Blancoco

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Work In Progress Show 2015

So as our first term at Kingston came to a close came the 2015'Work in progress show'

which gave us all the opportunity to exhibit our work,

With the prospect of a three week holiday/ a chance to get more than three hours sleep, alongside the fact that was going to be a free bar during the event, I can speak for us all when I say we where desperate for the day to arrive.

Everyone in fashion was surviving off about two hours sleep from the previous week, with last minuet (the night before) amendments to be made to their projects (e.g 'Imogen, you can make a pair of trouser overnight right?' ... we have all realised that 'sleep' isn't a concept on foundation)

3D presented an interactive fairground from guess the wooden pair to a Photo Booth where you could pose in a sushi dish with oversized octopus legs spilling everywhere.

Visual communication was a maze of books, films, illustrations and other wonderful things. And fine art with films of skin to floating balls of flour and water which had a bespoke smell.

The work was all amazing and could not be faulted.

With the opportunity to quiz ex pupils on portfolio preparation and university interview questions, it was a good feeling to get this advice and have our eyes opened to a world outside the Avionics building we'd been nestled away in.

Summed up the show was a major success, which can be said for our first term on foundation.

Here are a few bits and bobs from the show...

- (Words Imogen Davies)

Verity Marsh - Textiles

Chloe Hughes - Fashion Promotion

Harry Galliano - Fine Art

Lettice Gatacre - Fine Art

Liberty Mann - Fine Art

Fashion Design

Milky Mood

Milk is children, Milk is mothers, Milk is the blood of baby brothers.

Milk is sex, Milk is cheap, Milk is what sends them to sleep.

Milk is babies, Milk is white, Milk is the sound sense and sight.

Milk is intolerant, Milk is float, Milk is coating, slicing their throats.

Milk is stong,

Milk is great, Milk is the only thing they ever ate.

The rise of thinsperation sites, has created a 'cult' and a following of the leaded 'ana' (anorexia.) Young teenagers on sites such as Tumblr, Pintrest and Instagram are obsessivly, pinning and posting images of emaciated girls, or suicidal twisted quotes.

These photos represent this, by creating a shrine for ana, the role of the 'superfan' once seen as geeky or childish has exited the room of a 8 year old girl and entered a browser where thousands of people worship their new god.

Mood-board Monday: Storms and saints

Simplify

Textiles print derived from the graphic patterns created in the cracks and fissures of rock formations. Print created using ink and glue rubbed between two sheets of cling film, then scanned, enlarged and transferred onto fabric.

Exploring a side of fashion which breaches traditional tailoring and androgyny.

'Simply Strong'

Print, Garment and Photography : Imogen Davies

Model : Hope Barraclough

Make Up and Styling: Chloe Hughes

#NOANA emoji keyboard

the #noana emoji keyboard is created to act upon the normalisation and over glamorisation of mental health.

when the emojis are clicked on or used, the user will be directed to a help site, such as the Samaritains, B-eat, or Mind.

This will help those with issues, but also discourage those without to stop using mental health as a trend or tag along to identity.

Look closer

These photographs aim to create an illusion that there's something more.
I was drawn to the idea of 'looking closer', of removing the materials and the process, and focusing upon the beauty of minute specific areas of texture and appeal. Interested in the way materials reactions to each other.
Investigating ideas of expectations, realities and imagination, and exploring photography as a mechanism; to remove the viewer from the reality of what the image is.

-Hope Barraclough

Stop romanticising mental illness

MENTAL ILLNESS ISN’T A FASHION STATEMENT.

Mental illness is a serious. Deeply damaging. Causing serious health issues or even death. Hashtags of “#DEPRESSION.” “#OCD.” “#ANOREXIC. #BROKEN, are being over used and normalised on social media.

Disorders are becoming both glamorised and hyperbolised. Mental illness is not beautiful. Someone with a mental illness can be beautiful, but the disease itself is torture.

Poems encouraging depression and self-harm are pasted all over blogs, advocating the idea that life is like John Green novel or an episode of Skins, that if you fall apart someone will come and ‘fix’ you. They promote that having a mental disorder makes you mysterious and more attractive, but its not cute and mental illness is not a desirable or an appealing trait.

Thinspersation blogs are one of the most popular online, with images of protruding bones, thigh gaps, and quotes such as “pretty girls don't eat.. trust me”. Encouraging eating disorders and ‘Ana’s teachings’ these are shown to be catalysing diagnosis of Anorexia and Bulimia.

The idealisation of “the perfect body” being one that is close to death, is a completely toxic idea to commend upon somebody. The absorbing and ever scrolling nature of the pages, showing images from popular celebrities to an average unweight girls crippling frames, allows you to believe this images is achievable or that “everyone does it” and that you’re left out.

Histrionic and naïve attitudes are arousing around mental illness due to the glamorisation. Ignorant labelling : Sadness for Depression, Moodiness into Bipolar disorder, nervous behaviours as Anxiety, and restless nights into Insomnia. These terms weaken the seriousness of a life destroying disease. Companies have even gone as far to use mental illnesses as a selling point to drive the latest fashion and novelty trends. T-shirts printed with “Depression” or “Eat Less” were sold in Urban Outfitters in 2014.

This generation needs to realise being “damaged” is not a fashion “trend”. Mental illnesses is not an accessories to self-identity.

Possibly those that do not understand the illnesses are envious of others, and want something that accompanies treatment or attention. But never the less Mental illness isn't a quirky trait. It is not for anyone to beautify. Nor is it unsaturated images with a cursive font and Lana Del Rey lyrics on it.

Stop romanticising it! There is absolutely nothing desirable about having a disease, to be anorexic and have minus energy levels and constantly hiding, to be depressed and never wanting to ever leave your bed and loosing all your friends. ITS NOT COOL

Anyone who is solicitous about their mental well-being should disaffect from their keyboard and instead turn towards someone who can help.