Today I had a chat with Sally Taylor a fine art, drawing and contextual studies tutor about my work how my ideas had developed to my concept and how the links to my research.
After seeing my deconstructed suit I explained how I wanted to combine the traditional techniques of tailoring with the rather new pattern cutting method of subtraction cutting. Sally suggest that mixing the two contrasting pattern cutting ideas might not make a balanced garment. She advised that I could alternately create an outfit that combines the methods in a more balanced manner but to still experiment with combining the two methods so see what happens.
We also talked about how I was going to link my future outcomes with my theme of of the Japanese culture. After looking at my research of the folk law tale of the Snow Woman and the different versions I explained that my colour pallet and fabric choices where decided from the one of the version of the tale where the spirt of the snow woman entices travellers to their deaths but spares the some of the young and beautiful. In the the versions of the tale the spirt appears either naked or in a white kimono and from this I want to use white or a pale colour, light weight fabric that is slightly transparent. I want to use a lightweight fabric to represent the flowyness of the snow and a white or pale slightly transparent fabric because of what she is described as wearing/not wearing.
Sally asked me if I had every read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden or seen the film and how I could take elements from the story like the the sale of the main character's (Chiyo Sakamoto) "mizuage" - the coming-of-age ceremony for an apprentice Geisha where wealthy buyers to bid on her virginity so the apprentice could become a full Geisha.
In the book Chiyo Sakamoto presents prospective bidders ekubo (a sweetened rice cake) to prospective buyer to signify it is her time for mizuage.
“Mameha went to a confectioner’s shop that same week and ordered on my behalf a kind of sweet-rice cake we call ekubo, which is the Japanese word for dimple. We call them ekubo because they have a dimple in the top with a tiny red circle in the center; some people think they look very suggestive.”
“Please accept these ekubo, Doctor,” I said, and after bowing, placed the package on a side table near his hand.”
Excerpt From: Arthur Golden. “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
I like the idea of models carrying ekubo on the catwalk or in a photography shoot, wearing my garments because it is a strong link to the Japanese culture.
The details of the mizuage ceremony are not in the film so unless people had read the book or knew about the culture the presence of the rice cake would not be understood but I like the idea of the mystery behind this element.
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