Savage Pleasures
So I'm finally back to designing collections for myself.
Some Background Before We Begin
For the past few days I've been working on a clothing line I'm tentatively calling "Savage Pleasures" from a quotation I found on the internet. The designs themselves are how I generally prefer to design--drawing things on 4x6 inch note cards to figure out how they all look next to each other, in simple black and white so that color doesn't distract the eye. I actually inked them, which looks pretty slick in real life, and shaded or darkened areas with my pencil to add some contrast in specific areas. The collection isn't complete, but I wanted to post it since I'm excited about it, and I'm playing with the order in which they appear.
Savage Pleasures derives its inspiration from urban wildlife, warrior women, the riding habits of noble women in the 18th and 19th centuries, the concept of genus loci, the steampunk subculture, and the songs "The Queen's Rebuke" by the Decemberists as well as "Hunter's Kiss" by Rasputina. Currently there is no set palette, although I have some idea of what I'd like. This is merely an exercise to grow as a designer, and to get myself thinking.
All of the figures have ribbons tied around their necks for necklaces, similar footwear, and designated or implied animals thanks to the makeup and other styling. Every button you see in this is small and fabric-covered, because they're delightful in their own ways and I enjoy the fussiness of a lot of buttons.
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Crow
The first image I came up with. Feathers on the shoulders of the vest and ribbing on the bottom for something more sporty. The hair is supposed to be reminiscent of a bird's crown when it's fluffed. As you can see I played with the idea of doing eye makeup, and decided on a simple band instead of anything more complicated. The skirt is supposed to be made with layers of torn fabrics to give a feathery appearance, and to move when the wearer does. Since this was my first design, I didn't come up with any possible accessories or clear idea of separates, which I developed in the later designs.
Hawk
The weak looking little doodle by the woman with the bow is actually something I thought up late at night, when a lot of my good ideas germinate. It's an attache case with a little compound bow used as the handle. I'm rather proud of it, but it might be trite to other people. Below it is another bow that I was also playing around with that the woman could carry, which would have little blooming branches sprouting from it. An organza second skirt would be sewn on top of her slip-like skirt, in order to sway and move like air. (Look familiar to anyone?) A small vest is on top of a rather simple shirt, with fabric covered buttons and a feather pin with a small chain. This is arguably the most wearable of all of the outfits so far. As a whole the outfit is sort of generic, I'd try to find a nice feather or leaf print for the top skirt. And sue me: I adore ankle boots with spats details.
Deer
Deer women are something pervasive in a lot of world myths. In some they eat people, in others they're killed by their lovers. The belt she's wearing has the same tattered fabric that Crow does. As I drew her I remembered looking at images of golf pants when the sport was just taking root in America, and included them as a love note to such amazing pieces of clothing. I'm not the biggest fan of the harem pants trend, and tried to move away from that and illustrate how the garment would be tailored. The button would obviously go on the side, and unlike some pieces of clothing would actually be functioning, and probably hide some elastic for movement. The pants would, probably, be in tweed, because tweed is lovely. The jacket would have embroidered arrows sewn over the darts. Ruffles on the collar of the jacket, and 3/4 length sleeves. This was the first time I included that particular detail, and I wanted to imply that the Hawk shot her, and the first instance of me developing separate pieces which could stand on their own merit.
Fox
My most recent design. She's supposed to look slightly Asian to harken back to the kitsune myths, but otherwise she's very much Western-centric because the fox myths from Europe are equally excellent. I found a painting online of a woman in a deep red riding habit, which I riffed on and updated to the modern day. I also looked at photos of princess coats, which are one of the things I'd like for my own. The arrow this time is supposed to be a belt, with the arrow tip being metal, and the rest leather and embroidery. For the collar I included ribbing to soften the whole look and make it a little sportier. The cuffs are like tulip petals or leaves in the way they're cut. Since the coat itself is so loud, I didn't include a dress detail because I thought it was extraneous.
That's all for now. If you have questions, comments, or critiques, I'd love to hear them--but just be warned that I can't change the designs as they are right now, and that they aren't completely finalized anyway. I haven't yet come up with the other animals, but I'm looking at doubling my current number of designs, which are above.
