New Website!

Please visit 

http://yashminsiraj.moonfruit.com/

It's not fully finished but most of my third year portfolio has been uploaded.

Third Year- Fabled Forest

For my final project of third year I decided to follow the trend 'Modern Myth'. The WGSN predicted trend for A/W 14/15 focused heavily on a mystical, other worldly mood. From my trend research i became influenced by the term fable. I began research into the well known Aesop's fables. The fables themselves are quite strange and imaginative. I want to use these stories within my drawing and samples, the forest will be the settings/context for samples,  I want to create a mystical, fantasy like context for the animals mentioned in the fables.
There was also a stylised approach to my drawing. This was influenced from the folklore element that is apparent in the trend forecasts.  The Maori culture and its art style connect with the stylised element of the drawing. The Maori tattoos, wood carvings and painting will serve as inspiration for the drawing. 

All images ©Yashmin Siraj

Third Year- A Japanese Journey.

My final samples for my Japanese journey project. The focus of this samples is the contrast of the block geometrics, in the form of chevron striping and graphic linear line, and the more organic detailed drawn motifs influenced by the woodblock printing.
The samples are printing on silk habotai, silk viscose, a silk/polyester blend and several types of leather. All samples were manually screen printed using processes such as devore, foiling, metallic and reactive dyes.

 ©Yashmin Siraj 2013

Third Year- A Japanese Journey

Visual Research

As third year began, the release of competition briefs coincided. I decided to enter the SDC competition which has a heavy focus upon colour and sustainability, with 'Fashion for the future' being the key phrase.

I have always been fascinated by the Japanese culture and in particular the contrasts of the different elements of its culture.

I began looking a two key characteristics of Japan, its samurai heritage and the traditional woodblock prints.


My visual research focused upon the contrast of the samurai armour and the watercolour nature of the woodblock printing. My drawing consisted of pattern making and experimentation of mark making. I looked into the geometric, repetitive nature of the samurai armour and the linear graphic line and floral focus of the block printing. The colour palette consisted of vivid blues and red, juxtaposed with metallics. I also experimented with cut out work, this further developed into laser cutting in further samples.

All images ©Yashmin Siraj

Project 3 (second year)

The brief for the last project of my second year was completely determined by myself, I chose to focus upon a historical archive. In this case I wanted to investigate into the NTU lace archives, I was interested in the deterioration of the lace and its history, I was also intrigued by the detail and graphic nature of some of the lace, portfolio pages and draft plans. Below are some of my digitally designed samples, I focused on layering, broken line and incomplete motifs. The samples have been designed with a A/W13 colour palette in mind, juxtaposing sombre navys and greys with neon greens.

All images ©Yashmin Siraj


I'll post some of my final fabric samples and development work at a later date.

Second Year Textiles (Live Project)

These are some of the resolved designs I created for this live brief. 


These fabric designs were used for the final group collection. I focused upon graphic imagery juxtaposed against a muted background. I used the more sombre colours in my colour palette as backgrounds and the more vibrant turquoises and greens for the motifs and imagery. I used a range of print processes and pigments such as flock, puff binder, metallic and regular pigment. I wanted to create a contrast of textures and colours within my designs. I also collaborated with the embroiderer in my group to add another element to one of my samples through the use of stitch. I also created different colourways with the aid of Photoshop, to explore different mood and colour proportions.


(Click images to enlarge)

I also created samples to be used within my individual collection, These samples are quite different from the ones i included with the group's final collection. I experiment a bit more with colour proportions and different print processes such as reactive dye monoprinting, which in turn creates a very different look and mood.

All images ©Yashmin Siraj