At the start of this project I was given the era 1850-1900, I started to gather images of clothing, accessories, household objects and prints from my era that I really liked, picking them for the colours or shapes that were used for each piece. From the clothing images I tried making samples of the techniques that were used, some of these included: smocking, embroidery and shearing. Next I decided on a print theme that I wanted to take further and explore in a modern way, so I chose the paisley print – I loved that the print had shapes inside shapes and thought that this could be really interesting on garments. I found images of the paisley from my era and also modern examples too. I started to draw some of my own paisley prints and developed these into embroidery samples and digital print. I then started playing with the paisley on the stand and seeing how it would fit onto the body. I really liked the shapes I was creating but still wanted to incorporate some of the Victorian dress shapes into my shirt too. Whilst researching I found images of knit and crochet from my era and some of the pieces were amazing, after learning to crochet during this project I really wanted to incorporate it into my work, I found some paisley patterns online and tried making them myself. I really liked the outcome of this and decided that this would be my main focus. I made 4 different styles of paisley using multiple colours. I was also given a shop to consider when designing my 34-piece collection, this was All Saints. I looked into the shop and put together a customer profile. I liked the shapes of the collection and some of the details that I thought made the All Saints brand I incorporated into my designs. I decided to change my colour scheme to fit in with the All Saints collection, as I couldn’t see any of their customers buying my bright paisley! After my initial designs I made my 34 pieces in illustrator as flat drawings, I found this hard as I hadn’t used the programme much before and learning how to use all of the tools was difficult! Once I had got the hang of it I really enjoyed putting my garments together and I was so pleased with the finished pages! I used colour to show my crochet garments so that they looked different to the others and added crochet samples next to each one. From these I put together my 6 outfits choosing my best pieces, I did my illustrations of these in Photoshop – I loved adding the colour and fabrics to these as it really brought my designs to life! I am very happy with the colour scheme that I have picked as I think it complements the garments and All Saints well.
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Using the end of a roll of fabric or excess yarn that would usually be discarded = being a sustainable designer and this is what Katie has been doing recently. Other things that make you a sustainable designer include: being produced in England, Upcycling, thinking of your carbon footprint – producing locally, sustainable patterns that leave no waste fabric and using natural dyes. You don’t have to tick every box to be a sustainable designer. The problem that Katie was finding is being able to mass produce her items, she also needed to be able to cut down her costs as shops mark up by 2.8 and this would make her garments too expensive. Both big and small companies have waste materials so Katie makes use of these within her work, for her latest project she used second hand Aran jumpers as her base and thought about the colour and texture that she could add on top. She reworked the jumpers by hand embroidering and crocheting parts of the jumpers this could take 20 hours for each one! When doing a second hand project like this you need to be able to source many of your base items – Aran jumpers. Her inspiration for this collection came from Poland, the small villages and houses filled with antiques, she mixed this idea with her own upbringing of make do and mend. Katie applied to Estethica as a young, new, sustainable designer. She emailed her pitch for her Aran jumper collection and they liked it so much that she was given a rail space in Somerset House at London Fashion Week. She was at LFW for 6 days and got to meet many buyers, press and bloggers, including Sarah Murr and Hilary Alexander (owner of Browns). At a designers first fashion week you get a lot of press but not so many buyers as shops are worried that you wont last till next season. Companies like to buy into a designer that is reliable and that they can purchase each season. Katie had many international buyers interested in her collection. At LFW each designer sets up their rail, which displays their collection, and buyers come and inspect your clothes. They either take a price list and contact you or can order there and then. Unfortunately for Katie, Paris Fashion Week is where buyers spend most money and many early orders get cancelled as they have overspent once they have been to Paris. Many English buyers want sale on return but this is bad for designers as it means at the end of the season you could end up with lots of items returned to you. Another option is paying a small percentage upon ordering and the rest once your order has been delivered, e.g. 30% on ordering and 70% on delivery. Once a customer has paid, you then have 3 months to complete the order this includes delivery time. Katie enjoyed LFW but found it a huge jump from sitting at home knitting in front of the TV to selling your collection to huge industry buyers! Katie will be working on her spring/summer collection with Estethica and showing this again at London Fashion Week later in the year. She intends on staying sustainable but being able to produce more!
