A Week In The Life Of ____________

   Hi, its Sally and for the last week, I guess you could say I've been a little busy. Note the underestimation within that sentence. I have been tying up - or rather sewing up - so many loose ends in both my book and my garments. And believe it or not I was not just enjoying the sun today, but multi-tasking, designing my exhibition space. So bellow are my designs, but to read more about them please go to http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/planning-exhibition.html

    And bellow are just a few photos of today's workspace, in my garden, enjoying the sunshine! And theres more photos to be seen here too http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/we-all-come-out-when-sun-is-out.html

    Previously in the week I also finished my first dress, which faith will be modelling for me, but bellow you can see a peek of it on me, to see more photos and the designs please got to http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/numero-uno-design-2.html

 And finally, guess who received an invitation to a London fashion show in the post last week . . . ME!!! http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/planning-exhibition.html

Undercover in Selfridges . . .

Hellooooo, its Sally here once again! So at the beginning of my fmp project, Gayle recommended that I go up to London and take a look at some pieces that I would be planning on looking at within my project. So off to Selfridges I went, and I only have to pull my phone out before the guy in the Chanel department tells me off for taking photos! Damn! So it was time to be sneaky. Time for a top secret mission that involved concealing my phone camera in my cardigan. Mwhahahaha!!! So I did get some photos to make notes with - however they are quite blurred as my phones camera isn't exactly first class! So bellow are some of the photos I took next to the catwalk images of the designers pieces. BTW BELLOW THERE IS AN ERROR IN MY PAINT COLLAGE - ITS MEANT TO SAY MARY KATRANTZOU!!!! I do know how to spell her name really!!!

   I must admit it was a great idea to go. I was able to recognise the great quality of the designer garments. For example the Katrantzou pieces where lined with the beautiful prints seen outside of dresses, making them both easier to retain their shape and adding an aesthetical finish to them. Another piece that impressed me was an Erdem cardigan, which was made from such good quality wool, with chiffon floral front panels, that fitted perfectly with the SS12 trend of both pastels (due to its pastel yellow colouring) and 50's American ladylike trend. Anyway hope you enjoy my sneaky photos!!! For more fashion photos, trends and news please visit http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.com

Sally Louise Paine

The Right Line of Work

Sveiki!!! Its Sally again & I am in an adventurous mood, hence why I decided to explore new languages to great you with. This particular greeting means hello in Lithuanian, in case you are not fluent!! Language chosen because (as I said in the A-Z of me) I am 1/4 Lithuanian myself - which I only discovered two years ago! Shock! Horror! Now, second on the agenda, there is indeed a pun in my blog post title. I shall leave it to you to figure out when reading my post (and reveal all if you still haven't go it at the end of my piece). So lets cut to the chase here; I wasn't too sure what to share with you, so have settled on sharing with you what I got up to over Easter. Pre-warning - lots of work, travel and little play! Travel wise I went up to Leicester on Tuesday for the night, of the first week, for an interview at DMU. Then Thursday, shortly after returning, I went up to London for research and for an event at French Connections. I am also proud to say I am not a COMPLETE LOSER, as I did give myself a break at night and caught up with a bunch a friends and even fitted in a date ;) Woo go me! Ha. As for the work, take a peek bellow . . . 

Above : Mind map on Illusion : A Lie to the Eye

Above & bellow : Initial inspirational photos - Magic, Illusions, Trompe L'oeil, Op Art, Contrast, B&W, 1960s, Contours...

 Above & bellow : Research on contours & underwear - as I feel that to be able to design to manipulate the silhouette, first I will need to properly understand the female form & contours. And yes there is a naked lady on the page bellow (which many people have already pointed out to me!) - it is merely a life drawing in charcoal & chalk.

 Above : My research on Alisha Trimble - an underwear designer from NY who contacted me about my blog a year ago, resulting in an interview, work experience offer and (bellow) one of a few invites to her fashion shows.

 Above & bellow : My research on Nichole de Carle - I have admired her underwear designs for so long, which are inspired by famous buildings in fashion capitals. I have emailed her and received a response, I then drew some initial design ideas and have thought to also look to buildings for both print & contour inspiration.

 Above & bellow : Photographs of architecture around London, edited in B&W to focus the attention on the details & lines. I have chosen to look at buildings' lines for inspiration as looking at the skeleton of a building is a nice metaphor for the body contour's structure I am looking to reflect & adapt. To see all the photos please visit http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/ where you can also see what lucky little buy I found down Brick Lane.

 Above & bellow : From my photos I have created some line drawings, considering how they would look on the body as contours or print using acetate figures. I have also created four different prints that I could use as screen prints.

Above : Finally, I started looking at the art movement Cubism and it's influence in fashion, as it uses curved lines within the pieces to influence the composition and shapes. I am planning on doing a response in colour pencil, drawing one of my photographs in this style.

So that is what I have been up to. What about you? And if you have not guessed the pun yet, "The Right LINE of Work" emphasises the influence of line within my project so far. Anyway hope you all had a good Easter, if you want an even better one, then read my blog for some Easter joy http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Anyway I shall now depart. Sudie! (I shall let you look up that Lithuanian term!)

Sally Louise Paine

http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/

The Line & Curves of the London Skyline

Hi, its Sally once again and before I begin I'd like to say HAPPY EASTER everyone!!! 

So for my current design project, I am looking at methods of illusion and how they can be used within fashion design to create the illusion of a more flattering and dynamic silhouette. For part of my research I will be looking at how the use of prints can help - looking specifically at digital photo prints, 60's Op Art prints and 20's inspired cubism prints. I have already started looking at designers that also use print in their work and have found people like Holy Fulton or Mary Katrantzou have previously looked towards architecture for print inspiration. So up in London last week, I thought I could take some initial photos of it's buildings for inspiration too - I especially think that redrawing the photos in the style of Cubism to create a print, will work very well. So keep in tune to see more . . . And to see more or my photos please go to http://thesecretsofadressmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/lines-curves-of-london-skyline.html

Also you will find on my other blog

http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/ photos of my lucky find down Brick Lane (I'll give you a hint its quilted, its a bag, it has a chain handle and Coco owned & designed several of them) and also my Easter day outfit (including yellow & pink Easter chicks on my nails - I went all out!!!) Anyway, hope you all enjoy the second half of our holiday, and will see you in a weeks time!!

Easter wishes from Sally Louise Paine

http://dressme-imyourmannequin.blogspot.co.uk/