It is such a shock to come to the realisation that I have reached the end of my Final Major Project (FMP). To be completely honest, I think my FMP has completely surpassed my expectations in relation to how much work I have produced and also the final outcomes with the garments and photo shoots. In addition to this, it is such a nice feeling to see all of my work finally come together and the project itself went fairly smoothly according to my brief also. Admittedly, I think due to my natural perfectionist qualities, I have produced more work in and out of my sketchbook than what my brief had originally planned, specifically when it comes to design/illustration work and samples. Nonetheless, this shows that I was dedicated, passionate and willing to take risks throughout this project.
A method that I have enjoyed the most would probably be the design and illustration processes; this could be due to being really inspired from the exhibitions I have been to such as the 'Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty' at the V&A. The biggest challenge I faced within this whole project was probably the surveys for my research as my theme "Living with Dementia" was such a touchy subject for anyone in some way or form, hence I couldn't get any real primary research from actual dementia patients. Despite this, I found other ways to surpass this by watching documentaries, reading articles, interviewing care workers and much more which worked very effectively. In addition to this, time management seemed to be a struggle in some parts of the project and in particular, the knitting processes. Although, knitting itself if quite a challenging experimentation process itself, thus I had to take even more time to get as many samples as possible and this helped to develop my work by having more knowledge of the techniques I wanted to use on the knit machine, which would then be used on my final garments.
At the start of the project, I really enjoyed creating my own brief and time management plan, which made me feel like I had a lot more control with what I wanted to produce, but also the ability to push myself even further without it becoming too chaotic or stressful. I can say that I have achieved all of the targets throughout the project, if not more and some examples of this would be my trip to Copenhagen in Denmark. Not only did this trip make my FMP even more unique with a cultural twist, but it also enabled me to take my fashion knowledge and work independently in finding galleries, museums, hot spots and more which would relate to my theme of "Living with Dementia". Furthermore, my questionnaires proved to be very effective more so with the general public, unfortunately not so much with people who actually had dementia due to it being a potential risk, which was probably the hardest target within the whole project to complete. Despite this, I managed to overcome this by working even harder on other processes such as photography and print development, which I used earlier in the project. It is key to point out that the strongest targets I managed to do the best and done even more than the brief described was the stand work and design processes. I felt that I had a truly keen interest within these processes and I always found some way to develop or improve on them, whereas if I stuck to my brief, my designs would have been no where near as effective for my final designs and garments.
There are many developments that have contributed to my final outcome and examples of this would definitely be from my experimentation weeks within my FMP. I really tried to push and exhaust everything I could do during the experimentation stage so that I could narrow down to the final process I wanted to use for my illustrations and garments. An experimentation process such as my stand work and my design processes have definitely had a bold, positive outcome for my final garments as they are exactly what I had planned when I was using these processes. From the research I did prior to this, such as my surveys and documentary viewings, it enabled me to become incredibly inspired to produced as much as possible. Not to mention, my knitting samples majorly impacted the outcome of my designs and garments, which were mainly inspired from my research at the beginning of the project. Without my knitting samples, there was no way my final garments would have looked as processed and professional as they do now. A lot of my garments fabrication was made using my knitwear and it is fair to say from my perspective that my skills have developed greatly since the start of this course, let alone the beginning of my FMP. The techniques I used within my knits were very diverse and unique, which added a lot of detail and perspective to the overall look. Hence, because of my sampling and experimentation, my knits worked extremely well and referenced back incredibly accurately to my designs and stand work. On top of this, it is fascinating to see how much my final garments really do relate back to the idea of my theme and the message that I was trying to portray with "Living with Dementia" whether it was from the inspiration from exhibitions, stand work, the tiny details in my knit samples or perhaps the overall look for my own photo shoot to create the perfect setting for my theme.
Within my group, I feel that we have had a lot of great advice to work from throughout our FMP's, although personally I feel that I have not had as much advice or suggestions for improvements like others within my group have. This could have been due to my work being more developed than some in certain weeks and that I was up to date, or perhaps my group didn't really have any major suggestions, they were shy or perhaps just didn't have any advice for me. Despite this, I loved seeing other students work and helping them find ways in how they could boost their project and experiment with new processes which they may have not even done before. In addition to this, it was nice to be surrounded by them as we were all in the same boat, focusing on our own FMP's and it was nice to know that we could all talk to each other, whether it was our group tutorial or not. I wouldn't say that it has made my work any less than what it could have been, but I would have liked more help as to what I needed to do or what I could have improved on. It is a shame because I have always enjoyed group tutorials more as I feel that I can see other students work and also get great developmental criticism and advice on how to push my project further, but I feel I had better feedback from one on ones with my Tutor as I could get more accurate advice rather than a group helping. Despite all this, my tutor was very thorough on what we could do to really push our blog standards up and also a list of processes that we could use within our book, but I would have usually done them by that point which is why I felt I needed to be challenged further by both my tutor and group. My mid-point review was incredibly successful and the suggestion I felt I really needed to improve on to boost my grade was combining all the work together to create an easy flow as oppose to jumping all around within my sketchbook. Although, very positive thoughts from my tutor were that I had a lot of experimentation, a strong amount of research, used appropriate skills and methods and many more.
To conclude on this final evaluation, as a student on this course it is clear that I have developed so much as a creative thinker and designer. It is such a relief to know that my FMP is finally complete and looking over it, there are some aspects in which I wish I could have changed. For example, I would have liked to had developed more with my digital prints and finding more effective ways to incorporate them into my final garments, although this was most likely due to time management and the last thing I wanted to do was fall behind with my project brief as this could have effected the next few processes drastically. If I was to do it over again, I would have still done the work I had already produced with the prints, but when it came to designing, I should have been more open minded when it came to introducing my prints onto the garment, but I feared that it would have made my garment look dull and tacky. Overall, I am very happy with how my FMP developed and finally came to a great end, but as a perfectionist, there will always be things that I would have wanted to improve on or wish I could have done slightly different. In comparison to other students work, I feel very proud of myself as oppose to when we did our first ever project at Ravensbourne, as I felt like the underdog. Whereas now, my work has improved so much and my FMP is very unique and diverse to what other peoples work looks like and I am very excited to see all of our works at the foundation show. Now knowing that I have successfully completed my FMP, it has given me a lot of confidence for next year when I attend London College of Fashion and I will take these processes to use for future developments and projects as a new up-coming designer in the fashion world. In addition to this, I feel so lucky and appreciative that I have attended the Ravensbourne Fashion and Textiles foundation course, as I feel that I would have no where near been as successful at another foundation course. Hence, I will take all the happy memories I have had here with all staff and classmates to cherish for the rest of my life.
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