Sue Wong

Finally, I wanted to look at Sue Wong’s Collection that she designed in collaboration with Disney for the 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie. Sue Wong always seems inspired by the past - a lot of her designs for this collection seem to be influenced by fashion from the 1920s. However, on the collections website (http://www.suewong.com/alice/) it seems that each dress is inspired by environments from the movie. I really like 1920s style clothing, so the combination of that along with Alice in Wonderland has made some very nice dresses, in my opinion.

Angelic Pretty

I also found the Japanese fashion label “Angelic Pretty” to be quite inspiring. The brand started in 1979 and specialises in “sweet lolita” style clothing. From what I understand, Sweet Lolita is influenced by Rococo style, Victorian and Edwardian clothing. Some of the common themes in Angelic Pretty are Alice in Wonderland imagery, showing designs of white rabbits, tea parties, playing cards, cake etc.

Japanese girls seem to like angelic pretty because of their unique prints and patterns. Therefore, I may look at them further next term when I develop my character design using an iterative process.

Vivienne Westwood

Next I will look at one of my favourite designers, Vivienne Westwood. These wonderland inspired outfits from her Spring/Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear collection are almost the complete opposite of the last collection I looked at, as they are over-the-top and messy. Westwood’s designs seem to capture the insanity and quirkiness of Alice in Wonderland. Most of the designs remind me of the Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter.

Luella Bartley

Like the context of my game idea, I want my protagonist to be inspired by Alice in Wonderland as well. However, I still want my character to look original and contemporary. Rather than looking at how Alice is shown in book illustrations and animations, I wanted to look at how the wonderland theme is expressed in the fashion world. After studying textiles and fashion at A-level, I have always been interested in the latest collections and I hope this comes across in my designs.

Firstly, I wanted to look at the Luella Spring/Summer 2010 ready to wear collection. I am reminded of Alice in Wonderland because of the ribbons in the hair, pastel colours and an emphasis on the silhouettes of the dresses. I like these outfits because it’s almost like a very mature and subdued version of Alice and Wonderland. These garments also remind me of the rococo architecture I looked at, because of the pastel colours.

Junko Mizuno

Next, I will look at art styles that influence my game and idea. Unlike the art I looked at before, these artists don’t reference Alice in Wonderland.

Firstly, my project’s style is primarily influenced by Japanese artist Junko Mizuno. I first dismissed Mizuno’s art as another cute, but creepy style, but after looking into her work further, I found that her art uses some very interesting themes, such as pregnancy, maternity and sex. I also found that there were feminist messages in her comic books that she had written. For instance, the women in the comics were often poorly treated by the male characters. Mizuno says that “In Japan, today still, men use to judge very strictly women who are not pretty.” So maybe this is some kind of reaction to the treatment on women in Japan. Mizuno’s characters are also very strong-willed and independent, representing the kind of woman she aspires to be.

Her work also links in with my study on narrative as she likes to base her work on famous western fairy tales, but change certain aspects of them to make them her own. For example, in her comic “Cinderalla” the protagonist is a waitress and prince charming is a zombie pop star. Rather than leaving a glass slipper, she leaves an eyeball behind. She also wrote her own version of Hansel and Gretel and a little mermaid style story.

I really like the style and themes that Junko Mizuno uses and I would like my own game to take inspiration from it. Her overly feminine imagery would be perfect for my target audience.

I also came across some artwork of hers that would make interesting platform level aesthetics. One is from her “Mizuno Garden” website and the other is stationary: