Inspiration Photos: Summer Work in the Country

Like many country kids, my summer is spent back in the country in a bid to earn some money to fund my studies (and life) for the rest of the year.

Usually I spend my time in the town in which my parents live so I have the opportunity to work as well as spending time with them. Being so removed from the city/study/fashion life which consumes the majority of my year, working in the country also seems to give me an interesting perspective on the world. It also acts as a fantastic inspiration for my conceptual and design work.

Since I left school in 2009 I have worked in a factory making farm equipment, in an office and also in a delivery job driving a truck all over the country side. This year I traveled further away from the city to a different town to work on a Merino Sheep Stud, something which acted as a fantastic reflection to my graduate collection 'A Life in Wool'.

Over the holidays I experienced the annual harvest, Chaser Bin driving for the Harvester as well as having a go at the Harvester my self. I also had the task of tending to sheep, feeding out grain and minerals as well as needling and drenching while in the yards. On the flip side, I lent my hand to catering for 12 workers and shearers over sheering, which lasted 6 days. Furthermore I spent a lot of time mustering sheep with a few dogs and a motorbike.

All of these experiences, and simply being out on the land, not only provided further perspective to life on the land but also a huge amount of inspiration. This I tried to capture moments whenever I could...

For more images and to catch up what I'm up to with fashion, Check out my Instagram at INK361 or follow @I_CordeliaGibbs

Cordy xx

A Life in Wool; Graduate Collection

The air is full of dust, suffocating heat glaring from the land and the structures build within. The dogs bark and the men shout along with the regular buzz of engine and clatter of sheep. The space is dotted with wool, a pungent smell of lanoline and ammonia sweep the floors. The workers are a flight of activity, movements repetitive and precise, amidst the disarray of tin, machine, pipe and wood.

Sheer Wool Imprint Skirt, Weatherboard Jacquard Knit Dress,
 rusted and darted Short  Stockman's Jacket. 
Accessorised with Shearing Comb neckpiece

Weatherboard Jacquard Knit Skirt, Sheer Wool Imprint Singlet, 
Sheer Wool Stain Singlet. Accessorised with Leather and Cog 
shearing hardware neckpiece.

Men's Square Wool Shorts and Lace Knit Singlet. 
Accessorised with Leather Magnet Belt and Leather 
Held Shearing Cutter Neckpiece.

Women's Square Wool Shorts with rust inserts, Lace Knit Jumper 

and Cotton/Silk Rusted Singlet (under). Accessorised with Spring Neckpiece

Men's Wool Worker Pants, Weatherboard Jacquard Knit Singlet 

and Darted Cotton Shirt. Accessorised with Felt Wool Worker Pouch 

and Leather Belt.

Women's Wool Worker Pants with Wax Treatment Panels, 

Cream Rib knit Cami (under), Brown Sheer Cotton Singlet 

and Darted Wool Shirt with Wax Treatment. 

Long Rusted Wool Stockman's Jacket and Lace Knit Dress.  

Visual Inquiry~ Material Research

This semester I studied three very different units. One of these was Visual Inquiry where we were asked to work in a different way, following the process of materials. After a huge journey of using and investigating as many different materials as I could, following a number of ideas I had, I came to the use of gloves and eventually the use of preworn leather work gloves. I experimented with pulling them apart at the seams to the raw form before sewing them back together in a way that followed the shapes of the different gloves sections. The result was something that lent itself to fashion in to an intriguing  form.  

I used the leather glove structure I previously created as a sleeve, draping pieces of recycled cream fabric from the shape before cutting the silhouette. To complete the outfit, I created a pair if shorts made from recycled loose weave cotton which I then imprint dyed with rusty objects. The result is an juxtaposition of elements; hard and soft, structure and drape, dirty and pristine, masculine and feminine.    

The Classic White Shirt

“Institutionalised"
To explore the classic white shirt in terms of elements and language. A second year, first semester project.

I am organised and happy being in a routine, but the idea of having someone controlling this, or being stuck in it, scares me. I explored this notion by what the shirt represents to me.

The shirt represents conforming to an institution; in business you are required to dress a certain way, wear the correct shirt. these shirts are full of rules themselves doen to the number of stitches.

Wearing the shirt is a way of preventing individualism by being literally wrapped in rules. To me it feels like an imprisonment of body as well as mind. Because of this, I looked at the business environment as a mental asylum. The garment literally wraps the body like a straight jacket would.


Style and structure
• I chose to link the shirt to the straight jacket, using the rules of the shirt to wrap the wearer.
• Dress made from 2 fronts and 2 sleeves to link to straight jacket which has the arms wrapping around the body.
• Harness made from the straps of the classic shirt; the cuffs and the collars (they constrain the shirt shape) this links to the straps of the straight jacket

Cordelia x

Sustainable Fashion

As part of my university course, we are required to take a unit called Sustainable Fashion. We study the environmental and humanitarian impacts caused by the fashion industry and stud designers and design houses changing their ways to reduce the problem.

As students, we have been looking at ways to make our own garments more sustainable. For this project, I made a simple, sustainably made dress... Check it out

-Modular (able to be worn different ways)
-Organically produced fabric
-Fair trade
-Energy saving (minimal seams etc)
-No fabric wastage (all parts of 1x2 metre piece of fabric used)

Simple Skirt

Dress design

Off sholder

Mini dress

Mini dress 2

Another skirt desing

With two draw strings, stretchy fabric and loose sections, the garment has endless possibilities

Cordelia x

Shape-Shifting Clothes

This last semester has been rather un-fashion related. I have had two english-like classes, and a design class where I learnt (or tried to learn) the skills of Photoshop, Illistrator and InDesign. One elective, however, was fashion related; Form and Structure. In this, we looked at 'shifting the shift', and used pleating, bias cut and darts (amoung others) to change the form of the shift dress.

For our final assessment we were to choose a concept exploring the idea of 'shape-shifting'. I chose to look at the theory of evolution, relating to the change in animals over time as well as looking back in history to discover the change in function of the shift dress. To first explore the theory of evolution as the change in animals, I created clothes that can be changed so that they become a number of different dresses in one. As for the style, I chose to link to the Great Depression era where sacks were cut into simple dresses- the early shift.

The following images are the three dresses I made and examples of how each can change. I limited my photoshoot to 4 styles per garment but each can become at least 3 more.


Garment one; The volume dress.

Style one; In its simplist form

Style two, volume in skirt

Style three, volume in shoulder

Style four, volume in bodice

Garment two; The flow dress

Style one, in its simplest form



Style two, back and front up



Style three, back detail

 

Style four, front twisted around waist

Garment Three; The Silhouette dress

Style one, in its simplest form

Style two, messy tie up

Style three, tight dress

Style four, strapless dress

  I studied Hussein Chalayan's S/S 2007 collection which explored different fashion eras. The collection also had garments that changed shape by use of a remote control. Amazing! Check out  http://www.husseinchalayan.com/ for the S/S '07 collection and Click Here to see the video of one of the dresses changing.

I also studied Italian designer Susanna Gioia creates garments which change dramatically. For example, one garment may change into a top, a skirt, a dress and then turn into a jacket. follow this link to see the transformation of  'The Cow Dress'.

Cordelia xx