Day 8
Today I attended the Balenciaga Exhibition, curated by Hamish Bowles. Although I was unable to take photographs in the exhibition, I will never forget the amazing display of Balenciaga’s work. It was a three story exhibition, with the top floor containing a film/ documentary on Balenciaga, beside it, an array of books, magazines and sketches on display behind glass. Downstairs was an exhibition of Balenciaga’s garments with blurbs explaining the fabrics, techniques and inspiration of each garment. It was a lifetime experience , not only to witness Balenciaga’s masterpieces, but to also gain insight into how and where the Spanish Master drew his inspiration from and furthermore the design process that he undertook. Balenciaga, more often then most, worked with Spain as a common theme, drawing inspiration from the theme to design each garment. Having learnt this process, I feel that I will be greatly influenced by Balenciaga’s practices in my design process, specifically in my search for concept inspiration.
Note: Design Inspiration, Evening coat of scarlet silk ottoman, winter 1954.
Fabric Shopping
With the afternoon free, we decided we could not wait until tomorrow to begin fabric shopping. On foot we set off to find the Fashion district, which was where the fabric store featured on Project Runway, MOOD was located. After a few decent hours of walking between and around blocks, we walked into our first New York fabric store. Overwhelmed an unable to move between the spools of fabric we hastily exited and entered the neighboring store, Prime Fabrics. I was in owe of the detailing and embroidery of each individual textile I picked up. I wanted a sample of everything I touched. I was instantly inspired by one fabric featuring cotton flowers, individually hand sewn onto a light tule. I bought just a sample, as I decided I would recreate the fabric myself, I want to cut out and hand sew individual flowers, in a variety of fabrics and patterns to create my own individual texture and textile. Today, at this moment I decided that my theme/direction for my third year collection would revolve around femininity, however I am yet to find my inspiration that will give birth to my concept. Next was MOOD, where fabrics were displayed over two- three levels, every type of textile imaginable in every colour, along with designer prints. Again I wanted a sample of everything I touched, and this was allowed but I was so overwhelmed and frantic about not wanting to skip over anything, that I ran out of time for even one sample. I came home with a 100% Silk, watercolour like print, at $70 a yard, It will be a feature in my recreation of the sample from Prime Fabrics.
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