FMP Supporting Statement For my final major project, I have designed and made an outfit consisting of three garments;

a cape/coat, a shirt, and a pair of tailored trousers. I feel that my final garments have fulfilled the intentions and answered the question; I set out to investigate in my initial statement of intent one way or another. I also feel that along the way, my ideas have changed and developed as my starting point was a topic very personal to me, and a personal topic tends to have numerous questions and starts off very broad which I have managed to look at objectively and ask questions from an audiences point of view. As regards to research, I have read books and numerous articles online, watched documentaries on YouTube, researched and visited numerous exhibitions, carried out my own audience research as well as flying abroad to Prague on a research trip. Through my research, I have learnt a new way of looking at this escapism of mine as well as managed to understand a bit more about what Prague is for me and why myself and others might feel this way towards a place or escape from reality. Throughout this project, I have experimented a lot with film as I thought initially that film would be the best possible way to try and capture the mood and portray to an audience the fabric of my escapism. I also used photography a lot as well as writing in my journal and on my blog to help to understand and self-analyse my thought process throughout. I have also used my sketchbook to experiment with designing as well as mannequin work and fabrics. I feel that my time management throughout this project was fairly consistent aside from times where I was overwhelmed by my feedback and had to make sense of where I would go next. In the end, I think that the fabrics I used to produce my garments suited well to the ideas that I had. When fabric sourcing, I really felt like I questioned every aspect of my decision making whether it be the colour, weight, or thread etc. In retrospect, I think that the elements of my project I could have improved on would be my ability to objectify my research with pace and respond faster visually in my sketchbook. In the last six weeks, I have also evaluated my progress in a black A5 diary which I used as a journal. Inside, I documented my thought process, my feelings and emotions, peer and tutor feedback, and my plans for improvement. The journal also turned out to be more personal that I initially anticipated, proving interesting to photocopy and use as a chronological time line throughout my sketchbook and blog.

Matthew Needham