Tuesday 23rd April - VOGUE

As well as researching in books and magazines, I have been looking in the fashion magazine VOGUE. Whilst looking through it, I happened to find Tracey Boyd's new label A Boyd Bazaar. This label is kind of a modern contemporary turn on the traditional wear in places such as Rajasthan in India. Boyd likes to turn things upside down so that it becomes surprising, and so to her treasure dresses made from block print indian fabrics "worn for years in national dress" - pieced together with antique rajasthani pompom panels, and Parisian Chantilly lace sleeves. 
She also looked at traditional indian vintage blankets and added cowrie shells to them to make them extra special, but were hard to get hold of as they were once used as the currency and are valued like gold. The craftswomen weren't so sure about doing something against their norm until they saw the result. Here, everything feels comfortable love worn but is still precious. 

This is the home page of the website aboydbazaar.com, and it draws me in without even looking at the online store - it's just the patterns that have been used instead of the heads, and the shirts that have been drawn on to the figures look traditional with a modern twist. This is something I want to create, and to start with I want to look at the figures closer alongside the patterns. 

This bag has been collected from Rajasthan, and been re-invented with a long, yellow-gold woven strap, red and multi colour embroidery, with a hand painted happy face bead alongside a surprise lining. 

This is the shirt from the home page of the website. The tassel adds a sense of culture to the shirt. 

I particularly like this cushion as the pattern has been made up of the beads, and this is something different as usually beads make up the finishing touches, not the whole design. If I was to create something with this amount of embroidery, I would need a lot of time as they would need to hand sewn, and even though I have the patience, it's just the sheer amount of time that it would take. I do think it is worth the time and effort that goes into it .
I also looked at Danielle's photos from when she went on holiday to India, and I can see where designers get their ideas and inspiration from - the colourful low life of India, the mosques, the temples, the architecture, the markets - it's everywhere, and combined with photographs that I will be taking at work on the weekend of flour bags and rice bags, as well as other products, these ideas and patterns can be combined to form/create something modern and fresh, as well as keeping the traditional ideas intact as the origin. 

Going back to India, there is also an international Vogue, and India has one. Victoria Beckham has done a cover shoot for them, which to me shows the meeting of eastern and western cultures, as she is dressed in traditional indian bridal wear.