Portfolio| Arjahn

portfolio Archive

White Show Garment, Central Saint Martins

Arjahn's White Show Project from their Semester at Central Saint Martins. Arjahn chose the theme "Traditional Borderlines"questioning what happens to those who dont fit within the borderlines. From there they took inspiration from straightjackets, restraint, and biological nerves

Medium: Suede, and Cotton Fabrics. Heavy Weight Fusible
December, 2021

Colour Project, Central Saint Martins

Arjahn's Colour Project from their time at Central Saint Martins. For this project they visited the Victoria and Albert Museum were inspired by stained glass and religious paintings and iconography. They also watched and researched Wes Anderson films, studying his unique use of color. From there they developed a collection using a mixture of furs, velvets, and draping fabrics using 80s fashion and biblical dress as inspiration. They created this animation to showcase their work, imagining their designs are a part of the museum and that they come to life when the museum closes.

Mediums: Paper drawings, Water colors, Procreate, Premire pro, Photoshop

November, 2021

Call Me Collection Process

This collection is inspired by the song ‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite (1994), as well as the subculture group that was the 1990s New York City Club Kids. Initially, Arjahn researched Deee-Lite as well as did research in addition to their prior knowledge of the Club Kids. They then created a moodboard with today's equivalents to Club Kids in mind. Especially today, as clubs are still closed due to Covid-19; they found that today’s club kids would be the young New York City artists. Additionally, in the mood board Arjahn included certain things from the Club Kids that are still relevant in how many people act today such as: wanting to stand out in how they dress, how they style and color their hair. They also included a clipping from the club kids magazine on how many people have stage names that they would change their names to as club kids and how that parallels how many people today will make their Instagram or other social media handles something memorable that isn't their own name often as a form of branding. When thinking about the lifestyle of today's (New York City) artists, Arjahn thought of the problems that they would face that would include things such as getting paint on their clothes, self promotion, being able to carry their art or supplies with them easily, and being able to more easily do their craft. Because of this idea, they designed things such as pants that are already covered in paint, tote bags that you can promote yourself and your craft and incorporated items like portfolio bags into their designs and made things that work with the artist’s craft such as pin cushion pants. After establishing their customer and their needs, Arjahn began to do sketches for possible looks keeping the customers lifestyle and needs in mind while also taking inspiration from some of their drawings that Arjahn did while listening to their inspiration song for this project (‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite). While creating, Arjahn thought a lot about materiality in this project , alternative ways of altering fabric, as well as thinking about the crafts that their customer may do such as painting, sewing, and crocheting. They made a lot of discoveries that they found to be super cool such as using watercolor to dye fabrics, sewing over ribbing to alter the rib’s stretch, as well as playing with things like cotton and wool and mixing them to create a fluffy fabric. Arjahn additionally continued their exploration from their Francis Bacon Project of experimenting with acrylic paint on different fabrics. They found that when mixing it with cotton that it took a bit away from its softness. Generally speaking, although Arjahn changed the method they used to apply the paint with paint brushes to instead squeezing the paint directly onto the fabric and then squeezing and rubbing the fabric together. In this they were able to get smooth melting of colors as well as make the fabric thicker and still feel like leather, in the same manner to what they found in their Francis Bacon project but without the use of wax. This method was better for me in this project since they were able to manifest the same cool feeling and change in the fabric yet this allowed for it to be more practical. The fabric can bend and move freely as well as be washed.

Call Me Collection

This is a Fall/Winter collection by ‘Arjahn’ inspired by the song ‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite and the 90s Club Kids of New York City. This collection's customer is a New York young artist between the ages of 15-25 or of that teenage to young adult mindset. When designing each look Arjahn kept in mind the cold weather designing most looks with multiple layers. Additionally Arjahn kept in mind that their customer is artistic and creative, opting for an eccentric combination of colors and textures for each look. This creative spirit is also carried into the make up for each of the looks which uses a lot of colors and shapes and takes inspiration from Club Kid makeup for some looks such as looks 3 and 7. For the description of these garments right and left are from the viewer's perspective.

