FMP, Week 4.

Week 4

·         Started collecting fabrics for the file – emailed cheap fabrics to get samples – looking mainly at sating, chiffon, cotton, lace and furs

·        Looked through James Hare fabric files at college – took notes on some fabrics – really liked the navy crepe backed satin with coordinating chiffon – ordered some samples online

·        Decided upon using the satin and chiffon for my final design – give the dress a very high end feel to it with the expensive fabric – began pleating the fabric to see what effect it would create

·        Started sketch and swatch sheets – taken from design development - really like the first design – very simple yet stylish - began doing sampling for it

•    On target with critical path – really enjoying the project – excited to begin creating the final garment after sourcing the fabrics!

Cheapfabrics.co.uk:

James Hare Fabrics:

Pleated French Chiffon

http://www.james-hare.com/

Sketch & Swatch Sheets:



AD206, Negotiated Project Lookbook Update..

Today we had a presentation from the graphic's students

at college who are constructing our Look Book for this styling

project which is to be handed out during Newcastle Fashion Week

promoting ourselves and the college on the work we can produce.

So far, they have came up with having hand written typography,

flats overlapped on images, LBD book, line drawings on photos,

illustrations, research imagery, a notepad approach,

signatures and a main image with photo booth

style images on the opposite page.

As the fussy fashion students we are, we had a

class discussion as a group after the presentation and decided

that we were not keen on many ideas that had been presented to us

and fed back some of our own ideas to them.

As a result, we eventually decided upon having only images inside

the look book, without the sketchbook resemblance, keeping it clean

and professional!

See the result yourself when they hit the streets of Newcastle on May 26th!

Trend Bible..

Today we were introduced to Alice who works for Trend Bible,

getting an idea of what sort of work they produce and how ourselves as budding

designers can start to predict upcoming trends.

Trend Bible forecasts future trends and publish a bi-annual trend books for

home interiors and kids lifestyle trends, telling consumers what their customers will want.

Tesco is one brand

which uses these books which has increased their profits to up to £5 billion and

doubled growth on their home range by predicting the right trends.

There are over 30 trend agencies with different specialisms which gain their

knowledge through events, seminars, graduate shows, craft fairs, flea markets

and exhibitions. The benefits of this are to gain more business,

increase sales and press attention and to give staff faith in the company.

The downside of getting trends wrong are customers will go elsewhere,

ranges will look out of touch, no press attention and the company will

stand out for all the wrong reasons.

'The Tipping Point' book by Malcom Gladwell explains when

trends stop becoming niche.

Catwalks,the Sartorialist blog, street style which gives the designer more inspiration,

social events - spending cuts, cultural events - films, exhibitions,

food and car industry, influential people, google alerts,

technology and fabric development,

food, travel, blogs and your instinct are all ways on how to

trend forecast.

Many websites are available to help with this such as:

www.thesartorialist.com

www.hanneli.com

www.style.com

www.businessoffashion.com

www.stylebubble.co.uk

www.stylesalvage.blogspot.com

www.trendbible.co.uk

www.WGSN.com

www.peclersparis.com

Trend Bible's Alice contact - alice@trendbible.co.uk



FMP, Week 3.

Week 3

·        Carried on with the rest of the sketchbook – started looking at trends and designers Parisian collections to gain more inspiration – after speaking to tutor decided to go with a black/navy/cream colour palette for my final designs

·        Started design development – taking most inspiration for la belle époque – done mostly dresses – need to add pants/tops/skirts etc to gain more of a capsule collection

·        Designs created so far – need more inspiration – none of the designs have stuck out to me yet that I would like to create

To do:

- Carry on with design development

Design Development:

Sketchbook Update:

Trends

Parisian Collections

Embellishment

Sarah Burton Vogue December 2011 Interview - Article Review

When the article was published, Sarah Burton had been serving as head of

the McQueen house for almost a year. It delves a lot into her current time

at the label and gaining an insight into the biggest kept secret of the year;

designing and creating the Royal wedding gown.

After reading the article, I found that it definitely meets its purpose

as I find myself drawn more and more into the McQueen label.

The article is very informative and clearly written and tells me a lot about

the brand itself and Burton's experience working with and for

the designer of the century.

Although I do feel that some features of the article are found to

be weak, for example the fact the writer seems to come across

as very biased, giving away no negative connotations

towards the label itself. After reading it, I find that my opinions

on the subject matter have not been changed but feel myself drawn more

into the life of Sarah Burton and how she managed to breathe life into the label.

The images alongside the article relate very much to the content as it contains

images of her work and her upcoming collection which have been

mentioned in it. As it is Burton's first interview, it contains a lot of

breakthrough information for the readers, as you get more of a feel of what

she is about and the dramatic impact she has made by becoming head of house.

Mentioning the bridal gown made for Kate Middleton automatically draws the

reader in as the event was such a huge event in the country and is astonishing to hear

the workmanship involved in its making.

It also relates to everyone, whether or not they are interested in fashion

and is reflected upon in a time that the readers will still have a clear image

of the gown. What I liked about the article was that Alexander McQueen

had been talked about throughout and the inspiration he gave Burton

to carry on the label after his death. His collections and exhibitions were also

mentioned such as his famous 'Savage Beauty' display that became one

of the most visited exhibitions in the museums 141 year history.

Overall, I feel that it is an excellent portrayal of Burton and McQueen and like his work,

it is extremely inspirational to me as a budding designer.

Work Placement - Primark Update..

Week 4

·        Had a four week review with a manager – talked about how I’m getting on, do I enjoy it etc – received positive feedback – getting praise off other managers and supervisors within the store – really pleased with how I’m getting on

·        Worked on tills again – end of shifts I helped with the recovery and returns – putting the stock back out on the shop floor – difficult finding everything – still not sure on the department numbers

·        Enjoying time on the tills – learning quickly and colleagues and customers really nice – very helpful when needed – still feel like I’m ringing my till bell too often to get the supervisor to void items off that I double scanned

Week 5

·        On folding tables - busy day all day – found it hard as I’ve never been taught how to fold the clothes properly – had to use previous fashion knowledge on how to fold correctly

·        Tidying socks - around till banks

·        Sent on the shop floor to put stock out

·        Was also on tills

·        Sent upstairs putting stock out - childrens clothes – difficult to find since I haven’t been upstairs much

Week 6

·        Pyjama onesie dress up day for children in need

·        Was on tills all day

·        Putting stock out at end of the day

·        Sorting stock out behind tills that need to go out

·        Was sent around the shop marking down the clothes ready for the sale

Children In Need Charity Day

Week 7

·        On tills - busy day

·        Customers were quite impatient - scanned socks in and ripped bag by accident when working with a friend – annoyed customer

·        Took soiled and damaged things to customer services

·        Work finished early - work night out

AD202, CAD SWOT Analysis

Strengths -

·        What strengths did I have that others don’t? – My strengths were my time keeping, regularly updating my diary allowing me to create an honest evaluation and adding extra details onto the sheets that wasn’t asked for

·        What do people see as my strengths? –My spec drawings were seen to be very strong and my use of the pen and brush tools which allowed me to communicate my ideas effectively. I also overcame any problems successfully and quickly.

·        Which of my achievements am I most proud of? – I am most proud of completing the work to a high level independently and the new skills I have learnt during the project.

·        Which section of the work did I complete well? – I feel as though I completed the written side well, producing a clear knowledge of CAD in the industry and the final spec sheets were produced to a high level.

Weaknesses –

·        What tasks did I avoid? – I mostly avoided the written side of the project as I feel more confident with the illustrator part.

·        What do others see as my weaknesses? – My weaknesses are in my knowledge of illustrator, having to look at Youtube videos for tutorials on how to complete certain sections of the work.

·        What held me back? – What held me back was not having the confidence with illustrator and finding it difficult to complete certain elements for the spec sheets.

·        What are my negative work habits? – My negative work habits were leaving the written side of the project until last.

FMP, Week 2.

After deciding upon my theme and market level, this week I began with my

design work, gaining most of my inspiration from the 'La Belle Epoque'

which took place in late 19th century Paris, marking the optimism and

discovery of new technology and medicines after World War 1.

It also overlapped with the Victorian and Edwardian era's

which I will continue to look further into to gain more

inspiration.

For the project, I was asked to create a critical path,

where I can keep an eye on my progress and plan the work

I want to produce over the weeks. Taking inspiration from a critical

path hand out from college, I have created my own below,

ensuring that all work will be completed before hand in on 22nd May '12.

This week I also had a discussion with my tutor on my work

produced so far, and finding that I need to look into

vintage interiors and the Eiffel Tower to create a mood of the era in

my sketchbook. We also discussed that I had a good start to my work

and should perhaps just make a dress, without a jacket as

they look like items on their own from my designs.

To do:

- Add drawings and fabics to my sketchbook

- Do design development on dresses

- Have 8 design sheets completed - designing a capsule collection -

begin to design jackets, trousers, skirts, tops etc.

Pages from sketchbook:



Ciao CAAD!

After many, many months of working on my digital applications project,

I have finally completed it with a week to spare!

After completing this project, I feel like my skills have improved and have came a long way since the first CAD project. From doing weekly tasks on Illustrator inside and outside of college, I managed to overcome any problems I had with the work and managed to create successful final spec and detail sheets of my little black dress designs.

I feel the successful parts of this project were in the final sheets and managing to overcome problems quickly and independently. I also found the lessons to be very successful, as they allowed me to build my confidence with my CAD skills and refresh my memory and help build upon any skills that I had already learnt in the first year. Watching YouTube videos also helped with my knowledge of Illustrator, as I successfully managed to independently create a zipper tool that I could incorporate into my final design sheets.

Overall, I really enjoyed the project and I am pleased with how much my Illustrator skills have developed and will continue to practice to give me more confidence in abilities.

CAD Detail Sheets

Online Portfolio!

After years of waiting for this moment to come again,

I have been asked to send an online portfolio to one of my university choices!

Stressed and panicked does not quite cover it!

Heres the result below!:

Hopefully this will get me somewhere this time!



AD206 Negotiated Project

On the return to college after the Christmas break, we have yet again

been bombarded with a handful of projects!

One of these projects, is the negotiated project, where we have been

asked to work with a photographer and negotiate a range of ideas to use to

photograph and style my Little Black Dress from the current project.

So far, I have began collecting tear sheets of how I would like the shoot

to look, such as hair, make-up, props, accessories and location, whether in a studio or outisde.

From having a 1950's theme, I have so far came up with having the shoot

at a local American diner, giving the impression of a vintage photograph, with

a black and white effect on the end photo to add on this effect.

The work produced in this module will become part of a look book and be used

to promote myself and the college during Newcastle fashion week.

For this, we have began discussing ideas on how we would like the look book

to look to showcase our talent as young designers!

I have also been asked to produce a visual 1000 word evaluation of the work

produced to add into my portfolio once completed!

I will also produce a 200 word written statement on myself as a fashion

designer which will also be used within the look book!

Newcastle Fashion Week

Yesterday, my college class were introduced to Sandra Tang who came to discuss this year's Newcastle fashion week!

Sandra works as a team member from NE1, an independant limited company

who aim to get people to come to Newcastle's city centre. With no previous

fashion degree or qualifications, Sandra has been involved in music management,

managing the band Atomic Kitten, worked as part of M&S and selling vintage clothing.

As this year's Newcastle Fashion Week Sandra aims to create over

70 free events, from fashion tv, catwalks, workshops and launch parties with celebrities, along with

again having their own official t-shirt and pants which proved to be

very popular last year!

This year, there will be 9 days of highlights with one big event per day

aiming to create a fashion week that even a respectable fashion magazine such as Grazia would be proud to showcase!

A fashion's day out will also be occuring, featuring instore catwalks,

lecturers, fashion front row, Newcastle's most stylish, fashion tv,

frock and roll (similar to fashion rocks) and a three day fashion weekend event at our own Metro Radio Arena recreating the clothes show live!

More information avaliable at:

www.getintonewcastle.co.uk/nfw

Bring on 14th May!

AD205, Final Major Project.

For my final major, I have been asked to produce a self directed brief,

using my strengths and creativity to embark on a personal voyage of discovery, style and design.

I am asked to produce a shop report carried out in more than one city, come up

with a market level, create a critical path to help with my time planning and project structure, portfolio

research on my chosen theme, explore fabrics to create a fabric sourcing file,

design development and line-ups, design and create an outfit and produce an evaluation.

So far, I have done a presentation on my work, chosing 'Parisian Chic' as my theme, a mid range

designer market level with store competitors such as Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Calvin Klein

and Vivienne Westwood, and will create an outfit consisting of a dress and a jacket if I have enough time.

I have chose Parisian Chic as my theme as Paris is a very fashionable place

being the home of haute couture, with a lot of inspiration.

Parisian fashion is very timeless, elegant, classy, fashion forward, simple

style conscious and feminine which I hope to portray in my design work.

As part of the work, I will look at 'la belle epoque' and the French revolution

to help with my inspiration, generating most of my ideas from the vintage side of Paris.

Images from Google Images