Designing for the real world
Alana Barnes and Tayla Davies
Rangitoto College
Year 13 Fabrics Technology
Teacher: Maya Foster
Tayla and Alana worked together on a wearable arts project, with an emphasis on recycling, for which they each created five garments. Their organisation of a charity fashion show Recyclable Wonders, which expanded to include Year 9, 10 and 12 students, also involved them being stakeholders for the Year 12 class.
The project was inspired by a school trip to Cambodia the previous year, where the students had witnessed the poverty of children living on a waste disposal dump who scavenge recyclable items such as plastic, glass, and tyres to sell. They had also visited a nearby orphanage, run by the Centre for Children's Happiness (CCH), which provides schooling for some of these children.
As Alana and Tayla considered potential clients for their Year 13 project, they wondered how they could help the CCH orphanage and, after identifying its main issue as raising funds, decided to develop their outcome around that. After discussing ideas they decided to create a fashion show, based on recycled materials, to raise money for the orphanage and make their school community aware of life in other societies and the need for sustainability.
The girls contacted CCH about the orphanage being the client for the project, and ended up with stakeholders based around the world as well as in Cambodia. Although they kept in contact with these stakeholders via E-mail, their consultation was limited to the visual aspects and whether the project met their ethos and values. In order to get feedback and criticism on the entire scope of the garments, Tayla and Alana asked wearable artist Anita Petersto be their key stakeholder.
As their solution wasn't the usual type of project, Tayla and Alana had to make up some of the rules themselves. They created their own code of practice, which included consideration of values – that the models shouldn't feel uncomfortable wearing too-revealing designs, and that images such as skulls shouldn't be used because of the history of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. They also emphasised the importance of recycling as much as possible so that they weren't spending money which might otherwise go to the orphanage.
Alana and Tayla researched wearable art and fashion shows, and also looked at plastic products, their disposal, and the different kinds of waste materials polluting the Earth. They discussed how they might recycle rubbish into garments and, to check that people would actually attend a wearable art fashion show, conducted a small written survey asking school students their thoughts on this kind of event.
Before starting their design work, the girls tested different material manipulation techniques such as:
- fusing different types of plastic;
- ironing foil;
- sewing and gathering plastic or foil;
- crushing/cutting aluminium drink cans; and
- stripping electrical wire and flax.
Alana and Tayla made samples of their experiments and then trialled different methods of using the new fabrics. Tayla, who ironed and sewed chippie packets together, made a sleeve from this material so that she could check it would shape around her model's arm. Although it worked as a fabric, she eventually decided that it wouldn't be strong enough to withstand the quick changing required during a fashion show.
Anita brought some of her costumes to school which provided an opportunity for Tayla and Alana to thoroughly examine the construction details, such as layering and inserting zips. Although wearable art doesn't demand all the techniques used for clothing, they finished all the edges on their garments to ensure they were neat and strong.
When designing their collections, Alana and Tayla included reference to Cambodian culture, for example, in the use of colours found in traditional Cambodian dress, to emphasise the background to the project. After sketching and annotating their concepts, they asked for feedback from their key stakeholders (Anita and their teacher Maya Foster) and took this into consideration when developing their final designs. The girls also created a garment together to complement a piece of jewellery which CCH had sent them as a fundraising item to be auctioned during the fashion show.
In between developing their costumes, the girls worked on event management. They had to organise a suitable venue, lighting, a PowerPoint presentation, sound and music, a presenter, getting a runway made for the show, models, hair and make-up, back-stage help, and a promotional poster and tickets.
Recyclable Wonders was a great success. Tayla and Alana surveyed audience members after the show, to find out their opinion of the different sections of the parade and whether they felt it had raised their awareness of issues such as recycling and child poverty. The girls were pleased the show had achieved what they hoped. Their initiative will be repeated in 2010, with other Year 13 students organising the event.
Teacher comment
This was a journey into the unknown for both me and the students – who were presented with new opportunities, complex key factors, and a wealth of wider community stakeholders which enabled them to meet the criteria for excellence.
At Level 3, I am more of a facilitator and mentor and students are self-directing their assignments, but it was one of the hardest things to not get too involved in this project because I was so excited by it all. Lessons became progress meetings where the students came to fully understand through experience the complexities of project management. Another reward for me as their teacher was to see the students tailor-making their own course, sourcing stakeholders with expertise and sharing their knowledge and experiences with their peers. This enabled the higher-level discussion and thinking required in Scholarship – another bonus.
Alana Barnes and Tayla Davies wearing their finished garments
(Image from Vista, issue 7 2009 , Rangitoto College's school newsletter)
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