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Evaluation

In this module I had to work on a signature project, which the final piece had to link to the fashion pathway I chose which was fashion design. The reason why I chose this pathway was, because at first I was a bit indecisive about which pathway I wanted to take. However, for this project I saw fit to do fashion design, because of the theme I chose for my signature project which is Celebrating Black Hair & Accessories. I wanted to make a physical outcome rather than digital, because I wanted a physical outcome because I believed that it would complement the research and theme of my project. I used a range of primary and secondary research for this project because I needed both primary and secondary research when it came to finding statistics or further information about my theme.

For this signature project, I was able to use most of the skills I learnt in previous modules with the fashion design skills being the main ones used. I learnt about some aspects of pattern cutting such as, seam allowances or facings which Paula helped me understand the purpose of these aspects. Also, I learnt to do many design developments at a fast pace to be able to develop more ideas for my final piece. I really enjoyed this method because from it I was able to obtain my final design drawing by merging different ideas from all the design ideas along with my sketchbook research. The hardest part for me in this module was pattern making and cutting. This is because sometimes I found it difficult to understand it and enjoy it but I think its mainly because we weren’t able to learn so much about it. However, Paula’s assistance was really helpful to use the pattern and understand its purpose and different aspects in a short space of time. Another skill I enjoyed was, being able to stitch the garment pieces together, the finish which the overlocker gave to the inside of the garment which can be seen on the images below. Also, I really enjoyed stitching the braids into the outside of the garment because it was fun and I needed to pay close attention to detail when stitching which I enjoyed doing.

I believe that in this project I was able to go from strength to strength whilst making my final piece. One of my weaknesses in this project was understanding pattern cutting and making which is something I would like to improve on. One of my strengths would be the creativity I put into creating this idea, from mind mapping to narrowing down what theme I wanted to take on this project. One thing I would like to improve is my template drawings and finding my style of drawing fashion illustrations, because in this project I believe that my design developments could’ve been done better. However, I believe that my template drawings improved compared to my previous modules. I am really proud of myself in this project because I was able to achieve an amazing and creative outcome. Also, showcase a theme I am really passionate about which I really enjoyed doing . Furthermore, I was able to learn, develop and improve in this project which pushed my limits of what I can do.

Harvard Referencing

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Final Garment production part 4

Below is an image of the final garment piece in a template drawing, which I am really happy with because it shows a huge development from the previous drawing developments I did. It also shows the changes made from the last semi-final drawings I did, which was to remove the circles and heart from around the neck. I am really happy with this drawing because it really shows how the final piece actually looks in person. However, the only thing I’d improve would be adding the cowrie shells to the template drawing but because they are removable and because its only an accessory I didn’t really see the necessity of including it in the drawing but for future references I must include al the details in the template drawings.

The first three images show the completed garment from front to right side and left side view. I decided to add these metallic cowrie shells(shown on the fourth image below) to reference my research on my sketchbook and the role accessories play in black hairstyles, furthermore they can be removed too. I really like the final result because it looks just like the template drawing also it looks very modern and sophisticated.

Last three images below show the back and the belt which in my opinion, the back looks really sharp and well finished which I really like! The belt also compliments the finished top compared to when it had empty spaces in between the braided loops. To improve this I would, try to find a way to include the previous circles and heart into the final piece, although it looks nicely done without them, I believe it should’ve been part of it. This also, allowed to see that I required more sampling especially with materials to create the sculptural circles. Furthermore, I realised that using a zig zag stitch was a quicker way to stitch multiple braids together on the belt, which I didn’t use for the top but it’s something I will definitely keep a note of for future reference. Ultimately, this final piece is a project I am really proud of because I was able to bring out an idea into reality, showcase my culture and be creative whilst using fashion.

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Final Garment production part 3

Below on the first two images, are the semi updated drawings for the final piece where I changed the belt to demonstrate the gaps of the elastic band. I did this because after sewing the braids to the elastic band, shown on the third image below the elastic band lost it elasticity. Which led me to, doing a new one shown on the fourth image below but this time I began by making the loop details first. On the fifth and sixth image below, it shows how it looked with the spaces in between because I didn’t want to add braids all through out and make it lose elasticity. I then showed it to my tutor who suggested I added braids all way round to make the belt look finished because with the gaps showing the elastic band it didn’t look finish, which I first I disagreed because I thought the fraying of the top would cover it but it wouldn’t all way round. So to improve I will cut the seam I made on this semi-finished belt, stitch braids all the way around and attach a hook and eye fastenings to be able to open and close the belt just like the fastening I added to the back of the top to have a hidden finish. Furthermore, I will improve the template drawings to demonstrate development and removal of certain parts such as, the circles to show the new final drawing of the final garment piece.

