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Amy Dudman, Textile Artist

Amy Dudman textile designs for high fashion

These beautiful images from textile artist Amy Dudman caught our eye this week when posted on another fav blog site Pattern People, and we just had to spread the word!

A recent graduate and award winning at that, Amy showcases her area of specialty in digital printing with a whole bunch of gorgeous colours and textures, overlay effects and world class application.

Employing the use of embossing lifts (quite literally) these textile pieces onto another level enhancing the printed textures but working in combination that shows this cleaver chicken is thinking way outside the selvedge.

It will be exciting to keep an eye on this one and see what heights she jumps for next!

From ‘captured surveillance’ A collection of embossed fabrics constructed from 100% wool and a combination of compliment digitally printed silks.

A selection a textile designs draped by Amy Dudman

 

Pre Spring Summer 2014

Fausto Puglisi : Clover Canyon : Monique Lhuillier : Tory Burch

As the temp around Oz drops this weekend and the snow bunnies rejoice, if you need a little warming look forward to sunnier days by perusing the Pre Spring/Summer ’14 shows coming out of Europe.

These in-between season showings have an over relaxed and mellow vibe with the exception of the exciting prints and splash of colours pre-empting the full blown summer buzz. There seems to be a real movement around the digital fabric printing in many of the new collections, which is so nice to see being that Digital Fabrics is in the business of digital printing…

There are the pretty florals and the tropical imaginings but there are also so really intriguing combinations out as well. Bold graphic motifs paired with photographic images and ditsy florals. Scale is on the large side with many panel pieces on show making for great statement pieces which are likely to carry through to the summer ranges. Even the boys get a look in with some funky mix up prints stealing the show!

In any case, the parades might just warm you from the mere idea of warmer days. Rug up and enjoy here.

James Long

Forest For The Trees

Maria Primachenko’s Original (in part) “Rat on a Journey”

It has come to light this past week that internationally recognised Finnish home wares and textile house Marimekko, has allegedly pilfered a print design from a Unkraninian folk artist, Maria Primachenko.  Although Marimekko as a company holds the commercial license for their print designs, their freelance designers are essentially responsible for what they create. In this case long time Marimekko freelancer and daughter of an original illustrator at the brand, Kristina Isola, is the designer in question.

The only difference in the two artworks appears to be that the newer of the two is without the woodland character giving the work the title “Rat on a Journey”. Completed in 1963, Primachenko’s gouache painting is now housed in the Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art Museum in Kiev and featured in a book along a similar theme.

Isola’s version, sans rats, developed in 2007 for Marimekko now adorns the Finnair long-haul Airbus 330 in an ongoing collaboration between the carrier and design house. Although now shown in blues rather than the original greens, there is no mistake for we all can see the forest for the trees. Marimekko is rightly so in “…complete shock and profound disappointment” (sic), however the airline as yet has made no comment, nor have the changed any of the information about the design on their website.

It will be interesting to learn of any developments about this as the subject of copyright and who can use what and when is of constant concern to designers of any magnitude. Simply though it all boils down to trying to stay as true to yourself and your own creative endeavours and taking great care not only with safe guarding your own work but doing the proper research when taking inspiration.

Not to put a downer on an inspired weekend though, go get out there,  produce stuff and love it!

Kristina Isola’s version for Marimekko “Forest Dwellers” 2007

Finnair Airbus 330 with the design in question

Another Finnair aeroplane showing an iconic Marimekko design

Pretty Petals of the Chelsea Flower Show

Wes Fleming and Phillip Johnson in the Trailfinders Australian Garden
Picture: Ella Pellegrini

 

Pretty Petals of the Chelsea Flower Show

Could there be anything more inspiring for a floral print than attending the horticultural world’s most prestigious week every year? Celebrating the centenary of the of the Chelsea Flower Show

being held at its current location, the Chelsea Hospital  (from 1862 held in various  locations in and around London), on display are the Show Gardens, exciting new and re-emerging plants in the Great Pavilion and the Artisan Retreats to give Burke and his backyard a run for his money.

