Student Description

"My design 'Imperial Reign' is created as a four piece costume collection for cinema film. The costume is based on the character description from Rick Riordan's book series 'Heroes of Olympus', Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano. The collection heavily focuses on Ancient Roman design and it references traditional manufacturing techniques. Inspiration for the costume draws from Lindy Hemming's designs in Wonder Woman (2017), Michael O'Conner's from The Eagle (2011), Janty Yates's work from Gladiator (2000), as well as designs from Assassins Creed Odyssey and the Alta Mode autumn/winter collection 'Valley of the Temples 'by Dolce and Gabbana. Cultural and historical heritage of Sicily, Italy and Greece, as well as mythology such as Pantheon gods, Athena, Concordia, Ares, and Bellona were used as a source of inspiration. The corselet was crafted from lambs' leather, with faux suede lining and piped edges. The under tunic and lappets are made from hand dyed cotton with lappet piping in contrasting faux suede and the metallic gold free machine embroider cloak made from wool/cashmere- the materials chosen aimed to reflects an ancient world. Ingredients for the dye made for the cotton garments were hand collected and brewed to replicate ancient roman clothing. Creative techniques used includes; free hand machine embroidery cloak, natural dyeing, multiple panelled corselet, eyelets for closure treatments and piping. I learnt many new skills over the course of the project, these included natural dyeing, drafting patterns, leather working and making fabric bias and cording. I refined cool skills such as hammering eyelets and free machine embroidery along the cloak edges, piping and facings etc. The free machine embroidery of the Roman Aquila symbol in each corner of the cloak with the letters 'SPQR' (meaning 'Senatus Populusque Romanus') and grape vines was a lot of fun (however time consuming) and was the most creative and rewarding part of the whole costume. The under tunic was easily the most time consuming, taking three modifications to pattern toiles to achieve the right shape and fitting. Overall, I learnt the most about pattern making as each piece is hand drafted with several toiles being made to ensure shape and fit of the garment. There were definitely large challenges, specifically due to the nature of leather being unable to be unpicked and resewn."

Images of Work

"Use of traditional french seams on the under-tunic allows the garment clean seams without use of an over-locker aiding the historical plausibility of the design."

"The free machine embroidery along the edges of the cloak of a grapevine distinctively references ancient roman motifs. The Aquila symbol also free machine embroidered on both corners creates detail and adds to the end use of the garment as a costume."

Select Student Folio Pages

The pages selected for each project reflect the individual students' interpretations of the syllabus guidelines for the MTP. Each student should develop their folio according to the guidelines, relating to their own individual project. This may result in a variety of presentation styles, numbers of sketches and/or experiments.