Mountains and Meadows

Mountains and Meadows

During my sophomore year of college, my doctor diagnosed me with bipolar disorder, meaning that I experience manic highs and depressive lows lasting anywhere from a few days to months. I have struggled with my mental health my entire life and have incorporated a slew of diagnoses into my identity. It has always been challenging to address my emotions, and I often journal to best lay out my thoughts and ideas. When perusing my old journals, I discovered a consistent metaphor that I often returned to, Mountains and Meadows. My mountains are a treacherous landscape where each step takes a tremendous effort and begs to be your last. Meanwhile, in my meadows, I run free and without caution; however, when I finally return to reality, I face the destruction in my wake. One way I escape the pressing anxieties and never-ending worries that haunt my mind is by translating nature’s unspoken beauty onto canvas. In doing so, I realized that the landscape I had painted as a nightmarish scene holds undeniable beauty to the untainted eye. The juxtaposition of these two viewpoints is a crucial aspect of my collection. Mountains and Meadows acknowledges the duality of my human experience. My collection acknowledges mental illness without glorifying it; it explicitly acknowledges its existence and impact on my life.

Concept and Customer

The title "Through Mountains and Meadows" refers to a metaphor I often use to describe my life in my poetry. Mountains represent a time of extreme trial and tribulation, while meadows are a place to run free unaware of the consequences.

My concept board reflects my sources of inspiration. I drew from my personal experiences and my old journal entries. I also explored draping with gathers, landscape paintings, and nature motifs.

I envision my ideal customer as someone who shares my quest for a stable and confident identity. She expresses herself through journaling, music, and poetry. She connects with other creative souls and stays resilient despite life's challenges.

Process Boards

Silhouette Development Through Draping on Self - I experimented with different fabrics and drapes on my body. I took photos of the results and used them to create sketches and designs.

Draping on a Half-Scale Dress Form - I used thrifted and found fabrics to create different silhouette ideas on a half-scale size eight dress form. Then, I sketched these ideas and applied them to various croquis. Finally, I explored some design details from my drapes.

Silhouette Development Using Topography Maps - I used terrain maps of mountains as inspiration for my forms. I transferred maps onto croquis with lightboards and transformed them into garment ideas.

Generating Design Ideas Using Floral Motifs - My silhouette design was inspired by floral motifs that reflected the meadows aspect of my theme. I used biomimicry to study how flowers grow and adapt in nature.

Using Technology to Drape

New technologies allow us to push design to its limits and break barriers that we never thought possible. These technologies allow for increased creativity and harbor new sustainable innovations. Sustainability is a crucial component of the fashion industry and is quickly gaining the attention it deserved long ago. As the natural environment is essential to my concept, protecting it should be just as important.

Juxtaposition is a crucial aspect of my collection. I chose to incorporate this by mixing new technologies with old techniques. I cross the boundary between the real and digital worlds by creating digital prototypes of my garments before constructing them in physical materials.

Following in-depth research of my natural environment, I used virtual reality programs such as Gravity Sketch and Google Tilt Brush to draft my designs. These programs allowed freedom unheard of in the natural world as they rendered countless possibilities without restraints on material and labor. Mountainous landscapes inspired many of my silhouettes, and creating these forms proved much more freeing on a digital platform. 

Draping in VR with Gravity Sketch

Designing in Virtual Reality - I draped 3d garments in virtual reality using gravity sketch. This enabled me to create innovative drapes that defy physical limitations. Moreover, the unconstrained design space in virtual reality allowed me to explore new possibilities for my concept.

Virtual Reality Drapes With Pattern - Using Gravity Sketch, I could import my custom textures and apply them to my brushes. This enabled me to create patterns for my clothing and experiment with different shapes of garments.

CLO 3D

I further developed my designs using the program CLO3D. I created and simulated my designs with my chosen fabrics to my models’ sizes. Ultimately, I only made one prototype of each look before sewing the final garment. Not only did this save time, but it also saved resources as I used significantly less material while prototyping my looks, and I could order the exact amount of fabric required, significantly reducing material waste

Fabrics and Textiles

The concept of “Mountains and Meadows” carries into my fabric choices. I chose two extremely juxtaposing materials: velvet and canvas. The canvas’s rough feel captures the mountains I drew upon for inspiration. Meanwhile, the velvet is soft and luxurious, much like the lush grass one feels beneath their feet as one runs through a meadow. Furthermore, the materials and their different weights and structure come together in a way like where a mountain meets a meadow. Together, they transport the wearer into the landscape I painted

Painting on Textiles

A large part of my creative process stems from painting. My landscapes greatly informed me in creating this project. I knew I had to incorporate painted textiles when looking at my materials. Abstract expressionist artists, particularly Helen Frankenthaler, provided me with heavy inspiration. I looked to Frankenthaler’s water-stain technique to create my painted fabric. My process included laying out large pieces of fabric and painting them with a mixture of dye and acrylics using tools ranging from brushes to mops.

Hand painting my fabrics also reincorporated a human touch into the looks. As I used so much technology in my development phases, I needed to emphasize that a natural person still crafted each piece.

Painting Mountains and Meadows

To help define my concept, I spent a lot of time outside painting.  These paintings informed me how to continue my project in painting my textiles, creating my color palette, and defining the overall theme and feel of the collection.  

Look Three Development

Sketching- I developed sketches based on my concept research.

VR Draping- I used gravity sketch to bring my sketches to life in a 3D environment and visualize how they would fit around the body.

Clo Development- I used CLO to pattern my garment and create the desired fit.

Muslin toile- I developed a sample garment where I realized I needed specific fit and style adjustments.

Final garment- The final look that I presented with my collection.

Lineup

Flats

Final Collection Editorial Lookbook

I partnered with photographer Kate Knudson to take these photos.  The theming behind the images conveys an inner awkwardness presented outwardly.  Meanwhile, all projected confidence becomes internal.  This flip embodies the exact kind of juxtaposition that I have been trying to get throughout my collection.

Fashion Film

More Mountains and More Meadows

Mountains and Meadows CLO3D

This look was created based on the original concept for my collection, "Mountains and Meadows."  The look was patterned and edited in CLO3D.  I then rendered it as a high-quality image and an animation.  I also created a physical hand-painted version of the garment after printing the patterns from CLO3D

Process

Pattern Snapshots - I created my patterns in CLO3D by translating one of my sketches to the digital world using pattern-making and draping techniques.  The software makes it easy to perform fit adjustments on the patterns and allows one to see how they will sew without physical waste.

3D Garment- I created my garment in CLO3D.  I scanned a painting I had done earlier in the year as a part of my concept development and changed the colors in Photoshop.  I then exported my pattern from CLO3D  to fit the photoshopped design.  I brought the image back into CLO3D and placed it as a graphic image on my garment.  I rendered these snapshots in CLO3D using the render window.

Sketches- My sketch was based on in-depth concept research.  It is meant to have a light playfulness while featuring hand-painted motifs.  

Physical Garment- I created the physical garment using dyed canvas which I then painted over.  I added gathered organza along the bottom of the garment and boning along the hem.

Design Development

Animation Process Video

This animation serves as a process video working towards my final film render. In the process video, I am testing out the motion file, and the garment fit on the avatar to see if any adjustments need to be made before I begin rendering my final film.

Final Animated Film

This is my final render for my sample look for my collection "Mountains and Meadows." I rendered the animation using CLO3D. I edited the avatar to best fit my theme, along with the corresponding accessories. I put my avatar in a themed background with appropriate lighting.

Sketchbooks