Plaids, Plaids, Patterns

After learning nothing but patterns and plaids for the past 2 weeks in Visual Communication I have been taking more appreciation for jackets and clothes that I see with patterns knowing the detail it takes the designer to design such a garment. Specifically in my drawing class while we've been working on rendering plaids and patterns, while its a time consuming technique, it has been fun to learn and see my improvements.

Through these past 2 weeks I've been looking out for plaid jackets for inspiration and I started seeing how many different patterned jackets I found. There are all types of prints and plaids used for patterns, no one print is the same.

In the past fall 2011 fashion shows specifically Valentino used a lot of prints on his jackets. I could only imagine how beautiful these illustrations looked when designed because after learning plaids and prints I feel a lot of appreciation towards the skill it takes to create. Needless to say, feeling surrounded by plaids makes me feel inspired by the beauty of the print which I never noticed before.

Under Water

In the background of the second image you can see the back drop of the show and how the space was completely transformed into this modern underwater feeling. The clothes reminded me of the beauty in the fountain and the textures in the garments reminded me of the patterns and ripples the drops of water create.

As I have posted before, the fountain in my neighborhood has inspired me in a very beautiful way. This week as I was passing by the fountain I walked up close to it and looked at the ripples and water droplets falling and the patterns in which this creates. The movement in the water and the sound it makes is so peaceful and as I began to think about how it could relate to clothes and patterns I remembered the Chanel spring 2012 show which was an under water theme.

Patterns on the Brain

After working in class on Tuesday on creating patterns I found myself noticing patterns out of everything. As I was sitting in a restaurant that had dimmed lighting I realized that the position of the lights created patterns within itself. The lights hanging from the ceiling created a perfect grid pattern and I found myself noticing stripes in the light. There were square shaped lights on the wall which were in a diagonal position which I recognized as diagonal stripes. Also the ceiling was painted in different vibrant colored stripes which I found myself being able to imagine on a dress or shirt as the print.

Where ever I am I find myself pointing out possible prints. Even in a place where I am so familiar with and have walked by for almost everyday since I've lived in New York, Union Square. When walking home from class one night I looked up at the lights lining the DSW and realized that they were striped and lit up in such a way that reminded me of some sort of metallic or sequin pattern. These lights could be replicated on a dress in the form of a metallic fabric. I find myself drawn to shiny objects more so than dull because I love sparkles and shimmer. Not necessarily directly in my designs but definately the shading which the shine of shimmer creates inspires me in a whole different way.

Pattern Crazy

After talking in class on Tuesday about patterns that could be turned into textiles I was incredibly inspired by the things around me that I might see everyday but never really stopped and took a moment to thing about the beautiful patterns. This is an image of the clouds while it was dark out. This was a huge gray storm cloud that stuck out against the black night sky and it was one of the most beautiful night skies I had ever seen. I immediately thought about how the beautiful and organic outline where the cloud and the dark sky meet could become a repeated pattern on a textile and snapped a picture.
I was browsing through Anthropologie this week and found that all the different decorations on the walls and around the store were beautiful patterns. These different shaped circles fit within each other I found myself particularly attracted to. I am usually attracted to and inspired by circular and organic shapes more so than much angular and hard lines. I can imagine these circled patterns on a textile giving a cute accent to a dress.
These organic, natural shapes inter-twined within each other I found to be particularly beautiful and can imagine it as a Jacquard fabric. This could even be embroidered onto some sort of fabric as a design.