WEEK FIVE

Final Piece Inspiration Week

Day One & Three; working on final piece, mood boards, concepts, ideas, inspiration

For our final piece we have been given two options. If you are more a fashion design student then you have to make something and do either a photo shoot or a film for your final accessory/ garment or whatever it might be. If you are more on the promotion side then you don't have to make something but you have to do a photo shoot and a film. 

After having a one to one tutorial it was clear to me that I was definitely more a fashion promotion student and so this week I've been focusing on coming up with ideas for my final photo shoot and film. At first I had no idea of what sort of thing I wanted to do and I found the thought of creating a film a little daunting. I love photography and styling and coming up with ideas for photo shoots but I decided to focus more on the film this week as I knew I would find it harder. I've never really made a film before (not even a home movie) let alone a fashion film! 

I started the week by creating a spider diagram of some ideas for my film, I keep picturing either a grand house with a beautiful staircase or a big green landscape with a girl in a long dress and maybe a veil or something to cover her face. This project is all about ourselves and so our final piece needs to support that. For my film I imagine the theme to sort of be about a girl who feels lost or broken/ trying to find themselves. This is why I want there to be something over the face to sort of distort it so that it's as if she can't see clearly.

I've seen lots of examples of fashion films and a particular one that always sticks out in my head is one that they made on America's Next Top Model a few years ago. I don't know why but it always just pops in to my head. I remember watching the episode a few years ago and thinking how good this little motion editorial was. This was the first fashion film I'd ever really seen. I always watch it and just love the feeling that it has. 

Here are just a few screenshots from the film but the link for the whole thing is 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVIEIuPm_ns

I love the simplicity of the overall film and this is something that I want to try and create with my fashion film. Although the overall concept is simple the use of location and styling brings a little something extra. 

For my photo shoot I don't want it to be identical to the film by using the same outfits etc. but I think so that they link together a bit more I will use the same/ similar location with a variety of different outfits that show off my personal style. I think the photo shoot should have a dark sort of feel to it. 

Day Two; film workshop, story boarding

Today we had someone come in to teach us about film. We started off by watching some fashion shows and films from brands and names in the industry and we were also shown some work from students who did a summer course that put together a fashion film in a day. 

In the afternoon we did some storyboarding where we had to make a film on paper in groups of four. My groups concept was all about the history of Chanel and how the brand became what it is today. It was basically a "Chanel; through the years" film. Once we had finished we had to show everyone our boards and see what they thought we were doing without us telling them. Most people knew exactly what would come at each stage in our video so I think that we were successful as our storyboard did all the talking an people knew exactly what it was. I think we had a really good concept and we all worked well together in our group as we are all fairly similar and have similar styles and way of working so it was easy to find something that we all agreed on. 

Saatchi Gallery

While Freya and I were wondering the shops of Sloane Square and Knightsbridge for our shop and trend report we thought it was a great opportunity to go and visit the Saatchi Gallery as we kept walking past! 

These are just a few photographs of the cool artwork that we saw. One of my favourite pieces were the paper bags with the cut out trees. It's extremely simple but very clever and impactful. The paper bags used were things from everyday life such as McDonalds and then others were more high end, such as Marc Jacobs. The trees are cut from one side of the bag and then folded in such a way that it turns in to a 3D model. 

The Saatchi Gallery is great because you get to see such great artwork plus its free admissions so you don't have to worry about the expense of seeing an exhibition.

WEEK FOUR

Styling and Trends Week

Day One; photo booth, mood board introduction, styling session

This week is styling week and over the weekend we were asked to take photographs of ourself in a photo booth format. We had to think about how a close up image of ourself could show through our personality, features etc.

Through out this project I have focused on my eye and have used it as my symbol for the project because the colour of my eyes is something that a lot of people notice as it is quite an unusual blue. I made the rest of the images for the photo booth black and white so that they eye stands out more and also because I tend to stick to greyscale and monochromatic colour schemes in my overall look and in a lot of my work.

As a class we laid all our photographs out on the table and then went through and discussed the reasons behind our decisions etc. Once we had done this, we started working on mood boards and concept boards for our final photo shoot. We could go anyway we wanted with the photo shoot as long as it linked to something about ourselves. My focus was my eye again and just to simply show off my personality by keeping it fairly simple. I personally don't like it when there is too much going on in an image so wanted my photo shoot to replicate that. 

Location, model, overall concept

 Focus on eyes, black and white, backdrop

 Focus on eyes

 Outfit ideas

Location ideas
                                                                                

In the afternoon we did a styling session where we were given 5 minutes to style our partner in the things we had brought in. I really enjoyed this task however if we had more time I would want to style my partner completely, coming up with full outfits. 

Day Two; trend reports, presentations

On Tuesday we were asked to go around London to do shop report and to see what trends that are out there at the moment. We were put in to groups and then went to different locations within our group. Freya and I decided to go to Sloane Square and Knightsbridge to spot the latest trends. The trend we saw most was tartan, it was everywhere and always placed at the front of stores so it's the first thing you notice! 

Then on Wednesday we got back in to our groups so that we could do a group trend report. The main trends that we focused on were tartan, leather and luxe. 

Once we'd put together our boards we presented them to the group to show the main trends we noticed. Most groups had very similar trends and it was obvious that tartan was the most popular trend at the moment in the stores. 

Day Three; photo shoot editing, crits, presentation

Today we were going through our photo shoot and selecting what ones we wanted to use and then editing them. 

The idea behind my shoot was to keep things simple, black & white and clean. I created the back drop myself by using my eye as the focus; I made it by getting strips of lining paper and then repeating the same drawing of an eye in different sizes. I should have outlined them in black rather than grey so that they stood out a bit more. 

At first I wanted my shoot to be a bit more serious however this idea changed as I don't think I have a very serious personality, I'm fairly easy going and try not to take myself to seriously. This led to the idea of basically trying to capture the moments that come between taking one photo and the next. I like the ones where I'm laughing as it shows off my personality more. 

The styling was again simple, I always monochrome or black and so thought it was appropriate for a photo shoot that is to show off our style. The backdrop is also simple but I think it works better than just a plain white wall. I don't think the photographs would have been effective if it was just a plain simple wall. There were a lot of close up shots of me as well to really focus in on my eyes but I don't think they looked as good as the full bodied ones.

I've placed the photos in a sequence and think they work better together than alone. None of the images have the same pose and I like the movement and difference between each shot. 

We had a crit in the afternoon once we had finished editing; at first I was a bit nervous because I'm not very good at talking about my own work however once we got in to it and I saw other peoples I felt much more confident. We have a lovely group and so nobody makes you feel uncomfortable when talking about your own work. It was great to see what other people had done and the variety of ideas that people had.  

Overall I've found this week very jam-packed but it has been good fun! 

A1 board showing arrangement of final photo shoot to show our own personality

Over the weekend I have been playing around on photoshop and coming up with some different edits for my final shoot that we've been doing this week. 

Weekly Review

Overall this week has been very busy with lots of different things being asked of us. When we first started I did find it to be a bit tricky, the thing I found hardest this week was coming up with ideas for my final shoot of the week because of the fact that it had to be based around ourselves. If I were to be given a word/ idea/theme that wasn't relevant to me I'd find it much easier to come up with a concept for a photo shoot. 

I wanted my own personal shoot to be very simple and black and white because that fits in with me but was a bit worried that it would look boring or that I hadn't made much of an effort when really I feel like I have been working really hard to get things right. 

I enjoyed the trend report because it meant I could go up to London and do a lot of window shopping! I liked being able to spot the trends and which ones were more frequent/ more popular than others. Tartan was everywhere! 

I have been experimenting with photoshop this weekend to try and make my shoot a bit more interesting however I want to learn some more skills with photoshop as it is a programme I don't know much about. I enjoy editing and manipulating photos so I like to practice and play around on photoshop to see what works and what doesn't.

WEEK THREE

Accessories Week

Day One; working with special object, manipulating and abstracting shapes

This week is accessories week and we had to bring in a special object to use as inspiration for our final accessory design. My object was a bird trinket that one of my best friends gave me for my 18th birthday. I chose this object because i thought the shape would be interesting to work with as you can abstract it and change it to obtain other interesting shapes from within it. 

We started off by recording our objects in as many different ways as possible, for example, drawings, photographs, photocopies etc. I started off by photocopying my object and then drew around the object, layering it over each drawing to get different shapes. I like the repeat pattern effect that this gave to the object and could be used to make some sort of chain for jewellery. I then expanded this further by covering a whole page in my sketchbook with the bird shape to create more shapes but this time I outlined them in pens of different thickness to give it more depth. Here are some images from my sketchbook of the recordings I made:

Once we had recorded the object in different ways we were asked to create flat line drawings of the shapes we made. I chose to use the chain link but break down the bird shape in to different shapes by following different lines. I came up with three different interesting shapes which allowed the object to be much more abstracted rather than just taking the overall shape and using that. We then created stencils or cut-outs of the flat line drawings so that we could turn them in to 3D. 

I used the three shapes and layered them over each other to create something completely different. It had a really nice layered effect but because I used only three shapes I could also use this idea of repetition which I think is really effective as it can add detail without it being too busy. The 3D shape I came up with could be a design for some sort of headwear, eyewear or choker necklace. 

I enjoyed this day much more than I originally thought that I would because I like how taking a simple object could be manipulated in to something completely different and by recording things in different ways you can focus in on one area that you really like and run with that idea.

Accessories from London/ New York Fashion Week SS14

Part of our homework this week was to look at interesting accessories from London Fashion Week. Many of the accessories I saw from the catwalks were linked to the actual garments either by using the sam detailing or the same print. This helps the accessories work well with the clothes and gives designers a chance to come up with different ideas for how accessories should be worn. KTZ had repeated the print and laser cut detailing from their clothes in to their footwear, Topshop Unique also used the same print on their handbags as their clothing. I like how both designers have used simple shapes but repeated them to make them more interesting and detailed. 

I was particularly intrigued by Sophia Webster's twist on nature in her bags and shoes. There were lots of bug shaped bags and slogans on her clutch bags and backpacks. Her designs use lots of colour and the use of more literal shapes creates really cute pieces that will be successful.

Day Two; accessory idea development

Today we brought in magazine tears so that they could be used to help develop ideas for our accessory. We had to incorporate the shapes that we had abstracted from earlier in the week. I already had these shapes cut out and so simply had to start arranging them in different ways to come up with interesting accessories and ideas.

 Here are four of the ideas that I came up with. I liked the idea of layering the shapes to make more interesting shapes and thought it gave my ideas a bit more depth. I wanted to do either a shoulder piece, necklace or head piece. Once we had worked with the paper cut outs I put them in my book and then developed those ideas further by doing drawings and isolating certain parts and then repeating them to build up more layers. 

Once we had developed our ideas we had to pick the one we liked best and come up with a final design for our accessory that we made on the last day this week. Here is the idea that I chose to develop and make;

This was my favourite design because I think it had the most impact and would look interesting once I had made it. The final design I came up with continued the shapes across the neck to make it more of a big neck piece rather than just two shoulder pieces as I thought it would look more effective and it would be more practical when worn on the body.

Day Three; making of accessory

Today we were making our final accessories that we designed on wednesday. I decided that mine would look best if I made out of wire as it's easy to work with and bend in to the abstract shapes I needed to use. When I first started making my accessory it was working well however as more layers were built up, it didn't look as I thought it was going to because I had to use a glue gun to attach the individual shapes which made it messy looking. The final design I came up with was a lot cleaner and softer so I came up with the idea of wrapping white tissue paper around the wire pieces to make them look softer and tidier.

