Final Designs to be viewed by Studio G

I have been selected to take my finished samples to Studio G, in London in hope that they may select them to take to New York to be sold. This will be an amazing opportunity, even if not selected, to get professional feedback on the designs I produce. Below are a selection of samples I will be presenting to them.

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Design Illustrations

After a great deal of sampling I have finally finalised my final print collections and printed the vast majority of the designs. By putting my designs into the intended garment shapes it helped me visualise where the prints should be placed and how successful they will be. These are my design boards of my final line ups.

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Selection of Finalised Print ideas

These are a selection of my finalised print designs which are ready to be exposed onto screens and printed onto fabric. I will sample with them before I decide on there final placements. The top two rows are prints which will go together, they are background all over prints which will accompany the placement prints. I have taken on board all advice given by Studio G and feel they have been full stylized and developed.

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STUDIO G visits Colchester School of Art

Studio G visited our studio today to give us a talk on how they work as a studio, what their job entails and also presented us with a variety of previous collections they have taken to professional trades fairs such as indigo in Paris and New York. The quality of work was amazing and extremely inspiring. We were shown some mood boards they have created for previous and current projects alongside the final collections. It appeared that when searching for inspiration they mainly look towards the catwalk trends.

We have been provided the opportunity to design a collection for them to take along when exhibiting in New York. Their designs are aimed at the high street so the designs produced will need to fit in with their brief and be commercial enough to exhibit under their studio. I am really excited about this opportunity however am a little concerned as they specialise in photo shop instead of hand printing methods.

This talk lead me to realise this is a pathway I could see myself following. I was fortunate enough to show them the work produced so far for our Indigo project and get some helpful feedback. They were impressed with my quality of drawings and how I had developed them further, they also gave me some useful tips on how to develop them, suggesting I continue to stylize my designs and create background prints using elements from within the design.

Developing Design ideas

These are my developed print design ideas. I scanned areas of my drawings into photo shop and began experimenting with repeat methods to come up with a print idea. After I had printed them I began stylizing by hand adding stripes and dots.

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Mood Board for Indigo Brief

This is my mood board for the current Indigo project, there are elements I may need to change such as the colour scheme which is on there as I have not quite established my complete colour story. My mood is decorative detailed imagery such as the iron works with a strong essence of bright, vibrant colours.

Basso and Brooke Spring/Summer 2010 collection

I absolutely LOVE all of Basso and Brooke's collections. They are one of my favourite designers. They always seem to have bright colours with high quality quirky prints onto well constructed shapes. Although they use digital print as their method of design I feel I could still be inspired by the designs they produce. Their colour palette for this collection consisted of lots of bright colours with accents of black or sometimes the other way around; black with accents of colour and reminded me of the colours which I was inspired by at the SHOW studio exhibition.

Images from www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2010RTW-BASSOB

Mary Katrantzou Fall 2009 collection

I am loving Mary Katrantzou's fall 2009 collection. Inspiration was taken from perfume bottles where a collection was developed into simple shapes with over sized digital prints of perfume bottles. Detail payed especially to the necks of the bottles. Something I could consider if using Pleasure Garden building drawings!

Images from http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/F2009RTW-MKATRANTZOU

Joanna Vanderpuije visits Colchester School of Art

This afternoon designer Joanna Vanderpuije came into to the studio to show and talk about her current and previous collections. She has become a great inspiration to me. Graduating from Central Saint Martins with a BA Hons and MA, she has gone on to successfully launch her own label. She gave us an insight into her life from graduating to making it as a designer as well as what it is like to work in the industry. I was left feeling motivated and deeply inspired by her determination and high quality of work. Like me Joanna has an interest for both textiles and fashion and seeing how she expresses the two was extremely influencing. Her quality of work was amazing. She advised us that when designing a print, designing to the correct size instantly can be more beneficial in the end result as no detail is lost when enlarging to the desired size. When printing to enhance her designs further she works back into the piece's using embellishment. I was particularly inspired by how she did not use everyday things found in a craft shop such as beads to embellish her work, instead using hand made buttons with her print on and specially laser cut pieces which had elements of her printed design. It has inspired me to start thinking more out side of the box and not rely on just what's in the shops to embellish and enhance my designs further.

