My first meeting with Polly

So Ive just had my first session with my new study advisor Polly Duplock. She has really helped me to focus my project and has told me about two exhibitions that I really want to go and see.

Hussein Chalayan's exhibition at the Design Museum in London. I think this will give me good insight into whats going on with fashion at the moment and where I could possibly fit into the equation.




And Donna Wilson's Escape to the Woods exhibition at the Lighthose in Glasgow. This should help me to focus on the human side of my project, Polly made the good point that it is all very well being passionate about something that has moral integrity but whatever I produce has to have a human face. Its needs to be able to speak to people and make them want to connect with it and feel that it is special and loved, if not, it might turn out to be a futile episode of gathering research and samples. I fully understand this as I received one of Donna Wilson's make your own monster kit's for Christmas and sat sewing him together on boxing day, I have yet to give him a face as want to get it just right. This is because even though unfinished I have formed an attachment and bond to this little pile of randomly stitched together swatches of fabric. I think that Donna's exhibition will reinforce to me the great need for a narrative and a storey behind an object, that an attachment for said object grows as it ages and changes. Some of my favorite possessions are the old slightly faded and worn ones. My nephews most prized possession is his bunny, (well its actually a dog, but he gets very cross when the reality is suggested) even after all the Christmas presents he received (which as you can imagine were countless) he still holds 'bunny' in higher regard than them all, despite the fact 'bunny' is faded, drawn on and lost half of his stuffing so now appears rather limp, none of this matters in fact this is probably the reason he is no1, goes everywhere with Lewis and is loved by him like part of the family. The point that I am trying to get to is that for us to care and value an object we need to feel that it is special and even if others deem it as ugly, it is beautiful and dear to us in every way.


Throughout my project I need to remember this point so I can come up with ideas that not only help ease the impact the fast fashion market has on the world but also makes people care and connect with them.

As well as visiting exhibitions I also want to meet with Helen Storey (Wonderland-'dissolving dress', below), J.R Campbell and Random International in the hope they will be able to help me understand more about the technologies I want to work with and inspire me to develop on my ideas further.


I also intend to start creating some test pieces which will help me understand the limitations of technologies available to me and how I can adapt then to suit my needs.