Portfolio
Elle Matthews 'Fashion is an attitude more than a clothing detail.' ~Karl Lagerfeld
Final Major Project
An annual publication of a coffee table style book of the year 2021 consisting of fashion related topics such as trend reports, photography, and relevant headlines. The next two slides consist of an article used in the content of the book and selected images from the styled shoots carried out for the photographs.
SUPERMARKET FASHION Grocery shopping isn’t for everyone right? Shopping for the week as a child felt like the most mundane afterschool curriculum activity there was, chess club would sound like a much more entertaining alternative. Getting picked up and hearing those dreaded words, “I need to nip to the shop”, there was nothing more condescending, a quick nip more than likely turned into an hour long drag around Asda. Although sometimes it was fun, that quick run through the small clothing section followed by standing in awe of the makeup aisle that lit up white with spotlights, ran by tall, slim, pretty young women who you wanted to look like, and then as you grew older it began to change; you found yourself more intrigued by what your mum put in the basket and why it was needed, you realised it is fun to go to the shop because not only were you spending time with whoever was taking you outside of their busy working lives, but you also wanted to feel like a grown up. In talk about the clothing section of your beloved supermarkets we can reflect on how this year Tesco's own fashion has noticeably become much more stylish, is this due to the realisation that fashion is essential? Reflecting on the impact of COVID19, it's obvious to any manager or person of power that upping the game in the clothes department is a sneaky profit raising fenanza! One none of us saw coming and one of which is having extremely influential actions on how we, as consumers, are changing the way we shop for our weekly fruit and veg. Fashion has always been in our well-known supermarkets but now it has improved in the sense of trends, yet we notice relatively high prices. Something we wouldn't expect for a groceries store. Who do they think they are.. Zara? These high price points may be off putting to us, but to a brand trying to sell their products in a supermarket it is an incredible money maker. In conversation with Sam Burt, from Burt Bros Limited established in 1948, it was clear that the reputation a certain sports brands owner has for devaluing brands, they’re constantly throwing out sale stickers because they’re too focused on intriguing customers. Tesco’s may not be that cheap but at least they aren’t depreciating their brands, catching the eye of the likes of a new and upcoming domestic sportswear brand reportedly soon set to sell in Tesco supermarkets. Sam spoke out about his views on consciously choosing where you sell, “When finding a place to sell your products you must make sure that the brand you're going to be working with will not devalue your brand image”. Take Arthur Ryan (Former Chief Executive of Primark), he owned one of the most famous fashion retailers with a whopping revenue of 7.79 billion pounds, but he only wanted to sell his own products, now Primark have changed their perspective and are selling licensed products such as Harry Potter, Marvel and Barbie, which is very successful and a smart idea to specifically target niche audiences. Sam Burt mentioned how “Supermarkets are really doing well at the moment, it is definitely a good idea for a brand to choose to sell their products there, particularly Tescos.” A supermarket buying into other brands means exposure for both companies; a customer walks into Tesco and they see their favourite clothing brand on display, whilst browsing this they have to walk through the rest of the Tesco's clothing and ends up picking up some extra bits from F&F! Burt Bros are a family run textile manufacturing company based in Nottingham, England, Sam himself took over from his father who had taken over from his grandfather. Currently working with Asos among many other well-known businesses, they expressed their views on their customers. In question of ‘who is your ideal customer?’ his immediate response was, “Primark is our best as they have the highest turnover and biggest volumes of product intake but from a sustainable outlook SeaSalt Cornwall, they use recycled polyester among other things such as GOTS certified cotton and made to last clothing, and M&S are a great brand to supply for as they don't compromise on quality.” They do a lot of work for Boux Avenue who have an ideal age range of 16-30 years old, but working for Tesco is extremely profitable for them due to their audience being all age groups. Getting an insight into how the world of manufacturing actually works was fascinating, when we think of fashion buyers we just think of the people who find what we buy! In actual fact, the places where they find who they are buying from have a whole load going on behind the scenes, from DTR (Direct to retail) where brands decide that they want to use a type of media on their products such as Disney, to the biggest and most up-coming thing which is sustainable wear; a topic we should be talking about. Sam put an interesting twist on our general thoughts on supermarket fashion, he portrayed it as a business rather than a grocery store, there’s much more to it than we all realise. It’s not just Tescos we can focus on, many other supermarkets have their well-known clothing departments, whether they’re as successful is another question. Asda's George clothing for example are heavily dependent on their own clothing brand where it is unlikely to see any other brands being sold there, Morrisons and Co-op did team up with Peacocks but soon after Peacocks went into administration so that didn’t quite work out. So, would you collab with Tescos, or maybe take a chance on Tu or George, Nutmeg could do with a little upgrade, right? The moral of the story is, we can’t wait for all these trend-filled supermarkets, even if it does add a little too much to our basket… literally.
