Not to toot my own horn,

but whilst I may not be the best designer (I admit, I'm not always the best in realising concepts- I'm often a lot better in recognising problems and then solving these), I have always had a fair amount of faith in my ability to write- and by that I don't mean just these blog posts, but academic papers as well.

We just got our dissertation results back today, and what a doozy! To fill you in, the title of my dissertation was Inscribing Identity: The Evolution of the Tattoo from Anti-Fashion to a niche fashion object, and the parallels between Dress and Tattoos as embodiments of Identity.

I was aiming for a Distinction, and walked away with a High Distinction instead, hooray!! A lot of the marking sheets were placed on top of the accompanying dissertation, so I did notice that quite a few people shared this mark too (how lucky that we aren't marked on a bell curve). This doesn't bother me at all (I have been known to get a bit jealous)- in fact, congratulations on everyone pulling through and doing so well! And why this doesn't faze me, to know that marks-wise I wasn't a stand out, is that the feedback I got was quite amazing, which is why I just have to share with the world:

"A highly considered analysis. There is evidence of a very high level of engagement with and weighing of theoretical ideas. The thread of the argument is very sophisticated and has been consistently sustained. Well done. Excellent work."

Chuffed, who, me?

On the other side, Post Crit

I'm feeling a little battered, but surprisingly hopeful. I feel as if my collection was ripped to shreds, but at the same time, the light at the end of the tunnel seems brighter and much closer.

All my confusion in my design work was so ridiculously evident to the panel that for those 20 minutes I felt embarrassed to call myself a designer. My muse had undergone so many transformations that in the end I had no idea who she was anymore, so as a result, my design work was all over the place...and very very safe. I'd known that all my initial ideas had gotten lost along the way, and that I'd ended up playing it safe, which was definitely a detriment to me.

My prints had previously received good feedback from my textiles tutor, and there was some acknowledgment that they were good prints, but any good feedback about them was only bout them as prints: as part of my collection, I was still struggling to find a way for them to fit in, and this really showed. Again, this was due to the confusion and complete lost-ness and lack of direction I'd somehow found myself in.

However, it's not all bad! Some of the ideas that I'd had in the beginning (before they got lost), and had brought up as the initial development, were well received, so I was encouraged to go all out with those and not hold back. I was told that there was definitely potential, but I just had to work it through until those ideas came to fruition.

One of the biggest issues, no, THE biggest issue, was my lack of time management. I readily admitted this, but wasn't so ready to admit why, so when I was confronted with the question of "so WHY do you procrastinate?" the floodgates opened and I was reduced to a pile of snot and tears. And I'd been so determined not to cry too! Up until that point I'd been taking on board all the criticism- as it was very constructive, albeit negative...but it's just hard when you have to face your biggest fear, in front of a panel of people you admire and who (almost literally) hold the fate of your final year in your hands.

Deep breath now. My biggest fear is failure, which I allow (obviously too often) to paralyse me. In the last few weeks, I'd gotten to the point where I had zero confidence in my work and no faith in myself. I felt like a machine just going through the motions, trying to complete the crit requirements: all my passion had completely flown out the window. Some days (ok, waaaay too many days), I would hate my work so much I'd do anything to avoid it, which obviously put me even further behind.

So that crit was very bizarre. After that breakdown and subsequent failure to recompose myself, I was still getting negative criticism, but I felt a lot more support and encouragement than I have in any time I've had at uni. Up until now, I'd never felt that I would be able to make it, but I'd stuck with it because I still want to be a designer. I'd always seen myself as mediocre, I'd never felt like I'd impressed my tutors, and I'd rarely created anything that I'd been super proud of, or had received rave reviews. It was definitely good to hear that our tutors do have faith in us, and me, but that reciprocally we have to work to maintain that faith.

What I'm going to take away from this is to remember to be true to myself, and to constantly remind myself of my passion. I'm going to have to face my fear of failure, and am going to deal with all the issues which have lead me to this state. I'm going to clear my head and the drawing board, and try to cement exactly what this year is going to be for me; so following this, what my collection will be should be cemented as well. I'm redefining my concept, my muse, my direction- yes my whole collection (oh, did I mention that I went from my initial instinct of a summer collection, to a winter collection because it seemed more suitable, back to a summer collection? Maybe, we shall see...): I'm redefining who I am as a designer.

