okokokok, this is for the same project for which i made the CHOE scarf. i was doing an analysis on symbols and motifs in like haute couture, specifically in reference to pierpaolo piccioli due to his recent appointment to balenciaga right. bowties and epaulets just came to mind you know, so i was like ok let me do something related to that, however, i wanted to add my own touch, do my own shit. i was thinking like, ok what if i make it be like fluid, like drapey, that would be cool yeah? so thats what i did. i thought it would be kind of oxymoronic to the nature of epaulets, that are like hard, and i thought this kind of irony is tight i think. i cant say i love this spread, i dont really like how it looks too much, too much pencil, unorganized, scrappy, like, in a way thats way different from pages i actually fuck with. the brown paper too, like, so untasteful, but whatever. whatever works work i guess.
you can see in the picture above the first design i did for the epaulet, its not too clear, its really drapey, really exaggerated, large et cetera. then on the left right here i have the second mock-up of the epaulet, where its like, like its a piece of fabric hanging from a rounded off corner, instead of being like, like big, like a curtain, like different shit. at the bottom of the left page i made a little sketch fo how it could be worn. more than just changing how epaulets look to juxtapose that with their initial nature, i wanted to also recontextualize it, so like, more casual outfits, shit you could wear to a restaurant, a museum, cafe, on the street, i would at least.
funnily enough this spread has the first first first development of my scarf development. ok i know this isnt in the scarf development page my bad wont happen again but now i have good reason. see theres literally one single sketch on the bottom left of the right page and since my handwriting is illegible theres no point in me including it since the other page is literally completely unrelated. also the scarf ended up looking just completely different, so i was like, ok whatever, i might just not put it in at all, which i didnt.
i really wish i had photops of this epaulet on the mannaquin, unfortunately i dont. this first experimentation i did with fabric dipped in plaster. i just felt like doing this, i already had the gauge picked out for the second epaulet and i kinda knew judging by the weight of the fabric that there was no way it would hold the super specific shape i wanted, so i felt that it was fine for this occassion. if youre curious which i doubt, no i didnt dip my hands in the bowl of plaster, shoutout my tutor they did that for me, but i laid it onto the shoulder of the mannaquin, i used cling wrap to make sure it wouldnt stick on.
this ended up working really well, like this looks super hard i love this, only problem is, when i took it off, the moment i took it off, it started chipping. thing is, the part facing the shoulder formed around it, and plaster is maddd fragile, so it just chipped. no lie every time i would pick it up it would crack and crumble.
i used plaster gauge for this development, i had a great time using it actually, its a really fun material, so so fun.
heads up by the way, "cling wrap" is a hoax that bitch doesnt cling to shitttt, you have to wet the one side with water, i dont remember where i learnt this, i think i just got some cling wrap wet a few years ago, eureka type shit. but yeah then you can just put it over it. another pro tip, but plaster gauge gets dried out and ruined the more you leave it out, so you have to seal it to keep it fresh.
looking back, i feel i should have put like a base behind the plaster, because, as you can kind of see in the picture attached, theres like awkward and abrupt folds that kind of take away from my initial intention, so looking back thats something i should have fixed, but its still good non the less i like it. my tutor said that the cling wrap and the chest of the mannequin are distracting, i dont know, i dont really care.