Martin Margiela

I find Margiela's work fascinating, especially the garments that he creates by reworking vintage garments. These two dresses especially caught my eye; the first one being the denim one shoulder dress. It's called "Shades of Denim" and is made from collected vintage jeans using various shades to create the fading effect shown. It's strips cut from the jeans and placed on an asymmetrical denim overall. I can't imagine it being very practical however as I'm guessing it would be incredibly heavy!

The second dress I absolutely love is this dress made from sequin vintage garments assembled together and fitted onto a mannequin. It's called "Sequin Top". I think it defines couture fashion. A one of a kind couture dress.

Since beginning this project I have really become interested in upcycling. One of the reasons being, you can produce beautiful garments like the dress above, from simply reworking existing ones. It's extremely eco-friendly and really not that expensive. When upcycling I like the fact that the finished product is more exclusive and, in most cases, simply one of a kind pieces.

This is the back of a shirt I have worked into to create my own unique pinstripe style. I did it with spray paint then stitched into the stripes to give it a messy, unfinished look.

The main theme throughout my collection is ‘customised classics’. Each garment started as a classic cut men’s shirt and I will continue these timeless silhouettes in the new designs. This makes them easy to wear and ensures longevity in relation to fashion and trends. Similarly, Maison Martin Margiela’s Spring/ Summer ’09 collection demonstrates the reworking of classic men’s styles. One design shows a vintage jean jacket taken apart and hemmed outwards into a broad shouldered cape. Another shows an over sized white cotton poplin shirt reworked to give a broad shouldered jacket with added sleeve detail. Both are teamed with feminine accessories or high heels to balance out the masculinity of the original garment. I feel what he has done with his collection is exactly what I am trying to achieve. My colour palette is very different to his crisp white and neutral choice of colours and tones in his collection. I, on the other hand, work with dark blues, browns, metallics, black and occasionally highlights of off-whites. The stitching and hemming is deliberately unmessy as I want my garments to have an unfinished feel to them. So when my stitching is all scruffy you'll know it's done on purpose!