STYLED SHOOTS Working in the college studios and specifically chosen locations I teamed up with photographers and models to carry out styled shoots to complete my project of creating a fashion annual book. Here there are selected images from each shoot as well as behind the scenes images.
Written Piece I wrote this article after completing thorough research into the experience people had during the war, how people reacted to it and most importantly the impact it had on fashion. I went further into it by reflecting on the effect of Covid19 and similarly how people have reacted to that. I finished by comparing the two and picking out the similarities the two key events have and their impact on the fashion industry.
COMPARING FASHION DURING WW11 TO COVID19 Fashion is in the walls we walk through and the air we breathe. New York kicked off the famous fashion weeks in 1943 to give fashion buyers a new perspective. The world was at its peak of WW11, priorities needed to be shifted. Fashion fanatics and workers unable to travel to the main source of fashion which was Paris, Français de la mode had to be put on hold and so room came in for other fashions to squeeze in. Paris has its rightful throne of haute couture, following specific delicacies and ever growing ateliers. A reputation of class, renowned glamour and creativity intertwined with both tenderness and intricacy, it is no surprise that the work of Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Dior led to a line of global success in the fashion industry. So, with fashion primarily based in Paris people began to familiarise themselves with Parisian fashion and couture and eventually it became the norm! Unfortunately the war meant that people across the world could not easily get their fashions from Paris, this is when New York took matters into their own hands... swiftly moving on Fashion Week began! The famous block of fashion weeks evolved and became what we know them to be today.
COVID 19, the biggest, fastest spreading disease of the decade. Hitting millions of people across the globe causing the largest lock down seen to man. People left clueless, not knowing how it had gotten so out of hand, what it was or how to treat it. But the countries stood strong, doctors, nurses, volunteers from here there and everywhere aiding everybody into a safer environment. Businesses coming together to help out even to simply spread the word of how we could help each other, brands making and selling face coverings at the rate of none. A new fashion accessory was added to everybody’s wardrobe quicker than the blink of an eye! The fashion industry saw a huge shift in practically everything. With stores being forced to close it meant e-commerce sales rose dramatically, I don’t think any brand has seen such an increase of online sales. With elegance they handled every order made; extended shipping dates, longer return periods, cleaner products, socially distanced deliveries... everything impossible was made possible! And now that lock down is over, we can really take a step back and appreciate the intelligence of fashion.
During the war when Audrey Withers became the editor of Vogue, fashion saw a huge momentary eclipse along side the majority of the surroundings. Places stayed open but there was a pause in society where people were not willing to go out and risk their lives. With the men at war, places run by women managed to stay open and social dances were booming with people attempting to stay positive! People saw a change in Vogue too, Audreys aim was to keep people alive and do as best she could on her part. So she manifested the daily occurrences of the world in war into the magazine, overnight the term vogue transformed from ‘the prevailing fashion at a particular time’ to an informative, yet optimistic magazine full of content that the audience needed to see. The war ended in 1945 but Vogue didn’t stop there. After all the hard work women had proven they have during the war, it was important that the relevance of Vogue stayed standing simply reflecting the movement of women across the country. The magazine continues to this day to be a global sensation supporting fashion, beauty, culture, living and runway. And even through a global pandemic it continued.
