Show studio Fashion Revoloution AT SOMERSET HOUSE

Yesturday we went on a London trip to visit the new Nick Night exhibition at Somerset House. The exhibition showed photography, film, music, art, technology and performance pieces from fashion media website SHOWstudio.com. I thaught the exhibtion was fantastic. I most liked that the exhbition kept me engaged for over an hour because it was so interactive. Nick Night is constantly finding new and imaginative ways to reinvent the fahion image. I think that using fashion and performance together was really effective and i like the idea of having a final collection displayed on film as apposed to on the catwalk. Using film you can portray a theme and let the clothes tell the story. If i decide to continue on to a third year of study I think it would be exciting to work with a film student.
I like visiting exhibitions but often leave felling inspired and bursting with ideas. This exhibition was very inspiring but i left with many questions. The projects by SHOWstudio are very thaught provoking and make you re-asses the stereotyples of fashion and how it should be experienced.

Behind the scenes of Billabongs art department

Billabongs womenswear art directer Danielle Petash has released 3 videos showing behind the scenes footage of the Billabong Art Department. The up and coming campaign includes a paint splattered arty feel and its nice to see in the film that she uses watercolours as well as computer aided design. Marketing is not something I had previously considered as a career option but after watching these short films I can now see there is a huge amount of research and creativity that goes into creating imagery for campaigns and look books. She also mentions that she gets alto of inspiration from http://www.qbn.com/. I have had a look at this website and it is full of inspiring imagery that would be useful to give me ideas when creating mood boards.

Peclers Paris

Today we had a presentation by Peclers Paris trend forecasting agency. The presentation included the 4 key trends for Autumn winter 10/11 and 'Inspirations' for spring summer 10/11.

There was allot of information to take in but the presentation was very inspiring. Most of the slides had just a few key images yet still effectively communicated the overall theme. I have been told in previous tutorials that I could be more selective when chooses images fro mood boards and after watching the presentation I can understand why. Peclers used such a broad range of influences when creating each 'story'. I think this is a way to keep your design feeling fresh and new.

The 'story' that I like the most was called 'Wild' it was based on re-discovering creativity and creating exciting after the doom and gloom of the credit crunch. The theme was influenced by African animals, traditional textile techniques and interiors.

I am now full of ideas and looking forward to creating my own collection next year!

After giving a short presentation in PPRD about what I want to do after graduating I decided that I want to try and secure a work placement one day a week to compliment my studies and improve my CV. I have decided that this time of year leading up to the Christmas period is probably not the best time to apply so I am going to try and secure a placement in the new year.

In the meantime I have been researching companies that are relatively local. I have only found 3 Mudpie, Fat Face and Animal. I realize that it is going to be quite difficult to secure an ongoing placement so between now and the new year I am going to continue with improving my CAD skills. I feel like I have hit a brick wall in terms of m y abilities so I have bought a book so I can learn some new skills. There were lots of books available but I decided to buy 'Creative Fashion Design with Illustrator'. The book includes many tutorials based on creating 'spec drawings' as apposed to more stylised Illustrations which is what I want to improve on.

What do I want to do when I graduate????

Today in PPRD I had to give a short presentation on what I plan to do in the future and how I plan to get there. Its scary to think that next year I will be one of thousands of students trying to secure a job in the fashion industry.
When I graduate I would like to try and complete and internship or work experience to make myself more employable and then apply for a job as a junior/assistant designer. I would also consider working on a freelance basis if I initially find it difficult to secure a job. Ideally I would like to work for a lifestyle brand retailer such as Animal or Fat Face.
Like many people in my group I would love to start my own label but think I would have a much better chance at running a successful company if I had a few years working in the industry.
In order to achieve these goals I have set myself some targets for this year they are:

• Improve my Illustrator and Photoshop skills
• Create a digital Portfolio
• Secure a work placement with a local company one day a week to compliment mu studies
• Research employers/job opportunities and prepare for future interviews

Balmain Spring collection

As part of the 'Traces group project brief we need to develop Illusionary ways to conceal and Reveal. As a group we brainstormed our initial thoughts about how we could do this and our ideas were:

• Exposed seams
• Slashing and tearing
• Burning fabric
• Bleaching
• Layering
• Zips revealing hidden layers underneath
• Frayed edges

Balmains' spring collection uses tattered and riped fabric but makes it look glamorous with layers of sequined fabric underneath. The whole collection has an element of 'concealing and revealing' and using sequins gives a beautiful cobweb effect. I also like the idea of leathers and denims revealing soft and floaty fabrics underneath and will discuss this when I next meet with my group.

Back to school

After a very stressful first week back I am now feeling a little less overwhelmed. We defiantly hit the ground running and the workload was a shock to the system.
After doing a summer work placement at Mudpie I realized how important deadlines are in the workplace especially in the fast paced world of fashion. This year I need to get allot more organized and I have bought a diary and hope this will help me to organize my time more effectively. I am currently in the process of doing a learning agreement and think this will also help me to see in black and white exactly what I need to achieve.
I have also been working on our group project on a brief entitled 'Traces'. I was initially a bit sceptical about working in a group but have found that having a collective group of ideas is much better than 1! I am really enjoying the group brief and can see how collaborating with other designers and promoters will give me a more realistic view of how things are done in industry.

