December has always been a time of year that I have loved, with it being my birthday month, the christmas holidays with all the lovely festive decorations and markets around decorating the country. Also, I may be alone on this one, but I do love it when the weather gets colder and the days get shorter (and no longer feeling guilty for staying in, in the warm on a Friday night).
However December does have to come to an end and just as you’ve finished off the last of the turkey with your third night of turkey curry, its time to pack away those christmas decorations and get ready for a brand new year.
Now with the feeling that a whole year had passed and that I am now a whole year older and what have I actually spent the last year doing was definitely something that was ringing in my mind. So, in a completely self indulgent manner I decided to put together this post to remind myself in brief what has happened in that year called 2015. Also as someone who is rather sentiment and nostalgic I always love looking back over old photos and reminiscing from good times past.
I originally intended for this post to just have 1 or at most 2 photos per occasion however there were just so many I couldn’t choose between so get ready for being bombarded with photos. So sit back, relax, and get ready for a lot of scrolling. I hope you enjoy!
January kick started the year with a bang after being cast in a national tour of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream with Forge Production House playing the role of Helena. This had always been a dream role in theatre for me to play so I was delighted and so excited for the opportunity. After just a couple of initial rehearsals and read throughs we embarked on the hefty task of the promotion photoshoot. As any actor would do the whole cast (in the case of the pucks literally) jumped at the chance of getting in front of the camera to get some great shots. Who knew just throwing flower and paint around could create such brilliant results (just don’t tell the cleaners about how much mess we made).
Click here if you would like find out more about Forge.
Pucks – Sally Wood and Ben Butler
Oberon and Titania – Joe Mounfeild and Ella Rose Jones
The Mechanicals – Marcos Spalding, Olivia Hutton, Jack Chambers, Holly Clack and Breanne Burton
The lovers – Chloe knott, Tom Fitzwilliams, Imogen Jones and Kel Chambers
When not being in a midsummers rehearsal in February I actually had to knuckle down to working on my textile design portfolio for university interviews. I’m not going to lie, with all of it seeming to spring up on my out of nowhere and with so little time, sleeping definitely turned into a luxury item with pulling many many late nights to get all the work done. Luckily all the digital portfolios and essays and actually portfolio’s got done and all was left to do was drag it all across the county to interview after interview after interview.
Here is a link to my online portfolio
With university interviews also dominating a lot of March there wasn’t really much room for much fun, but with easter falling in April it turned into a very busy month. First came a promotional photoshoot with Forge again for some short films where I got the chance to work on the production teams and feature. From getting up at 4 in the morning to shoot a sunset or going to visit an old metal asylum we had a lot fun creating these conceptual images. This all then ran into intensive week of Midsummers rehearsals and topped off with letting off some steam with a visit to Alton Towers (and somehow being convinced to go on all manner of scary rides.
Emily Gardner and Joe Mounfeild
Joe Mounfeild and Ben Butler
Arthur Godden and Aea Varfis-Van Warmelo
Meg Lewis and Marcos Spalding
Chloe Knott (surprise surprise) and Matt Owen
It’s not every day you end up with a noose around you neck
But don’t worry, it all a bit of fun really
“point your guns in the air and say ahhhhhh”
After the fun of easter was over in May it was full steam ahead with trying to complete my final collection for my Foundation Diploma. After days, weeks spent in the print room printing screen after screen after screen (and using far too much pigment than I should have for free) and many late nights slaving on photoshop, my collection finally became came together and was ready for hand in on the 24th of May (as with any big deadline becomes ingrained in your memory forever.)
Whole collection available to view here
In June after a years worth of hard work I graduated from Hereford College of Arts with a distinction in my Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. After all the studying for the year was done I was asked to be the Assistant Head of Costume in a production of Our Town. Having previously done costume work I was delighted to get the opportunity do to this again and get the chance to visit Bristol Costume Services of to source them. (I’d never see so many clothes in all my life!)
