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isabellapepper.com

2009-04-09T13:52:00.001+01:00

Dear All

It has been a while - busy busy busy.

Anyway, the website is now up, and for the mean time there is a lovely holding page for your enjoyment.
Please take a look at www.isabellapepper.com

Join at interact@isabellapepper.com

New Illustration

2007-10-27T11:46:00.000+01:00

It's has been a while since I published anything new, but this is because I am currently undertaking a work placement with the Alexander McQueen brand, so I am left with little time to focus upon my own output. I have, however, recently completed this illustration, which has been ongoing for quite a while. When I was a smaller Pepper, drawing was one of my favourite things to do, and I would always be experimenting with differwent techniques and styles. However, throughout University, my illustration style became far more graphical, so I undertook this illustration as a means of re-discovering my passion for drawings. The drawing has been completed using only colouring pencils, and for once I forced myself not to outline the entire form in black pen.

Isabella j'adores les sciseaux

2007-09-26T09:07:00.000+01:00

As I am sure it is fairly clear, I definitely have more than a fleeting fondness for the scissor. But why is this? Well, I like fashion that has a bit of a meaning and a backbone, as clothing can be such a communicative tool. The humble scissor I feel is one of the most essential tools when it comes to making clothing - so many functions could not be carried out without it. So, my work is a salute to the scissor, because without it I would not be able to carry out any of my work. I like the phrase 'cut here' as it is quite a powerful phrase, an order, and one that almost everyone has said or followed at least once in their lives, even if this involved cutting a token from a cereal box. Also, 'cut here' is something that is applied so often in clothing manufacture that I felt this needed a salute as well.

Love & scissors,

Isabella Pepper

Metal & Enamel

2007-09-26T09:06:00.000+01:00

Necklace

2007-09-25T09:21:00.001+01:00

After feeling generally uninspired by the crop of necklace jewellery in stores recently, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create something of my own. I used elements typically associated with machinery as I like to try to create something elegant from something conventionally not. As a first attempt, I am quite happy, but I think that this could just be the start of a series of experiments.

Scissors Stripe 2

2007-09-25T09:09:00.000+01:00

I have amended my initial idea for a stripe involving scissors to create something more subtle. Ideally, the dotted stripe would be very infrequent if produced in cloth form, so that it could barely be noticed.

Shoe Designs

2007-09-11T16:29:00.000+01:00

High Resolution Catwalk Photographs

2007-09-05T09:40:00.000+01:00

I have finally acquired high resolution images of my final collection shown at London Fashion Week, so thought I would post them up. Thanks to catwalking.com.

Scissor Stripe

2007-09-04T11:08:00.000+01:00

This is an idea that I have had knocking around for sometime now, and finally had some time to put it into practice. It hasn't worked as effectively as I hope that it would do, so I think more experiementation is required. I am currently thinking about how scissors could be translated into a more viable and ultimately wearbale print. I think that subtlety is perhaps the key.

Isabella Gets Woven!

2007-08-31T10:30:00.000+01:00

I am currently in the process of designing and making a collection for a small boutique in my home town, and decided to get a batch of labels woven to put into the garments and really make them my own. I had the labels woven by a company called Northwood acessories, and the quality and detail is better than I ever could have imagined. You can get in touch with them via: northwood.acc@btconnect.com

Plastic Jacket

2007-08-28T09:52:00.000+01:00

Whilst undertaking a specific project during my university time, I sourced a plastic type material from a company called 'Heatbands'. The material is designed to be heat retaining and encourage the flow of blood around the body, therefore Heatbands themselves are designed for people with cold hands. The company sent me a roll of this material, but I never got around to using it. So, the above jacket is made from this heat retaining material. I basically wanted to see if a jacket pattern I had worked on would work realistically when put into three-dimensional form.

Camouflage

2007-08-23T11:30:00.000+01:00

After visiting the recent exhibition entitled 'Camouflague' at the Imperial War Museum, London, I felt compelled to see how my scissor logo would translate into such a design. Of course, camouflage has been done to death, so I am not exactly breaking new ground, but I'm sure I have never seen it with scissors before...

