Liberty was one of London’s first department stores, opened in 1875 by Arthur Liberty, with the aim to bring beautiful exotic fabrics to sell to the artistic shoppers. The building that Libertys occupies today was built in the 1920s, using timber from two battle-ships, in a mock Tudor style. The interior is magnificent, full of carved wooden panels and creaky stairs, it feels like a home, with the scarf room at its centre, corridors and small rooms overflow eclectic objects. Although in many ways Libertys is like any other department store, selling luxury big names like Comme des Garcons and Dior, it differs in its consistent and unique aesthetic and features local smaller designers and artists.

For years, William Morris designs have been prominent Liberty, and still today his fabrics are being sold. You can see a heavy influence of the Arts and Crafts movement in Liberty’s upholstery and dress-making fabrics, as well as in the interiors and furniture departments. This style is also what sets Liberty apart from other department store, they have managed to keep it modern and relevant by intertwining new fashions into Arts and Crafts pieces.

Liberty has a strong image, and they keep it going by using the nostalgia and craft aesthetic in everything they do. I think there will probably always be a market for this, it is luxury and quality without the flashy-ness. People with lots of money, the ones that like the rustic eclectic look, can feel like they have travelled and acquired interesting meaningful objects, with just one trip to Liberty.

I chose a piece of interiors fabric, sold for curtains and upholstery. It has this bold clementine pattern, it stuck out to me as nostalgic, as I think my grandparents had similar fabrics in their home. It was printed in Italy and made from 100% woven linen. It was displayed in the store as a sample length, probably they would have big reels which would be cut to order. It references art nouveau style and reminds me of William Morris’ designs. To me the style is very distinctive of Liberty’s. The clementine design has come back and fourth in fashion over time, I have seen bold shirts and papers in a similar style, but more modern. You would have to be moderately wealthy to buy this fabric, especially if for curtains or large amounts as it would end up being expensive. I think the kind of person who would buy this fabric, would be an older person or someone with a slightly old-fashioned interesting style.

Liberty London (unknown date publish) Store Heritage. Available at: https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/information/the-store/store-heritage.html (Accessed: 11 December 2018).

The first thing you come to in this exhibition, is a series of figures, each placed on a free-standing plinth. They portray different cultural identities, mainly from Asian countries, through their clothing. The people have no obvious gender- the clothes are draping, and the body shapes are either smooth or lumpy. They are clothed in beautiful bespoke fabrics. They contrast to the bright, rubbery skin and hair, and wacky modern accesories. Uprichards manages to use a variety of materials to create these textural sculptures, that compliment and clash all at the same time. Their skin is painted in bright colours and patterns- stripping them of their race. To me this seems like a reference to the traditional museum practice of taking an artefact of cultural significance from its native country to a western museum and displaying it with no description or recognition, the object loses its importance. The figures in Upritchard’s exhibition are shrunk and whimsical, signifying what we do to these objects when we take them from their home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a large collection of hats presenting different cultural and national identities. Included are fezzes, flat caps, conical straw hats. Like the figures, they are degendered and shrunk- not able to fit on a normal sized head. Most of them are made from brightly coloured felt, with little beads and ornaments sewn on. These hats, all with very different historical meanings, are all made the same with the same colours and decoration, and they seem randomly positioned. There is also a collection of glassware, mimicking ancient Greek pottery, but presented in a playful modern form, this way that Upritchards makes objects, taking inspiration from different cultures is in my opinion a kitsch appreciation and perhaps a reference and mocking towards museum practice.

The next thing that stuck out to me, was a glass cabinet full on miniature models. There were some tiny ancient artefacts; a stone, a fish, different containers, alongside hunched morphed figures and centaurs. Following these, are a series of large rubber sculptures, depicting similar figures. They look like tree roots and are kind of disturbing with limbs intertwining and un-natural bends. Uprichards was inspired by the Parthenon Reliefs and Japanese folklore characters. It’s this merge of culture that is consistent through the exhibition.

There are a series of large cylindrical pots with small faces, glazed in earthy colours. This seems to be a middle between the first quirky, playful figures, and the large rubber sculptures at the end. These pots would work on their own, I could see them being objects bought for interiors, whereas most of the other pieces are possibly too whimsical and would not be understood out of the exhibition’s context- their intrigue comes from their arrangement.