Look 1 is a Pleated Sheer Leigh Bowery inspired ski-mask with Crocheted cheeks and knit hair, a cropped puffer jacket, with top-stitched, paint-smeared denim patches mixed with a printed cotton pattern. Underneath there is a lavender cotton sweater with a line and circle design printed on it. Over that there is a low cut tank top knit dress with large machine stitches in it inspired by when you are sewing and you get thread all over your clothes. The model is also wearing olive green ribbed leggings with hole cut out paint-smeared denim shorts mimicking the holes from the ski-mask. The outfit is paired with pink fluffy socks and converse style shoes that match the model’s shirt.

Look 2 is a durag with a tag that says “Call:_____” serving as a place for the customer to put a self-promotion. The model is wearing a shirt that has a bag looped through it that says ‘Hello!’ referring to the inspiration song as well as a drawing Arjahndid while listening to the song. The pattern on the body of the shirt references the same drawing as the shirt in look two. The pattern on the arms of the shirt reference another drawing. The sleeves have two tiers, with the second one being made from paint-smeared denim. The pants are a take on exposed underwear made out of paint smeared denim with the front having cut outs that expose the hips and the back exposing the upper buttcheek. The underwear section of the pants is connected to the rest of the pants through the pelvic area of the front and between the legs in the back as well as with strings with bead-like things made from hardened paint decorating the exposed areas. The pant legs are made from the paint-smeared denim printed on cotton and a pink plaid cotton fabric. It is paired with chunky boots.

Look 3 is an olive green fleece shirt with asymmetric sleeves with the right sleeve being longer and having a hole in it for your thumb, which would allow for wearers to use their phone while keeping all their other fingers warm. Over the shirt, there is a sweater made out of the cotton and wool material. For the bottoms, the model is wearing a skirt that has a built-in portfolio bag encircling the whole right side of the body, connected by hook and eyes that are hidden by the front flap. Underneath the skirt there are tight fitted cotton pants that are bunched starting above the knee. This look is paired with teal boots that zip and lace up on the inner part of the shoe as well as a teal headscarf and a gem necklace.

Look 4 is a hooded puffer vest made out of a paint smeared denim with a pattern of hot pink clusters of multiple arrows going opposite ways that came from one of the drawings that Arjahndid while listening to the song. Under the vest, the model is wearing a long sleeve shirt that uses multiple different fabrics and colors. The body of the shirt and the upper part of the left sleeve are made from the same material as the upper part of the sleeve in look two: an orange cotton with contrasting light blue squiggles on it. Changing right above the elbow the sleeve becomes an olive knit with burnt orange undertones. The right sleeve of the garment is made out of the light pink sewed rib, the length of a normal sleeve. The sleeve is then continued by another sleeve under it that is made out of teal fleece. These sleeves are so long to be able to keep the customers hands warm as this is a fall winter collection. On top of the shirt and underneath the vest, there is an asymmetric yellow plaid cotton asymmetrically cut minidress. For the bottom of the outfit, the model is wearing pants that are a mix of the paint smeared denim material and a lavender shaggy long pile faux fur. To make these pants, first the front and back of the pants would be cut out of the faux fur with the fur facing upwards. After that cut, the legs would be constructed. Next the part with the paint smeared denim would become a part of the pants. First the denim would be cut into different size squares and rectangles some of which would include various types of pockets such as welt, patch, cargo, and flapped. The edges of those squares would then be hemmed, and then painted. When they are dry, the denim squares and rectangles would be placed in a pattern leaving the proper gaps for the fur and then sewn to each other. From there the denim layer would be wrapped around the fur area being sewn into the waistband, back, crotch, and zipper areas. The fur would fluff out as drawn since the fur part of the pants were cut with the fur facing upwards. This presence of the fur would additionally make these pants extremely warm. This look is partnered with fuzzy plaid yellow slipper shoes, a beanie in the printed cotton and wool material as well as a necklace, matching earrings, and a matching small coin purse made of painted pearls and two different styles of paint smeared denim.