For further information on this talented designer check out her blog

http://joannavanderpuije.blogspot.com/

Colour Palette influences

I was fairly inspired by the array of vibrant colours on display at the SHOW studio exhibition. Although the colours are not what you would expect to be spring/summer the brightness of the pinks, oranges and yellow against the black back ground could be effective with the designs I produce. Also when researching catwalk trends there are a number of catwalk designers who have used a lot of black with bright colours such as Basso and Brooke and Mary Katranzou. I also looked at butterfly's which had been set up on the inspirational wall in the studio. When observing closely they have exquisite blends of colour on their wings, I was particularly drawn to the variation of pinks and oranges which I could combine with the influenced colours viewed at SHOW studio. I have considered using screen printing as my method of printing and would like to attempt discharge printing onto black fabric and then reprinting with bright acid dye over the top.

Inspiration from summer brief 'Pleasure Gardens"

Over the summer break we were set a small brief called 'Pleasure Gardens' I was inspired by many elements of the concept yet was more influenced by the architecture. I completed some detailed drawings of 18th Century Pleasure Garden buildings such as Orchestra Houses, which I feel I could bring into the current project. They are extremely detailed and feel I could eliminate areas of the drawing to create patterned print designs or supporting background prints. To develop the drawings further I decided to make them slightly more contemporary by cutting extracts of the drawing's out and placing imagery from SHOW studios exhibition in the spaces.

Some of them looked fairly effective, however I felt it was a little too much with all the detail.

The first image on the right is my favourite of all the mixed media development I did. There is not as much detail on this drawing as the other two. I think the bright colours from the photograph enhances the black and white drawing but feel the concept of detail is eliminated. I will not completely rule this idea out, possible ideas include scanning it into photo shop and manipulating it, possibly changing the lines of the drawing to match the colours of the photo is an idea to consider.

Detailed drawings inspired by visit to London

I have spent the week completing detailed drawings using photographs taken at the exhibitions in London as references. It has meant being very selective with the photos taken, this is in order to develop a strong working concept. I can be a bit of a perfectionist and am greatly inspired by detail, so these drawings should suitably fit in with my style. I decided to work my drawings in black and white so they are easier to work with when developed further. As I am interested in print, at this moment in time I feel the collection will have a strong decorative feel. The iron works exhibition has proved to be very influential and can see most of my print designs being sourced back to this visit. The images to the right are extracts from my sketchbook of current drawings I have been working on. I feel the bottom two drawings have potential to be developed further into successful print design ideas, however they will need to be developed further and stylized in order for a successful individual design.

SHOW Studio Exhibition

I visited the Show Studio 'Fashion Revolution' Exhibition which was being held at Somerset House. I thought the entire exhibition was extremely interesting and inspiring. I was particularly drawn to the array of colours which were present within some of the exhibits and feel this has inspired my colour palette for my current project. It was interesting to see how the concepts and presenting of fashion is constantly being developed with the use of technology.

Inspiration at V&A

I recently visited the V&A museum in hope for inspiration for my current project. Inspiration is exactly what I got...and lots of it!

I was instantly drawn to the incredible Ironwork Gallery. Stretching across the entire second floor of the V&A it is the longest exhibition in the museum. It contains an array of exquisite decorative designs ranging from large architectural pieces to keys and locks.

I was greatly inspired by the variations of swirls and decorativeness of the pieces. There was an idea of symmetry in many of the collections, something I have been interested in since seeing the latest catwalk collections.

Indigo for Premier Vision, Paris Brief

This semester's module brief is all about the refinement of Fashion and Textile Processes, allowing us to develop techniques and refine ideas for the FINAL MAJOR PROJECT!! A visit to London's V&A museum and SHOW studio exhibition at Somerset House, will be an opportunity to find inspiration for a working concept. The final outcome is expected to be a collection of fashion garment fronts which will be exhibited with intentions of being sold at the design trades fair, Indigo at Premier Vision in Paris. This is an exciting opportunity and will allow us to gain an insight into how commercial the pieces we produce are. There is a Paris trip running alongside this brief where students will have the opportunity to work on the stand and interact with potential buyers. CAN NOT WAIT TO GET STARTED!!!!