The next thing for Katie is Fashion Revolution Day; Katie is doing talks and teaching to broaden awareness of where your clothes are made. Fashion Revolution is in memorial of the Rana Plaza factory, which collapsed a year ago on the 24th April. To take part in Fashion Revolution wear your clothes inside out on the 24th April 2014 and follow Fash_Rev on Twitter. http://fashionrevolution.org Cath studied a BA at Middlesex University and an MA in womenswear at the royal college of art. She ‘fell’ into styling when she created an outfit for a ‘skins’ band member who wore it in a music video. Since then she has worked with many celebrities, primarily musicians including Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue. What is styling?
A person who acts with attention to style – there are many different types and specialisms in styling: Clothes – fashion stylist Make Up – make up artist Hair – session stylist Location – location scout Props – prop stylist Food – food stylist There are also different fields within styling: Editorial – this is creating themes for magazine shoots, choosing the photographer and creating a story for the shoot. Editorial stylists decide the content of shoots; they have creative freedom and have to create a whole image that the readers can aspire too. They must know the magazines readership and deliver content that is relevant. The stylist must have a clear concept and style direction to present to the main fashion editor. The stylist is also responsible for the credits on each shoot which gives information on what each model is wearing. Commercial - this is fashion advertising, TV commercials, look books and fashion shoots. Fashion Advertising – the models look will help to define the feel of the shoot. Working in fashion advertising you have to be able to stick to a tight brief, you need to know the key pieces that the company want to sell and shoot and there is more focus on the product. There are usually 5 or 6 adverts with a running theme that are promoting just one brand at a time. The clothing in these adverts has to look as good as possible – the fitting must be perfect. There is more money in commercial adverts. Non-Fashion Advertising Again you have to interpret a brief and create a character to style. You would work for a production company and gather the outfits that a director chooses. You also need many copies of the same outfit – a new one for each take. You work by union rates and you must create budgets to buy clothes, which you would present back to the company. Personal – image, colour, one to one and private clients. You must have effective communication skills and build peoples self-esteems. You need to leave the client with information about what works for their body shapes so that they feel confident to shop. You must consider the clients lifestyle and make a practical budget. Celebrity You are under huge pressure working in celebrity styling, you work for fashion PR companies and the stylist can end up becoming celebrities themselves. You have to be confident in your own abilities and build good relationships with clients. Some brands are particular with which celebrities wear their clothes and can be very competitive. Celebrities pay for nothing and you must be on call night and day. Show styling – need to know designers, re-imagine collections and very fast pace. A fashion trend is something that is popular in a culture. Usually trends change rapidly, but in some cases it becomes more substantial and longer lasting. Trends are predicted by trend forecasters in the fashion industry, not every predicted trend even takes off and some become more popular than others. Emerging trends – these are usually specialty items, things that have been handmade, making them high value items. These items are usually brought out by the risk takers in the industry!!
Incoming trends – here people have recognised the trend, due to better retail, catalogues and websites. The prices may be dropped as the styles get picked up. Pre-Peak trends – the trend is now established and is selling in volume. Peak trends – everyone knows about the trend and everyone wants to be a part of it. Highest point in sales and excellent supply, unfortunately in fast moving fashion this is the beginning of the end! Post peak trends – sales begin to drop as the amount produced has overtaken the demand of the trend. Due to this the prices of items drop. Outgoing trends – this is where the price of the items drop to their lowest, due to this there is also a drop in quality. Declining Trends – the trend is over and the process repeats. As well as ‘fast fashion’ trends there are also a selection of ‘basic’ items that are always available and bought in shops. |
AuthorHolly Vintner. Graduated with a 1st class BA hons in Fashion from Plymouth College of Art. Archives
May 2015
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