Look 5 is a curved asymmetrical cut sweater that stops at the hip on the left side and stops mid-thigh slightly to the right center of the body. The sweater is a turtleneck that has a long scrunched neck made out of a cotton fabric with the paint smeared denim printed on it. The body of the sweater has four sections. The first section is made from the printed cotton and wool. The second section is made from light pink ribbing. The third section mirrors the same material as used in the first section. Similarly, the small fourth section that is in the bottom right of the garment mirrors section two and is the same light pink rib. Across the entire center of this garment there is the swirled pattern that is incorporated from one of their drawings that Arjahndid while listening to the song that inspired this collection: ‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite.The same layout and details are mirrored on the back of the garment. The sleeves of this garment are made of the olive rib with burnt orange undertones. On the left sleeve beginning at the upper forearm about four inches below the elbow, the material changes to the light pink rib and two more sections made from the cotton fabric of the paint smeared denim end in a fingerless glove of the same material. Similarly on the other side of the garment starting at the mid-forearm, the fabric changes to four sections of the cotton with the paint-smeared denim print and is again connected to a fingerless glove of the same material at the end. This top is styled with a skirt that goes right below the knee and is made of multiple layers of paint-smeared denim that was formed and connected into tubes before being sewn together. Together they look a bit like a pleated skirt that flares out a lot. This look is styled with pink plaid leg warmers and mid-shin ugg style boots that are made from paint smeared denim on the outside. Additionally, the model is wearing hoop earrings and nail polish.

Look 6 is a light pink ribbed long sleeve shirt that has a vest over it. The main part of the vest is long on the left side and cropped on the right side. This part is made from the same material as the vest in look 4: a paint-smeared denim with a pattern of hot pink clusters of multiple arrows going opposite ways. This vest has two thick straps connecting the front to the back and two thinner straps on the right side. These straps are crocheted from lavender blanket yarn. For bottoms, the model is wearing baggy jeans that have multiple pockets as well as a large hidden pocket at the knee. The pants are made of all paint-smeared denim. These pants would be extremely handy during painting due to the many pockets. If paint were to get on them, it would only add to the material of the pants. The model's pink plaid boxers are also slightly visible. This look is paired with hightops match the burnt orange paint-smeared denim matching the vest. The paint/painter theme is further carried throughout this look in the accessories that are all made out of chunks of hardened acrylic paint.

Look 7 is a sweater made of a lavender Tellio Plume Sweater Knit that has long sleeves and is cropped right below the model's bust. On top of that layer the model is wearing a sheer shirt that has the same plaid pattern as both the pink and yellow plaid. On top of that layer the model is wearing an oversized jacket that is worn off the shoulders and has a closure of two strips with a hidden snap on the right side that connects the two sides. The jacket is made of paint-smeared denim making it pretty heavy and quite impenetrable from wind and cold. On the bottoms, the model is wearing skinny jeans that gather slightly at the bottom. On top of that layer they are wearing a three-tiered skirt intended to look like the blue squiggly drawing that has been used in other looks. This skirt would be made out of a chemical mesh lace with swirl fabrication. The look is paired with high tops that have plaid detailings on the front as well as across the main part of the shoe which is lavender. The model is also wearing a necklace of thick painted pearls.

Look 8 is a shrug that is made out of three colors of Tellio Plume Sweater Knit with the left sleeve being lavender, pink, and burnt orange and the right sleeve switching that order to be pink, burnt orange and then lavender. What is not seen from the drawing is that the purple part of the lavender part of the left sleeve leads into a buttoned sweater that is meant mostly to provide warmth for the arms only. On top of this layer is a tank top that is made to look like a cropped sports bra with a rib hanging from it in a way that showcases the area under the model’s boob. The bra part is made from a teal fleece that had the same arrow pattern as present in looks 4 and 6 bleached into the fabric near where the nipples would be. On the base layer of the bottom, the model is wearing lavender plaid opaque tights. On top of that layer the model is wearing wide leg pants that are made out of the same chemical mesh lace with swirl fabrication that looks like one of their song based drawings. These pants are stuffed into combat boots giving them a ballooned look in the illustration. The following layer the model is wearing a pink plaid mini skirt. This look is paired with the aforementioned combat boots that are leather painted to look like paint smears. Additionally it is paired with a mini backpack made of various paint smeared leathers, pink plaid and olive rib with burnt under tones. This backpack has a sturdy base; however, it is not intended to hold many heavy things but would be perfect for holding things that can weigh very little but take up a lot of room such as fabric. This bag also ties in with the inspiration song of ‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite with a decal on the front that says Hello! and a telephone on the side. The song is once again tied into this look in the hat that the model is wearing that says ‘Call Me’ embroidered down the middle and is accompanied by two puffs that would be made from various colors of blanket yarn.