Fingers crossed!

So I need to work on my photography skills...

My friend Lingsi is an avid photographer, and is often the designated photographer at our group events- weddings, birthdays, random hanging out.

Last night she posted these photos of Vivid, which is still running at the moment. I've been dying to go see it myself, but her photos are so clear that it's almost good enough. What do you think?


I just love the way that the patterns play with the existing shape and silhouette of the buildings, rather than trying to change them. It really makes me hope that I can develop some awesome enought prints for my range...

The Biennale has come to town!

So scattered within these next few posts will be a little bit of Biennale goodness from Cockatoo Island. Yay for interesting and somewhat relevant procrastination!


First cab off the ranks are these sculptures by Rohan Wealleans. I don't have that much to say about them, because I think you need to see them for themselves to really appreciate all the intricacies in their detailing and embellishment; except, how much do the patterns remind you of tattoos, and of henna tattoos in particular?


And just that little bit creepy and macabre, which both freaks me out (because I never really wanted to experience the inside of a moose like this, even if it's not real), and gets me interested (because it pokes my curiosity about what a moose really looks like from the inside- I'm sure it's not this sanitary).

From the fiery depths of the sewing workrooms,

comes this quote:

"We're wogs. If there isn't taffetta and sequins, there isn't a wedding."

It's funny that she said this just as we were really knuckling down and finalising (or trying to finalise) our fabrics for our collection. It has really been drummed into us to find appropriate fabrics, but sometimes this seems an impossible task.

The Australian winter really just isn't cold enough to necessitate the weight of fabrics used in winter garments overseas: so when creating a winter range that post graduation, would ideally be saleable internationally, the lack of variety of quality winter fabrics (at affordable prices) really starts to become an issue. Just sourcing a quality wool jersey that is warm enough, yet will not be used by every other student doing womenswear has been difficult. I guess that's why when I found a 100% merino wool ponte that I love, is of a great quality, and was available for 30% off because I'm a final year student, I bought 12 metres of it. I think that some other students will also be using it, but I'm planning to put my textiles expertise into play here: to dye it to match my colour palette; to print it with my own prints; and to design other textile applications such as quilting designs, to make this fabric really mine.

Still, 12 metres seems like a lot right now. Hopefully I will use it all: even more hopefully, I hope that I'll have enough. And no matter how far my collection changes from it's current state, this fabric WILL remain.

Some colourful language ahead!

Argh. Colour palettes will be the death of me.

Whoever decided that bright colours are summer, and that dark colours are winter should be shot. I don't believe that colours should be restricted to season; heaven knows that in winter when everything is so drab, some bright colours would certainly (literally) brighten up the day. Even Li Edelkoort agrees: recently, we were treated to a lecture by her assistant and right hand man Phillip, and he showed us the latest Trend Union colour stories book. Admittedly most of the colour stories for winter were darker in tone, but they were all so rich, and most importantly, black was a minority colour! One of my favourite colour stories was based around a photo of a punk mohawk, which had been dyed green and pink.

So, with the idea of bright colours in mind, these were the colour palettes I developed for my final range (each row is a new colour story):


Didn't work. Too summery, spring, or transseasonal. I needed something to pull it back down and give it a more varied and balanced range. After a bit of tweaking and only a little bit of frustration, I've finally come up with:


Hooray, they were approved! I still get my bright colours, but I also have a stronger winter influence. It's hard to admit that the criticism was actually good for me.

Sex Sells

In the recent present, one of our subjects forced us to think really hard about what we really want to gain from this degree and this final year, and where we want to be in 5 years time. In facing all my fears about the real world (responsibilities, what are they??), I looked into my strengths and weaknesses as a designer, my passions and interests, and where these would intersect to give me an idea of what type of company I should be working for.

I decided to give myself the goal of ultimately working for Diesel, a company that I have always found really interesting, not only as a designer but as a shopper. One of my favourite things about Diesel is that they don't take themselves too seriously, which is reflected in their crazy and provocative ad campaigns.

This is my favourite Diesel ad: