My Outfit!

Soo I've been working alongside a pattern cutter, and although I believe i've lost a bit of my design aspect I know my construction has improved dramatically and I think this will help me with preparing myself for creating a collection in final year.

When I finish uni I want to be creative, yet make wearable clothes..(Design = Form + Function)

I think this project has been useful in seeing all that goes into even setting up just a small business and I will take what I have learnt from both modules into later life.

Store Concept/Name

The aim of the store is this;
'Bringing together the local creative community in Deptford'

Objective: By collaborating with local artists in the Lewisham - Deptford area to create one-off prints for each season, and then to have a space to showcase their work fortnightly.

The store name 'LAW 8'comes from the book '48 Laws of Power' by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers.

Law 8 being "Make others come to you, use bait if necessary".

The bait in this instance being local talent in the Deptford area. The drive of the business will be run by communication (wordofmouth, free press, social networking sites etc.) to create a buzz around the idea of the store and then to generate sales on garments.

Range Plan

My Spring/Summer 11 range is made up of 15 pieces made of fluid lightweight fabrics ideal for layering and creating a unique look with pieces in your wardrobe.

The below board shows the layout of the range plan just before prices, garment names, blurb and title were added.
Couldn't bring it up as it's not a jpeg file, but can be seen in my sketchbook.

The range is called 'Elope'.
Its all about dreams and escaping to some magical place. The prints remind me of a cosmos; means of escape to the future.

New Colour Fabric Board

So I made another colour/fabric board relating to some of the prints i've created...

*see prices in sketchbook

Finding the Silhouette

Another day in the studio experimenting with shape and silhouette.
Considering simple yet effective details that I can apply to some pieces in my range plan which are wearable yet unique to me and my prints.

Love a open back! Sexy, Elegant.

I really like this twisted neckline, and the organic cut out shapes it creates.

Monday's lesson captured by Hakeem Balogun!

Dying creating a metallic marbel effect

 Base for press piece / potential garment for range plan

Testing samples for layering (mesh, lycra jersey)

Using natural light to show the shimmer created in the dying process

Large draping piece

Tutor Feedback

• Work resembles that of Halston from the 70s.
• Can create more vivid effect using more expensive fabrics e.g. rayon jersey
  

Print Feedback (Mica-technician)

• To recreate more interesting areas in fabric take photos and get digitally printed on a larger scale

So I came home and googled Halston and automatically fell in love! Beautiful clean silhouettes with amazingly fluid fabrics. Perfect for nearly every woman!

There was a pretty impressive selection of pieces being sold on net-a-porter ranging from £455 for a wool skirt to £3,775 for an embellished sillk-satin evening gown. (personally I didn't know people spent that much online!)
I found it useful to be able to zoom into the garments to see where fastenings went and how they were finished.

Especially love the cutout pieces from a/w 10/11!

ss11

Dyeing and Draping

Spent some time last week in the print room playing around with dyes and all that cool stuff recreating my vision of 'Escape'...

I prefer to play with dyed pieces on the stand because more interesting shapes come organically whilst looking at the fabric.

My shop idea for Deptford lies around one-off unique printed pieces so I want to keep quite a simple silhouette and play with details such as twists, pleats necklines and cutouts.