The whole project for season Autumn/Winter 2015-2016 is aimed at developing a new collection and researching some unique design techniques based on X-ray as its initial inspiration. This project began with research at four museums, four galleries, 4 libraries and 4 markets which contained different aspects of London. Among these resources I was inspired by an exhibition ”Ancient lives new discoveries in British Museum” and a book in CSM library, “X-Ray,” by Nick Veasey 2014 which developed X-ray images in unique ways.
These X-ray pictures are charming with their different layers and gradations. Common objects become mysteries with the transparent and semitransparent lines and shadows with black and white or even with colors. I tried to find a kind of fabric to imitate the visual effects of X-ray such as chiffon, semi-transparent silk, transparent PVC, and semi-transparent PVC. At the same, I also hope to combine with other opaque fabric with white color by pleating or other technique. As Chiffon, silk and other traditional fabrics have been already widely used before, I mainly focused on PVC materials.
Due to the fact that the main colors of X-ray images are mostly white with a black background, I considered white as the main color of my collection. At the same time, there are also many colored images in Nick Veasey’s book. I also tried some other color in my design such as fluorescent pink PVC. Due to the fact that there are many different kinds of clothes in real lives, I tried to imitate different kinds of clothes with small samples to discover interesting visual effects and textures. From coats to down jackets, the visual effects and textures will be changed because of the different layers and different kinds of infillings.
At the same time, transparent and semitransparent material own the special characteristics that the common materials don’t have: the objects inside can be seen through transparent and semitransparent material. Just like the X-ray pictures, we can see buttons, cards and other personal things or even underwear through X-ray. This makes the image different from the common one. I hope to develop this characteristic to intimate the diverse layers of clothes and make them special compared to those made by traditional materials. These samples include the polyester wadding inside the PVC and are sewed by a special machine.
Also I tried to develop unique structures which differ from the typical coat or other kind of clothes, and make it have more pieces and layers. Some buttons and personal things also are put in the pocket and other parts of the clothes. Due to the fact that the PVC is different from other fabric, a kind of special machine should be used in the making process. At the same time, some traditional sewing skills are also necessary for with invisible thread. The pattern should be exact because the PVC materials have no elasticity.
