Royal Blue Project

This is my project.

So I thought I better start blogging up a summary of the work I've done over summer. I'm completley in love with project and feel so much more excited about designing something luxurious. I've done a LOT of research on the History of the British monarch and looking into European royalty aswell. There were so many aspects of the Royal Family that I was drawn to, my mind continuously kept changing. They lead such interesting yet complicated lives, it's far from a perfect fairy tale.

Through all my research I kept going back to Queen Victoria - Plus I felt like I had done a lot more in depth research in to her. There was something so interesting about her as a person that I was drawn to...

The type of strong minded woman she actually was

How young she was when she took the throne

The way she carried herself

Her diary entries

The intense love between her and Albert - and the grief she went through after he past away.

Known as the Grandmother of Europe
First Empress of India

Longest Reigning Queen till date

'Queen Victoria' by Elizabeth Longford.

It was a biography on her, and takes us (the readers) through her life right up until her death. This biography is filled with every aspect of her life, the good times and of course addressing the mistakes she had made.

'The Young Victoria'

The book was interesting to read, but I felt like I needed something visual to really portray her. So with my '2 free dvds' with Lovefilm! I rented the movie 'The Young Victoria'

Emily Blunt played the character of Victoria in the film, and I feel like she did the role justice. I took particular notice into the costumes worn throughout the film, her attitude, and her and Albert coming together.

I found a photoshoot Emily Blunt had done with Vanity Fair magazine following the release of the film.

I was watching the DVD's extras and the costume designer of the film was Sandy Powell. To really create Victoria's look she explained how she was shown some of Victoria's clothes at Kensington Palace. She also drew a lot of inspiration from old paintings, and designed outfits based on character's personality.

'The clothes make you framed, it gives you structure. The underwear is the most important part for women, as it's the starting point. The underwear creates a silhouette for everything that goes on top' - Sandy Powell

The Victoria and Albert Exhibition - Buckingham Palace

I can't even begin to describe how incredible this exhibition was! I took so much away from it. It's one thing researching through books and internet, but to actually go down and see the exhibitons for yourself is a whole other experience!

The exhibition was based on the love they shared for the Arts. The paintings were absolutley stunning, I couldn't get over how big they were. I didn't imagine them to ever be so huge! Unfortunatley I couldn't take pictures (not even on the sly) which I was completley gutted about! However I bought a book after which had everything I saw in the exhibition in, alongside their descriptions and Victoria's diary entries.

To be completley honest my mind kept changing on who I wanted my garment to be based around, but after visiting this exhibition I felt a sudden rush of inspiration.

Ideas for Garments? Anything...?

Well I'm in the process of designing, I want to create something for the 'Young Victoria Look' everyone seems to remember her as being this woman that always wore black and grieved over the death of Albert.

I want to create something that portrays her when she just became Queen at a young age. And incorporate her love for the arts somewhere within the garment seen as the Arts played a huge role in her and Albert's life. Maybe through the textiles element of this project? here are two images which I found quite inspirational for a type of print...

I scanned in some pages from my sketchbook showing the research I've done for my theme...