Write-up for our T-shirt Design

Our group was assigned to design a T-shirt based on the theme: Goth. From what we understand, Goths carry a very emotional and dark connotation. The color black and skulls were associated with such a theme. Because of this we decided to include a skull and dark colors as the basic design of our T-shirt.

We got our ideas for our T-shirt design from more than one source. For the skull, which is for what the basic shape and design it should be, we got the idea from Tim Burton’s movie – A nightmare before Christmas. From this basic idea, we modified the design, for instance, we changed the shape of the eyes so as to create a darker and more sinister feeling. 

As for the actual design of the shirt, we got inspiration from the late British fashion Designer, Alexander McQueen. We found that his wide range of gothic garments were able to capture the image and feel that we wanted.

The skeleton for our shirt design was mainly a shirt with black nettings attached to it to give help bring out the more eerie feeling.  We planned to use the black nettings to create a veil and a mini skirt, because it gives a shadowy effect. It creates silhouettes which we feel supports the dark, mysterious feel of goth.

This design somewhat resembled Gothic Lolita, which is a combination of Goth and Lolita – a fashion subculture originating in Japan, but it should be noted that the style has expanded greatly beyond Japan.

The decision to use black netting as the material to create the mini skirt as well as the sleeves and collar was because we felt that the way Alexander used this sort of material in some of his gothic designs was really able to bring out the effect of a spooky and shadowy silhouette.  Thus to bring out this effect as much as possible, we decided to shorten the sleeves.

However, as we planned to wear the shirt with a pair of blue jeans, we felt it necessary to shorten the T-shirt’s hemline. With this, the top half of the outfit would not appear too long and would not end up looking like more of a dress than a T-shirt. This is especially important since we planned to sew some of the black netting at the bottom of the T-shirt. Besides, to add on to the spooky concept of this outfit, we cut the back of the shirt, so that the layers drape or hang down. The boots which the model will be wearing will add a tinge of elegance to the general outfit.