I like. 

The next day I focused on drawing designs. I printed off my all of my stand work from the day before and used these photos to design from and for collages. Today was a really productive day because I did several designs and started to find common details in the designs that I particularly like which I can use as motifs to creative cohesion in the collection. Moving on from today I need to start thinking about what fabrics I want to use so I need to plan a day when I can go get fabric samples. 

Also today I had a tutorial with my main tutor Andrea. She said although she loved my designs, I need to make it clearer how I'm using my research to inform my designs. So when I go back to designing I am going to make it clear how my research is influencing my designs through collages and notes. I also want to somehow include the lyrics of Queen Latifah and Abra into my work either through typography (painting/ writing directly onto the fabric) or by creating my own print. 

WEEK 4: Day 2

Today I realised I was ready to start designing. I did some research on the 70s because it was when the feminist movement really became popular so I want to channel what the women wore then into my collection. I also really like the freedom of the time with the whole flower power movement. When looking back at female hippies they all seem to be extremely confident in themselves, they dressed how they wanted and did what they wanted to. This is how I want my women to look and feel which is why I have to chosen to use 70s clothing as inspiration for shapes and style. I really love Yves Saint Laurent's cigarette suit and as I as previously thinking about using suit I definitely want to deconstruct a suit and see what happens when I mix the harshness of a suit with something lighter and more typically feminine like florals and tulle. 

As a way to start mixing my research together, I made a series of collages which mixed different elements of my research. I really like some of the combinations that made as they are really interesting and helped me to get lots of ideas flowing. Next to these collages I did several quick sketches of designs and I really like how they look. Next I want to take some of my favourite elements of these designs and use them on the stand to see if they would even be possible for me to make and if I can get even more designs from these few ones. 

Next I looked back at the several colour schemes that I've made throughout this project and finally decided on my final colour palette. I'm going to use these colours in my designs starting from now so I can start to figure out which colours look best together and in what quantities.

Next I tried to recreate the lace knit pattern that I'd tried and failed to do. This time I did it on a knitting machine and I really like how it turned out. It didn't take too long to do once I'd got used to pattern. I think it could be a really nice way to subtly include my African influences into my work. However, it could be quite time consuming if I wanted to make a whole garment using this. I drew some designs next to it most of them with small details of this knit such as pocket flaps, collars and sleeves. 

I also did some double knit samples where I used two different colour threads. One of the colour combinations was more successful than the other two so I made a larger sample of this combination which I am then going to use for work on the stand. 

I feel like overall today was a really successful day for design because I was able to produce lots of ideas quickly which I can now use as a starting point for this collection. Tomorrow I am going to spend the whole day working on the stand. 

WEEK 4: DAY 1

Today I did lots of weaving. I made a diy loom from an old photo frame and learnt some amazing new techniques. Inspied by my research on flowers, I picked some flowers, leaves and various plants which I then wove into the weaves and I absolutely love how they turned out. This is definitely something that I want to use into my final collection. However this process is very time consuming so I will only be able to use it for small details such as pockets, hems and maybe collars. 

I also made a mock up of a mini zine using some the drawings, lyrics, quotes and pressed flowers that I've collected in my book. I really love how it turns out and I can start to imagine what a final zine could look like. It only has 5 pages so for a final zine I want to make it about 10-15 pages and around A5 size probably. To progress this zine further I need to start making more collages and art work which I can use to influence my designs but will primarily be for zine. However, I want to start focusing on design now so I will probably leave the zine to one of the last things that I do as I don't think it will be too time consuming to make. 

WEEK 3: DAY 3

Today I focused on textiles again as I don't feel like I'm quite ready to start designing. I used the knitting machine and tried to recreate the african design in it but as I was doing it without a pattern it didn't quite  work out how I wanted it to. Before I try this again I'm going to attempt to make my own knitting pattern and see how it works out. 

Next I moved on to digital print. To inspire it I used an African textile which has a really interesting grid template which was then repeated. I used drawings that I'd done throughout my sketchbook and arranged them in a similar pattern to the original print. I used a colour scheme that I'd created from one of the photos of the Omo tribe. I think this was a successful first try but I don't like all of the elements such as the polka dots so I'm going to keep playing with this print and hopefully I'll come up with something I can use in the final collection. 

