Venetia Ioanna Papadeas

Introducing my In Bloom Collection.

Mood Boards images created from the foundation of a rose; the circle of its Life, Time, and Death serving as my inspiration for this collection.  

For a closer look at each mood board, click the Right arrow.

"La Vie en Rose." - French for I am looking at the world through rose coloured glasses via the film Sabrina starring Audrey Hepburn, 1954.

LIFE Mood Board.  Inspiration gathered illustrating the Life of a rose. 

TIME Mood Board. Inspiration gathered illustrating a rose as it moves through Time.

DEATH Mood Board.  Inspiration gathered illustrating a rose in its final days.

This first look of my In Bloom Collection is very much representative of a rose in both its very beginning and very last stages of life. The look is meant to be very tough, giving off a closed-up effect just as rose petals are closed before they bloom. This tough aesthetic is also symbolic of the edgy and crushed look that is brought about once a rose begins to wither and decay. It from this aesthetic from which many ideas were pulled, to include deteriorated leathers, resilient thorns, disintegrating petals, and rustic metal embellishment. Metals also served as color / textile schema, as much of the fabric used in these garments are metallic black, silver, bronze, and gold.  A rose in this decomposing state inspired me for color choice as well, in that its color deepens in luster as they die. Thus in a sense, I chose to begin the In Bloom Collection with the end.

For this look, I took into consideration the parallels between a flaming rose and a human being smoking a cigarette.  There is some poetic truth to the fact that both will eventually turn to ash.  With this in mind I chose to create a clean and polished silhouette like that of a cigarette or strong, unblemished root - yet decadently decomposed in color.  As roses degrade from ashes back into the earth, it is the same process from which they are born - thus soil and dirt are the color aesthetic that influenced me here.  However, in contrast to the corrosion of dirt and rot, I chose to juxtapose these colors with a streamlined and somewhat inflexible silhouette. This rigidness served as inspiration for the swatches displayed.  The lengthy ties used at the wrist are symbolic of the bedrock and fibrous infrastructure from which the base of a rose is grounded. 

This garment was inspired by water, as it serves to be the life source from which a rose thrives. I wanted to create a look that ebbed and flowed the way water does, whilst still keeping a leafy green and stalk-like aesthetic. The four images pictured on the left depict a model wearing an ensemble underwater. The dress is blue on the inside, juxtaposing its very green exterior - just as the stalk and leaves of a rose draw water from within. The dual piece back tie of the dress was inspired by the tendrils of a stalk - both pieces intertwining and extending all the way to the floor. Much inspiration for the contours within the dress (such as the sleeves and the angular cut) were drawn from the diamond like shape of a leaf.

The Crescendo of my In Bloom Collection. This fur garment was inspired by the TIME mood board - illustrates shape and color influence from the movie Beauty & the Beast. Specifically, this piece is meant to characterize the Enchanted Rose: the mystical flower that serves as a time piece in the film. "If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time” (Disney 1991). This garment is representative of the Enchanted Rose at its peak - sparkling in prime blossom and budding with life, only having lost a few of its petals. The bumble bee served as my inspiration for the textile and fabric swatches, as its fuzzy yellow and black features appealed to me both aesthetically and symbolically. The bee brings about the pollination process that allows for the rebirth of a new rose - thus making it essential to Life.  

I chose to close out my collection with what I believe to be most the most important virtue in life: Love. This look was inspired by the minute detailed pattern within the infrastructure of leaves/petals of flowers. Upon close examination I noticed the resemblance the floral/leafy vessels have to the veins that run through our own hearts.  This served as the inspiration behind the pop of red (if you look closely there is a sliver of red leather sewn into the gown accenting the figure's left shoulder). The thread of veins inspired my choice of sheer textiles as well.  In order to best represent a rose in its final days for my final piece, I drew inspiration from the DEATH mood board; hence the black garment underneath the dress.  As the edges of rose petals tarnish to black becoming increasingly fragile and soft as they die - I felt as though the thin silky sheer paired with velveteen black exuded this feeling.  