Some Background Before We Begin
For the past few days I've been working on a clothing line I'm tentatively calling "Savage Pleasures" from a quotation I found on the internet. The designs themselves are how I generally prefer to design--drawing things on 4x6 inch note cards to figure out how they all look next to each other, in simple black and white so that color doesn't distract the eye. I actually inked them, which looks pretty slick in real life, and shaded or darkened areas with my pencil to add some contrast in specific areas. The collection isn't complete, but I wanted to post it since I'm excited about it, and I'm playing with the order in which they appear.
Savage Pleasures derives its inspiration from urban wildlife, warrior women, the riding habits of noble women in the 18th and 19th centuries, the concept of genus loci, the steampunk subculture, and the songs "The Queen's Rebuke" by the Decemberists as well as "Hunter's Kiss" by Rasputina. Currently there is no set palette, although I have some idea of what I'd like. This is merely an exercise to grow as a designer, and to get myself thinking.
All of the figures have ribbons tied around their necks for necklaces, similar footwear, and designated or implied animals thanks to the makeup and other styling. Every button you see in this is small and fabric-covered, because they're delightful in their own ways and I enjoy the fussiness of a lot of buttons.
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Crow
The first image I came up with. Feathers on the shoulders of the vest and ribbing on the bottom for something more sporty. The hair is supposed to be reminiscent of a bird's crown when it's fluffed. As you can see I played with the idea of doing eye makeup, and decided on a simple band instead of anything more complicated. The skirt is supposed to be made with layers of torn fabrics to give a feathery appearance, and to move when the wearer does. Since this was my first design, I didn't come up with any possible accessories or clear idea of separates, which I developed in the later designs.
Hawk
The weak looking little doodle by the woman with the bow is actually something I thought up late at night, when a lot of my good ideas germinate. It's an attache case with a little compound bow used as the handle. I'm rather proud of it, but it might be trite to other people. Below it is another bow that I was also playing around with that the woman could carry, which would have little blooming branches sprouting from it. An organza second skirt would be sewn on top of her slip-like skirt, in order to sway and move like air. (Look familiar to anyone?) A small vest is on top of a rather simple shirt, with fabric covered buttons and a feather pin with a small chain. This is arguably the most wearable of all of the outfits so far. As a whole the outfit is sort of generic, I'd try to find a nice feather or leaf print for the top skirt. And sue me: I adore ankle boots with spats details.
Deer
Deer women are something pervasive in a lot of world myths. In some they eat people, in others they're killed by their lovers. The belt she's wearing has the same tattered fabric that Crow does. As I drew her I remembered looking at images of golf pants when the sport was just taking root in America, and included them as a love note to such amazing pieces of clothing. I'm not the biggest fan of the harem pants trend, and tried to move away from that and illustrate how the garment would be tailored. The button would obviously go on the side, and unlike some pieces of clothing would actually be functioning, and probably hide some elastic for movement. The pants would, probably, be in tweed, because tweed is lovely. The jacket would have embroidered arrows sewn over the darts. Ruffles on the collar of the jacket, and 3/4 length sleeves. This was the first time I included that particular detail, and I wanted to imply that the Hawk shot her, and the first instance of me developing separate pieces which could stand on their own merit.
Fox
My most recent design. She's supposed to look slightly Asian to harken back to the kitsune myths, but otherwise she's very much Western-centric because the fox myths from Europe are equally excellent. I found a painting online of a woman in a deep red riding habit, which I riffed on and updated to the modern day. I also looked at photos of princess coats, which are one of the things I'd like for my own. The arrow this time is supposed to be a belt, with the arrow tip being metal, and the rest leather and embroidery. For the collar I included ribbing to soften the whole look and make it a little sportier. The cuffs are like tulip petals or leaves in the way they're cut. Since the coat itself is so loud, I didn't include a dress detail because I thought it was extraneous.
That's all for now. If you have questions, comments, or critiques, I'd love to hear them--but just be warned that I can't change the designs as they are right now, and that they aren't completely finalized anyway. I haven't yet come up with the other animals, but I'm looking at doubling my current number of designs, which are above.