Placement day 4

Today I have been using The Corel programme to scan Illustrations and trace them into vectorised images, I was shown how to 'clean' the images by ungrouping them and deleting any imperfections. I have never heard of The Correl programme but I may come across it in the future and I now have basic knowledge of it after speeding most of the day using it. It was also good to contribute to something more important than making cups os tea!
There was a new student starting today who will be going in once a week for the rest of the year. I think this would be a good idea for me to do if I could fit this around my studies. I have been told that the students who go in weekly get set responsibilities and projects.

Placement day 3

After spending the morning doing more teas and more sticky labels I decided to speak to the person supervising me and tell them I can use Illustrator and Photoshop and ask if they needed any research doing. I also asked if I could spend some time looking at there website so I can get some information for my report. After I told them that I have to write a reportbecau about the placement they gave me better jobs to do. I am glad I plucd up tkehe courage to ask se I think otherwise I mite have spent the week making tea and scanning.
I was shown how to use the Correl program which is a basic version of Illustrater Mudpie use to collate there books. I was also shown how to vectorise images they they were happy with my hand drawn illustrations.

Placement day 2

Today I spent most of the day making cups of tea, doing colour cards and putting sticky labels on trend books. What I was doing was incredibly boring however I have found out some interesting info about The fashion industry that has got me thinking. I was speaking to the receptionist who was telling me that the majority of people working for Mudpie work freelance. They have people based all over the world and when they want photos and reports of local street style, fashion shows and trade shows they contact them. I plan to travel after graduating and think it would be worth my while getting in contact with Mudpie then.
I was also speaking to another girl who was on work experience and she was telling me that she did a short coarse at the London college of fashion and she said it was really good. I have looked online and have applied for more information on the 'starting your own fashion label coarse'. I have always thought that I would like to start my own business but don't really know exactly what that would entail I think If I did an intense short coarse I could make a more informed decision.

Work Placement Day 1

Today was the first day of my work placement at Mudpie. I started at 9am and when I got there I was told that work placement student are a vital part of there business and they normally have up to 4 student a week. I will be working in the design dept that create trend books that sell for £700!!
I started the day sticking colour swatches to trend books for 2 hours. Then I spent another hour scanning and then spent the rest of the day doing hand drawn floral Illustrations to be used as backgrounds in the books. They had a large library with lots of books for reference. I enjoyed the day and think that I will try and make the most of my placement by making the most of all the recourse's available to me whilst I am there, I will have a look thought there books in my lunch break tomorrow to see if I can find any inspiration for the new Jacket brief.

My last blog??

My PPRD deadline is tomorrow morning and this will be my last blog of this year (well maybe not because I actually quite like blogging) I am surprised how much I liked blogging because I wasn't to keen to begin with as I am not to great with computers. But after I started doing it I experienced blog envy when looking at other students blogs and am now forever changing the layout etc!
I wanted to look at some other blogs and particularly like the 'Amelia's magazine' and now getting weekly updates to my email.
I even read in the paper the other day that one successful fashion blogger has become so respected in the fashion industry that she was given front row seats at many shows at London fashion week. So with people turning blogging into a career I think that it is a very relevant part of the course.
I defiantly want to continue with my blog and think It would be a useful way to record what I am doing on a day to day basis in my work placement in May so I can prepare for the presentation I have to do afterwards.

Baics research and Design

I have started to collect imagery for my mood board for my sportswear project and have found some great images on wgsn-edu.com. However I was unsure how to collate everything as in my previous Design assessment I was told that I should be allot more selective in the way I put my mood boards together.
So I decided I should go to the library and see if there were any books that could help me I found Basics- Research and Design and wish I had found it sooner. It has lots of examples of students sketch books and includes case studies of successfully designers and the ways in which they present their designs. I found the book incredibly useful and very inspiring. I will definitely buy this book because it also has some good ideas on where to gather research and I often get the main body of my research from books and the internet.

Stlylista

I have been watching Chanel 5's new reality tv show stylista. It is set in New York with style setting hopefuls competing to win a fast tracked editorial position at Elle magazine. It shows that working in fashion editorial is not as glamorous as I thought. The show does play up to many stereotypes with wannabes running around Manhattan to fetch iced skinny lattes for Elle editor Anne Slowey.
I have really enjoyed the magazine style outfitting project I have been doing for Buying and Merchandising and have been surprised that this is the project I have spent the majority of my time doing this week. I also really liked being able to look at each outfit and decide the best location for shooting in an advertising campaign.
I have even toyed with the idea of interning at a fashion publication but after further research I have found out this is an incredibly competitive area of the industry. I don't think that I am ruthless enough to work in fashion editorial and don't think The Devil wears Prada is the life for me!