As I received my Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy, I am often asked how my degree plays a role in Fashion Design. This piece combines what is considered by Western Culture Philosophy to be the Four Elements of Nature: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.  I chose to include this figure in that the design very much represents my person as a whole.  It resonates with me philosophically and through my native roots as well. I am one hundred percent Greek; my grandparents on both sides were born in Greece. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle added a fifth element of nature: aether (Greek: αἰθήρ) also known as quintessence - a substance making up the Universe beyond the Earth as we know it outside of the moon the sun and the stars.  This ancestral connection led me to create a piece representative of the Five Elements altogether. As air has no color, it served as inspiration for the fluid silhouette and my textile selection of sheers and formless fabrics. In conjunction with the thought of aether as something beyond outer space, an image of a nebula is exhibited on the inspiration page (bottom right hand corner) serving as brilliance in color source for this garment. Quintessence provoked thoughts of the unknown in my my mind's eye, leaving me with a picture of nothingness: darkness and black.  It is in this sense I began to think in regards to color theory - mixing the three primary colors of red green and blue generate black. On that same token, these are the primary colors of light, as white light can be split into the seven prismatic colors of the rainbow. Thus I was inspired by dark's opposite, and produced a piece truly emblematic of light.  In addition, I noted that the color of three elements illustrate almost every color in ROYGBIV (Fire- red/orange/yellow, Earth- green, Water- blue/indigo) - also known as the colors of the rainbow. 

What brainstorming for the Rose Project looks like.

Brainstorming: shifting from abstract Mind Map to concrete design and attire as the garments would look aesthetically, tactically, visually, orderly and otherwise. This is my way of gleaning my designs out from within a disarray of concepts and ideas and streamlining them into a collection that portrays a story and/or message.  I believe this can only be done with possession of an acute attention to flow down to the last detail, thus I like to write these details out no matter how small before I begin designing a collection.   

Inspo page for the creation of my first look. The focus of this look is to exude pure, angelic, winter white synergy.  As this piece is not only the first of my collection, but also the first of my designs to come to physical and literal fruition, it is symbolic of the immaculacy of beginnings. Compilation of inspiration contrived from a variety of items including a S/S Givenchy Collection for embellishment/fabric, the white stone Saint Patrick's Chapel on 5th avenue in New York, Colorado winter snow, and mint green ice cream for colour accenting.

The first page of my Book.  Because of the desired winter white focal point, I felt as though creating a winter coat for my first piece would be appropriate.  Inspiration Page to the left, Designs, Colour Palette, Flexibility, and Detailing, to the right.  

The full length croquís on the page is the couture and main desired piece for the collection.  Because some of my couture pieces can be extravagant and somewhat over the top in the sense that they become unwearable - there is a Flexibility section on the page including Ready To Wear versions of the couture piece.  This illustrates the true flexibility of the collection for buyers interested in something more basic for everyday wear.

Flexibility Look #2

Flexibility Look #1

Flexibility Look #3

Flexibility Look #4

Look Book, Designs, Muslin Fabric,  + Form all on hand ~ the beginning of the creating process.

Patent cutting.  Starting with cutting the muslin fabric into standard size coat pieces such as sleeve, front, back, etc.

Piecing the patent pieces of muslin together in preparation of being sewn.

Sewing the muslin pieces together to create sleeves and sides to the coat.

Pieces of muslin coming together to create the coat - placed on the form for visualization of progress made.

Final muslin piece without the hood.  Sleeve was lengthened purposefully in correlation with the design. 

Alterations pinned into place in order to create desired look (shortened bodice with variation of lengthened sleeve) and to recut patents for the creating of second coat / final product.

New patents were created, cut from muslin, and traced/cut over wadding in order to create the overall warm, thick, winter white coat effect.

Wadding fabric being cut with fabric scissors.

Wadding was sewn to the muslin fabric, then because I dislike the look of muslin fabric itself, I chose to sew the pieces together with muslin on the inside - wadding on the outside.  This way the coat looks more as though it will when made with actual fabric in winter white.  Pictured is the back of the finished product without its hood from back view on the form.

Wadded muslin oversize hood was added to the bodice.  Fur detailing pinned to the shoulder in order to give the viewer a sense of the fur that the actual product will be sewn in.  To create the puffed sleeve, an olive ribbon was taken to wrap across sleeve, finishing with a metal embellishment at the wrist, and left long to drape to the ground.  The extra long sleeve / ribbon along with the oversize hood is meant to play with proportion - creating a sense of contrast between lengths in comparison to the small, cropped bodice of the piece. 

View #1

View #2

View #3

View #4

Wrist accent.

Wrist accent.

Metal embellishment sewn beneath hood.

Metal Embellishment to complete the piece - hidden just beneath the hood as the signalization of the next piece in the collection to come! x