Presenting Melting Pot!

Today we each presented our sketch book, our theme board and our designs to the rest of the class and explained why we’ve chosen our theme/culture and how it has developed etc. I feel my presentation went quite well (I always get pretty nervous speaking to a whole room!) but I explained all I wanted to and I was pleased to get a vote from someone who felt they could get inspiration from my work - nice to be recognised and your work appreciated and all that! I'm going to carry on with the project to do all I want with it until a couple of weeks time when we’ll be given our next brief!
As far as that goes, we're off to London on Monday to see an exhibition which relates to the new brief so lets hope it's inspiring!

Collars and Melting Pot.

We spent Thursday pattern cutting, focusing on collars and plackets, features which we will need to include in the shirt we produce at the end of the term. I’ve been pretty busy working on the ‘Melting Pot’ project this week as we have to present our sketch book, theme board and final design to the whole group on Monday. I’m not overly looking forward to it as I’m not a big fan of presenting but ensuring I have all the work I need and I’m happy with the quality of the work should make the whole process a little less daunting.

Piclairs Presentation

On Wednesday my class mates and I had the chance to watch a presentation by a lady from ‘Piclairs’, a fashion forecasting company. The presentation was like nothing I’ve seen before so it was a very good experience to learn about fashion forecasting. The lady presenting the slideshow explained each current story thoroughly, showing the colour ways and the potential customer of each story. Each trend/story was equally interesting however I’d love to have learnt more about how they decide on these stories and where they get the majority of their inspiration from.

This week I’ve also continued working on the ‘Melting Pot’ design project which I’ve decided to base on the ‘English Rose’ culture after my tutor assured me it was a good idea! J I’ve really got into the project now and am enjoying researching the theme. I've looked at some work by modern day designer's who have taken a contemporary look at the 'English Rose' style as well as looking into the history of the theme and producing some of my own designs.

Last of PPRD Q & A 2...

Find some contemporary designers - Where did they get their inspiration from?

Craig Lawrence

For his latest collection, Spring 2010, Craig Laurence has been inspired by a number of different factors. Firstly, the future. As with several designer’s these days he has considered and experimented with a futuristic look. The future is totally unknown and this gives designers a lot of freedom. They can try-out many different techniques with more technical methods and fabrics that are not overly popular at present.

He has also inspired by the environment and the continued awareness of our diminishing resources. His collection won’t biodegrade, he wants it to last forever and be used by generation after generation.

Johanne Kappel Anderson

Johanne Kappel Anderson is an MA Fashion graduate from the Royal College of Art.
Her graduate womenswear collection ‘Raised like a Bird’ was inspired by Magpie’s. She had the idea to create a collection on the imaginary life in a magpie’s nest. She included idea

s about silver spoons, metal pieces and keys into prints, shapes and beading. Elements such as a speckled bird egg and the magpie’s black eye appear as details and prints. This collection is heavily inspired by nature.

Identify and document some current and emerging trends.

Chunky knits have been popular recently as winter approaches, either as snuggerly tight knits or a stylish open weave to show a bit of skin. Crop tops and capes are very on trend which easily add interest to an outfit and can be casual or dressy. One-shouldered dresses and tops are extremely popular along with textures such as velvets and lace.

The Latest in Illustrator...

I've added some of the latest work I have completed in Illustrator including a flat drawing of a trainer and further work to my logo that I started the other week.
The trainer is a copy of an image I found on the web, drawn around and filled in with a colour palette of my choice brought in from Kuler. I'd never heard of Kuler before but it's pretty cool and I can see it being handy at times. I also changed the colour ways of the trainer using a tool called 'Recolour Artwork'. As with the logo, I enjoyed creating this image as we were left up to our own devices a bit more and it was another chance to get to grips with Illustrator - which I can happily say, I think I'm getting the hang of it! Hope I'm not talking too soon! We also had a chance to continue with our logo and fashion illustrations and I'm really happy with what I've created.

PPRD Q & A 2....

How much do you already know about fashion?

I studied both GCSE and A Level Textiles although both were quite fashion based. I thoroughly enjoyed this course – obviously I suppose or I wouldn’t be on this course! I learnt a great deal of the academic, construction side of the industry as well as how to develop my own designs and collections.

I’m very aware there are many different areas involved in the fashion industry, some of which I know very little about but I’m keen to learn. I was lucky enough to work for Topshop for several months and this gave me a brilliant opportunity to see different aspects of the retail side of fashion. I was most inspired by the merchandising side and I’m keen to learn more about it as well as buying!

I feel my knowledge is lacking when it comes to fashion designers, I think simply because I haven’t been exposed to enough of them! I have worked to improve my knowledge and feel it has and continues to do so during this course.

What do the clothes we wear say about us?

Does what we wear define us?

I strongly believe that the idea that the clothes someone wears relates to their self confidence, security and how ‘open’ they are only applies to a certain extent.

Firstly, there are so many aspects to self confidence. In some cases an all round confident person is happy to wear more individual, eccentric clothing. They’re self assured and happy with who they are.

