Reflections & Evaluations - What Happened: 5 Day Challenge - Based on Michael Jackson

Reflections & Evaluations

Date: 29-09-09

What happened: 5 Day Challenge- Based on Michael Jackson

Partner: Sadia Shah 3rd Year Mentor: Tom

The challenge was to design, customize or make a garment based on/ inspired by Michael Jackson in a team. The piece could not be obvious such as white socks or leather gloves, anything typically Michael Jackson. We also had to create a presentation through PowerPoint or using boards to present to the class.

Conclusion:

I was inspired by Michael Jackson's song Liberian Girl and took on a Liberian style approach to create a balmain jacket. I was happy with the jacket I created in terms of the embroidery and the amount of research that went into making this garment. I used different Liberian style jewelry to embroider one side of the jacket. The jacket was purchased from the Cancer Research shop which not only reflects the fact that Michael Jackson supported various charities; it also links in with the recycling theme. The construction of the garment was all done by hand including the embroidery as I wanted to relate the energy efficiency with the recycling aspect.

I was happy with the jacket in terms of the embroidery but was not too keen on the belt which was adorned with peacock feathers which was an inspiration from Louis Vuittons AW/08 winter collection.

I found it difficult to work in a team as my partner was absent for two days and late the rest of the time. The two days I waited for her instead of progressing with the challenge as I wanted to wait for her ideas too instead of using my own completely as it was supposed to be a joint effort. When she did appear, she wanted to stick to my design as she had not thought of anything herself. She hardly put any input into the designing, making or presentation. My mentor named Tom from the third year also became aware of this and became quite agitated as he helped me shop for the pieces we needed and also helped in the construction. My partner stated that she was uncomfortable and needed to be guided, we tried to help her and set her tasks but these were left to me at the last minute as she failed to do them.

I arranged a photo shoot with a girl to model the garment so these pictures could be used for the presentation. By this time Angela had spoken to Sadia about her lack of input therefore she had asked to do the photo shoot to show her part in the challenge. My mentor disagreed but I felt I should give her a chance and let her model the garment. After the photo shoot it was her task to print the images after I had sent them to her and to create the PowerPoint presentation. I had written what would go on each slide and she offered to create the PowerPoint in order to take part. I waited for her to send me the presentation so I could check