Contributing over £32 billion annually the industry had no choice but to stay strong and fight for fashion. Vogue especially rose to the occasion, meetings were not put on hold, they were just taken online, discussing the future of fashion was too relevant to miss. So the magazine continued and it brought the happiness of its followers and fans back up when they received their monthly issue when times were tough and bleak. Eventually once this became the new normal and business had got the hang of things, figuring out how to cope with the ‘new normal’ Vogue offered its viewers the opportunity to join their global live webinar which entailed a group of important leaders in fashion to discuss their opinions of the future of fashion. Fashion during the war didn’t stop, if anything it grew and so we can see a huge comparison to now, where fashion stood strong during a pandemic that affected the entire world. Fashion does not stand still. It grows and always will.
Marketing In this project my final outcome was a poster to advertise the annual college fashion show, this involved strict planning of photoshoots and detailed editing of images on Adobe Photoshop. The theme being diversity, it meant I had to target a huge range of people and create something that would catch everyone's eye, so I had to come up with imaginative ideas and think about how to go about marketing a clothes show promoting my own college.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE WITH PRETTYLITTLETHING The marketing game for pretty little thing is very strong with a high number of views and likes on all of their posts it is crucial that they keep their social media platform alive and up-to-date. With numerous collaborations with celebrity endorsements such as their recent collab with Love Island runner up Molly Mae Hague and also Little Mix, where they performed their live tour whilst wearing their PLT collection. They have a very aesthetically pleasing page with arranged highlight stories called names such as ‘DEALS’, ‘SHOP’, ‘PODCASTS’ and ‘LITTLE MIX’. This allows for customers/followers to feel much more assured in that this brand knows what they are doing; makes them look much more established. This all is the power of social media and shows the influence it has on a business, with PrettyLittleThing being on their 7,688,922nd engagement rank from social media.
PLT's Instagram account of 11.7 million followers to date
CLASS STYLE SHOOTS
Working in the college studio my team and I modelled students textile work in preparation for the annual fashion show. I used the images to use on my marketing poster for the show.
FINAL POSTER To represent the theme of the fashion show, diversity, I chose this as my final finished poster to be used as marketing material for the event. Peer feedback shows that the rainbow colour palette represents all things diverse and even the uniqueness of the poster implies that the event will be extraordinary and that the college supports and welcomes everyone into our community, as well portrays our wide range of courses our campuses offer to students. The fact that there are 2 models used in this image suggests unity and that our students are never alone, it also looks visually better for the poster as it shows off more than just one item of clothing that our students have made. To improve this poster I would add the address of the venue which the event is being held at to make it easier for guests to understand.
Fashion Buying / My Collection For this assignment we were to create our own capsule collection, coming up with everything from the advertisement, the consumer audience, any collaborations and the market level. I feel this collection represents who I am as a person through the use of careful consideration on trend searching and design.
INSPIRATION
COMP SHOP Balmain: Black Mini Dress
Price: £1,625.00 Fabric: 93% viscose, 3% cupro, 3% polyamide, 1% polyester Size range: Offers sizes 6 to 12 Summary: Black metallic-knit dress. Diamond jacquard, padded shoulders, brushed-knit ribbed waist and trims, goldtone button embellishments at cuffs. Exposed zip fastening at back
Pierre Balmain: Black mini dress
Price: £759 Fabric: Lining: Viscose 97%, Spandex/Elastane 3% Outer: Acetate 80%, Viscose 17%, Spandex/Elastane 3% Size Range: Offers sizes 4 to 20 Summary: Black fitted v-neck dress, three-quarter length sleeves and a short length
SEE by Chloe: Black mini dress
Asos Design: Black mini dress
Price: £340 Price: £30 Fabric: 100% polyester; lining 100% Fabric: 70% Polyester, 30% Nylon polyester Size Range: Offers sizes 4 to 18 Size Range: Offers sizes 6 to 16 Summary: Roll-neck, Balloon COO: Made in Portugal sleeves, fitted cuffs, bodycon fit, Summary: lace dress. Exposed tight cut to body button fastening at back. High neck, frilled trim at neckline, sleeveless, Aline silhouette, all-over floral lace, semi-sheer, camisole overlay, flared hem
On my board I include patterns which represent the unique cutouts from WGSN, they come across as laser-cut designs and have a satisfying appearance to them. In 2018 Gucci went ‘Clinical’ and performed a catwalk show in the location of the “Gucci Hub in Milan, which was transformed into a turquoise operating room complete with PVC on the walls and floors, and emergency exits. LED lighting came in the form of surgical examination lamps and from the ceiling, while the audience sat in typical hospital waiting room chairs.” this location reflected the cutouts and reconstructed materials used by he designer. This shows how this ‘clinical’ theme is not a one time only occurrence as it as been used by Gucci and is in the archives of 1990s Prada and Helmut Lang. The Dystopian Glamour trend is sci-fi-focused works of artist Lee Bul. This trend is all about upcycled hardware and industrial, oldy worldy textures. The word ‘dystopian’ comes from the noun ‘dystopia’ literally meaning “an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.” by incorporating this darkened world of suffering into fashion it creates a bold look and brings the fashion to life by making the trend so realistic and in-keeping with an unjust world.