This year the Best Show Garden went to our own home grown landscapers and design team, Trailfinders Australian Garden presented by Flemings. With a billabong, a waterfall and countless native flowers and plants and with a waratah inspired studio to boot, it had an obvious Aussie spirit that bloomed out above the rest.

And it’s hard not see the connection between the Chelsea Flower Show and the floral prints that pretty up spring wardrobes (talking Northern hemisphere spring) when there is such gorgeous imagery in abundance! Take a virtual stroll along the garden paths and be inspired to wear some petals and blooms this weekend to brighten the winter drab that is threatening to soak in.

 

 

All in a Flap about Gatsby


The Great Gatsby, film still 2013

Is anyone else on the edge of their chaise lounge fastening their t-strap pumps about to bust out the Charleston, with the expectation of Bazmark’s hotly anticipated remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of the same name?!! It’s almost as if this is the first time we’re all hearing about the decade that was the 1920’s with all the excitement and build up that’s going on. And maybe not everyone will agree on whether or not the film as a whole was worth the delayed release, but much can be (and will be) said for Catherine Martin’s costumes and Miuccia Prada’s collaboration on the project.

The new film of The Great Gatsby will highlight in particular the decadence and frivolity of the 1920’s but with a discernibly modern accessibility, inviting the viewer to appreciate and experience what it would have been like to go to an infamous party hosted by Jay and the many others like him. Fur stolls, miles of fringing, plenty of sequins, feathers and head pieces along with a dress covered with crystals all play a key role in bringing the story forward to take us back again.

Of course the catwalks for the past few seasons have shown hints of the flapper era inspiration, warming the audience up to the idea of 1920’s styling and the trend is likely to continue in one incarnation or another, just look at all the cropped ‘boy’ haircuts on celebrities at the moment or the amount of speakeasy’s (not so quietly) popping up. For the roaring era to be making such a glamorous return to many aspects of fashion and culture, those who’s Midnight in Paris perfect time period is the 1920’s, its time to indulge.

SS 2012 collection details from (L-R) Marchessa, Etro, Ralph Lauren

Roberto Cavalli, Alberta Ferretti and Original Costume Design by Miuccia Prada

The Great Gatsby film still 2013, Prada’s crystal dress worn by Carey Mulligan

Are You Punk Enough For Couture?

The Graffiti Room (www.style.com)

The Metropolitan Museum in New York opens its doors this week to the annual Costume Institute exhibition with this year’s theme, Punk: Chaos to Couture. It looks back to honour the roots of the antiestablishment counterculture that emerged in the seventies and how this ended up inspiring and influencing all levels of the fashion world from then till now.

The exhibition show cases many high end designers with pieces that perhaps were never intended to be worn in any form, and were merely used as shock factors on the runway. The question surely then has to be asked, is it really punk if its couture? If it causes discomfort, then that’s surely a nod in the right direction.

It all comes down to the truism that everything old is new again, and when considering fashion everything really has been done before but the magic is how it is interpreted and reinterpreted. Surely everyone has had a go at punk, whether it be street level or couture. If you look back and see a (fake) leather jacket, ripped jeans, a safety pin holding something together even if unseen, that rebellious piercing or tattoo when you were 16, the political t-shirt you now just wear to bed…It might not be properly hard core but there’s an undercurrent just as there is a flower child in us all as well!

So get a little disruptive this weekend, provoke your inner punk and meld in a little DIY couture just for the hell of it.

John Lydon 1976 (Photo, Ray Stevenson/Rex USA) and Junya Watenabe FW 06/07 (Photo, Catwalking)

The style that epitomised the punk era of the 70’s (www.sodahead.com)

Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren punk’s parents (Photo, Suzanne Dechillo The New York Times)

 

The Vogue Festival 2013


Behind the Scenes of a Vogue Cover Shoot

Last weekend the doors of fashions elite opened once again for perhaps the most glamorous occasion on the circuit. The Vogue Festival held in London, offers up designers, photographers, celebrities, models and magazine editors to the fashion plebeian in us all, through live interviews, panel discussions and demonstrations.

