"seeking the cool side" fashion design/embroidery

bernard martin chains Embroidery fashion design handsewn model painting

Fashion Design/Stitch Project Class Final Assignment.

For this class we were asked to go to local galleries and select a piece of work to base our projects around. I went to the ADA gallery in Richmond and found a painting (pictured below) from Bernard Martin's series " SEEKING THE COOL SIDE."

Then I made a mood board based off the aesthetics of the painting and elements I wanted to incorporate into my final piece.

I made several drafts and revised this board until it reached perfection (in my eyes.)

Then I made samples of different embroidery work I might use in my final garment.

After these steps were completed I began on the final piece. All hand-stitched embroidery and detailing. I regret not having clearer pictures of the final piece and close ups of the work, but I am currently separated from a majority of my artwork and was unable to document this fully upon completion. However these images do show the entire front side of the garment that I added onto.

Now my entire analysis and explanation of my piece.

"The piece titled "I was hoping I wouldn't have to go into detail," in the series "Seeking the cool side," has many elements that I took and carried into my work. Bernard Martin would have been in his early twenties during the 50's, close to my own age. So I chose a dress from that fashion period. Classic A-Line fit and flare. The series title (Seeking the cool side), played a part in elements I chose so that I could maintain a flowy, cool, light aesthetic throughout. And the piece itself, (I was hoping I wouldn't have to go into detail), lent itself to a bit of irony in my garment. I made my embroidery and additions to the dress intricately detailed and tedious to complete. By picking up on the colors in the painting I translated them into fashion. I saw the golden/yellow line of paint and turned into a golden chain. I took the overall grey, muted tones and let that become the base of my work, the dress itself. Upon discovering the lovely blue drippings throughout his painting I mirrored those cool, watery-like shapes and embroidered similar drips and stitched small beads near the ends of the drips to imitate water droplets falling. As for the black lines and prominent black frame I made a belt for the dress. The chains I added onto the dress can be detached and moved about, attaching to different parts.Overall this piece is a throughout accumulation of a series of paintings, details from a specific one, irony and play on words, the life of an artist and tiny details stretched to a bigger, more complete potential.