HANDMADE LEATHER CLUTCH BAG

I find buying presents for people so hard. I think the only person I am good at buying presents for is my sister, mainly because I just buy things I like and luckily we have the same taste. This year I thought it would be a good idea to hand make my gifts; a lot more thought and effort goes into it and I'm skint. 

I have so much leather at the moment! I went a little mad whilst fabric shopping in Dewsbury and came back with quite a handful. I thought it would be good to make a little purse or a clutch bag for Sarah, for our uni Christmas meal.

I hand drew a pattern and chose this pretty orangey/tan leather with the inner suede for detail. My poor sewing machine struggled a little with the thickness of the leather but we got there eventually!

I''m really pleased with the result, especially seen as how it is my first ever attempt.  I really want to make more! I have many colours and i'm contemplating making mother a make-up bag, like she doesn't have enough!  Hmmm.

URBAN OUTFITTERS PHOTOSHOOT

For my illustration/artwork for Urban Outfitters I decided to do a styled photo shoot using a couple of old film cameras I picked up from my Dad and in a charity shop. The plan was to use a black and white film in one, and colour film in the other. I wanted to somehow layer an image with embroidery that I would later have to do. I had my photoshoot just behind my house in Leeds, not the most spectacular destinations but I think it fit well for what I was wanting; A fairly simple background that wouldn't distract you from the main subject. The fact that it was quite dingy was a plus in my eyes. 

I developed the black and white film by hand in Uni, but the colour film had to be developed in some sort of machine, it didn't turn out very well at all which is a shame. 

URBAN OUTFITTERS ILLUSTRATION PROJECT

For Personal Professional Practice we had been given an exciting brief for Urban Outfitters. I was to create a fashion illustration or style a photo shoot for a zine that would be sold and exhibited in store. 

I put together a series of mood boards to gather inspiration from street style features in magazines, clothing websites, instagram and Pinterest. 

I haven't drawn in such a long time and i've never been outrageously talented in that medium. I wanted to do something a little different to what I assumed everyone else on my course would be doing. I looked at various trends I could incorporate into my piece, composition and different techniques. Embroidery really interested me from the beginning of my research. I'd never done any embroidery before but how hard could it be?

ELECTRIC HOLIDAY

The Walt Disney company have teamed up with Barneys New York to create an animated short for their November window display. The piece is titled "Electric Holiday" and is described as "a moving art video that is conceived to be a playful interpretation of the high fashion world". The short film follows Minnie Mouse around Paris before she steps out on a catwalk and is transformed into a humanesque fashion model. As well as a handful of other well know disney characters who walk the catwalk wearing outfits based on their character. Minnie wears Lanvin, Micky in Balenciaga, Cruella De Vil in Rick Owens, Snow White wears Nina Ricci and Daisy in Dolce and Gabbana. The short also stars some celebrities and known fashion figures including; Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker, Steven Meisel, Franca Sozzani ,Suzy Menkes and Anna Della Russo.

Sarah Jessica Parker even looked the part at the recent Barneys New York window unveiling event she co-hosted on the 14th November.