Chloe Knott, Jack Chambers, Joe Mounfeild and Emily Gardner
Sarah Brice, Marcos Spalding and the Cast
The cast of Our Town
Finally after nearly 6 months of preparation and rehearsals in July it was finally the time for the A Midsummer Nights Dream tour. This month was pretty much solely dedicated to it with it including having to build the set, put together and make the costumes and the final intensive rehearsals all in prep for the tour. Having never toured a show it was a slight shock to the system doing a show every night in a different venue, with no more lazy mornings sleeping in before a show in the evening when you had a long Journey to get the next venue. But is was brilliant to get to visit all the different theatre and performing the show on all the different stages, making every show in some way different.
The Cast of A Midsummer Nights Dream
Ella Rose Jones, Chloe Knott and Joe Mounfeild
Chloe Knott, Tom Fitzwilliams, Imogen Jones, Joe Mounfeild
Moi beautifying myself
All the different venues meant re-organising the costumes each and every night.
Imogen Jones, Tom FItzwilliams and Chloe Knott
Ella Rose Jones, Breeanne Burtons with the fairies
Kell Chambers and Imogen Jones
The Cast of A Midsummer Nights Dream
With quite a long period of down time before going of to university, with hating not being busy and having something to beaver away at, in August my homemade textiles brand Chloe Natalie Knott and this blog fabric forward we born. After being able to go back into college and freely use the print room (not going to let that opportunity pass me by) I knocked together a some more screen printable pattens and did lots and lots of samples. It was only when asked what I was going to do with them and told I can’t just let them go to waste that the makeup bag idea hit me.
I explain the whole process of these in one of my previous blog posts linked here.
In terms of fabric forward at first It started off as just another means of promoting my products and textiles designs. However I had been a long time reader of many a fashion blog, now i’m not claiming I am going to be the next Zoella, but with mixing together my interest in fashion and my passion for textile design, I thought I had a nice little idea on my hands.
My 3 favourite posts from the year…
The rest of the summer involved some lovely mini breaks away, first to Norfolk with my boyfriend and his family (which I still have the sun burn tan lines to this day – it was hard to believe it was only England) and followed by a long weekend away in London town, again with he boyfriend.
London blog post and OOTD post
As September rolled around it was time for a new term to begin and this time it was the big one of moving away to University. My destination was Glasgow to study textile design at The Glasgow School of Art. It may not be to everyones cup of tea to move hundreds of miles away to a different country the first time they move out of home however I was always intended to try and get a long way away, If your going to do it why not do it properly, thats what I say. I think with having an extra year at home after doing A levels for my foundation year only made me more hungry with seeing a lot of my friends move away to move away myself and I think I appreciated it more when I did.
Some examples of my work from the first semester at uni.
More posts about some of these in more depth coming up soon..
In order to keep my passion for performing going I was keen to join any companies/societies I could find in Glasgow. Student theatre at Glasgow (STaG) which is part of the University of Glasgow, (but accept people from other Glasgow Uni’s lucky) is where I have currently found my feet and through the months of October to December I was lucky enough to perform in three of their productions, The Jungle Book, Clickaway as part of The Stag Nights festival and topped of with their main stage production of Macbeth.
The Jungle Book – (As a Monkey – the role I was born to play ;) )
Chris Duffy, Chloe Knott, Juliet Smith, Isabelle Ribe, Maya Stevenson and Aike Jensen
Clickaway – Written by Agnes Checka
Norliza Matheson, Cal Mar, Anna Rattray, Elliot Thompson and Chloe Knott
Macbeth – as First witch (blog post all about it linked here)
Cait Lennox, Chloe Knott, Kirsty Fraser
Chloe Knott, Sam Skoog, Kirsty Fraser and Cait Lennox
To round the year off nicely, with my first term at uni coming to an end and looking ahead to about a month off what better way to fill my time than crack down with the blog and get lots new outfit photos and all manner of things done in preparation for the new year. So stay tuned in the new year for all these photo goodies!
(have probably ended up being the person who has ridden this escalator the most in the process of trying to get this shot)
And christmas time wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a christmas market, Birmingham to be exact.
I’m looking forward to what next year brings with plenty of exciting things planned here for the blog, I wish you a very (late) Merry Christmas and a Wonderful new year.
If you haven’t already had enough of me from this post please feel free to comment and like and I would love it if you could follow me at the normal places..
Twitter at @ChloeNatKnott
Instagram at @chloenatalieknott
Bloglovin at Fabric Forward
or my board on Pintrest at Fabric Forward
As ever lots of photos by Tom Flathers and moi
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