As a truly unique event, there were opportunities to listen to the likes of Victoria Beckham, Erdem Moralioglu, Michael Kors and Donatella Versace to name a mere few. Or you may have been too busy taking advice from Yves Saint Laurent on springs new lip shades, trialling Dior’s smoky eye make-up or indulging in choosing from the menu at the Braid Bar where hairstylists worked their magic.

The two day glamorous occasion has been a huge hit with the public and the insiders of the fashion planet and is sure to continue to be a bench mark for accessibility and education for all.

More details and full reports on all the events within THE event, along with a great gallery of images, can be found on the British Vogue site here.

Victoria Beckham & Michael Kors

Guests pose for their very own cover portrait

The Braid Bar Menu

Mary Katrantzou – Digital Print Extraordinaire


Spring 2013 Ready to Wear – Mary Katrantzou

 

Mary Katrantzou IS digital printing. With every new collection there is such a wow factor of colour and scale and pictorial combinations that it’s hard to imagine anyone else ever does prints or at least that there is another collection that reaches such digital print design heights.

There’s not much babbling to go on about this week as the images surely speak for themselves and when you’ve got yourself into enough of a tizzy with these images, head to style.com to paw through her collections from the past handful of years.

Spring 2012 Ready to Wear – Mary Katrantzou

Fall 2013 Ready to Wear – Mary Katrantzou

Fall 2011 Ready to Wear – Mary Katrantzou

All images from style.com

World Earth Day 22 April 2013

Firstly, why is this not more heavily promoted?! Seriously, why are we not more motivated celebrate this day and use it as a call to action or at least contemplation?

Is it because ANZAC Day is just around the corner and we’re all too busy working on our two-up strategy to notice. Well if so, perhaps we need to take a long hard look at our priorities as individuals, a community, a nation and a planet! Get them in check and it’ll make that beer and two-up win next Thursday even sweeter. Just take a sec to check it out, World Earth Day 2013.

And perhaps the fashion industry needs to take heed. Often given a bad rep, polyester fabric and in turn sublimation digital printing, could be that “little bit” that goes a long way when you consider it as an alternative to some natural “green” fibers. The argument is that, for example, cotton (even organic) has a larger footprint than polyester when you compare factors such as water usage and pollutant hazards; renewable and recyclable sources; and the potential for a closed-loop production cycle. There’s plenty of reference material out there on this, but here’s just one interesting read on  Social Responsibility.

Marvel at the amazing place we live in and be inspired to love it and not abuse it. Consider your choices and the impact they have not only in your immediate environment, but also as an ongoing process over the coming months, years or decades.

Cherish your Earth and she will cherish you. Happy Weekend!!

 

Rincón de la Vieja National Park, Costa Rica
Image credit: Personal image of author

Recycled polyester H&M Conscious Collection 2012

Recycled polyester H&M Conscious Collection 2012

 

The Might of Military Formations

Not to make light of a serious subject that has the potential to affect everyone the world over, but over the past couple of weeks as the North Korean nuclear threat deepens and images of its military forces are beamed to us in all manner of forms, has anyone else noticed the design significance?

It may sound an odd thing to say, and as much any social event has the potential to influence a fashion trend of sorts, this is not necessarily what I’m getting at. If you go back to the principles and elements of design; line, form, direction, perspective…the images of the North Korean military formations are a great example of these in play.

And while I’m not saying ‘look at the pretty pictures, not at what is actually going on over there’ it’s more about being visually aware of design occurrences and appreciating how this can impact creating for any end product, even seamless repeating textile designs. Be inspired, no matter how random.

Military Formations

Please note, that this post is not intended to offend or course intentional distress to the reader.

Images found in Google Image search using “north korean military formation”