CUT HERE says HAPPY BIRTHDAY Vol. 2

2007-08-22T11:11:00.001+01:00

Mummy Pepper has been at it again...

Homewares!

2007-08-17T09:33:00.001+01:00

A little experiment in home furnishings. Chair from IKEA

A Week of Fashion, Paris 2006

2007-07-27T15:09:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-27T13:09:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-27T12:51:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-27T12:39:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-27T11:21:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-20T21:46:00.000+01:00

Isabella Pepper in FHP Magazine

2007-07-20T20:34:00.001+01:00

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...

2007-07-20T20:27:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-20T20:23:00.000+01:00

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

Equipment

2007-07-12T19:45:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-12T19:26:00.000+01:00

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.

Fashion Illustrations Vol. 1

2007-07-12T19:02:00.000+01:00

A selection of four fashion illustrations. The illustrations are all hand drawn using a 'Uniball micro' black fine line pen. The thickness of line has been varied to create a rounded, three-dimensional feel.

Amateur Photoshoot 2

2007-07-12T16:16:00.000+01:00

Another quick photoshoot detailing one of six outfits from my final collection. Special thanks to Yvonne Chan.

Amateur Photoshoot 1

2007-07-12T15:46:00.000+01:00

This post details a quick photoshoot constructed in a bedroom, showing one outfit of six from my final collection for degree.

cut here says HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2007-07-11T22:11:00.000+01:00

For many years my Mother has designed and decorated cakes, both as a hobby and as a small source of income. Mum mainly specialised in wedding cakes of the tiered variety, and as well as baking and icing the cakes themselves, she also hand crafted flowers of every type from icing, and painted them with food colouring - quite a skill! (see below). As children, my sister and I had all of our favourite cartoon characters, or whatever we happened to be into at the time, morphed into icing form ready for a birthday celebration. One of my favourite things to do as a child would be to look through the book 'Character Cakes' which had pride of place on our bookshelf. For my 21st birthday, Mum as always asked me the type of cake that I wanted, and knowing that I wanted something simple, and being obsessed with scissors, the above cake is the result. Although deceptively simple, the scissors were actually quite difficult to cut in icing, due to their fragile nature. I didn't actually want to cut the cake, even though I had a guide in the shape of the dotted line...

Soft Handbag No. 1

2007-07-11T20:34:00.000+01:00

I made this bag in the summer break between years 1 and 2 at University. Fresh from a brief stint of work experience that same summer, I felt inspired and more confident to begin experimenting and producing my own work. This bag was made from an old red coat and a pillow case for the lining. As I first attempt, I felt that it was quite successful, and a good learning curve to make something on a much smaller scale than I was previously used to. No-one in my family has decided to put it to use as of yet though....!

'Dotted Seam' Tights

2007-07-11T20:26:00.000+01:00

Here is an idea that I have been meaning to put into practice for some time now. Tights are something that I have always had more than a passing interest in - there is something about the feel of a leg in tights that is uncomparable. With a plain pair of white tights, I have stenciled and painted on scissors and a dotted line using fabric paints. This actually took longer than I first anticipated as it is quite difficult to paint on tights. My first thought was to paint them off the body, as this would allow me to work on a flat surface, but then I thought about the design stretching once put onto the body. The next idea was to paint them on the body, which I pursued, and then gave up after half a leg. The leg itself is just too soft to paint against, a harder surface was needed. The final solution was to mark out the lines and scissor placement in pencil whilst the tights were on the body, then place the tights over a flask for painting. I am happy with the end result, but one thing I could have considered more is how the lines would transformas the leg gets wider nearer to the top.

The legs shown here belong to Rebecca Gaynor, and the above photograph has been altered in Adobe Photoshop to appear crisper. The photograph below shows the tights in their natural state.

Shoe Painting Vol. 2

2007-07-10T22:31:00.001+01:00

In a similar vein to the plimsolls painted previously, I have painted another one of my designs onto a plimsoll. This design is a lot more intricate then the previous design, and took a lot longer to complete. I transferred the design onto the plimsoll using the tracing paper method favoured by school children, then painted over it to realise my design.