Look 9 is a hoodie made of crocheted lavender blanket yarn with a lined hood made from the cotton printed version of the cotton and wool material. On top of that hoodie the model is wearing a t-shirt that has orange ballooned cap sleeves that have the same pattern as the patterns of look 1 and 2 in olive green. For the bottom part of the outfit the model is wearing paints that have an accentuated yoke as well as asymmetrical upper sections of the leg and bottom parts of the leg that start at and right above the knee. The yoke is made out of the olive rib with the burnt orange undertones and is lined with the burnt orange paint smeared denim. The left leg of the pant is made of a cotton version of the paint smeared denim on top and a burnt orange fleece on the bottom. On the right side of the garment the upper part of the pants is made from the light pink rib and decorated with threads again drawing parallels to when one is sewing and they end up with threads on their clothing. Additionally the bottom part of the right pant leg is made of the same material that the turtle neck in look one is made out of (a lavender cotton with a line and circle design printed on it) and another section which is made out of green fleece. Similarly to the pants in look 2 these pants are also connected using string and hareded paint to make it seem as though there are gems on the string. This look is styled with yellow plaid shoes that have a phone at the heels as well as a portfolio bag backpack that is made from paint-smeared denim with a yellow plaid pocket and the letters “CALL ME” on the upper section of the bag.

Look 10 is a hoodie-like sweater with a hood that is made out of strips allowing for warmth around the face as well as the wearer's hair to be out. This sweater is made out of teal fleece that is bleached to have the same squiggly pattern from their drawing that has been in other looks. Additionally this hoodie has chiffon panels that are in front of the face as well as in the back of the garment. The back of the hood consist of those two sheer pieces as well as two bleached fleece pieces. The next layer consists of a crocheted bra and garter set that is worn over the models first layer of clothing and is made form the lavender blanket knit. On top of that layer the model is wearing a tiered chiffon plaid dress similar to the shirt that was in Look 7. For pants the model is wearing paint-smeared denim pants with a low crotch and high leg warmers that give the illusion of boots. This look is paired with high top sneakers that are also paint-smeared denim as well as a cross body bag that is shaped like a phone incorporating elements from their drawing with the top of the phone having flower petals and felt hello charms dangling from it. This bag has a “call tag” similar to the durag in look 2 incorporating the ideas of the inspiration song.

Look 11 is a puffer jacket with a shag lining that has a fleece and paint-smeared denim outside with the fleece being on the hood and arms and the denim being on the front and back of the jacket. Underneath that the model is wearing a fleece teal turtleneck that goes up to the model’s nose. For pants the model is wearing baggy pants made from paint-smeared denim with loops at different levels creating bulges in the pants. Under the pants the model's pink plaid boxers are partially visible. This look is styled with sneakers that are pink plaid and olive green.

Look 12 is a sweater that similarly to the sweater in look 5 the sweater is made out of abstract shapes of multiple different fabrics. The from top to bottom and then left to right are: a olive green fleece with the same purple circles and lines pattern, multiple layers of the pink plaid chiffon, a cotton printed version of the burnt orange paint smeared denim with the arrows on it, the light pink rib, and the yellow plaid. On the arms, the left arm is made from crocheted blanket yarn with a small patch of shag and the right arm is the cotton wool printed fabric and the squiggly bleached fleece. Additionally under this sweater the model is wearing a pink plaid dress. Below the dress the model is wearing wide leg paint smeared jeans. This look is styled with orange hightops and a matching orange tote bag that says “Call Me ______ for all ur ______ needs'' which is intended to be filled out by the owner of the tote with their number or a way to reach them and their artistic speciality(s). This bag additionally has a long paint smeared strap. Additionally the model is wearing a scarf on their head that is purple with plaid over it.