Because of the curve of the gallery, as you move through the space you cannot see what’s coming next. This forces the viewer to be present and splits the exhibition into sections, increasing the effect of each part. The way the objects are hung and displayed is an odd and unconventional version of a traditional museum display. Hats are lined up irregularly on shelving suspended from the ceiling, as you look through you can see all the hats at one time, rather than a conventional arrangement against a wall. Tables displaying objects are fitted to the curve of the building. The rubber sculptures are attached to angular, sloping slabs of stone. This is fitting with the architecture of the barbican and Upritchard makes good use of the space, the exhibition would not be as moving and effective in a plain square room. There is something unsettling about the exhibition, and by using this vast dramatic gallery space, Uprichards emphasises this feeling of slight un-ease.

 

 

I felt pretty confident starting stitch, as it is what I have done most of before, and found it a relief after the new skill and challenges of knit and weave. The hard thing about stitch for me, is the broadness of the subject. There are so many possibilities that it is hard to know what to do. I started by carefully studying my drawings, looking at the pattern and colour and how I can translate them into fabric. I selected some paintings of a small section of rust on a ceramic piece, and drawings of mottled glass. I thought the uneven lines and tones could make interesting, organic stitch samples.

Isabelle told us to go fabric shopping in Shepards bush which I really enjoyed, but found difficult. I took my reference drawings with me as it can be hard to select the right colour from your head. Still though I feel I came away with fabrics that I’m not completely happy with. I find it difficult to find quality fabrics without a plasticy sheen for cheap prices. Like the orange fabric above, the colour was perfect and the transparency made some really interesting effects, but not a nice texture. Next time I am going to pay more careful attention to what the fabrics are made of.

I started by using a broken needle in the machine to break and blend two fabrics together. This is a simplified process of embellishing or felting, it creates a really interesting surface texture and the results are unpredictable based on the strength and qualities of the fabrics. I then embroydered  on top of a broken needle sample which worked well, giving another layer to my work. I also found that using muslin with a very fine transparent fabric is interesting, as the muslin broke apart very fast, it gathered and frayed.

This is a hand-stitch sample, attaching felt fibres to a piece of solid felt. I think it’s a very successful experiment, as I didn’t plan on only stitching half way but the edge of the stitch is the most interesting part. By securing a such a loose material, it’s almost like felting, and the more stitches, the flatter and smoother the surface becomes. To develop this process further, I would try some machine stitch, although I think the light delicate quality would be lost. I could also try using denser and thinner bits of felt, and different thickness of embroidery thread.

I also started experimenting with gathering and stitching. I was trying to add more tone and depth, looking at more 3D ways to create pattern. By stitching at either end of a strip of fabric, I created a raised middle. I want to explore more ways, similar to this, in which I can make pattern through shape, by manipulating.

I looked back at my drawings, and noticed the irregular and overlapping lines, I wanted to find a way to create these organic patterns, but not simply in a flat stitch. I started twisting bits of fabric and yarn and use zigzag stitch on the machine to create bendy but slightly rigid cords. I utilised the frayed edges and uneven stitching to show the irregular lines of my drawings. I experimented attaching them to a base fabric in different ways, but found that I was placing them too randomly and the composition didn’t work. In particular I liked a part where I had stitched a section down, then folded and stitched a part so that it stuck up right, then stitched the next part flat again. I tried doing this to create a series of sticking out bits, with lots of cords lined up together. It was difficult as sometimes the fabric would manipulate due to the stretch of the cord, and sometimes it would lie flat. I needed to make a choice between the two and make the sample consistent. For the colour scheme, I extracted main colours from the drawing, and then expanded them, selecting fabrics and threads in similar tones. I think my colours worked well, they are all quite muted with hints of bright and darker orange and red.

We were asked to produce 4 final samples, which I thought would be fine but actually they are proving to be very time consuming. For the first one, I selected a moderately thin piece of light purple fabric. I wanted it to be thin enough to get some shape from the stitch, but not so flimsy it would completely distort and loose the pattern. I then made my cords in a variety of fabrics and yarns with different coloured threads. I have moved away from metallic thread as it was just so cheap that it snapped a lot and in the end only could sew about an inch with our breaking. I am pleased with this sample, I used thicker pieces then before and it created a really interesting 3D shape. Kind of wacky, it reminds me of a cartoon see creature. However, with more refined and muted colours it could look more sophisticated, and maybe a grey or cream would have been better than purple for the backing colour.