WEEK 3: DAY 2

On my first day of development there was a knitting workshop which was perfect for me because knitting is something that I would like to use in this collection. In the workshop Bid went over some of the techniques that he had previously taught in our first project at Ravensbourne. One of the techniques that I really love is the lace knit because you can create different patterns and shape using the holes. I'm going to try to use this technique to recreate some African symbols/patterns in the knitwear.

I also photocopied the most important pages in my sketchbook which I then taped to my board and made connections between the research I'd done and how I'm going to use it my designs. I felt like this helped me to clear my head after my research stage so I could start to think how I was going to use this research and how it will all work together. It also helps to have the pages from my sketchbook in front of me so I don't have to keep flicking through it to find what I'm looking for so this turned out to be very useful for me.

When I got home I extracted shapes from my research and used them to do some quick paintings focusing on mark making, lines and shapes. I'm going to then use these to work on the stand and start to get some design ideas flowing.

I also collaged these shapes onto a suit and I really love how it looks and the aesthetic of a man's suit with these organic natural shapes. Following from this I want to deconstruct a suit and maybe a shirt and mix it with these shapes and see what happens.

I feel like today was a successful day because I was able to organise my ideas and think about how I'm going to move from research to development.

WEEK 3: DAY 1

It is now week 3 of my project so I really wanted to start moving on from research and into develop. So I spent this day finishing up the last of my research.
I researched one of my favourite new singers, Abra. I really like her casual, feminine style and confident attitude which is how I want my woman to feel in the clothes I'll be designing for this collection. I think Abra will be my ideal wearer for these clothes so I am going to keep her in mind will designing. I also like the lyrics of her songs, particularly Roses so I want to incorporate them into my designs, maybe through free hand embroidery or I could paint directly onto fabric. The lyrics also have a lot of refers to a lot of nature which fits in with my research on the Omo tribe and Nadine Ijewere's photography project 'Flowers'.

I also research a poet and writer called Bell Hooks. My favourite quote of hers is 'I will not have my life  narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or to someone else's ignorance.' I like this quote because it show what a strong, confident and educated woman she is which is the type of woman I want to dress in my clothes. I started to think about what kind of clothes make someone look powerful and strong and I thought of suits and armour so I want to use elements of these clothes in my designs. I also think someone who is confident with themselves, with or without clothes is confident person. I think a person who is comfortable being completely naked is the type of person I want to dress which sounds strange I guess considering I design clothes. I want my clothes to show a lot of skin, cutouts short skirts, crop tops but since I am making an Autumn Winter Collection I have to find some way to mix the two together and still make the clothes appropriate for cold weather.

I researched Delphine Fawundu and Lubaina Humid but I don't feel like this research was very useful so I don't think I'll expand on this.

Finally I looked at possible colour schemes. I used one of my favourite photos of Nadine Ijewere's and extracted colours from it on photoshop to create different palettes. One of them was quite dark autumn colours, navy, burgundy, mustard khaki green which fits very well with an Autum winter Collection. The other is very warm tones, amber, lime green, turquoise and a deep lipstick red. The colours are very Spring Summer but I quite like the contradiction as I feel like having bright colours can give warmth to the colder months.

I feel like for now I have done the majority of my research and although I will probably continue doing research throughout this project I am now ready to move on to development. I think I'm going to start with working on the stand using shapes from my research. Although I don't think this will give the clothes the essence of the message I want to give, it will help me to create some interesting shapes which I can then work from. I also want to experiment with lots of textiles as it is something that  I'm interested in but haven't had the time to explore in our previous projects. I'm going to see how my theme translates into knitting, weaving, print and embroidery and then choose 1 or 2 of these to use in the final collection.

WEEK 2: DAY 3

Today I continued research my themes and developed some interesting patterns and motifs as starting points for textile piece.

I taped in the flowers that I'd pressed a couple days before and did some quick blind drawings of them. This was successful because I made some really interesting shapes. However, I don't want to get too caught up with shapes from my research as the main inspiration for my designs because I think it will make my design too one-dimensional and not portray the message I want to put across. Instead I'm going to use these drawings in my textile designs.

I couple of months ago I read an article about a tribe in Ethiopia where the people decorate themselves with flowers, clay, plants and scarification. What I really love about the photos I collected for my research are the vibrant colours of their embellishments so I'm definitely going to use these photos as my main source of colour inspiration.

To start mixing my ideas together I traced some of my drawings and started to blend them to see how the different shapes work together. I also taped in all my photos from the William Morris Gallery and did some collages to start blending my ideas together. I feel like I'm working in a very textile student way right now but I'm enjoying working so closely with pattern, colour and shape as it is not something I usually get to focus on. I feel like by developing own textile will help to inform my designs.

WEEK 2: DAY 2

Today I finally managed to go to the William Morris Gallery to see the African Textiles exhibition. Although it was a very small exhibition it was a great opportunity to see real African textiles and the way the prints are used. Most of the textiles there were kanghas so all had a very particular layout; a border, a motif in the middle and a phrase underneath. I want to use all of these elements to create my own prints. For the phrases I want to use song lyrics or poetry such as U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifah or some poetry by Bell hooks.

I noticed that there were a lot of polka dot prints on the kanghas and I love polka dots so it is something that I would like to incorporate into my own prints. I'm also going to use some of the shapes such as mangoes and floral details in my designs.

WEEK 2: DAY 1

Today I continued with my research by looking Alma Woodsey Thomas, African Prints and Queen Latifah.

I made a colour scheme from some of Thomas' painting which I really love but it could be too summery for an Autumn/Winter collection. Lots of her paintings look like mosaics so I did a blind drawing of the mosaic pattern. I'm not sure how I want to incorporate her work into my designs (maybe through color?) but I think it could also be really cool to use the mosaic pattern as inspiration for seam lines and structure of a piece of clothing. Or maybe for layers?

I briefly started to look at some African prints, mainly engravings that are used on designs and crafts such as pottery. I love the intricate patterns and I definitely want to develop these more through collaging and eventually turn it into a print of my own which I will then print onto fabric or laser cut. I definitely want to try both of these techniques then decide which or both will fit best with my designs. 

Finally I looked at Queen Latifah, in particular the lyrics to her song U.N.I.T.Y. I love the lyrics because they talk about the disrespect towards women particularly through catcalling and unwanted sexual attention. I find it interesting that this song was written in the early 90s yet a lot of what she raps about is still completely relevant today. I think I want to use some the lyrics in a print that I will be creating and it could look really interesting to mix it with the African symbols and prints. 

I started to think about the way that I want my woman to be portrayed and came up with some interesting ideas. I definitely want her to look strong and powerful and confident so I think I'll look into stereotypical clothes that fit these words such as suits and armor. However, I also want her to look strong if she's wearing a pink lacy dress. The clothes are obviously very important and I somehow want to find a way for them to look powerful even if at first glance they are stereotypically extremely feminine. I think casting could also have a big part to play in this concept but it will be something that I think about later on in the project. 

WEEK 1: DAY 4

Today I planned to visit the William Morris Gallery as they have an exhibition about African Textiles going on but unfortunately I forgot to check the opening times and it was closed.

I spent the day taking photos of flowers for primary research. I also picked some of them so I can press them and use them in collages and moodboards. I think this was very useful to do because it gave me primary research and will hopefully help me to start developing my ideas using my own imagery and research. Florals is quite a generic thing to do so I want to figure out a way to make them interesting, not necessarily new, but something that hasn't been done 100s of times over. I'm doing an Autumn/Winter collection and florals aren't typically used during these seasons but I still think I need something more to make them unique. 

WEEK 1: DAY 3

The first interview that I decided to do was with one of my classmates, Bernice. I asked her the questions that I came up with the day before and she gave me some really interesting answers. She talked a lot about how women, black women in particular, should support each other. She also told me about how at school it was not seen as normal for a black girl to be interested in creative subjects such as fashion and art and that this is one of the reasons she first became interested in black feminism. I filmed the whole interview because I thought it could be interesting if I made a short film as part of my final piece but since I have no experience in film making or video editing I think it would take too much time learning this skills which is time I would prefer to spend designing. Instead of making a film I think I want to make a zine instead with interviews, collages, photos etc..

Working from the interview, I'm going to use some of the ideas and topics that Bernice brought up (black women in the creative industry, supporting each other, black girl power, natural hair movement) as research starting points for the zine and clothes.

One photographer that I'm really interested in is a woman called Nadine Ijewere. I think her work is really interesting so I did some research on her work. One of her projects that I particularly admire is called 'Flowers'. She took photos of black girls with flowers as a symbol of their beauty. Then I started to look into flowers and their different meanings. I like the idea of using flowers, as a symbol for the beauty of black women and it could be an ongoing motif throughout my collection.

One flower that I really like, aesthetically and because of its meaning, is the orchid which symbolises 'exotic beauty' and 'glorious femininity'. I want to develop some prints maybe using the orchid and also use the shape of the orchid as inspiration for stand work.

