Tuesday, May 26, 2009

CONVERSE (PRODUCT) RED™

In 2007, the 1st year students entered into an AIDS awareness competition for Converse shoes.


Two designs, done by Chloe Hugo-Hamman and Samantha Baily, were chosen to be put into production.


10% of the net wholesale price of these CONVERSE (PRODUCT) RED™ will be paid to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Geneva, Switzerland).

Go to http://www.converse.com/#/products/shoes/red to check them out!

Well done Sam and Chloe :)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Games We Play 06/05/09

This year the Durban July Competition called on young designers to come up with an outfit with theme "The Games We Play".

Stephanie Anastasopoulos: "Inspired by a geometric, six sided cube shape which represents a dice, a common game accessory, which in turn represents the game of chance. The dilapidated look of the garment has reference to the great depression and the idea that people had to keep all their possessions and items of worth on their physical selves. The plain dyed cotton is further inspired by this significant era."

Steph was accepted for the second
consecutive year
- well done Steph!!



Hieke Lauterbach: "Twister was the inspiration behind my design. As the game unfolds and bodies are intertwined, to represent this the dress is pleated creating depth and layers. The pleated chiffon skirt is twisted around the model's midriff - My design folds over itself creating 3 layers with 3 different opacity's, creating movement and a feeling of depth."

Samantha Baily: "I took inspiration from the game 'peek-a-boo', where you hide and they appear! I used this surprise element to hide my naughty design underneath a structured 18Th Century design. This design was inspired by the Queen of Hearts and was combined with the 'geometry by design' trend. The idea being a deck of tricks hidden just below the surface - should surely make you want to play again?"
















Robyn Caris: "I didn't want to interpret the theme literally and thought about the connotations the theme brought to mind. I thought of a casino type of vibe, with high rollers, beautiful women and all the games that get played; mentally and physically. I wanted to portray a sexy silhouette and incorporated a couple current trends. A modern, sexy take on the little black dress."





Kim Sassen: "When I thought about the 'games people play' I automatically thought of my favorite board game as a child - Snakes and Ladders! It is a game of chance. At times there is not a lot that you can do in order to win - your fate is left in the hands of the dice. I chose very royal colours, this makes a bold statement. I tried to emphasise the feeling of it being intertwined and flowing from one side to the other."

Monday, May 4, 2009

Term Two 04/05/2009

The year seems to be flying and we are already 2 weeks into the 2nd term!
Last term the
1st years completed their first design project.

Their task was to design a skirt for Spring/Summer '09;looking at current trends in colour, fabric and shape.
Erica Sauzier; moodboard and storyboard.

They first had to create a moodboard based on these trends and themes and from this they created 3 skirt designs in simple storyboard format.




The project was challenging, but the standard was very high and the 1st years were clearly up to the challenge!

Petrie Morton; moodboard
and storyboard






The 2nd years ended last term with the full-scale production of an outfit designed for a film of their choice, as part of Costume Studies.


They had to design for a specific scene and character in
the film and the garment had to look as if it would fit seamlessly into the aesthetic of the film.

Kim Sassen ;The Notebook; beach scene
; Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams)


The students
really went all out and produced some beautiful, original outfits.




Sarah Dreyer; My Fair Lady; ball scene;
Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn)




Kirsten Chancellor Maddison; Grease; End dance scene; Sandy Olsson (Olivia
Newton-John)


















Hieke Lauterbach
;Memoirs of a Geisha; Garden scene; Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang)


Last term also saw the completion of the 3rd years couture garments. They are currently working on their
tailoring garments...photo's to follow soon!


Stephanie Anastasopolous -Inspired by Scotland















Cindy Armstrong - Inspired by India















Abbi-may Richards - Inspired by the Victorian Era


















M.J Kemp - Inspired by Italy/'Le Dolce Vita'
















Entering into term 2, the 2nd year students have been busy conceptualizing their men's wear/soft tailoring ranges for the end of year fashion show.


As mos
t of the students were new to designing for men, they were required to first create 5 moodboards. These included a customer profile (looking at lifestyle); key items, mood and colour; graphic and accessories.



Sarah Dreyer - Geek Ch!c






Out of the 3 outfits designed, one will be chosen to be made up for the fashion show

Kim Sassen - Military V.s. Biker








Zoe Barnardo - Street Warrior














Ashley-mae Marshall - The New Casual










DAF has created the 'Outreach Programme', which aims at getting the students involved in helping those less fortunate than the
mselves. This year we are proud to be associated with the Gladys School of Dance.

The second years were given the task of designing Latin dance dresses for the couples. 5 designs were chosen and the students will be making up the girls' Latin dance dresses for an up coming competition.