Designing

To come up with my designs I basically combined all of the ideas I had throughout the project and worked them into different outfits. I'm actually surprised at how well the designs came out especially because I am normally quite reserved when it comes to using colour and when I do I normally use a darker pallet, so working in such bright and eye catching colours was very new to me. I'm glad that I did this because it has helped me over come an obstacle that I know will have to deal with during my FMP and on my degree course. 

One thing that I am going to try and change in my next project is my illustrations. I’ve used the same ones for the last couple of projects and although I think they look good, they don't look original enough to stand out which is so important in this industry. 

I think if I were to do these designs again I would change the figures and also work on adding accessories and style them a bit more, adding scarves, hats and other things that you wear whilst skiing. 

Fabrication

I think the colour pallet that has developed out of my research has really enhanced my designed. I took the colours from the different suits across the different years, so I tried to keep all of the fabric samples I collected within the same colour chart. 

From looking around Berwick street, I found a lot of strange and interesting fabrics that came across as looking futuristic and "spacey" which I would really like to incorporate into my final produce, but unfortunately because of the price I will have to find an alternative that I think will work well. 

One fabric that personally I think will be perfect for this project is neoprene. It is already being introduced into sportswear (such as the new Adidas Jacket that they have released for men in Neon colours), because it has the ability to keep your body at a certain temperature. In cold weather the Neoprene encourages your body to sweat and keeps the sweat at a warm temperature, which then keeps the body warm, but in hot weather it also is lightweight and doesn't overheat the body.

Developing the Spacesuit

After studying the detailing on the suit I thought it was time to start developing them into wearable everyday garments. From looking at all of my research on the technological side of it, I thought the best transformation would be into sportswear. I understand that this is a slightly safe or obvious route of taking my work, but I have never tried to design sportswear and I’m actually really interested in it. 

I started by looking at the trousers; the shapes, layers and details seemed to work perfectly for skiwear. They wear padded and cushioned meaning that when a skier falls over they have a bit of extra protection and the amount of pockets for storage means that they don't have to carry any bags with them. 

I even tried to include the riblets into the design to help with their speed when competing, or just skiing for pleasure. 

Nasa Technology

Something that I only got interested in once I started my research was the way that Nasa has not just created exciting new technology that has made space travel possible, but also how there discoveries and research has impacted and helped everyday society, especially in the world of sports. 

Riblets, used on airplanes to increase aerodynamics and surface erosion, were originally invented Nasa. They look like small grooves down the side of the plane, no deeper than a scratch but are surprisingly effective. They then developed this ice into swimwear to act in the same way, helping the athletes improve their speed on average by 10/15%. I want to incorporate this into skiwear as I think they would help improve competitive skiers speeds. 

DLC is short for Diamond-like carbon, it is a chemical mixture originally used on the helmet of the space suit. It prevents scratches and small chips from developing on the screen but also stops water marks staining the glass. In Skiing this can be a real issue as it can hinder an athletes sight. 

There are many more examples of Nasa's work such as webcams inside the helmets, corrugated fabrics and shoes to enable movement, (this one in particular was used by NIKE, they use it in the heel of some of there trainers to allow movement around the ankles).

I'm really happy that I decided to look into the technological side of the Space suits and what Nasa have done for society, because it gives my project more depth behind it and can help me make something that not only looks good but also is practical and original, something that no-one has quite done before. 

Thermal Wear

Nasa invented a way of keeping their astronauts at the correct temperature no matter what the atmosphere was like outside the space craft. They did this by using thermal insulation. The tubes that run through the fabric of the clothes worn underneath the suit, have liquid pumped around them to cool them down or heat them up.

This could be adapted into any sportswear keeping the athletes at the perfect temperature that they need to be. After doing a few designs i worked out different of placing the tubes on the body but found that the best way was just straight lines on the bodice and circular points around the legs and arms.

Sleeves, Zips and Pockets

I started off the project by analysing different parts of the space suit itself, starting with the sleeves. I love the layered shoulder that goes half way down the sleeve on one of the suits and decided to recreate it out of paper onto a mannequin. The layering gives the outfit the iconic volume and oversized-ness that is so well recognised. The other key feature on the sleeves that I looked at was pockets and way of storing items within the suit. You can tell from looking at the image that every aspect of the design is there for a purpose, and that’s what I want to incorporate into my designs. Not just adding things for aesthetics and to make it visually pleasing, but so that they are practical as well as look good. 

There are many ways that a space suit is connected, clasps, Velcro, but most commonly zips are used. I didn't want to use them in the regular way that people tend to, straight down the middle, but actually this didn't seem to occur in the suits I looked at. I took 2 long zips and played around with the on mannequins drawing the jackets around them afterwards to see what effect it would give. Personally I think it worked really well, they look imaginative but still really simple. I thought the way that it pulls the jacket in in certain places changes the whole appearance of the torso. 

I previously spoke about how the pockets on the arms were there for practical use, and decided to look into it into more detail. Different types of pockets are used for different parts of the garment, these can be reinterpreted into something that turns a plain piece of clothing into something really interesting.