For the next sample I wanted to make something bit more delicate and simple. So I used 5 threads of white yarn twisted and sewn with white thread on a dark purple backing fabric. Although the thinner quality of the strips worked well, the white against dark showed up every thread and looked messy, whereas on previous samples the uneven stitching seemed and was deliberate.

 

 

I was really looking forward to knit, after enjoying weave so much, I assumed the process would be similarly technical, and essentially in both you are creating a fabric from yarn. However, I am finding knit really challenging. On the first day, I struggled with understanding the machines the knit kept unravelling, getting caught and I just couldn’t work out how to do it. We learnt how to change colour and tensions, which I understood, but found I was very slow. I was fairly disheartened, but in the second session, everything I hadn’t been able to do suddenly was fine! We learnt how to make holes and ladders by passing stitches along the row, and how to extend and reduce the width of the knit, by extending the needles on the edge of the samples and e-wrapping. I still found it difficult to grasp and complete a sample that looked well put together, but this is part of the learning process. I experimented working with thinner linens, which created a loose stitch and looked really good with holes made in it. For my research I have been looking at some loose, floaty knits, which can be very textural and give that uneven surface I have noticed in my objects.

We had more technical workshops, extending needles and looping parts of the knit back on to attach and fold knit, using alternative material, and form shapes and patterns with a second yarn. I became more confident using the machines, but still found the processes challenging. I think the speed and the playfulness of knit is really exciting, and it gives you the scope to be very intricate and precise, or mad and abstract, but I much prefer the technical process of weaving. Something about knitting just doesn’t inspire me and I struggled to translate my ideas and work into samples.

 

I made these diamond shapes by using a second yarn, extent ending the needles out and e-wrapping. I would like to progress further and possibly use large a-symetical blocks of colour. It felt good to be able to work something out myself, as for most of the knit block, I have felt like the processes just didn’t make sense to me.

We also did some hand knitting and pom-poms. I already knew how to knit, but only garter stitch. I created this simple sample, adding in rows of mohair and alpaca yarns, I like the combinations of textures, and then thin orange row really pops against the natural yarns. I really tried to do stocking stitch, done by alternating garter and pearl. But every time I would do it right for a while, then suddenly I would end up reversing it, without even realising my mistake. Pom-poms are a really great way of visualising an idea and colour scheme very quickly – almost like sketching with wool. The light pink one in the bottom of the picture I washed and dried to felt the wool, this worked really well. I would like to make bigger pom-poms and felt them this way, and maybe cut or sculpt them in some way. You could create an interesting jacket or garment from loads of felted pom-poms stitched together.

I have learnt so much from the past two weeks, and I am gaining a stronger understanding of materials and yarns all the time. Looking at my knits retrospectively,  I had a strong colour palette, but didn’t stick to it, and I think my samples would be more cohesive if I had refined my colours more.

I think Collage is harder than it looks, you loose control over shape and colour if using collected papers, but at the same time, you have this power to play and rearrange. I have always loved working with collage and mixed media, it can be a really quick, effective way of interpreting ideas, and you can create incredible textures and pattern. I looked closely at part of one of my paintings, observing tone and texture, and then created an abstract collage, only using shades of green. This limited colour palette forced me to focus on the shape rather than be distracted. I am learning a lot about colour, for me I think simple, paired down colour schemes work best. When I use too many colours, I am so focused on making them look right, that I loose sight of what I’m actually trying to do.

I like the layers that you can create through collage, by simply placing thin strips, you have an interesting and transparent pattern. I continued to develop this idea, by overlapping strips and adding in more colour, using mainly dark reds, with a bit of green. I also experimented with adding paint, I like the textures, but the composition doesn’t really flow together that well.

Painting doesn’t come naturally to me, so I am always skeptical, but very keen to learn new approaches. I have never really been taught any painting techniques before, so have just worked it out and stuck to a limited way of working. This workshop taught me about how to mix colour, and also how to effectively dilute paint to utilise the white of the paper.