The final look, Look 13 is another ski mask made out of the cotton wool printed on the rib. The mask has knitted pig tails coming out of it. These pigtails are inspired by the cover art of the single release for the song Arjahnused for inspiration: ‘Call Me’ by Deee-Lite. The model is also wearing a hoodie with the top section made out of paint smeared denim and the rest of the front and back parts being pink plaid and the blue fleece with the squiggly bleached design. This pattern is also mirrored on the sleeves. On top of that is a knitted distressed olive dress. Under the dress is a pair of pants that are made of paint smeared denim on top and then at the knee become fluffy balls made of crocheted blanket yarn, light pink rib, olive fleece , or the denim paint-smear printed on cotton. These are great pants to wear when sewing as these balls act as a built in pin cushion. This look is paired with shoes that zip at the front and are a combination of the materials used in the hoodie.
Medium: Painted Denim, Water color, Crocheting, Procreate, and Adobe Photoshop
May, 2021

'Call Me' Shorts and Pants

These shorts and pants are the physical versions of the designs for look 1 and 6 for their ‘Call Me’ collection. The shorts possess multiple holes on each of the legs that allows for unique layering possibilities as well as mimics the holes in the ski mask that it is paired with in the original look. To make these shorts, Arjahn took a similar approach to what they did when making their Rocky Horror Picture Show inspired corset. They first cut out the fabric pieces with the fabric folded with the wrong sides facing and cut them out using the patterns without the holes cut out. Then Arjahn cut out the holes on the pattern and the fabric. Arjahn first did this on muslin to test the fit and proportions and then later in two sided denim fabric that they also used for the pants. From that point, similar to the corset construction, Arjahn sewed bias strips of the fabric around the holes so that they do not fray, sewing the bias strips so that the golden side of the fabric would be face up when flipped to the inside. After they constructed the full shorts by adding darts and pockets Arjahn then put acrylic paint on them and smeared that paint together on the matching and different sides of the shorts and then hung them up to dry. After the shorts were dry Arjahn then added the waistband and sewed the two legs together.

For the pants, Arjahn began by first sketching the pieces on a small scale. From that point, they began to adjust the scale of their sketch larger in proportion to adjust the pattern from a pattern Arjahn had made from their measurements for fitted dress pants. In making the pattern pieces for the front and back of the legs Arjahn ended up with an upper part, lower part, and pocket section for both the front and the back of the pants. Arjahn had many smaller pockets throughout the pants and on the inside making for 10 standard size pockets that were about 6 inches deep, and one medium-sized pocket that was about 9 inches deep. The pockets in the front and back of the garment were both about 13 inches deep. In total, this pair of pants has 15 pockets of various sizes. This was designed with the thinking of their customer for their ‘Call Me’ Collection who was an artist living in a city and therefore would probably find themselves carrying a lot of items at the same time, sometimes being unable to fit them all in one bag. Additionally, this style could be helpful since a lot of the time while living in a city you often end up needing pockets/places to hold things that are easily accessible. Additionally, there are pockets inside since initially when designing the pants on the two-toned fabric Arjahn intended for them to be reversible. When making the pants, Arjahn first made a pair in muslin in which they cut the pattern pieces in muslin and sewed the front and back darts closed on the upper part of the pant legs and then applied the paint to all the pieces besides the large pockets and allowed the pieces to dry. Afterwards, Arjahn began to sew them together starting by first forming each full front and back and later creating the whole legs. they began by first sewing the large pocket to the lower piece at a 3/8 inch seam allowance with the good side of the pocket facing the good side of the fabric. After that Arjahn flipped the pocket to the other side and top stitched at a 1/8 inch seam allowance so that the good sides were both facing outward. Next, they attached the pocket to the upper part of the pant leg. For this part, Arjahn began by flipping the pocket up so that the bad sides of the fabric on both pieces were facing. From there Arjahn sewed them together on the good side and then flipped the pocket together so that the good side was now facing in. Then they top stitched the wrong sides to make for a cleaner inside and to make the pockets more secure in use. After repeating that process for all four pant legs, Arjahn then placed the front and back pieces together on each leg. For the muslin construction, they did a french seam on the outside of the leg and a flat felt seam on the inside of the leg to test out which one they preferred. Arjahn ended up preferring the french seam and used that when they made the final version of the pants. When doing the french seams on the pants, Arjahn decided to not trim after the first stitch to give the pants the illusion of a raw edge adding to the entire vibe of the pants being painters pants that could have accumulated all this paint over time and is intended to accumulate even more paint. At this point when making the muslin version, Arjahn connected the two pant legs and tried the pants on to see if they liked the fit. After that try on, Arjahn repeated the same thing for the pants in jean fabric but hemmed the pockets when they sewed the darts before they added the paint. When adding the paint, Arjahn only painted 6 of the 10 pockets intending for four of them to be inside the garment with two on the front and two in the back. It became a bit hard to work with the painted jean material on such a large scale and they broke many needles when sewing it. If Arjahn were to do this again in the future they would likely take the same approach as they did with the shorts: first make the garment in the fabric and after it is done, add and smear the paint.

I took pictures of the shorts and pants in New York City furthering the ideas from their inspiration of New York City Club Kids as well as better capturing the environment that Arjahn envisioned their customer being in. For styling since they did not have time to make the leggings from the look in their collection, Arjahn styled them using the same technique they did in the styling for their spiked shirt having their model wear two fishnet stockings of different colors. Additionally, to bring out the colors in the pants Arjahn styled them with a hot pink cropped tee and a red and navy striped dress shirt. To accentuate the colors in the shorts, Arjahn styled them with a green zip up hoodie and layered multiple pastel colored tops and pastel gloves.
Medium: Paint Smeared Denim, Machine sewing, Photography
May, 2021

Rocky Horror Picture Show Corset

Using the film adaptation of the musical Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) as inspiration, Arjahn decided to make a corset inspired by different elements of the film. They found the most inspiration in the sets and costuming of the film. They were inspired by the corsets in the movie, particularly the male corset that costume designer Sue Blaine made for Tim Curry’s character Frank N Furter. This corset was made by Blaine for Curry initially for another show and was used again for Rocky Horror. Arjahn became interested in this corset since it is one of the few male specific corsets that they have seen. Being a fan of drag, they know that usually people with male bodies usually just use corsets made for female bodies when doing drag, as it is rare even now to find a corset made for them. For their project, Arjahn took inspiration in how this corset and other corsets that were worn by male members of the cast later in the movie. In their corset they made sure to focus on the elements of front and back lacing which were present in the corsets of the film. For the shape of the top of the corset, they took inspiration from Frank-N-Furter’s cape when he first appears in the movie. Additionally, they wanted to showcase the sexual elements of the movie so they included cut outs drawing attention to sexualixed parts of the body such as near the nipple, the breast, the bottom of the stomach, near the pelvis, the ribs, back, etc. For the shapes of the cut outs, Arjahn took inspiration from the triangle Gay pride symbol on Frank-N-Furter’s smock as well as the circles presented in the movie, especially in Frank-N-Furter’s lab. For the color palette of my corset, they again took inspiration from their favorite set in the movie: Frank N Furter's lab, and particularly the colors in Rockys birth scene. Additionally, for the colors of the ribbons used for lacing they took inspiration from the secondary colors used in the costumes for the transylvanians. Finally, for the closures of the corset, instead of grommets Arjahn used safety pins since safety pins were used in both the costumes of Frank-N-Furter and in Meatloaf’s character Eddy. In making the corset, they first began by placing the boning on their dress form to see how many panels they would have. Once Arjahn knew the number of panels, they took pictures of the dress form, put them into Procreate and then they fully drew the design and corset. In addition, they drew the corset on a croqui to make sure they would like how it looked on a figure before making it. After completing those sketches, Arjahn numbered the panels and made note of what shape and colors that they wanted where. Additionally, at this step they also decided that in order to add to the sexual tones of the movie they should use stockings for the material of the cut outs. For the black parts of the corset, Arjahn used cotton. For their patterning process, they returned to the boning they put on their dress form and used leftover muslin to further mark how they had sketched the shape of the corset. From there, Arjahn made all of the pattern pieces for one side and then copied those pieces for the other side so that they would be even. Arjahn left a 1 inch seam allowance on the top and bottom to make sure that inside and around the garment would have clean edges. Then they placed all the pattern pieces back onto my dress form, numbered them accordingly, and then drew out the shapes that they planned for each of the panels. After that planning, they cut the pattern pieces on the folded cotton fabric. Then they separated the two sides from each other,cut out the shapes from my pattern paper, and copied them onto the correct fabric pieces. When sewing Arjahn first secured the cutouts with bias tape, then they cut out the stockings and top stitched them into the cut outs, cutting around the excess. Then Arjahn sewed the pieces together and sewed in the boning on the seams. To completely hide the boning they did a french seam around it. After that they sewed on the pink ribbons to the center front and center back of the corset. Next, Arjahn sewed the top and bottom of the two sides of the corset at half an inch and then hid the edge and sewed over it at 3/8 of an inch to finish the top and bottom of the corset. Finally, Arjahn attached small and medium safety pins to the front and back of the corset and then laced up the ribbon choosing to have the ribbons in the back meet in the center to cinch and the ribbons in the front tie in the center and tie at the bust to cinch and allow for a variation of chests comfortably.
The garment is styled with a pearl necklace, a skirt, and sparkly tights referencing the costuming of Frank-N-Futer, Magenta, and Columbia respectively.

Medium: Machine Sewing, Cotton, Stockings
April, 2021

Frank Gehry Inspired Dress

Based on the work of the architect Frank Gehry, Arjahn decided to make a hat and a dress. They first became attracted to Gehry’s work because they enjoyed the playful nature of his buildings. Arjahn felt as though many of the buildings seemed out of place or impossible to be real as if they were transported from a Dr. Suess book. Taking inspiration from the parallel they made between Gehry's work and Dr. Suess' as well as taking knowledge from their research on Gehry that he likes nautical themes and he initially became inspired by traditional Japanese architecture, Arjahn began to develop their project. They wanted to make a nautical themed hat incorporating many of the wavy components of Gehry’s work as well as to make a tiered dress using traditional Japanese architecture as inspiration for the tiers, and Dr. Suess characters for the child-like silhouette. Arjahn decided to use aluminum foil for the material of the hat and dress due to Frank Gehry’s use of titanium and other light reflective materials in his buildings. From their prior experimentation with light and aluminum, they found that they liked the way that aluminum foil mixed and shined with light. When making the hat, they built it on their head using modge podge and layers of aluminum foil. When making the dress, they hot-glued aluminum foil together drawing parts of it on the dress form as well as taping lower tiers directly to their skin. Arjahn's final product resulted in a swirled hat with a tent shaped tiered dress.

Arjahn made this video to further showcase the playful nature that they felt from Gehry’s designs and tried to recreate it in my design. To facilitate this idea, they used childlike elements like gum as well as styled my hair in buns. Additionally, continuing with my equation of Gehry’s work being whimsy and similar to Dr.Seuss's work, they used music from the soundtrack of Horton Hears A Who. In addition to showcasing the playful nature of my interpretation of Gehry’s work, this video also shows how the aluminum foil used to make the hat and dress work with the light. Gehry is very conscious of light when making his buildings and uses specific material when making each building. For example, in his building The Guggenheim in Bilbao Spain made in 1997, he used titanium for the material. In using titanium, the building naturally glows gold due to how titanium works with the light that shines through on cloudy days. In their project, Arjahn attempted to mirror this same effect using different colored lights on my garment and similar to their earlier exploration, discovering how the light interacted with the aluminum foil. The different colored lights also served to add to the playful nature of the project.
Medium: Aluminum Foil, Modge Podge, Hot Glue, Tape, Adobe Premiere Pro
March 2021

'Yes To No Man' New Shirt Look Video

This is the video Arjahn's new shirt project they did in their CTS1 class! Their design and this video are focused around standing out and and being unique in more normal places! The shirt is a redesign of the classic men’s tailored shirt with a pointed yoke and 6 8inch spikes on each sleeve.

Song: Vertigo by The Hellp
Model and Assistant: Amita Khurana
Styling, Makeup, Design, Construction, Photo and Video Editing: Arjahn Cox

Mediums: Photoshop, Adobe Premire Pro
March, 2021

Francis Bacon Dress

Dress Designed after Francis Bacons' Self Portrait in ‘Three Studies for Portraits’ 1969.

The protruding shapes mirror the shapes in the painting, the raw edges to demonstrate the raw qualities of his work, and draped back (in detail video) cut out elements and ruffles are to demonstrate his romantic qualities and how many of his muses where his lovers.

The dress was constructed using draped muslin, candle wax, and acrylic paint, since acrylic paint is a medium Bacon often used. The candle max mixed with the paint to make a suedo-leather feel, a happy accident that ties into Bacons rough exterior and masocistic tendencies, as currently leather is a common material in that community.

Medium: Muslin, Candle Wax, Acrylic Paint
Feb, 2021

mmmd Zine Dec 2020

VCS1

Final works for VCS1 inspired by forests and fairies mixed with Y2K fashion. Styling done with all clothing made by Arjahn

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mmmd Zine Dec 2020

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