The week ahead

Due to the New York trip being cancelled I have the next week of. However as much as I would like to indulge in daytime tv and shopping I have lots to do. After my toile review on Thursday I have to make a few alterations to my pattern. I have also hit a bit of a brick wall with my sketchbook but after talking to Azz we discussed documenting my tiole in my sketchbook. I also need to start collecting imagery for mt mood boards.
Aswell as all that I need to do some more work for my buying and merchandising project. I have decided that I am going to create 4 different looks for my sports dress design and also consider locations which would be appropriate for a photo shoot for each different look. I have started collecting imagery from photo shoots that I find inspiring and am trying to think of ways to present the information on a board. This is proving quite difficult because there will be 4 outfits with various accessories and 4 locations along with notes!

Sports vs fashion Toile

I have finally finished my toile for my Sportswear design project. I now realize why toiles are done as I have made several changes to my pattern and changed some design details. I am now allot more confident about making my final design which at first seemed daunting.
I also found that modeling on the stand makes it easier for me to visualize my design when pattern cutting and is a technique I will use in the future.
I am a little nervous about my first toile review tomorrow as I am yet to find a model and don't know what to expect. I hope they like my design!

Mac Attack

I remember my first lesson learning how to use the Mac computers last year I was terrified. I am so used to using PCs and to say I am not a very technical person is an understatement. However it didn't take me long to realize the ways in which getting to grips with illustrator and Photoshop could benefit my design work and my portfolio. When I was on a one month placement at New Look last year I asked the assistant designer if she had any advice for me for my studies and she said I should get as much CAD work in my portfolio as possible. Since that first lesson I have learnt a few basic tricks and have started to enjoy using Illustrator in particular. The only problem I had is that I would learn stuff and then by the time I had another session on Illustrators I would have forgotten alot of what I had learnt. So when my friend offered to sell me his Mac Powerbook laptop for a good price I jumped the chance. Now I will be able to practice the skill I have learnt in the sessions with Jamie at home.

Quiksilver spring summer collection

I've just checked out Quicksilver's new spring/summer collection and I love it! Quicksilver launched the stand alone range last year. I think it has been so successful is because it bridges the gap between lifestyle brands and more fashion lead retailers. I love board sports but also like to follow the trends and think this collection reflect both sports and fashion culture.

Free Alice Temperly Patterns in the Observer

Today's Observer newspaper has free patterns from Alice Temperley, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith and Martin Margiela. The magazine includes instructions on how to make your own designer outfit. In these troubled financial times maybe being creative and making your own clothes is the way forward. As well as being cost effective re-creating your own designer outfit comes with the huge satisfaction of completing it.
I will be posting my self addressed envelope to the Observer so I can be sent the pattern for her mini Diana dress from her spring 2009 collection.
When attending the Peclers Paris presentation they mentioned that there will be a shift in the way that people will buy fashion in the future with people opting for more high quality investment pieces. I think that more and more people will opt for making there own clothes or customizing old ones.
I would like to design a collection that could evolve into something else. For example a jacket with detachable hood and sleeves which included instructions on how to transform it into a waistcoat for the following season. I think this would give my designs longevity and would make them better value for money.

Designing in Australia?

After spending a year traveling Australia I fell in love with the lifestyle and had always thought I would love to live there in the future. I have been doing some research into the possibility of getting a visa to work there when I graduate. It is very difficult to get a visa as it operates with a points system and you have to have a particular skill usual in engineering and construction fields. However when I was scrolling through the list of trades that would make you eligible I saw fashion design. I have researched into it further and have found that Australia are desperate for fashion design graduates and I have a very good chance of getting a skilled based visa based on my qualification!.
I have looked at fashion recruitment websites and many of the jobs are based in Sydney and Melbourne and allot of the vacancies advertised are for a designer/buyer as apposed to two separate positions. Another benefit is that many of the companies are 'lifestyle brands' which is the area of the industry that I would like to work in.

End of term assessment

I have just received my feedback from last years design and Pattern cutting and construction assessments. I was hoping that I would do a bit better than I did in my design work but I do think that the comments made were fair.
In future I will spend more time developing my ideas and be allot more selective when choosing images to put my design boards.
I had a habit of cramming as many images and fabric swatches onto my mood boards as possible meaning it could end up looking cluttered. After looking at other peoples work I can see that using fewer well chosen images can communicate your theme more clearly than using several. I also think that being allot more selective with the imagery I choose would make my work look allot more professional.
My main aim for next year is to concentrate on improving my computer skills in Illustrator and Photoshop. This is an area that I don't feel confident in and have often avoided in the past. However when on a work placement last year I was advised to have as much CAD in my portfolio as possible because it will make me more employable.

Primark linked to UK sweatshops

I was shocked when I watched a report on BBC news about Primark being linked to a UK sweatshop. It was revealed that a company that produced knitwear for Primark were being paid just £3.50 per hour and working 12 hour shifts in poor conditions.
Primark is best known for its cheap clothing and bucked the trend on Britain's high street last year to make a £233m profit.
In my previous research into ethically traded fashion I found that one of the problems with ethically traded fashion is that it is difficult to regulate and enforce. This point is illustrated by the fact that Primark is a member of the 'Ethical Trading Initiative'.