For my “Sin” design, I thought that Gluttony would be a very interesting sin for me to personify through makeup. Cambridge Dictionary defines gluttony as “a situation in which people eat and drink more than they need to”, so I thought that making a fashionable humanoid cake monster would be a good idea for an Avant Garde look. I knew that illusion makeup was something I wanted to try so I incorporated it into my face cart design, so I gathered some inspiration images from Pinterest and created a mood board for illusion makeup:
I then had to design a wig because my tutor had advised me to do something big with my look because it is the final major project. I adapted my wig designs based on the mood board I designed with inspiration images I had found on Pinterest and on
https://us.fashionnetwork.com/galeries/photos/Selkie,71065.html
I liked the third idea the most because it is the most advanced and would push my skills more than the other two.
I also needed to be careful which wig I chose to buy, it was important that the wig was not synthetic because synthetic wigs are not heat resistant and they are too shiny no matter how much you wash them. I found these wigs that are high temperature fiber, which means that I can use heated appliances to style the wig and it won’t be shiny. These wigs also have ponytail attachments which could make styling the wig into a swirl easier if I have to cut the wig into wefts to style it into the shape I want.
I wasn’t sure which colour wig to buy, so I drew out the shape of the wig and coloured it in with each colour scheme to decide which one fit my design best:
The third design fit my look best so I decided to draw up a full character design to help me design a costume.
For the costume element of my look I made two separate designs- one being a blouse and dress I own and the other taking inspiration from “Monster High”.
I did like this design but it would definitely be too safe for my second final major project so I made the “Monster High” inspired look:
My second initial design was a lot better. I would be able to hand sew parts of the costume which would be a lot better for my grade than using an outfit I already own.
This was my initial final design that includes wig, makeup and costume design:
My tutor liked this design but she thought that it was too safe and not quite Avant Garde. I adapted my hair and full costume design to fit the brief more; I added a hand made bow to the wig to match the bows I would add to my final costume design.
I adapted this final costume design mood board as I changed my designs. This mood board helped me to make sure I had every element of inspiration in my final costume design, including the design of the giant fork I plan to make:
In my research into Avant Garde, I saw an image of a look that Doja Cat wore to a Schiaparelli London Fashion Week show. I found this image from an Elle article that talks about makeup artist Pat McGrath’s and Doja Cat’s experiences in creating this look:
This look inspired me to design my character with cake pops growing from her skin.
Once my design was complete, my tutor thought that adding a long sheet of sheer fabric to the bottom layer of my chosen skirt would make my look more so I drew it out to see if I would like it:
I didn’t really like this design because I thought the sheer fabric would interfere with the belt loop and lace that would be on the skirt. It would also potentially interfere with the rest of the lower half of the costume so I decided to go without.
This was almost my final design, I would have been happy with this if it weren’t for a picture that I saw on Pinterest:
This is another picture I saw on Pinterest,
This corset inspired me to add some prince style shoulder pads to my final design to create a more Avant Garde effect. I also decided to do this because if I were to only add lace around the arm holes of the waistcoat then it would be difficult to see because of the white undershirt- adding these prince style shoulder pads would break up the colours more.
I also decided that because gluttony is linked to over-indulgence of food, I should have painted desserts onto the tie featured in my final design to add a sense of greediness to the character and to make the design more unique like a lot of Avant Garde looks:
This could have been my final design for my Gluttony Avant Garde look:
I thought that this would be my final design, but having received advice from some of the textiles and fashion tutors that the bow needed more movement as well as a train for a more avant garde feel I decided to redesign my character again. I also wasn’t sure if I would be able to find the right pink tights so I decided to scrap them:
PROBLEM SOLVING:
This was my final design with the edited bow and train, I also added additional leg warmers rather than tights and the edited shoes I planned to make. Having thought through making the train, I would probably paint the fabric similarly to how I painted the tie. However this would cause a problem when the paint bleeds through the fabric, it would look messy and ruin the final look if I didn’t fix it.
To fix this problem I redesigned my character again, this time featuring an extra layer of brown fabric underneath the train similar to to how the front of the bow is brown too. By sewing this extra layer down after painting the top layer I had hide any bleeding and still have a cohesive look. I also decided to scrap the bow on the wig after making my wig because I wouldn’t have room for the cake pops as well without the wig being messy:
Another problem I faced during this project was time and supplies. When painting the train for this look I kept running out of paint, which led to extra purchases of materials. This problem went hand-in-hand with the problem with time; as I began to make the train as the final big aspect of this look I realised that I wouldn’t have enough time to complete both halves of the train- I definitely underestimated the amount of time designing, painting and sewing the train would take.
To fix this problem, I decided to complete the half of the train that I had already started and keep the other half plain. By making the train asymmetrical it represents the imperfection of sin, I also think that this makes my final design less busy by having one half plain and the other with a fun design.
This is my final full character design:
