Evautive Report

Evaluative Report

I was expecting New York to be similar to London or any other English speaking city. What I didn’t expect was a complete culture shock. I will never forget my time in New York and all the experiences I enjoyed and skills I learnt.

            New York is different to anywhere I have ever been before. What struck me first was how tall the buildings were. So much so that on a sunny day, it is cold on the street because the sunlight doesn’t reach the pavements. Being in the centre of Manhattan, I completely benefitted from everything New York had to offer. In the Garment district you just have to walk down the street and every other shop sells fabrics, beads or haberdasheries. The fabric shops are like no other, with pre cut swatches hanging up and thousands of fabrics to choose from.

            During the months I spent in New York I feel I got to know the city very well. My favourite places include the High Line, the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Williamsburg and many more. I visited the five boroughs, Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn as well as taking trips to Boston, Ithica and the Hamptons where I was able to see more of the country. In the first week in New York we evacuated the city to Ithica where my roommate lived as Hurricane Irene was predicted to pass through. This was a surreal experience and there really was panic in the city.

I feel that one of the main differences between living in London and New York was in how young people were treated. Through university life, as well as outside it, I felt younger than I do in England.

I chose to take 14 credits during my time studying. This was a lot and I would not have been able to take any more. My classes were four hours each and included, Draping, which I had twice a week, Accessory Design, Haute Couture Embellishment, Pattern Cutting, Screen Printing techniques and Adobe Photoshop with Fashion Studio. The way of teaching at FIT was delivered so you learnt in the lesson time and completed the tasks in your own time. This meant I was able to learn so many new skills, ones I would have never been able to discover back home. It is much more practice led.  It was great to experience an alternative way of teaching to Chelsea but I think the ideal education would be a mix between Chelsea and FIT, combining taught techniques with creativity. I was fortunate to choose classes such as Screen Printing where I could be creative. However it was hard when you had to limit your time on each class. My hardest class was Draping. I took extra sessions in Draping on Saturdays to make sure I kept up with the class. This class was incredibly tough, but I learnt so much and can now successfully drape. In Accessories I learnt how to make belts and bags, a skill I can see myself using and combining with my printing. For example having a printed bag or the lining printed. The Photoshop was probably most useful to me. We are never taught Photoshop in Chelsea so learning it was so much help and my abilities and accuracy have improved no end.

I am a much stronger person for having the opportunity to study abroad. My confidence has grown and I feel I am able to tackle hard circumstances better than I could before.

Goodbye New York

In the end it was really hard to say goodbye to New York and I wish I could go back.  I made many friends during my time there and living in the centre of Manhattan was an amazing experience.

I did struggle with the living accommodation because it was very small and I was sharing a room with another girl but this did not effect what a wonderful time I had. 

Screen printing

I really enjoyed my screen printing lesson. Because I have not done much screen printing this was very useful to me.

I learnt a variety of techniques and how to print in repeat using large screens. I also learnt how to print with two screens and multiple colours.

We had to complete two projects which were linked together. I produced a lot of fabric and I really enjoyed this lesson as well as learning a lot. 

Above are examples of my screen printing

Haute Couture and Accessories

My Haute Culture and Accessory classes were very good. In way they felt like extra courses because we learnt and worked a lot during the lesson time but didn’t have to work much outside them. This was great because it meant we learnt a great deal but had plenty of time to concentrate on our more challenging subjects.

I enjoyed the Haute Couture classes because I have never been taught these formal skills before. I have improved my accuracy and techniques. I can now approach my stitch work in a professional way.

However I did find that I already knew a lot of what was being taught.

My Accessory class was a lot of fun but it was very slow because of the lack on space in the classroom and the lack of equipment. We made bags and belts and because these needed specialist equipment the whole class shared the few tools which slowed us down.

I would have like to been taught more in the lesson but we ran out of time. I enjoyed was I did learn and feel that I could approach making a bag confidently.

It was also fun to work with leather. I have not done this before and it was a real experience going into a leather shop to buy a skin. I now know what I am looking for and which what properties each animal skin has. 

Last Draping lesson

For my last lesson of draping we also displayed our work, although it was a lot more serious than pattern cutting. I worked exceptionally hard on my dress so I was relieved that the class was ending.

Draping was difinitely my most difficult class because I was not used to working in that way. I had two 4 hour lessons a week as well as tutoring lessons on a Saturday so I could keep up. I learnt so much in these lessons although they were hard and can now successfully drape a variety of dresses including sleeves, collars and the facings. It also taught me sewing techniques and how to use the industrial machines which is very useful. 

Althouhh I found this hard I got a A in my final dress. 

My dress is the black dress at the end of right hand side

Last Pattern cutting class

For the final class in pattern cutting we had to make a blouse using the skills we were taught during the lessons and the patterns we developed. This went very well and I am so pleased with my outcome. I learnt so much in pattern cutting about the body and how many patterns you would need to create a garment ad how they fit around the body. I also learnt how much accuracy you need to accomplish this.

The last lesson was great because we got to display our blouses and see every bodies work. 

Ice Hockey!

We were fortunate enough to win cheap tickets for an Ice hockey game at Madison Square. This was so much fun and a great opportunity to experience some more American couture. 

De Kooning: A Retrospective

Moma, the Museum of Modern Art is free for students to enter and so are its exhibitions. I was recommended to see the De Kooning: A Retrospective Exhibition by my Digital print teacher. This was a great exhibition and showcased hundreds of his creative paintings.

 I wasn’t so sure on some of the paintings, especially the ones focused on the female form. These were quite disturbing and did not appeal to me. However I appreciated the paintings of his focused on colour and brush strokes. The colours in these pieces were beautiful and imaginative. 

 

More Haute Couture and Draping Designs

Below are more examples of Haute Couture work from my teacher. They include a range of stitch work and appliqué. 

My draping lessons are coming to an end and I have to design, drape and make a dress of my own design inspired by architecture. Here are some photographs if the first drape I completed. It has to be a princess line dress with sleeves, facings and a creative neckline. I have decided to make my dress quite simple so that I will be able to complete the dress well.

The fabric I can choose from has to be a blend of cotton. I think I will use a black stretch cotton and a light blue silk cotton for one of the panels.

Cloisters

The Cloisters is a Park in uptown New York. There is a church at the top of the hill which you can visit and the surrounding area is very beautiful. It was a bright autumn day when we visited so I took some inspiring photographs of the scenery and fallen leafs. The views from the Cloisters are impressive and it gives you another view of New York alongside the Hudson River. 

Internation Photographers Gallery, Harpers Bazaar exhibition

The International Photographers Gallery on 42nd street exhibited an incredible collection of Harpers Bazaar photographs. This showcased the best photographs from Harpers Bazaar over the last century. These were great to look at because the photographs each had a story and each was imaginative and beautiful. Although the exhibition was quite small I think they made the most of the space and exhibited the best photographs featuring Celebrities and references from popular couture. My favourites included photographs of Naomi Cambell, Marc Jacobs and Kate Winslet. They each told a story and were very entertaining.