Sketch Book Work

Here are a selection of images that I took in Venice they have inspired me on my sketch book work ready for a new term at college.

The image above inspired me the most the pictures on the building looked very Roman this gave the building a historic outlook. I also liked the different colours in the building!

Topshop launches JONES AND JONES dresses 2011!

When visiting Manchester University this was one piece that stood out to me I thought to myself this would look great as a dress!

Recently a new brand Jones and Jones has hit the High street market very similar to the dress sculpture I admired at Manchester University!

The prim and pretty scalloped edged cap sleeves, net-trimmed petticoat and a high neckline are off-set with the glamour of the gold and black floral lace. Full-skirted and gathered in at the waistband by the wide decorative belt, this dress really knows how to emphasize curves.

- The shaping in the dresses have proved a big hit with celebrities in the magazines and Topshop even working alongside the brand selling there dresses in store! I am very inspired by the different shapes and silhouettes and will be experimenting with this in my sketch book.

Who's got there marketing schemes right?

I have began analyzing two current well known shoe brand names Toms and Vans! In current young fashion trends these two shoe brands are hitting the shops and we are seeing more and more young people wearing these brand names. So just how are these brands making it work?

Tom's are driven solely by purpose and the brand is seizing tremendous success because of it. Every pair of Toms shoes someone buys, the company gives a pair of shoes to a person in need. The shoes are not the brand. Rather the brand is about supplying shoes on a regular basis to a disadvantaged person. Toms are a unusual brand as they aim their advertising on not selling you a pair of shoes but for your money to go towards a charitable cause.

Armed with a simple but catchy slogan 'One for One' this type of advertising really does sell to the consumer!

The colours of the packaging and the fact you get a bag to put your shoes in really makes there advertising scheme so much bigger. If something is packaged better than something else a consumer is almost definitely more likely to buy into the brand that simply looks better!

Vans on the other hand have built their brand name up on the original 'skate shoe' and stayed connected to the consumer by major sport events BMX, surfing etc. However not many of the 'big' name brands in free sports gave managed to maintain their core and avoid the recession. The brand has kept its focus on the youth market and developed the style of shoes over the years and creating different colours. Vans have become increasingly popular over the last two years among non skaters with their much-loves slip on and has become more of a key fashion trend to wear with casual jeans however Vans stills works heavily in the surfing, skateboarding, and urban punk markets.

Looking into Fashion Job Profiles

Whilst in Topshop I came across an interesting book 'How to prepare for a career in Fashion' It talks about the different job profiles, essential info you want to know about the skills and education you need for your chosen career path, interviews with people in a certain field in the fashion industry, and what you can do that puts you above someone else.

- Fashion Buying

' You get to indulge your passion for fashion on a daily basis and work in one of the most exciting industries in the world. You kind of get to shop for a living!'

What does a fashion buyer do?

Buyers have a lot of power in the fashion industry and ultimately decide what product goes into stores. There are two different types of fashion buyer- Product Development Buyers and Selection Buyers. Selection Buying is seen as the more glamorous of the two, as this role offers the opportunity to collaborate with designers and get to select the most exciting pieces from their collections through attending fashion shows going to private buying events and visiting showrooms.

A Product Development Buyer works closely with a design team providing there input on how ranges will look in store. They will follow each product throughout the whole process. from a discussion of key trends at the beginning of the season then to establishing which pieces go into ranges once the prototypes have arrived back from the suppliers.

It's the responsibility of the buyer to come up with a balanced cohesive range, including deciding on what colours each piece should be, negotiating the best price to buy from the suppliers, and then fixing a price to retail at.

Key Working Relationships...

Buyers work very closely with a design team,merchandisers, the product development team, and their supply base either in the UK or overseas.

Working hours...

For employees in a High-Street retailer working hours are typically 8.30am to 6pm on an average day, but its common to work at weekends and do overtime especially on buying trips.

Salary...

This depends on the type of company you work for and where you're located. Here is a guide to what is expected in London:

BAA: 16K-20K

BA:20K-28K

Junior Buyer:28K-35K

Buyer:36k-50k

Senior Buyer-50k-65k

Head of buying:-70k-100k

Analyzing products on the high street whos copying who?!

Over the summer I have been looking further into my chosen career path Fashion Buying. I have began analyzing stores that our big competitors and have started to put together a log of products I have seen comparing them to similar items that our sold on our high street. Here is a example of some of the things I have been doing...

It's all about being ‘on top’ of the trends what’s in your competitors store could well be in yours for a cheaper price! For example: -The dress below is in New Look for £24.99

The same dress is in Republic (black) for £26.99 and comes in a range of colours.

New Look are beating Republic on price by a few pound. It's clear what has been done here a Fashion Buyer has gone into Republic and analyzed Republics ranges of clothes and prices Republic are selling there products at, by changing a few seam lines and adjusting where the feature on the side of the dress lies New Look can sell a copied idea for a cheaper price ... scandalous I know!!

New looks version black and white striped dress :

The price of the dress is £29.99 however...


Republic's VERY similar dress:

Price:£24.99 and this one even comes with a belt! If you look closely to both of the dresses they fall in a different way.

After three weeks of holidaying gave me inspirations!

