Project developement based on theoritical research

As my research aims, I want to apply some alternative materials in costume making for performance in order to shorter the amount of budget used. I’ve made a theoretical research on artists and designers. For the conclusions, I’m going to discuss how applicable could some of their techniques be.

Simple  

This group I can put Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Robin Barcus Slonina. Among their work often could be noticed precision in terms of silhouettes and details but mostly the impression on the work as a whole.

Robin Barcus Slonina is expressing her ideas in a symbolic way where the whole photo session represents a meaning and the dress is a tool of association refracted by the prism of the designer. Her work is extremely low budget as I discovered most of her costumes cost around a pound which a great inspirational in term of materials.

On the other hand, Marvin Chetwynd, which is also the only artist who is actually designing for performances, is working with fabrics and other often used materials but presenting an unusual point of view to the performing arts. Her art can be classified as destructive and chaotic but the way she is presenting the flaws as effects is really unique. Additionally, the budget for her creations is extremely low, as I calculated in my cased studios, some of her costumes cost around 5-6 pounds. Chetwynd’s is often using calico and muslin bases and adding on them other fabric pieces by sewing, gluing or painting them.

Intricate

The other second group relates to artists which are using more complex forms emphasizing the details.

Jennifer Henry and her work are presented mostly on photo sessions, red carpet events and fashion reviews. I was really surprise when I searched for the actual price of cellophane which is her favorite material. The prices for a 10 meter cellophane wrap vary from 2 pounds for a normal transparent one to 7-8 for different colorful ones which makes it a really suitable for my project.

The Patssi Valdez’s paper project also contains extremely intricate shapes. They represent the paper in a very interesting way. It’s hard to calcite an exact amount of budget used on this project but for sure the creations will affect my practical work. For me, one of the fascinating details were the etiquettes hanging from the hat.

Zoe Bradley and her work will also be influencing on my work. An interesting material to be used in my practical work can be the CD disks, which she is using for one of the dresses.

Most of the art works I’ve explored, excluding Chetwynd’s, aren't really applicable in an actual performance  because they won’t sustain the different movements and dances of a performer on stage and could also be worn out really quickly which is not advisable for a theatre performance which may be running for a week or longer period. For that reason, for my practical work I’ll be trying to create a collaboration of fabric (mostly calico or use some clothes bought from vintage or cheap shops) and some unconventional material for decorations or details.