The colour I extracted is muted, the workshop forced me to look closely at the matte, grubby texture of the glass and plastic, which influenced the way I painted. I used lots of water and then worked into it with heavier colour, to create that mottled texture.

This exhibition, a collaboration between a design company and many artists, is one of the most intriguing I have been to. The more you look, the more thoughts you uncover- there is little description, so it is left to your own mind to interpret the meaning. By putting clothing that are current and for sale in this context, and making the viewer question the concept, the lines blur between fashion and art.

You could say that this exhibition is advertising, and it is, but I would argue that by placing the garments around sculpture, and not being able to touch them, Atelier E.B have successfully made them pieces of art.

Part of the exhibition features a small store where you can try on the current collection and order pieces. It’s confusing at first, having a shop and a saleswoman in a gallery. The way it is executed feels almost toy-town like, it reminds me of an old-fashioned shop in a children’s picture book. Being in this setting, it feels novel and even nerve-racking to be able to touch the clothes. In contrast to this, other pieces have been placed in a formal museum/gallery setting, taking away the tactility of clothes shopping. Included is a mock shop clothes rail, with a sign ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ this seems almost alien to see with this familiar arrangement, usually inviting its audience to interact with the fabrics. This simple statement has taken the clothes from functional objects to art; like a meshing of gallery and shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout the exhibition, clothes are not shown on conventional mannequins, but 2D ones, pinned to a wall, draped over an object, or particularly poignant; dressed on a model of a man crawling on a platform. Sculptures based on shop mannequins, along with actual mannequins, are displayed alone, as art pieces. This makes me consider the way we conventionally display clothes; as items to cover a ‘realistic’ human body. The exhibition is presenting clothes as pieces of art, to be appreciated in different formats.

I have always bought pieces of clothing and fabrics, fully knowing that I may never wear them, but to keep as an object, in the same way as someone may own a beautiful ceramic jug on a shelf, never using it for containing a liquid. I think when people see clothes and objects in this way, the lines become blurred between fine art, high fashion, high street fashion and utilitarian clothing. Artworks being used as backdrops for clothes also shakes up ideas about higher and lower levels of culture. By placing the garments in a gallery, around old magazines, photographs, painting and sculpture, it elevates them into the world of ‘art.’

There is a video in the exhibition that I found very interesting, it was about shop windows in New York, with displays that cross boundaries between simply presenting goods on offer to the consumer, and art; with concepts based around women and culture. By placing a meaningful concept in a window display, it is made more than just a display of clothes.

There are lots of interesting textural pieces in the exhibition. A piece made out of floor vinyl and spray paint, is portraying a piece of carpet. The way a carpet has been stripped of its main qualities; warmth and softness, to me represents the loss of tactility we are seeing through the rise of digital. We now use the internet to shop; this takes away access to a vital insight of the product we are buying- touch.

 

At the beginning of this week I struggled to understand and visualise the patterns as they get more advanced, so I went back to basics, talking to others and trying to work it out. Visualising the grids as woven patterns does not come naturally to me, and although I thought I understood, I don’t, so I am going through step by step and just trying different patterns to get to grips with it.

I’m not that happy with this sample, as the colours don’t look right and don’t really correlate to my research, but through doing this I managed to understand weaving a bit better. I also experimented blending threads together and merging tones rather than doing block stripes.

These are some research drawings and collage, looking at pattern and creases on metal paint tubes, and extracting colour. I find it difficult translating my experiments into weave, as working with constructing textiles is completely new to me. I looked at diagonal shapes and exploring different shiny and metallic surfaces. I’m thinking hard about how to draw pattern that can be translated into weave. The image on the right gives me and idea of the spacing of each block and the colour scheme, whereas the other image makes me want to create more organic blocky shapes.

This is my final sample which I am really pleased with. I focused on the drawing above on the right and tried to keep the colour scheme simple. I blended two tones of orange thread together which creates a slight sheen, and used thicker yarn for the green and purple. I finally understand how to be more experimental with the pattern, as before I couldn’t get my head around how the grids translate to weave. I have found that I am pulling the threads too tight, causing the sample to curve in. There are three points in the weave where the warp is lightly raised, creating more depth, I don’t know if this is intentionally the way the loom is set up, or something to do with the tension, but none the less creates another layer to the design. For the vertical stripes, I held down the levers for half of the sequence with one colour, then half with the other. This worked way better than expected and this technique learn from another student can look really different depending on the pattern.

