I found some photographs in Pop magazine [issues 47 and 49] that I found a lot of styling and garment inspiration in. My notes say: 'Layering of contrasting colours and fabric textures. Skirts over jeans with sandals. Detailed pieces paired with simple garments or basics. Neutrals against typically unnatural dye tones.'
As part of my exploration of graffiti, I tried to duplicate the stroke of the 'S' in the 'Shan' tag, using white spray paint on black paper. My notes say: 'I'm not sure why I mirrored the letter, but I like the dribbles of wet paint. I also like the dispersion around the edges. I didn't think about it too hard as I wanted it to look natural. Dispersion as shadow? Could apply to knitwear using intarsia.'
Using that as a base, I drew out the image on brown paper, incorporating the dispersion of the spray paint as an angled shadow - this is marked with a star - and decided on it as my finalisation of the theme. I included the Olivier Theyskens dress because I had the idea of using the bricks as a kind of patchwork, and wrote: 'when translating brick and mortar to fabric, paint becomes ink and bricks become patchwork.' I cut a small bit of calico, in the rough shape, before folding and twisting it into a more accurate shape. I pinned and stitched it down roughly, ensuring I did not cut the threads, and put it in the washing machine. This frayed the edges more - partly so it didn't look so sterile, but mostly to get the threads to look more like the dribbles of spray paint.