Sunday 30 November 2014

Comme de Garcons and Elizabeth Ashdown

Conme De Garcons

When looking for artists and designers that linked to the deconstruct and construct theme I found Comme de Garcons. This is a Japanese fashion label founded in 1969 by designer Rei Kawakubo and her husband. Much of the labels work has strong links to the theme of Deconstruct and Construct, especially their current Autumn/Winter 2014/2015 collection. The two outfits I have chosen from this collection have clear areas where the fabric has been deconstructed such as the skirt on the left which looks like the material has been torn and layered up to create a textured look.
 
 
I also like the structure of both outfits, particularly the skirt on the right as it almost looms like it has been woven to create the angular shape. These shapes demonstrate the construct element of the theme really well and having experimented with weaving in some of my samples I find it an extremely interesting method of construction which I would like to develop further. To start this off I have looked for an artist that uses weaving instead of a fashion designer and found Elizabeth Ashdown as this allows me to approach the project from a non-fashion point of view. I love the impracticality of Comme De Garcons clothes as they are not your average ready to wear garments and offer something much more closer to art.

Elizabeth Ashdown


Elizabeth Ashdown is a London based British textile designer who creates woven textiles for both fashion and interiors. Her work is bold, bright and colourful and has a great mix of thick tubular pieces of cord woven in with thin little strands of yarn to create the most beautiful works. Each piece is like nothing I have ever seen before and I love the use of colour and materials as each has great contrasts with the other. Elizabeth Ashdown uses the method of passementerie which is the art of using braids, beads and cords to create trimmings and edgings. It is an extremely intricate way of working and as each piece is made by hand it is easy to see time consuming they must be to create.
 
 If I was to try something like this myself I would have to simplify it a lot but I think as a source of inspiration the work is incredible as it shows just how much can be done within woven textiles, an area I haven’t really studied before. The pieces also lend themselves to another word that ties into the idea of layering within construction as depending on where you view the piece from you will see something totally different, from colours and shapes to the materials used and this is an extremely interesting concept.

 
 

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