Similarly, it is possible to find less confident and shy people who wear more bland, less individual clothing as they feel they want to blend in with the background as they are not confident to stand out.

These are the two extreme ends of the spectrum. In the middle, I feel there are other scenarios.

Sometimes a confidence is within someone and may not show through to others. These people can still feel confident to wear whatever they choose to and wearing these clothes maybe a way of showing people they are confident and self assured.

Who dictates fashion?

Where does it start and go?

Firstly, consider the ‘trickle down theory’:

· Designers design a collection.

· They show the collection on the catwalk.

· Designer’s for the high street see new trends set by the high end designers and try to emulate particular parts of that catwalk collection in high street designs.

· A while later those designs are displayed and sold on the high street.

Looking at this sequence it would seem designer’s, trend spotters and fashion forecasters dictate fashion. As high street consumer’s we buy what we see to be fashionable. This is often what is available on the high street as we tend to trust the high street stores to be selling what is current and on trend. As well as this, we pick up what is current and fashionable from magazines and celebrities etc.

On the other hand is the idea that we, the public, decide what is fashionable. A design that has come from the catwalk may be very popular to the high street consumer and soar. This particular fashion may then continue for some time or designer’s may try to develop the design further.

Also, individuals who are keen to stretch the boundaries, be different and not conform may also set the trend. Anyone who wears something that has never been worn before or something in a different way may set a trend themselves.

'Melting Pot'...

Yesterday we were given our new design brief - 'Melting Pot.'
I'd already read through the brief a couple of times so was quite aware of what to expect and I'd kind of already got my thinking cap on as to what kind of culture I might like to explore. I've already completed quite a lengthy project on different cultures for my A Level. However, I'm quite happy to explore this kind of culture based brief again as there are so many different paths to go down and they're all so different and interesting! For my previous project I focused on African, Indian, Japanese and Spanish culture. I thoroughly enjoyed looking into each culture and I was quite conscious that I wanted to look into both the traditional and modern sides of the culture's fashion.
When thinking of which culture to focus on this time around I'm quite drawn to Indian again. I love the bright, bold colours often used and the luxurious and quite elegant appearance a lot of their clothing has. I also love the intricate details and decoration, which is further inspired by a designer called Manish Arora.
However, what I've really been inspired by is from a completely different perspective. During our lesson in which this design brief was given to us, the tutors mentioned to students who originate from a different country that they might like to focus on their own original culture. This got me to thinking about my own culture. As well as this thought, I noticed our design brief points out, 'after exhausting one's immediate surroundings, designer's turn to to the next place for a dose of exoticism.' I realised I don't feel I have exhausted my own culture and surroundings, if anything, I haven't really explored it at all!
So watch this space really, my idea's may change. I'd to run the idea by my tutor's to get their idea's but I've already been researching into the 'English Rose' culture/idea and it only inspires me further!

Logos and Fashion Illustration in Illustrator...

I thoroughly enjoyed our last lesson of Illustrator when we got to design our own logo and create a fashion illustration using techniques we've been taught - as many as we could remember anyway! I used my initials to create a logo which I really like and I feel it's got a lot of potential. I plan to go back to it at some point to try to improve it further. I also drew this fashion illustration, finding inspiration from an image I found on the internet. I found this lesson really beneficial and was happy to realise I'd remembered more techniques than I thought I had!

Finishing my Bodice in Garment Construction

Today we were shown how to finish our bodice. I'm becoming more and more familiar with the sewing machine I've been using so it's easier to get the precise results I'd like - although there are still a few wobbles here and there! I manged to keep up with the demonstrations more than last week so I was happy to complete my bodice to a standard I am very happy with. We were also shown a few different methods of hemming in this lesson.
I'm continuing to enjoy learning new techniques and skills that I can use further down the line.

Fabric Sourcing in London!

8am meet at the bus stop for our trip to London.
Our first stop was Shepherd's Bush which had masses of fabric shops! We were given 45 minutes to have a look around the shops and collect fabric samples which will come in useful with future design projects! It was a new experience for us all and a bit unknown but we soon got the hang of it and managed to get a good bunch of various fabric samples. Unfortunately, the samples we were given were quite small and we realised it may be more worthwhile to buy a small amount which we could then split between us and all have a decent sized sample. However at this point our time was up and we had to get back on the coach to be taken into central London where the price of fabric increased somewhat and we weren't so keen on the idea of buying fabric for samples!
It really was another good learning curve and experience and now I have learnt the best way to go about the whole process, I'm very keen to go again! Some of the shops and the fabrics were amazing and I've never seen a fabric costing £250.00 p/m!! - They were stunning! We went to Liberty which I've always heard about but never had a chance to visit - again it was a good experience and a beautiful building. As an aside, I really found it helpful to see labels on fabrics. I find to be able to connect what a fabric looks and feels like to it's name is a really good way of learning and I enjoyed the opportunity to do that.
After a quick waffle, tube journey and swift walk thought the V&A, we were back on the coach for the long journey home. I'll definitely be going again though!