How can a scarf enhance us? How can they add to our beauty or do they protect our modesty? These are the questions that I have been trying to answer with my recent project on scarfs.
I was able to choose from three topics: enhancing, protecting and identifying. When I think of scarves, I think of old Hollywood and Grace Kelly riding in cars with the roof down and a silk scarf covering her perfectly curled hair. So naturally, I chose ‘enhancing’ for my topic, but if you think about it, a silk scarf covering a film actresses head combines all three topics.
Recently, I have Marie Kondoing all of my photos on my laptop and I came across some pictures from the Brighton Pavilion that I took in April 2018. In the main hall of the Pavilion, John Nash uses a specific colour palette of a light coral pink combined with a rich, blue-based green. These colours were merged together in a cohesive scheme, using the illustrations from an artists trip to China. These drawings were incorporated across the main hallway in the Pavilion, especially in the stained glass windows by the stairs.
These images and colours were the main inspiration for my project. Like with any project, I started by drawing from observation from Oriental objects from the National Museum of Scotland. Here, I was particularly attracted to motifs of dragons as well as cranes. These were incorporated into many samples, of which I used in my final design.
In the end, I decided to incorporate elements of the Orient, 1920s patterns and animal prints. I feel these themes all mixed well together and created a contemporary design with inspiration from the Brigton Pavilion.
Hope you like it as much as I did!
Layla Priya Chauhan 