I have loved weaving, and all though I find it all very confusing, I would be very excited to learn it properly and do it as a specialism. I like that it is a set process, that then allows you to be hugely creative and intuitive but within a set of boundaries. To me that is more exciting then having endless ideas and limits as in stitch.

The collection is made up of European garments from 1750 to present day, mainly from London and Paris Fashion houses. Some prominent early pieces include hooped skirts and corsets, an early white wedding dress and embroidered men’s waistcoats.  It is a circular display, ordered chronologically, showing change with the arrival of the jacquard loom and advances in technology leading to lighter skirt cages and the introduction of artificial dyes. The effect of international trade is also prominent, with the influence of the kimono and Indian fabrics. Moving to the late 20^th century, the collection features pieces representing social movements; including the rise of shopping and fast fashion and political, androgynous punk clothing.

The collection represents the high class European. The garments on display pre-1970s are mainly formal, high fashion, only accessible to the wealthy, London socialites. After that, the clothes shown are still high fashion pieces, but in styles that would have trickled down to high street level.

The main thing missing from the collection, is the clothing of lower classes, as these pieces can tell us a lot about society on all levels at the time. Also, the clothing of poorer people can often be more interesting, as the restraints on fabrics and techniques result in more creativity. I suppose the reason that museums don’t hold much of these garments, is that they simply were not kept and preserved as they were not regarded as important historical artefacts, and also, they would have been worn much more than the garments of a rich person and naturally decayed.

One garment that I was particularly drawn to, the linen ‘Beach trouser suit,’ was made in London between 1936-1937 by Arnson. It struck me that these are the first pair of women’s trousers in the collection, it seemed novel and modern to see straight trousers after years of frills. This suit is also the most practical piece so far, in this time period, women could now buy pieces designed for leisure and sport, they had more freedom and were no longer simply decorative items for their husbands. I also just like the suit aesthetically, the bold stripe and straight design with a slight curve, similar pieces can be seen in todays fashion, although maybe not as beach wear.

This item belonged to Lady Swettenham, the wife of a colonial administrator, so of course part of the elite upper class. The cultural significance of this piece is that it represents a new freedom for women, just after the suffragettes and the beginning of feminism, it marks the shift in societies view of women as beautiful accessories. The beach s uit was made just before the second world war, when women suddenly present in the workplace, dressed in utilitarian skirt suits. The war saw an interesting lull in fashion; fabrics were rationed, and styles restricted.

Pieces like this are worth being preserved and displayed, as it gives the public and academics the opportunity to learn and investigate the past through fashion and cloth. Understanding fashion and trends helps us understand society and why we dress the way we do today.

 

V&A (2018) Beach Trrouser Suit. Available at: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O361729/beach-trouser-suit-arnson/(Accessed: 26 October 2018).

Frank Swettenham (2018) Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Swettenham(Accessed: 26 October 2018).

We started off making yarn wrappings, I don’t really like the colours I’ve picked but it’s a really good way to visualise a colour scheme before embarking on the looms.

I was abit daunted by the looms, but excited to learn a completely new skill. It’s kind of mathematical and technical which I really enjoy, and there are so many steps even to set up the table loom. I’m finding it very interesting and finally understand how a piece of woven fabric is constructed. We have started off trying out different patterns, using colour-ways from my box. I think I’ll like weaving as it is a set process but still gives you the freedom to be creative with colour, pattern and texture.

The weave below is an experiment into different techniques. The bottom one, using yellow wool, was done by pulling yarn back out of the weave, securing each time with a straight stitch in between. I tried to create a gradual colour fade at the top, taken from a painting I had done of a bottle. I enjoyed the challenged but found the technique pretty confusing and mathematical. It doesn’t look so good as I went from colour fade to colour fade, it would look better if I had a block of each colour before fading each time.

In the next session, I developed my gradient pattern by doing larger blocks of colour, it looks a lot better and the colours work well together, the pink above is too bright.