Vintage Bag Customisation

2007-07-10T22:26:00.000+01:00

I found this satchel-style handbag at a vintage warehouse in the town of Birmingham. I knew that I liked it, but wasn't sure if it was really me. As I came to leave, I returned to the bag, and decided to give it a go. The bag originally had a carry handle at the top, and I presume was intended to be carried in the style of a briefcase. I decided to remove this, and add a new handle myself, from an old handbag. I then personalised it by cutting my scissor emblem in black vinyl and applying it to the front, giving it a new lease of life.

Shoe Painting Vol. 1

2007-07-07T13:52:00.000+01:00

Canvas plimsolls are my footwear of choice, as they are cheap, comfortable and can be manipulated easily. The plimsoll I favour is standardly white, but white plimolls seem to be in every other shop at the moment, so I like to dye them, or customise them in another way. Here I have painted the winged-scissor emblem onto either side of the plimsolls for a quick and effective alteration. I aim to continue this practice, and document it as I go along. I used Dylon Fabric paint and a paintbrush to customise these shoes.

W A N T E D

2007-07-06T23:27:00.000+01:00

Recently I spotted this for sale on eBay. Well, I say spotted, I have been looking for months in all honesty. However, at the last minute I was outbid. Not to be deterred, I continued to check eBay to see if anything similar had been listed. Once again, this watch appeared from the same seller. Excited, I bid again, putting a higher maximum bid than before, confident that I would win this one. Of course, I was outbid at the last minute. After e-mailing the seller, I found out that rather than having a vast warehouse full of them, the first winner hadn't paid so it had been merelt re-listed.

Scissor Hood

2007-07-06T22:54:00.000+01:00

Currently, I have only basic knowledge about the process of screen printing, and certainly don't have the facilities. So, in order to complete the design of this hoody, I had to hand-paint (Dylon I love you) each scissor onto it individually. This was more of an experiment to assertain how effective the scissor could be as a repeat print.

Belt Painting

2007-07-06T22:39:00.000+01:00

A quick experiment to work out how to paint designs onto cheap woven canvas belts (£0.99 - H&M sale). The final result still suffers from a little bleeding of the paint, but is readable nonetheless.

Graduate Fashion Week 2007, London

2007-07-05T22:19:00.002+01:00

Each year, within most Universities running a Fashion Design course, there is the opportunity for the final year students to have their complete collection shown in London, during Graduate Fashion Week. However, as most Fashion Design courses are often over-subscribed, only a limited number of places are available for Graduate Fashion Week, which results in a 'Pop Idol' style selection process.

At Nottingham Trent,this consisted of each student dressing mannequins with their complete, or near-complete collection, and showing it to a panel consisting of stylists and lecturers. Alongside this, each student had to showcase their chosen music, and discuss their concept and thinking behind the collection. This happened over two days, a Thursday and Friday. For those students who presented to the panel first thing Thursday morning, a long agonising wait was in order as the results went up, in A4 printed list form late Friday evening, in the fashion studio. As word spread that the list had been put up, everyone ran to see if their name had been put in lights, but sadly less than half of us were actually able to go. Fortunately, I was 5th on the list, and 5th in running order for the London Show.

After I had presented, which did happen to take place on Thursday morning, I had no idea whether or not I had been selected. I felt no wiser than I did before presenting. I think this is because I have always been very aware that the University itself has a very different agenda concerning London then we have as students. Obviously, we see London as an opportunity to promote ourselves as individuals to potential employers and press, whereas the University sees London as an opportunity to promote Nottingham Trent as an institute offering Fashion as a design course. So, this will inform their decision at the selection process. For example, many students' collections consisted of a dark colour palette - greys and blacks (my own included). The effect of this was that the panel would not have chosen too many dark collections as they would want to show the diversity of the University.

Anyway, I digress. Below are a selection of photographs of my collection when it reached the catwalk at Graduate Fashion Week.

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF TOBY PRICE & DAVID JONES