WEEK 1: DAY 2

As a continuation of the ideas I wrote on my mind map I thought about the interviews that I want to do with people. I want to get the views of women of different ages, jobs and backgrounds so I think I will only interview one or two girls in my class. I looked at other interviews about black feminism to get some ideas and came up with this questions:

• Would you consider yourself a feminist/black feminist? If so why and what does it mean to be one to you?
• What led you to become a feminist?
• Are there any women in your life who have been an inspiration to you?
• What has been your experiences as a black woman?
• Do you think the fashion industry/other creative industries are racist?
• What do you think of the natural hair movement?
• Why do you think there is a need for black feminism to be a separate thing to feminism/white feminism?
• What is your favourite thing about being a black woman?

I think these are a good set of questions to ask my interviews and when interviewing them they should be able to lead me to other questions depending on what they say. I think it will be interesting to get the views of people who work in different industries and are different ages so I can see if these factors make a difference in the views and answers. 

Next I went back to my mood board and found imagery to support the themes on it so I could have visual imagery to start my development. To find these images I looked through books, magazines and the internet. I used one or two image from each theme and put these on a large board in front of my work space so I will always have my main inspiration right in front of me while working so if I'm ever lost for ideas or I'm not sure where I'm going with this project I can look at it and find inspiration. 

To progress after today I am going to start my interviews, starting with a girl in my class called Bernice. I am also going to do more in depth research on my themes and try to find some exhibitions I can visit.

WEEK 1: DAY 1

I started my research by looking up black feminism so I could find the official meaning of it:

'A school of thought which argues that sexism, class, oppression, gender identity and racism are inextricably bound together. The way these concepts relate to each other is called intersectionality'.

Intersectionality is a word I'd never heard of before so I looked it up and found out that it is the concept that forms of oppression (homophobia, racism, sexism, ableism) interconnected and cannot be discussed individually because they are all related to one another. This theory was coined by black feminist leader Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989. She argued that the experience of being a black woman cannot be understood in terms of just being a woman or just being black because the two are interrelated.

This then led me on to find out about the Combahee River Collective, a black feminist lesbian organisation active between 1974- 1980. They highlighted that the white feminist movement did not address their needs as black women so they wrote their own statement where they outlined their political views. One part of it that stood out to me was where they wrote that "liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political and economic systems of Capitalism and Imperialism as well as Patriarchy." Miriam Schneir then interpreted this to mean "If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free, since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all systems of oppression." 

I next went on to research other leaders in Black Feminism, and black civil rights such as Angela Davis, Patricia Hill Collins and Bell Hooks. I found a quote by Bell Hooks that I thought was really thought provoking.

“Think of all the women you know who will not allow themselves to be seen without makeup. I often wonder how they feel about themselves at night when they are climbing into bed with intimate partners. Are they overwhelmed with secret shame that someone sees them as they really are? Or do they sleep with rage that who they really are can be celebrated or cared for only in secret?” 

I know a lot of girl, of all races, who would absolutely hate to be seen in public without makeup which I think is really sad because why should anyone be ashamed of the way they naturally look. 

As a final piece I would also like to make a zine, and I think this quote could be an interesting starting point for a photo shoot that could go into it. 

Next I did a mind map of some topics/themes/people that I could look at to give me inspiration for this project. This included, African music (spoken word/poetry), African textiles, Alma Woodsey Thomas, Queen Latif, the Natural Hair Movement, Nadijne Ijewere, Lorna Simpson and many more. 

I thought these mind maps were really successful because they gave me loads of starting points for my research and also gave me ideas and made me ask questions about what I want my project to be such as:-

• Talk/Interview Black girls in my class about their views and experiences
• Talk to my mums friend, Lyrical Healer, about her spoken poetry
• Should my project be angry about the lack of representation of black women?
• Or should it be a celebration of what they have created?
• Or both?

I felt this was a productive day because I was able to get my ideas out of my head and into my book which made it clearer for me the different topics I could look into for this project. Tomorrow I am going to start to research the different themes that I wrote in my mind map. 

CONCEPT

“I am a Black Feminist. I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary oppressions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable.” – Audre Lorde

The concept for my Final Major Project is Black Feminism. I will be focusing on the oppression towards black women and how this has affected their lives, especially those who work in the creative industries such as design, photography, literature and music. I feel that these women are not talked about enough so I want to use this project as a way to celebrate creative black women, using their work as my inspiration.