And.....here it is

My first- and final post.

We were given the whole summer holidays to ponder on a woollen mermaids swimwear concept… Unlike my fellow classmates I wasn’t in fabulous London or somewhere exotic …… But in T-bar (Toowoomba) where I had ample time to research and create a concept, due to the fact that there is nothing to do there.

3 Months Later– Suddenly I’m back at uni with no set in stone concept… I have a serious procrastination problem.. A complete reoffender!!

However over the holidays I did reignite the flame between movies and myself… I became a serious cinephile.. And LOVED IT!

Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 epic film Romeo and Juliet’s artistic direction was a huge inspiration for me visually. This original inspiration led me to South American Christian culture and their colourful shrines. I watched numerous movies on Oscar Romero and paid close attention to the places of worship in these realistic adaptations of Mexican culture.

To sum it up they were. Colour. Colour. Colour. Jesus. Colour

I looked into trends and fell in love with Trash and Vaudeville..

I love the concept within fashion that if something is so wrong… its strangely fashionably right

Slightly off.. is what Eurotrash Catholicism (my concept) IS>

New Age Catholicism attracts church goers with seedy neon tube lights and  fluorescent Jesus’

I wanted to approach my swimsuit in a similar way to this new take on catholicism… Deconstruct the image of standard swimwear and play with traditional conceptions.

Those saggy buns are history.. a bra for your bum. Playing with traditional swimwear ..

Other Designs

 

 

 

Sample stage- the fit was horrible . I found stretch very interesting to work with! Initially i was going to have a cape over the breasts. But it didnt have the desired effect. So I opted for Gernreich style, which coincidentally works with my eurotrash concept of challenging what western cultuere deems acceptable.

Toile Stage

 

Overall the woollen Mermaids swimwear brief was a really great learning experience, working with stretch and thanks to Jillian I have learnt invaluable skills about fabric handling and special swimwear techniques.