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Final Garment production part 2

I began to stitch the synthetic braids into the garment, which at first was hard because I could only get one at a time. The first two images show how I began by doing the edge of the garment and later on adding more braids.

The first image below shows the garment with the braids on, but on the right hand side of the end of the garment, I left space because I needed to stitch the sides of the garment and then add the rest of the braids left , which can be seen on the second image below. This is important because it shows the top fully completed with no empty spaces. Also, the fraying of the braids look really nice, in my opinion it gives more character to the top rather than it all being tucked in. The third image shows me experimenting with what to put at the back of the garment which at first I liked it but after I realised it took away from the sleek finish in the back.

On the fourth image below, I tried to put a heart to see how it looked, which looked nice but after showing to my tutors they suggested I’d leave the back plain and simple as I was already adding a heart at the top of the circles. Although, the main idea was to put braids at the back of the top, I didn’t have enough time to do so, but at the same time I really liked the sharp clean finish at the back because it made the top look sophisticated. On the last image I began to experiment with the circles to see how they fitted, after long attempts to make it stand on its own pinned to the garment. I didn’t really like that the circles kept falling which caused me to consider whether to keep the circles for the final piece or not. Furthermore, on the semi final template drawing(previous post to this one) I also added a heart, but after many failed attempts the heart did not stand and I decided not to include the heart anymore. To improve this I would try to create the circles once again and see if there is a different way in making it stand to be able to stitch it on later on.

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Final Garment production

The first two images show the final changes made on the pattern for the front and back to start the final garment production which I had mentioned on the previous post to this one. The changes that were made were mainly to the bottom of the top, to make it shorter so it would give a much more sharper finish. This was because, I wanted the end of the top to look sharp as it would give it a clean finish. The third image below show how I stitched the garment pieces up with the help of Paula and Natalie, but some parts were done by Paula to ensure that it was stitched in the right positions.

The two images below show the difference between the unfinished arm hole binding and the finished arm hole. The second image shows, how I had to stitch the arm hole binding fabric from the first image to create a nice clean arm hole finish. To do this, I had to use the iron on the fabric to be able to flatten the arm hole binding to then be able to stitch it. I really enjoyed stitching the arm holes because it gave the semi raw arm hole binding a clean and sharp finish to the garment which I really liked.

Both the front, back and the neckline facings were overlocked by Paula which can be seen on the two images below. I really liked the outcome because it made the inside of the final garment finished and sharp because it was well done. These are important aspects of the garment, because the inside of a garment is what holds majority of the pieces together to then create the top itself. Furthermore, by the end of this session I managed to stitch all the other parts of the inside of the final garment, which I was happy with because this meant that I could move on to stitching on the braids to the outside of the garment.

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The Black Panther movement & its significance on Black Hair

The Black Panther movement began through the Black Panther Party in the 1960s in America. The Black Panther Movement can be defined as a; “social movement motivated by a desire for safety and self-sufficiency that was not available inside redlined African American neighbourhoods. Black Power activists founded black-owned bookstores, food cooperatives, farms, media, printing presses, schools, clinics and ambulance services.” (definition from google)

This movement is significant when it comes to black hair because it was one of the first movements which encouraged Black people to wear their natural hair out in which the Afro became a symbol of self-empowerment and activism. The movement aimed to change the Black community perception of one’s self and its influence in society. Although, the black panther movement was mainly in America it also influenced other black communities around the world with one being in Britain. The images below show the influence the Black movement had in Britain too.

The Afro became a popular statement of one’s identity, power, pride and resistance. This is due to the fact that, many felt like hair straightening reflected a long forced history of assimilation because black people’s hair was seen as inferior. The use of the Afro was further used by activists such as, Angela Davis during many of her political and activism speeches which can be seen on the images below.

This is significant for my project because it demonstrates the affect the Black Panther movement, had in encouraging black women and men to wear their Afros proudly and how revolutionary this movement became for black men and women. Furthermore, the movement caused a positive reaction among black folks which stirred many to wear their Afros. Finally, this movement showcases one of the biggest ways in history in which the Afro or natural black hair became iconic and caused positive way.

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Semi- Final template drawing

The images below show the design development(second image below) of one of the 15 drawings (first image below) which I chose to make my final design from. I chose the(first image below) design to develop a new one from, because I really liked how it came out but I believed that it needed more development to incorporate parts of my research in my sketchbook and blog. To do this I added the circles which can be seen on the second image below, I did this to be able to incorporate my research from “Design Ideas 2 part 1” and “Design Ideas 2 part 2”posts. In my opinion the design on the second image below looks more developed and sharp. In addition, this will be the design that I will start my production of the final garment from. This is important because I now have a base to start making a pattern to be able to start producing it. Whilst, I produce the final garment I believe that through out the production certain aspects of the garment might need to be changed or even the drawing. This is because when I start to make the final garment, I might decide to make changes due to new ideas or if certain aspects of the semi- final drawing do not work.

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Garment Sample production

This was a sample of my final garment I made to test if everything would work and see if there was any problems before making the final garment piece. The first three images below, show the making of the pattern, which Paula helped me make which was really helpful because my knowledge in pattern making was really small. The third and fourth image show how I put the pattern on the mannequin to test it out. This is important for my project because I needed to see if the pattern fitted the mannequin as well as see how it would look like.

The last two images below show the inside of the sample I made, in which I used white thread to see where to stitch, which was really helpful because it allowed me to not make so many mistakes whilst making this sample, but for the final garment production I will be using black thread to blend the colour of the fabric and synthetic braiding hair. For this sample, there was a few things which needed to be altered for the final production of the final garment because I needed to make the final garment to a high standard. The changes that needed to be made are the ending of the top, which needed to be a bit shorter and instead of a fitted fit I opted for a loose fit because it’d be easier to stitch the braids into the fabric. I really enjoyed making this sample because it allowed me to make mistakes freely and then learn how not to in the production of my final garment piece.

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The impact of negative stereotypes towards Black Hair part 2

In this survey 85.5% were between the ages of 16-20 and 14.5% were 20-25. Majority knew what texturism was before answering this survey with 72.2% saying yes in question 2. Question 3 highlights how texturism still affects black women and girls today, especially with the negative mentality of “good hair” vs “nappy hair” imposed on black women which dates back to slavery. Below are images of some of the comments made about this way of thinking. In my opinion, the comments below show how one hair texture is much more appreciated than the other and how ingrained the belief is in the black community.

In question 4 I found that 63.6% of the 55 responses have experienced negative comments towards their hair or hairstyle. When asked to give details in question 5 I can see the negative comments are often in educational institutions. Here are some images of some of the comments made by the respondents.

These responses demonstrate how the belief of others in society that black hair is inferior is very much prevalent as seen in the images above, which further show how black women cannot escape from comments being made about their hair with words such as “nappy” ,”thick”, ”too knotted” and “fake”. All of these which impose a negative outlook on black hair which further reinforces the belief that black hair is inferior. From my point of view its upsetting to see because as a young black women there is no escaping negative comments about your hair or hairstyle.

Lastly, in question 6 63.6% of 55 responses agreed to educational institutions questioning their hair or hairstyle. For example, one of the respondents stated “My school said that box braids were unprofessional”. This specific hairstyle is a very worn hairstyle by black girls to school to maintain and protect their hair which is also known as a protective style. In my opinion, a school stating this to a young girl can have negative impact on how the young girl goes on to perceive her hair. Further respondents express their frustration (shown on images below) of being questioned on the change of hairstyles, how some colour of braids wasn’t allowed for black girls but white girls dyeing their hair was permitted and workplaces questioning whether certain hairstyles could be removed.

In addition, a comment about question 6 that stood out to me was when a respondent stated “Going into isolation in school for braids with any colour”. This is significant because it shows how more likely young black girls are more likely to face punishment than their white counterparts. Furthermore, the images below some respondents frustration to how their white counterparts were able to dye their hair and not receive any form of punishment but black girls would be questioned or given punishment. I believe this to be very much true because I too experienced similar circumstances, where the dark blue colour in my braids was not allowed whilst white girls freely walked around school with bright red hair without being questioned.

This survey is important to my project because it reflects how negative stereotypes show up in real life. Furthermore, these circumstances are the same ones which encouraged me to do this theme for my project because I believe in showing awareness to the deeper issues black women face.

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The impact of negative stereotypes towards black hair

Black Hair tends to have many negative stereotypes with one of them being its inferiority to other hair types such as straight hair. The authors of [Ayana Byrd, Lori Tharps (2014) Hair Story Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America[e-book] 2nd edition , St. Martin’s Publishing Group.] puts it best, “ The emulation of European styles was to push back against the idea that we were inferior”. This “inferior” point of view dates back to slavery ideals of black people along with their physical attributes being inferior. In Pre-colonial African societies, Black hair was seen as a symbol of a person’s identity, however with slavery the image of black hair was now damaged with slave masters shaving slaves hair. In an article by [Tay Bero, 2021. Tangled Roots: Decoding the history of Black Hair.] describes what idea was imposed during slavery when he states “But when the transatlantic slave trade began, these traditions were erased, and a new set of meanings were imposed onto Black people's hair, particularly by white slave owners.” This is important to understand because it demonstrates where these stereotypes originates from and its negative impact.

The effects of this are still very prevalent today an example of this would be texturism. The definition of texturism is ; is a preference for hair with smoother/looser texture, and the discrimination against people with kinkier, coarse hair within the same race. When it comes to “curls”, looser curls are idealized and fetishized for its proximity to Eurocentric standards of beautiful/good hair. This idea also dates back to slavery as it could determine the value and working conditions of a slave which could impact their health, comfort and even chances of freedom. The images below show examples of the hair types.

This is still prevalent today because this idea then became a negative mentality within the black community also know as the “good hair” and “nappy hair” references to different hair textures. In addition, this mentality generates hatred towards the coiler textures of curly hair or being called “nappy” because it much coiled up than the looser curls. This continues to be prevalent on social media as this mentality is hard to erase it. To show its prevalence today I decided to do a survey on several black women to show its negative affects and how it can go far as being inappropriate in educational spaces. Below are the questions I have asked on my survey in which I will be discussing the results of it.

1.How old are you? 2.Did you know what Texturism was before doing this form? 3.If so, please give details about your experience? 4.Have you experienced negative comments towards your hair or hairstyle? 5.If so, please give details 6.Have educational institutions questioned your hair or hairstyle choices? 7. If so, please give details.

After 55 responses, the negative stereotypes towards black hair and hairstyles are still very much prevalent in today’s society. I will be discussing all questions above to demonstrate how prevalent negativity towards black hair and hairstyles is in part 2 of this post.

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Part 3: Template drawings

These design templates were done last, which I enjoyed doing less because I began not to like the first two designs shown below. This is because I felt like they were too simple, although I just needed to keep producing multiple designs and not spend too much time on one. My favorite design out of all 15 was the last image below, because I really liked because I enjoyed adding the heart element and how put together it looks and I believe it is a design which I want to make for my final design. I will need to sample some of the design developments I made to try and see if techniques such as, adding wire into braiding hair works. To improve this design I would like to draw the template better & make changes to the final design to be able to pick which elements of my research I will be choosing to take further in the making of my final design.

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Part 2:  Mixture of Collages and drawings

For these design developments I decided to mix both collages and drawing. I decided to do this because I believe mixing techniques gives more to see in my sketchbook and helps me be experimental. I enjoyed making these because I was able use my creativity with collaging and drawing. Out of these I really liked the third design development below and the last design development because whilst making these, I began to have multiple ideas come in my head of how to merge both techniques and be creative. To improve these I’d improve my design templates, because I believe the faces of the templates could’ve been drawn better. However, I will take this improvement when drawing the final design for my final piece.

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15 Design Developments Part 1: Collages

I was advised by my tutors to have more design developments for my sketchbook, which then I was challenged to make 15 design developments which I accepted to do. Shown below are design developments I did by collaging images together. I really enjoyed collaging images together, because it was quick and I was able to use the images of hair creatively to collage with. My favorite were the last 2 images below, because I really liked the outcome of the collages and they definitely look like garments, but made out of collages and the creativity I put into making these. To improve I’d probably improve the third collage image below because I didn’t quite like the outcome because I believe more time should’ve been put into it although the objective of this challenge was for me to not spend to much time on each time but just keep making plenty design development ideas. This is important to my project because I am able to communicate ideas in various ideas and show constant development towards then finding which design I want to use to make my final piece from. (Post divided into 3 to showcase the techniques used in making these design developments.)

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The negative contribution of high fashion towards Black Hair

Below is a video from Tik Tok content creator @Blackballaduk, which sparked my interest in discussing this issue in my blog as it relates to my signature project.

The buzz cut trend is a hairstyle on black models in the fashion industry which consists models having their hair shaved off, which the images below show. Although the representation of black models is growing rapidly, so is the problems black models have to face whilst backstage.

In this article “Unpacking The Trend Of Black Women & Buzz Cuts In High Fashion” written by Ayekpa Anne-Laetitia she writes ��’In a feature on black models and hairstyles, model Londone Myers revealed, ‘’When black models start, I feel like we all have short-cropped hair…” ” This shows how the fashion industry especially professional hairstylists often lack the ability to cater to Black models hair backstage in fashion shows. This trend in the high fashion runways have risen questions towards fashion hairstylists not being able to cater to black models hair. This also shows the wider issue within educational institutions where one specific hair type is excluded from teaching. Historically, shaving a women’s head is rooted in punishment in the west and in Western Africa women have to shave their heads when they become widows. As I previously mentioned in the “The negative impact of negative stereotypes towards black hair” post, in pre-colonial African societies, black hair is a symbol of someone’s identity. With the introduction of slavery, the image of black hair became damaged with slave masters shaving slaves hair. This is important for my project because it highlights the continuity of negative outlooks towards black hair, an example of this would be, when Ayekpa Anne-Laetitia writes, “In a video for BET Her, model Nyakim Gatwech revealed that before ultimately having a buzz cut, she had an afro, but no one knew what to do with it backstage as its “texture was too nappy”. ”

In my opinion, hairstylists should not call themselves professionals if they can not cater to all hair types. Also, this highlights another problem within the fashion industry when it comes to representing black women and their hair. However, I believe that change can be made by high fashion houses hiring hairdresser’s who would not be put off by black hair. This is only a small change, but the bigger change that needs to be made is in educational institutions when teaching about cosmetology, to change the curriculum of focussing on one specific hair type and excluding others.

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Sample 4

For this sample I decided to make a mini sample of the 15th design development shown on the first image below. This is because, I wanted to be able to see how it would look like and if the method of stitching the braids into fabric would work. Which to do this I stitched braiding hair into the calico shown on the second image below. Trying to stitch the braids into the calico fabric worked really well, but the only con about it was that, due to the thickness of the braid it was sometimes hard to get it through the sewing machine. However, I was able to do so by stitching two braids at a time which allowed me to successfully stitch all the braids into the sample( shown on the 4th and 5th image below.

Furthermore, I used the mini mannequin to create a sample of the mini skirt for the drawing (first image below). For the mini skirt(third image below) I decided to just pin the calico fabric into the mini mannequin, pin the braids just to see how it would look, I really liked the result of it because it allowed me to see how it would look before I start making anything also by making mini samples it allows me to avoid future problems whilst making the final garment.

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Sample 3

For this sample I used braided synthetic hair because it’s one of the materials I will be using in the making of my final piece. To create this sample on the mini mannequin I used pins to be able to hold the hair on the mannequin. The first image below shows what design development I created this sample for which I collaged images of purple twists. To begin this sample I used wire inside the braided hair to create the circles shown on the second image below. I did this because I wanted to show the circle twists, I collaged on the design development on the first image below. The third image shows how I began to pin braids together to replicate the direction of how the twists were flowing in the collage. As I continued, I realised I was positioning the braids diagonally to the right (shown on third image below) and I looked at the collage and saw that I was positioning the direction of the braids wrong which I then decided to start again.

The fourth image below shows how I began to position the braids in the correct direction as the collage (first image above). Whilst positioning the braids I had to pay close attention to how I wanted the braids to flow, which took a bit of time to make all the braids flow in the direction I wanted it to. The last image shows the completed sample which I was really happy with because it looked really realistic and the colourful pins somewhat gave the sample colour.This is important to my project because I am practising to see how the braids would look first in a sample and test out how the braids would look in a mini mannequin. Also, this sample was almost doing the draping technique done with fabrics but instead I done it with braids. For this sample there is nothing I would like to improve because I really liked the final outcome of the sample.

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Samples 1 & 2

The first image below shows how I created a sample based of a design development shown below. I created this sample to see how it the wool material which was used to replicate the braiding hair I will be use on my final piece. Also to see how it would look if sown into a fabric which I used calico for this sample. I did this because I need to begin to creating more samples for my sketchbook also see if the way I want to add the synthetic braids would work, which in this case it did. To improve this sample I would use synthetic braiding hair and begin to create a mini sample for the top of this design because it’s the design I want to take further in the making of my final piece, but I will be making a few changes to it because I believe I need to draw it better to go in my sketchbook as my final design.

Furthermore, I decided to create another sample of the circles of the design development (first image below) because I wanted to put wire inside the wool material to see if I was able to bend it into the desired shape I wanted and test if this method was possible.(materials used on second image below). The third image below shows how I was able to use the wire inside the wool to create the circle, which I then pinned into the mini mannequin, I enjoyed doing this because it helped e see how the circle which I will include in my final piece would look like in a physical form. The fourth image shows the final sample which looked really good and I really liked the way it turned out. Also, I realised how when making this in my final piece I will have to hide the wire better inside the braiding hair if I was to use colourful braiding hair. This is important for my project because I am testing techniques to be able to use in my final piece and try to see whether techniques work or not because it will allow me to save time in minor mistakes when beginning to make my final piece.