Overall I think that it ended up working better by covering the wirer rather than just leaving it as it made the design much more harsh looking. I think that if I were to do anything differently I would have used a different material rather than wire or found a different way of putting it together. Maybe it could have looked better if rather than using white tissue, I used white thread to keep it cleaner and simpler. 

I want to re-shoot my final accessory with more of a setting rather than just a simple white background as the accessory reminds me of twigs and nature. I think it has an etherial feel and would look much better if there was more of a setting and storyline behind it. 

photographs of finished final accessory

A1 mood board to show developmental stages throughout the accessory week

Trends from New York Fashion Week SS14

WEEK TWO

Design Development Week 

Day One; initial design ideas and sketches

This week was the design development week. The first task was to draw details of clothing, focusing on different areas of a garment; pocket detail, seem detail, sleeves, skirts, jacket necklines etc. The drawings all had to be done in pen and we had five minutes a sheet. This allowed us less time to think and just draw ideas straight from our head. The task was hard at first as I can be a bit of a perfectionist and don't like rushing in to my work, however it was a clever task because it gives you lots of different ideas and some things I wouldn't necessarily think of.

My designs at first weren't very good as I wasn't confident to just draw straight away but as we kept doing it my designs got better and I managed have more designs on the sheet of paper. The designs were all based around a picture from my mood board that I did last week with the 10 emotive images. I chose the knotted rope picture and by looking at different details of the image and turning it different ways etc which gave me more inspiration and it links all the pieces together.  

Day Two; working on mannequins with paper, development of ideas

On wednesday we had to cut out a small shape 10 times and then use the same shape on a big piece of paper. We then did a workshop where we had five minutes to pin the shapes to the mannequin and then we would move on to somebody else's work and use our shape on theirs. After this we developed our own mannequins and then came up with other ideas to develop.

I really enjoyed this workshop because it was nice to play around with different shapes to create detail for garments and outfits. Once we'd finished on the mannequins, I printed off the photographs of the ones I liked and then used the detailing to turn them in to outfits and clothing.

Five Outfit Collection

On thursday I came up with some rough ideas for my five outfit collection and drew half of the flats. My collection that I designed was very simple in a monochrome colour scheme as this suits my taste best. My collection was about taking an outfit from day to night by using silky fabrics and simple garment shapes and patterns. The block shapes made all the individual pieces work together and the monochrome colour scheme keeps it all matching. 

If I were to criticise my collection, I would say that I played it quite safe as I kept it plain and  simple because that is what I personally like. However when I look back at my original design development ideas they are much more out there and different as I had less time to think and criticise my ideas. When designing my collection I had more time to think and so went for more simple ideas. 

On friday we had to create our second A1 sheet with our designs on and our flats. I didn't draw all my flats at home on thursday so my time management wasn't as good so I had less time to focus on drawing the final outfits all together. I finished all the work but didn't have time to completely finish putting it all together on the A1 sheet and therefore I completed it this weekend. This shows that I need to work on my time management a bit as I sometimes worry too much about it looking perfect!

Weekly Review

At the beginning of the week I wasn't looking forward to it because designing isn't my strongest area, however it turned out to actually be really enjoyable. It was quite challenging at the beginning on monday as we had to come up with ideas really quickly but as we kept doing it, it got easier and easier. 

Wednesday was my favourite day as I liked working on the mannequins coming up with ideas; I prefer working this way as I find it easier working in 3D than drawing ideas from my head. If I had to criticise my work I would say that my drawings don't always reflect exactly what the idea looks like in my head. I need to keep practising my drawing skills so that I get better at portraying my ideas on to paper. 

This weekend I worked on my sketchbook because so far I haven't been very committed to it as I don't want to put in work that I'm not completely happy with so the weekend was a chance for me to develop my sketchbook further.