Making Society Styling - Reflection and Process

I was extremely anxious to make my own styling from scratch as I have never done anything like this before. This made me appreciate even more that I am able to collaborate with styling students as they can take my inspiration and designs and bring them to life. I was so determined to create my design to a high standard because I didn't want it to decrease the quality of styling in my film.

The first challenge was buying the correct fabric and quantity of fabric. For the main body of the outfit I wanted the fabric to be able to drape and hang well and I wanted it to be lightweight and flexible enough to have smooth, ghost-like movement. The staff in Fabric Box suggested I used crepe fabric as it doesn't wrinkle or crease easily, but instead folders seamlessly to drape over the body. I then wanted a material that was more rigid and strong; however the staff said the most appropriate material they had was leatherette which unfortunately would not be able to hold its shape as I had hoped. I had the measurements of my model but I was unsure of how much material each section would need; I therefore bought much more than I thought I needed to ensure I had enough.

I decided to use a sprung laundry bin as the main structure of the hood to give it a strong base in the correct curved shape. I tied one side of the bin down to create the hood shape and cut the handles and ends off to make a clear tunnel. The main problem I had was creating the curved shape at the front because the leatherette would need a supporting frame. I planned to fold the material in half to give it more strength and to make the fabric all black, as the underside was white cotton. If I didn't fold it over then I would have to either dye or paint the white colour black which would be time consuming and would not guarantee the right colour. 

Sprung bin with wire framing.

I had originally planned to use leatherette for to cover the hood because it would give more structure and it would blend into the leather extension; however this fabric was very heavy and it lost the detail of the bin's ridges. I therefore decided to use the crepe fabric, as it would be easier to mould and will fall into the ridges to complement them. I had never sewn anything before so I enlisted the help of a friend with sewing experience to teach me and give me advice on the design. I created a sleeve of fabric to cover the inside and outside of the bin and then tied one side together to achieve the curved hood shape. 

After considering many options, including a papier-mâché mould and cardboard, I decided to use some wire to attach to the folded bin and then curve round for the material to hang on. After experimenting with wire hangers and gardening wire, I found the strongest option was the wire from another sprung laundry bin. The wire was extremely difficult to manipulate into the shape I wanted as it was strong and would ping back into its original state, so my dad used a hammer and clamp to force it into position and then sawed it to its desired length. When the wires were finally in their correct shape the next challenge was to make them stand upright when attached to the hood. This was challenging as the attachment would have to hold the weight of the wire and the heavy leatherette. I had attached the wire frame to the hood with sellotape before meeting with Tina, who suggested sewing the pieces together once they were both covered individually in material. 

After experimenting with adding leather to the wire frame I found the material was too heavy to hold the curved shape and it didn't blend into the crepe fabric of the hood without looking obviously disconnected. I could have made this a statement piece of the design with different fabric; however I wanted the extension to look fluid to misshapen the traditional hood shape. I therefore decided to use crepe fabric as it is light weight, easily manipulated and it will blend into the hood. This, however, meant I needed to create a structured frame for the crepe fabric to cover as it would hang from the wire frame and not give a strong structure. I found some fencing wire and cut out a strip of squares to manipulate it to the curved shape and attach it to the initial wire frame. The wire was a lot easier to mould into shape, giving me the freedom to experiment with different angles; however the edges were very shape so I covered them with sellotape to avoid injury and ripping of fabric. 

I created sleeves of crepe fabric to cover the wire extension once I was happy with the shape. I didn't attach the extension to the hood properly as I was not definitely sure this would be the final design as I wanted to experiment with different possibilities. 

To create the main body of the design I draped a generous amount of material over my model to ensure I could gather sections to add draping with still enough to drag on the floor. The fabric was not sold in large enough sections so I placed the longest length to reach the front and back of my model's body and then I gathered small sections of material at the sides to make it look like continued folds of material; this would ensure there were no obvious seem lines. 

I experimented with positioning the headpiece in many different ways as shown in the collage below. For example I experimented with connecting the body to the outside of the hood, however I felt it looked too much like either a hunchback or a caterpillar. I also experimented with positioning the extension on the model's shoulders with the hood over the top and lifting the hood with helmets to show the model's shoulders. I felt the back of the styling look disconnected with a gap in between the hood and the body so I added a strip of material to drape over and felt it balanced the extended front and added to the draping material effect. 

After experimenting with putting the hood and extension in a variety of positions I still wasn't happy with how it was looking as I felt the extension looked like a bug's antennae and I didn't like how they bounced as the model walked as it lost the styling's strength. I felt the extension looked awkward and disjointed, without making a big enough statement so I decided to use more crepe material to attach the extended arms to the hood to make it looked part of the structure. This also gave me the opportunity to create a wired structure to extend the longer arm out further to make more of a statement and to give it more structure as, before, this arm would bounce around and fall slightly over time. I attached a strong strip of wire to the bottom of the hood to the bottom of the extended arm to my desired length by hooking the ends round the wire frame and then sewing round them to stop any fraying. 

With Tina's help I added more crepe material to attach the extended arms to the hood. I created pleats in the fabric to add texture and complement the folds in the body material and I pulled the material taught to give a strong, structured silhouette. 

After constructing the hood and placing it onto the body I noticed the oversized hood completely covered the shape of the shoulders, losing the human aspect of the figure. I therefore placed a helmet on the model's head and placed the hood on top; this revealed the shoulders, giving a stronger silhouette. To cover the helmet I attached a panel of black crepe material to the hood and pinched it at the bottom to give the impression the figure has an oversized head; however this will most likely not be visible as I will be mainly shooting this figure from the side.

I added black sleeves and black gloves to continue the figure's black exterior, dehumanising the model to a phantom figure. I experimented with painting the model's hands and arms with black acrylic paint to make the veins and muscle structure visible for an intimidating look; however the paint gave an extremely shiny finish which didn't complement the matte finish of the crepe material, bringing unnecessary attention to the arms, and I felt the detail in the skin revealed too much about the phantom's identity when this should be concealed to reflect society's danger of becoming clones of each other. I also asked my model to wear black shoes and trousers incase the side of the styling opens slightly.

The final styling gives an intimidating and powerful silhouette with the oversized structured hood and ghost-like body; this will be enhanced with my model's tall height as he will tower over She. The strong protruding attachments to the hood mirror society's constant desire to reach out and interfere with other people's lives, as if their negative opinion must be forced onto their victims. The fade to pure black inside the hood represents how people in society are in danger of losing their individuality to the wrath of society's acceptance, forcing everyone to become mere clones of each other. I am proud of myself that I managed to construct this aggressive societal figure as I have never designed and then sewn together from scratch an outfit before, stretching my abilities and adding to my skill set. I am excited to experiment with this styling when I start to shoot.