"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We shall remember them". War is a huge controversial topic, in which deals with both the emotional and physical impacts on the world around us. After many trips to various muesums, monuments and alot of research into both The Great War and World War Two, I decided to capture the essence of war and the destruction caused into an emotional fashion statement. I felt as if it was important to reminisce the lives lost in battle and the catastrophic events that affected the world. 
 
RESEARCH:
(Due to this project being my final major project for my A-Level Textiles, Art & Design, the photographs I have are limited of this sculpture as the piece was lost during the destruction of the arts building. However, the research, thought and experimental samples to this project were extensive, in which I will show throughout this folder.)
 
To start off my research, I took a trip to the Imperial War Museeum which gave me an insight to the after effects of war, in particular the First World War and The Holocaust. The museum held a variety of uniforms and weapons, as well as showing the heart-breaking shoes left behind from the innocent victims at a concentration camp. After seeing all the uniforms from the different countries involved, I was inspired by the long trench coat jackets. Carrying out research into different jacket styles from 1918-1946 enabled me to gain knowledge on the shape and structure of a tailored jacket. The small waist and padded shoulders decorated with the neat tailoring of welted pockets and collars is something I took forward into the design and sampling stages. 
During the same trip to London, I took a visit to the Tate Modern, where I was instantly drawn to the contemporary war artist Christopher Nevinson. Nevinson was a futurist who embraced the violence and mechanised speed of the modern age of war into his work. He is most famous for his fantastic World War One war correspondent art work. He paints the trenches and soilders, whilst incorporating the emotion and reality of war, by using a series of angular and grey colouring. This makes the soliders appear as if they are machines, losing their indivduality, dehumanising them highlighting the destruction of war. In his paintings, the soliders seem to fuse together with the machine guns and weapons, this is a prominent theme throughout this project, showcasing the true reality of what being a soldier in war is like. 
I have particularly focused on his piece 'Returning to the trenches, where he portrays all of these traits extremely well. I love the colouring he uses, the use of the muted red and blue create the perfect contrast with each other, again both physically and emotionally. This inspired me to mirror elements of his colour scheme. Not only does red and blue represent the Allies in the Great Wars, but the colours withold a depper meaning. Red is warm and holds positive connotations, often assocaited with our physical needs and our will to survive. This exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy. Red is also energising,as it excites emotions and motivates us to take on action. Although, red is also a signal of danger, revenge and anger provoking it's aggression to be used to fuel war and destruction. On the contrary, blue is a colour that seeks peace and tranquility, offering a sense of freedom. Not only that, but the cool tones can be used to represent sadness showing the true destruction of war, meaning that both colours work well together to portray the brutal realities.
From the 'Returning to the Trenches' painting, I was heavily influenced and inspired by the harsh shapes used to represent the soldiers, from this I created a many samples of reverse applique and various oil paintings to resemble this. From his use of harsh shapes and cartoon like structure in his painting, I did further research into the Art Deco movement. Art Deco is an influential visual artistic style that first appeared in France before the First World War. It began to internationall flourish in the 1920's through to the 1940's, affecting all forms of fine art, fashion and film. With the influence from Art Nouveau deco, kept the natural motifs of its predecessors, as well as the use of angular shapes. In fashion, Art Deco particularly stuck to a plain geometric patterns on the garments and then highlighted by solid blocks of colour. This can be seen in Christopher Nevinson's 'Returning to the Trenches', with the use of rectangles, triangles and the blue and red block colour scheme. Through this I felt that it tied in with my desire to make a 1940's trench coat. With the bold lines and shapes it matched the structure of a bespoke tailored jacket, as well as the history of Art Deco tying in closely to the era of the Great War. 
Carrying on, I decided to look into 1940's fashion, as it plays a huge role in the fashion industry with the hands of designers such as Dior - alongside the rationing that took place during the time. After the World Wars, woman's fashion undertook a masculine change, as every dress, blouse or jacket was fitted with shoulder pads. However, this was contrasted with the New Look of the silhouette of the woman's figure. This was created with the use of wide padded shoulders, nipped in high-waisted tops and A-Line skirts that came down to the knee. This ensured that the woman had an hourglass shape. With the wearing of suits and padded shoulders it made for a boxy neckline with gathered sleeves on the shoulders. To forget the war, in the 1940's women started to use more luxurious fabrics due to more materials becoming available. Women began to embrace more colourful patterns with contrasting frills and pipping. Christian Dior's New Look of the 1940's and 1950's took the world by storm after the war, causing the major shift in the paradigm of post-war fashion. Dior was known for his excessive use of luxurious fabrics and time intrusive labour. He presented and overly avert female form, using padded hips and promiment bust lines. His collection 'Corolla' is purely based on the figure of eight; despite the idea of the silhouette in fashion is not a new concept, it soon became the fashion icon of the 1940's and 1950's. The most iconic look of the collection was the Bar Suit, as it delicately displays the female body, whilst adding more structure with the tailoring of the suit jacket. This represents the Western World trying to rebuild its economy, adding a mature feel to the collection. However, you can also see that his collection was heavily inspired by the fashion of the 1910's, which fits the era and time before the Great War that I had previously researched. 
After doing some inital research into different war artists and what fashion was like at the time, I began to look more closely at techniques used in the garments such as, collars, peplums, gathered shoulders, pads and hand sewn button holes. Through a lot of trial and error I found a style which I liked, I loved the structured and tailored style of a trench coat with broad shoulders with a nipped in waist and the hand sewn button holes gave a more proffesional look to the jacket. Despite already deciding that I wanted to make up a tailored jacket, this research helped me finalise the idea that I had originally had.
However, Literature and Poetry also played a crucial role in World War One. It expressed what soldier's lives were truly like in the trenches, but portrayed in such moving and beautiful words. Through, my love of English