This mood board shows the styles, textures, shapes, designs and theme of my capsule
MOOD BOARDS
collection. I got my trend ideas from the WGSN website and carefully selected the ideas I liked the look of.
My colour board is inspired by the key colours from WGSN from their Code Create forecast. These include colours of disparity and adaptability. I selected the colours from their pallette according to which ones combined well with each other but also went well with Dystopian Glamour which requires heavy, bold colours and Clinical Cutouts which needs subtle pales. I wanted my board to look unique so that it related to my collection and at the same time look well placed and cleverly presented in a neat, orderly way so would represent the clinical prints involved.
Aria is an independent woman who lives by herself and is at the age of 27. Being from a French father and an English mother, Arias surname is Lefrançois, coming from the French origin. Living in Harrogate, by herself and enjoying the dating life, Aria is extremely organised with her weekly schedule; on Mondays she goes for an espresso martini indulging herself in her own company, here she will keep her work clothes on but carry a hair brush in her hand bag and let her hair down before she struts into the bar in her Christian Louboutin heels. On a Friday night you’ll catch Aria dressed up in a classy cocktail dress going for drinks with the girls. To finish the week on a high, on Sundays she goes to church followed by volunteering at the RSPCA. Alongside all of this Aria is a dental surgeon, after graduating and getting her dental degree she started working as a dental nurse at her local practitioners, she then rose to the top and got her current job at a high paying surgery just outside of her town.Aria is constantly ahead of trends, she always has the newest styles and knows exactly what will be coming into fashion, this way she always looks stylish and never fails to find an on-point outfit. Aria never leaves her house in a tracksuit, she can’t even take the dog for a walk without looking glam! If you catch Aria in a hoodie then it either cost more than £500 or is paired with a clutch bag, matching shoes and her hair in a slick back pony. Her closet may be voguish, but she can always close it (unlike Katherine Heigl in Arias favourite film 27 dresses), this is only because every 3 months Aria goes through her wardrobe and gives any clothes that don’t fit or are out of trend to charity. The most common shop Aria goes in is River Island, that's for her day to day clothes, but if Aria wants a long lasting winter coat or a pair of jeans then she will go to Tessuti, when she has the time she enjoys online shopping too particularly for expensive items that she wants to ‘treat’ herself to… every week!
