About Me
Hi, I'm Rachel, a fashion textile design student from De Montfort
Rachel Revell is an award-winning Fashion Textile Design (BA) Hons graduate from De Montfort University, 2022. Rachel is an innovative independent designer that pushes textile boundaries to create sculptural knitwear that accentuates the female figure. Her aim is to design environmentally conscious knitwear that compliments cliental.
It is important to me to make my outcomes relevant to very real problems that we face in society. It is often difficult to educate and draw attention to these serious issues, and so I find this a drive for my work using knitwear, mixed media, and print, to define those that have suffered and communicating the issues that need to be resolved. I am always eager to explore techniques that are relevant to making a deeper connection to the initial message of a project, and throughout my developments I have often mixed disciplinaries to do so, just like the work displayed below.
INSPIRATION
My initial inspiration came from Duxford; studying the aspects of chemical warfare and espionage
The development of my work derived from images sourced from Duxford; with them consisting of geometric and linear aspects, which lead to be a prominent style within my project. My work has a large influence from Samurai armour, which I viewed whilst visiting the V&A Museum. The techniques I have used in my knitwear mimic similar aspects to this armour with it being hidden inside of other textiles, meanwhile the designs I have created also hint towards “Undercover” services communicating in forms of code.
Living in western countries we can be at times oblivious to what is actually going on in the world, my project delves into the subject by reflecting our current affairs of chemical warfare referring to environmental factors, the pandemic, and wars. My knitwear encases leather to symbolise the aspect that we all have a hidden armour, protecting ourselves from cruel realities. These knits are enhanced with intricate flame painted copper details that represent the physical impacts of war.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Introduction
Initial concept
Primary Research
Bauhaus Influence
Fashion response
Fashion response
Toile design
Toile design
Drawing development
Textile developments
Final knit explorations
Final knit explorations
Final knits on a mannequin
Final knits on a mannequin
Final Illustrations
Final Illustrations
Final Garments
Final Garments
Concept Board
DETAIL
Developing knitwear using multiple disciplinaries and contrasting textiles
The use of leather in my knitwear was definitely challenging at times, I used heavy cow leather of which fought against the fine knits that I was producing. The samples were difficult to control, to form into shapes around the body, however as I experimented with toiles and samples, I soon found that the use of leather allowed me to easily pleat the textiles to fit perfectly on a figure. I also started adding more leather onto the outside of the knitwear which allowed me to explore more sculptural outcomes successfully.
"If not us, who? If not now, when?" - John F. Kennedy
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