A Week of Fashion, Paris 2006

In September 2006, I visited Paris for Paris Fashion Week. Armed with neither a ticket or invite to any of the shows, I had to do my best to blag my way in. Basically, I discovered that if you're a pretty girl willing to flirt then you're pretty much going to get in. Most of the people checking tickets and manning barriers were men, and by men I mean real men, not men styled in the mould of Mr Humphries from the 'Are You Being Served?' sitcom. Here is how I got on.

PARIS

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD: "I AM EXPENSIVE"

MARITHE et FRANCOIS GIRBAUD

COSTUME NATIONALE

Krypton Factor Logo

Above are the logos that I designed for the Krypton Factor project. I tried to update the retro feeling of the old logo, to make it appear fresher and more exciting, but I also tried to maintain the sci-fi leanings that were in place. A new colour scheme and mechanical style logo design helped me to achieve this.

Krypton Factor Illustration Vol. 2

These illustrations were my final choices for the project, and designed to fit into a mock promotional wall-chart to help promote the television show. I may post the wallchart at a later date.

Krypton Factor Illustration Vol. 1

The above illustrations were undertaken for a Krypton Factor Project. In my heart, I would dearly love for the Krypton Factor to return. It was such a unique gameshow, and so influenced by 1960s modernism and geometry. One thing I will never understand is why presenter Gordon Burns failed to interact with the contestants - he just asked the questions, Perhaps it was to reinforce the fact that it was the elite of the elite when it came to gameshows? The illustrations above detail new designs for the contestant(s) outfits, and I have tried to achieve a more abstract appearance and move away from the black outline that is common to a lot of my work.

Third Fashion Show

The images above relate to a fashion show that I was actively involved in organising during my time at University. The Art & Design building of Nottingham Trent had just been refurbished and extended, and after looking around for a potential site for our 2nd Year fashion show, we decided that there was potential in the new atrium section of the building. Once this was decided, we turned the new section into a fashion show venue in little under a day, bringing in everything ourselves such as lighting, sound & PA, the catwalk, models etc. The show turned out to be a success, and led to other disciplines utilising the space in later years for similar shows themselves. I actually modelled during this show, and had an outfit to wear for every other group, so this meant four changes overall. Trying to change into and out of delicate clothing in the hottest backstage area I've ever been in resulted in a very sweaty and red Isabella gracing the stage. Vogue, here I come.

Early Work Vol. 1

Isabella Pepper in FHP Magazine

Regional magazine FHP recently ran a feature on Nottingham Trent's degree show, which we held at Nottingham Ice Arena. Thanks to Beyonce playing earlier that week, we didn't have to pay for the ice to be covered. In the two page spread featured in FHP, one page was devoted to several images of students work, whilst the opposite page showed images of the pretty young things there to enjoy the show.

Scissors get everywhere...

I received this image as a Polaroid photograph from a friend. To be honest, it took me a little while to work out that it actually features pairs of scissors on the mould of the manhole...

Denim Painting Vol. 1

An old pair of jeans that I painted my arrow design onto the rear pocket of.

Equipment

These are generally the items that I use to create and 'print' my designs - a mechanical pencil, Dylon fabric paints, and a range of very fine paintbrushes.

Patch

I created this patch by ironing interfacing onto the back of a rectangle of scrap fabric, then hand-painting my design onto it. The design itself has been around for a couple of years now, stemming from a photograph that I took when researching for a project about machinery. The original photograph is shown beneath the patch image. To achieve the design that I ended up with, I traced over the photograph, focusing on the shadow areas creating a stylised final image.

The patch really needs sealing around the edges, perhaps with binding, or an overlock.