PEN PORTRAIT
Aria Lefrançois
MY POP UP’S//ADVERTISING Rousteing x Ellé will be an e-commerce brand with a website where it is solely dedicated to selling this capsule collection. However, there will also be pop up shops held across numerous cities each for a period of 3 days. There will be shops held in London, New York, Paris, LA, Liverpool, and Manchester as I feel that my products will sell well in these cities. They will be held over a period of 6 months, these will take place 3 months after the website has been launched and the collection has been released so that viewers can get a feel for the collection first and then go into the stores to try them on. The collection will be launched on the website in early March, 3 months later the pop up shops will start across the cities, towards September and October these pop ups will be repeated for any stock that is left and to make more profit. With this collection being teamed with Olivier Rousteing and him having a verified instagram account with a huge 5.7 million followers the promotion of this collection will mainly rely on his instagram content to push forward the word of the range. He will post numerous images of what are pop up shops will look like, pictures of our logo, a digital poster etc. we will also hold a giveaway on his page where people have to repost their favourite product from the range and tag us, the winner chosen will receive a £150 voucher to spend at a Rousteing x Ellé pop up shop in any of the locations. This will not only increase our followers but will also intrigue them into what it is there are in with a chance of winning, and by following Olivier they will be inundated with news about the collection straight from their mobile device. As well as just being on instagram to advertise our website and pop up shops, there will also be a television advert featuring a loud club classic song with our logo as a backdrop and a close up of Olivier. This advert should be secretive and leave people wondering to keep them intrigued so that when it is launched they can find out more. Once the website has been launched, the pop up shops have commenced, our range will quickly become more popular and in high demand as people will be wearing our collection out and with friends and it will attract more and more customers. When customers have purchased a product in store then they will be carrying there purchases in our signature paper shopping bags, this will also spread our brand across multiple platforms as people will see our customers walking around with our shopping bags. The range plan spreadsheet mentions our alteration services, this is where customers can come into our pop up shops, try on a product and if it doesn’t fit them well enough then they have the option to purchase it and go to one of 2 alterationists, based inside the store, and pay to have their garment fitted correctly and pinned, the seamstress will take measurements, and take their details for us to send them their finished garment through the post. If this service gets too busy in one single day then shoppers can book in and pay a deposit for a consultation.I want these pop up shops to look classy. The exterior of the store will be an all bronzed vintage glass where it is translucent so shoppers can walk past and get an idea of what style of shop it is, also when open the front doors will be wide open and music will be playing loudly with a live dj on. There will be a distinct smell when you walk in the shop, it has to almost engulf you as you enter, it should be a significant scent of sophisticated simplicity, a light smoky blend of incense, earthy notes and woods. It should be noted that this scent should be well recognised in that when someone walks by they know it is Rousteing x Ellé. The changing rooms of each store will be of a spacious size so that customers are content, with good air conditioning so shoppers don’t get hot and flustered into not purchasing our goods! There will be burgundy coloured velvet draped curtain from the ceiling down to the floor acting as the fitting room doors. Inside there will be good day-light lighting and 4 hooks on the wall for hangers with a small stool in each corner. Customers will be allowed to take 8 items in at a time to try on and any accessories will not be allowed. The interior of the pop up shops will be very dark with black clothing rails, shelves and tables, and the floor will be patent black, however there will be floor lights each glowing with a colour from the collections colour pallette. There will also be bright spotlights shining directly onto each bunch of clothing. There will not be any mannequins in the shops as I want customers to see what the clothes look like on themselves rather than on an unrealistic model. To advertise the pop up shops there will be a display in each one, each display will be a burgundy backdrop with a diamond net layered over it, there will be a light up sign spelling the name of our brand in the centre of this wall. The display will be 3.5 metres squared and customers can get trendy pictures standing in front of it. The staff in a shop for one working day will include: 2 alterationists, 1 person minding the changing rooms, 2 people on the tills and 2 people managing the stock. Each pop up will be open 9am until 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 10am until 4pm on Sundays. The stock in each shop should be managed well where there is only 4 of each size of a garment on display at one time, With shoes, 2 unpaired shoes will be out at one time and customers can ask staff for their size to try on. On the tills, emailed receipt will be offered as well as printed receipt, there will also be a card machine and customers will leave with our Rousteing x Ellé shoppings bags.
FINAL COLLECTION
Here are my final pieces for my collection
Marketing Campaign for BooHoo
I wanted the main focus of my campaign to be a series of a young girl getting ready wearing the clothes from Boohoo. I feel this is beneficial to the brands sales for the collection. This being because the target audience for Boohoo is 16-30 year old women and so young women can relate to the campaign with seeing the stages of going for a night out. It shows off how the outfit transforms and how every woman can pull it off with the right accessories, makeup and hair styling. I feel the final stage of the advertisement is most effective, because it captures the moment a girl sits down, she relaxes with her friends and indulges herself in the pleasant company of laughter and happiness. This girl is fulfilled, she not only looks happy but she is proving how this dress/outfit makes her feel. As women, we know that when you leave the house in a rush and you’re not content with your outfit you don’t thoroughly enjoy yourself because it is in the back of your mind that you don’t look your ‘best’. So, essentially the brand message from this campaign coming off to all women is that you will feel nice and feel your best when wearing Boohoo. I put the pictures together as a compilation of images with creative subtitles labelling her getting ready process, the images used were photo shopped, cut and cropped using a variety of unique shapes and sizes to create a visual effect using an obscure look. After this I also superimposed the photo shopped images of the model wearing the clothes onto the ‘Boohoo website’ and added details of the products as if it is usually done online.