After visiting sandy beaches and having the party lifestyle in Zante I took pictures of various different things that may well be my inspiration for starting my new year at college.

-Inspirations?

• From visiting The Manchester Art Gallery in college one collection I looked at in particular was Jess Ramsden she had used bright coloured lights as her inspiration through out her collection you could see this clearly when looking through her sketch books.

• I loved her ideas as they looked great put together whilst in Zante I selected certain elements of my pictures and put them together as one from being inspired from a degree students work.

Above is where I have re created aspects of pictures and used the effects on photoshop to get different light effects.

Trip to London !

As part of an educational trip with college and to help with my summer homework me and other college students got the opportunity to visit London. Whilst on the trip we visited fabric shops which source fabrics from all over the world just by looking at them you can tell they are to a high standard. We collected samples so in future in preparation for next year we could get our final collection fabrics from London!

Creating my illustration and design board from dress design..

As part of our final end of year brief we have to create a design board and illustration board to convey our dress design through our research and inspirations...

Looking at my final dress design above for my design board it must be more technical than my illustration board as a illustration is more abstract and uses a range of different medias.

Below is my design board I created today showing the front, back and side view of my final garment:

Below is the beginning on my inspiration board it shows circles to convey my ' celebrating curves theme' and the lines coming of the illustration I sourced my inspirations from the work of Martin Rubella...

Final Evaluation...

Olivia Mullin

Final Evaluation: Materials, Techniques and Processes

As part of the current unit I have been studying I have learnt to use and find the values of different materials and how they can be used in garments weather they are suitable to fit purpose. As part of the brief I had to design a dress based on ‘ Equality and Diversity theme, I got given sexuality to base my dress design around. From this I developed my final garment from my inspirations and research.

Firstly I began to research into a diverse range of illustrators because my theme had to convey sexuality the illustrators I researched needed to show feminine lines, motion of sexuality and facial expressions that also conveyed sexuality. One illustrator in particular stood out to me Manuel Rebollo he uses graphic’s through many of his illustrations which foreshow sexual poses, from this illustrator I then got the idea of ‘Celebrating Curves’ for my final theme looking at the circular shapes in his illustrations gave me the inspiration to convey circular curves through my garment. I then looked at similar illustrators from the likes of Akari Inoguchi, Nuna Dacosa with conveyed curvy feminine lines but using different techniques and medias.

I experimented with some of the illustrators work using pencil to sketch, black fine liners to pick up certain lines in the illustrators work and to show my understanding of graphics and the use of photo shop so I experimented with shapes and air brushing. I found it hard sometimes to find certain information on illustrators this was often when I had to say what the illustrator was conveying or how they found their inspirations so I found some of the information in Library textbooks rather than just using the internet as they are more of a reliable source.

As part of the brief I had to select my final fabrics I had to put together a colour page that was influenced by my design methods, whilst I was researching into different things that influenced sexuality. I came across Cleopatra this gave me a very rich colour pallet with beiges, gold’s, and blacks I felt the gold’s conveyed the sexuality through my garment Cleopatra also influenced me to create a number of layers on my garment as all of her head pieces stood out from all the embellishments.

Once I Had a strong colour pallet I had to research into a range of fabrics and the suability to my final designed garment. From looking at the brief I researched into fabric shops in Manchester and came to the conclusion of going to Abakan, when I went they had a very diverse range of different fabrics that would suit my garment I needed to take into account the price per metre, How much material I will need, the stock number, and are they hard materials to work with? As my garment was quiet structured with the straps holding my garment in place I needed my fabric samples to be strong I showed this evidence in my sketch book and discussed with my tutors what would give me the best outcome before buying my final fabrics.

Once I had found the right suitable fabrics for my garment I looked through Haute Couture books that helped me sample throughout my sketch book, I came to a conclusion that suffolk puffs would be the best method for me to attach to the straps of my garment. I also experimented with different methods I found in the Haute Couture book evidence is found in my sketch book.

Carrying on from this I began to create my final garment put of my final fabrics and adapted pattern pieces I found this very challenging as I do struggle with pattern cutting however by taking my time and working on each step with extra care I managed to get my garment completed!

Something I particularly liked doing whilst doing this unit was my toile diary I found this helped me a lot in the progress of making my garment with labeled pictures of each step and if there was a problem how I overcame it. I also enjoyed seeing the outcome of my dress on the catwalk as I put a lot of effort into creating the suffolk puffs although it was a long hard process once they were added to the straps of my garment they looked well worth it!

Overall I think I have enjoyed this unit the most as I feel I have achieved the most out of it. My dress making skills have improved this will then help me in my second year of fashion if I wanted to make a dress for my final year collection. Seeing my garment on the catwalk was great as I feel it gave me at sense of achievement and that all my hard work had payed of. I also enjoyed working with the models in the fashion show they were all lovely girls and helped to show of every ones garments.

In conclusion to all of my work over the past two months I have learnt new dress making skills, where to source the best fabrics for making garments, how to put together a toile diary, and learnt more about how catwalk fashions work! I feel I can take these skills to my second year. However there was certain aspects I did not enjoy for e.g. finding illustrators to suit my theme however I overcame this by looking at a range of illustrators that include graphic work and computer technology in there illustrations as I am interested in graphic design.

More Fashion Show Pictures!