Initial Research

 

Exploring Theme-Related Artist and Designers

Kuzman, S.S. (2020). Selkie Costume. [Digital Image] selenasart.com. Available at: https://selenasart.com/artworks/selkies-new-clothes-2020/.

An impressive example of how nature's organic texture is incorporated in fashion is the selkie costume by film producer Selena S Kuzman. She created a costume based on a scotland marine legend selkies, a creature that can shapeshift between a seal and a human by removing or putting on their seal skin. The entire garments are made of used fabric and recycled bottle to make tiny scale that are individually hand stitched to the fabric to imitate barnacle-encrusted rocks. She also use shibori, a Japanese textile technique for dyeing process and texture decoration. "I work on garments, inspired by organic shapes found in nature, animating pre-loved and discarded textiles, and transforming them from a two-dimensional flat surface into a three-dimensional object." (Kuzman, 2022) On my 3d outcome, I would like to achieve this perfect imitation of the organic texture and sensory like how Kuzman imitates the rough barnacle texture on her selkies costume. 

ROSEVEAN

Oil on panel

Kieran Stiles B. 1970

Stiles, K. (1970). Rosevean. [Oil on panel] browseanddarby.co.uk. Available at: https://browseanddarby.co.uk/artists/91-kieran-stiles/works/7337-kieran-stiles-rosevean/.

Another example is nature's organic texture portrayed in oil painting by British landscape painter, Kairan Stiles. A lot of his artwork are painted outside as he focus more on the senses instead of painting exactly what he sees. Observing several of his painting, I could see that Stiles use marks, dashes, splash and other innovative painting technique to mimic the movement and feeling of the scenery that he painted. "I try to show the extraordinary energy and verve found in nature. Just as a defibrillator can jump-start your heart, an explosive shard of light or violent collision of electric colour can ignite a painting and blow your mind!" (Stiles, 2023). Looking at Stile's unique way of seeing the nature and his innovative technique of transforming how the scenery makes he feel into a painting is what I wanted to be able to do when making my 2d and 3d outcome as it is always a challenge for me to communicate my ideas and thought into an outcome that I'm working on. 

                        

                                    Magic Circle, 2015                                             Cytokinesis Glial, 2019

Brown, R. (n.d.). Paper Sculpture. [Digital Image] roganbrown.com. Available at: https://roganbrown.com/artwork/3821780-Magic%20Circle%20Detail.html.

Rogan Brown is a British paper sculpture artist who explore the shapes and construction of natural form like human organ, insect and human cells. It's impressive how complex and intricate his paper sculpture is and some of which take up to 5 month to finish. I like how Brown chose an interesting way observing his object in close detail and amazingly recreate the shapes and texture by stacking small pieces of paper layer by layer that gradually builds the dimension of its sculpture. From exploring Rogan Brown's paper sculpture, I learned to take a closer look of small details especially related to nature's texture that could be a source of inspiration for my project. It also showed me that 2d media like paper could be transform and construct into a complex dimensional outcome like his artwork. 

2025 Spring/Summer Trend Forecast

Bubble skirt and Inflated Silhouette (dramatic balloon sleeve)

Tulle pleats and layering

Dramatic Drapery & Ruffle Collar

Sporty and street style with feminine feature (parachute and utility gear)

Military green and khaki color

Image References:

Persson, L.B. (2025). The Key Spring/Summer 2025 Trends To Know Now. [Digital Image] vogue.co.uk. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/spring-summer-2025-fashion-trends.

Lai, R. (2025). 9 spring/summer 2025 fashion trends to know for next season. [Digital Image] glamourmagazine.co.uk. Available at: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/fashion-trends-2025-spring-summer.

Flum, D. (2024). The 5 Biggest Fashion Trends We Predict Will Take Over in 2025. [Digital Image] cosmopolitan.com. Available at: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/a63202053/fashion-trends-2025/.

Eggenberger, M. (2025). The Spring/Summer 2025 Fashion Trends That Actually Matter Now. [Digital Image] whowhatwear.com. Available at: https://www.whowhatwear.com/fashion/trends/spring-summer-2025-fashion-trends.

The Skills and Technique that I Will Be Researching and Developing

Textile study: Fabric manipulation

There's an endless technique of manipulating textile to change its structure or as a decorative finishing to the garment, which are slashing, smocking, shirring, pleating, quilting and many more. Several unique textile technique also come from Japan one of which is Shibori, a technique of wrapping round object usually marbles with thread and boiling the fabric to hold its bubbly shape. There's a lot range of unique manipulation technique that I want to experiment and I will be recording every step on my experimentation sketchbook to help finalizing and developing my final garment outcome. 

Discovering Fractals in Nature

Fractals is a geometric shapes that display a similarity through a full range of scale. The are many example of fractals pattern in nature like the repetitive design of broccoli, tree branch, river branch, leaf veins, foam or bubble and many more. Looking deeper into these fractal pattern in nature could help me to develop my ideas and introduce me to many new texture that I could recreate using fabric manipulation for my garment outcome. 

Fashion Illustration Skill

It's important to develop my illustration skills as well as the skill to form moldboards and creating a powerful collage to present my ideas effectively. The experimentation sketchbook will be the media that record how my illustration and skills have developed through the weeks of creating the project. 

Garment-Construction Skill

To be able to turn my sketches and ideas into reality, I need to developed my sewing skills and other textile-related skills to construct a garment based on the sketches that I made. In order for my final garment outcome to look professional and show a range of development behind it, I will first experiment with the technique that I will be using and make a sample to put on my sketchbook, therefore I could see how the manipulation technique is going to turned out and how I could fix it before making creating the garments. 

Concept Research

When we take a walk outside, we could easily see that most natural things are not flat. The leaf have vein pattern on them, rocks have bumps and rough edge, you could also feel the rough tree bark or the sharp fibre of grass. I would like to use these as an inspiration to create not only a visually appealing garment but also play of texture or sensory that could be felt and explored. I think that adding fun texture to fabric is an excellent alternative to patterns to add personality and uniqueness to the outfit. A garment should not only look aesthetically pleasing visually but could also give an impression from feeling the fabric surface and texture. 

Mitchell, P. (n.d.). Natural Form and texture. [Digital Image] paulmitchellphotography.co.uk. Available at: https://www.paulmitchellphotography.co.uk/form-texture. 

References:

Kuzman, S.S. (2022). Selkie’s New Clothes 2020 - Selena S Kuzman. [online] Selena S Kuzman. Available at: https://selenasart.com/artworks/selkies-new-clothes-2020/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2025]. 

School of painting (2024). Kieran Stiles Artist. [online] St Ives School of Painting. Available at: https://www.schoolofpainting.co.uk/tutors/kieran-stiles/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2025].

Contemporary Collective (n.d.). Rogan Brown. [online] Contemporary Collective. Available at: https://www.contemporarycollective.com/rogan-brown.

Gunther, S. (2020). 14 Amazing Fractals Found in Nature. [online] Treehugger. Available at: https://www.treehugger.com/amazing-fractals-found-in-nature-4868776.

Monday, M. (2015). Texture in Fashion Design. [online] Moody Monday. Available at: https://www.moodymonday.co.uk/2015/06/texture-in-fashion-design/.