UTILITY CLOTHING RESEARCH
I will be advertising this trend for Boohoo across multiple platforms
Utility style clothing is all about textured clothing, utility literally meaning ‘the state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial’ it suggests clothing described as Utility uses lots of pockets and details. This could mean exaggerated compartments and pockets or areas for items like small bags etc. it could be a gilet with smart gadgets almost like the room in your house. Typically a utility room is storage for small items and gadgets for around the house and it can easily link in with fashion. It also means long lasting, so any material used in a collection of utility style clothing typically is of durable, thick quality and this links back to when it was first introduced back in 1941 when the government controlled how clothes were made for economical reasons and so they controlled how much material was being used as they were in short supply. As well manufactures needed to become more efficient in how they worked, as much of the skilled labour had left to fight. Clothing prices (which were rising) needed to be kept down so that the civilian population could afford clothing of a reasonable quality. Raw materials (cloth, wool, leather etc.) were in short supply and had to be savoured and used in precaution. Looking at current utility fashion we can see it featured all over the catwalks, it is almost about transforming the average workman style into something extremely fashionable and wearable as a fashion statement.
HOME PAGE DESIGN This advertisement will be displayed at the top of the Boohoo home page of their website. I'm really happy with how this turned out because I feel it combines well with the vibe of the Boohoo website. It is busy and chaotic but in a creative way. This page will be accessible so that shoppers can view the whole Utility collection. I wanted the layout of my main ad to stand out, but at the same time the colour pallet needed to coordinate with the colours of the collection using nudes, light pinks and browns. As well, I thought I’d do my take on it and use the idea of having the snapshots in a film tape, this way it shows off the order of a girl getting dolled up whilst also proving how an outfit can make a girls day. The message behind the ad reaches out to every girl, particularly girls who love to style themselves and feel stylish, so having this powerful story with a campaign means it stands out, rather than choosing to create just a typical advertisement that has little or no meaning, so ergo, the online shoppers of Boohoo and future customers can feel closer to the brand and what they’re about because storytelling is key. When putting my main ad campaign together for the homepage of Boohoo I did struggle to keep it from looking too chaotic and busy with all of the clip art and images. It is important when creating an advertisement that it is bold and easy to read, look at and understand, so I think if I were to change something about my campaign it would maybe be the busyness of this, this is why I managed to add in an extra design for the homepage with a bold spotlight background. I feel this has a powerful look and it look classy, however does not suit the trend of the clothing being advertised. I decided to keep the main ad this way because Boohoo does carry quite a hectic vibe about it’s website and it does come off as creative and unique. In fact, I think the busyness of the Boohoo website shows off the fast moving pace of clothes coming in on their website, showing that they are always on trend and up-todate.
E-COMMERCE DESIGN I considered all aspects of a marketing campaign, and what one needs in order to be successful, so I looked at social media platforms like Instagram and also focused on the Boohoo website. The brief told you to think of everything, from every element of research of not just the brand, but the fashion trend of the chosen collection, to competitors and inspiration and this is where my time management plan really helped me with my organisation for this assignment.
Organising my photo shoot was a key element to making sure I stuck to my time management plan effectively, this involved: thinking of how to create a plain background for the model to stand in front of so that I could use photo shop, creating good lighting for the shoot, finding someone to take my pictures for me, finding the right angles to see what showed off the clothes better, and even finding the right outfits to fit the trend of utility. My shoot came together really well and it is how I imagined it to be, however if I were to do the photo shoot again I would find a different method for a plain, white background as it was difficult to remove the background layer when editing the images.