Portfolio

j t p

o

o h

r

a n o m t f o

l

n a

i

e s o

Focusing specifically on the journey of gradual loss of vision to the dark world of blindness, my collection is inspired by the traumatic experience of losing sight, the major sense by which we navigate and interact around our world.

Concentrating particularly on the emotions experienced by this loss, I plan to create a six piece collection which mimics these experiences and emotions.

For Fall/ Winter ‘15/16, I aim to create exaggerated silhouettes which imitate the sensation of isolation and the feeling of being trapped within your own body. The layering of multiple garments will create the effect of details being hidden, and unseen. Like blindness, the clothing will be restricting and at the same time slightly exposing portraying emotions of vulnerability. Large tied knots on some garments will aim to create the sensation of feeling constricted and cut off from everyday life and society. Using fabrics such as chiffon and raincoat plastic layered on top of other garments I hope to create the illusion of what is underneath being blurred and distorted. Arm movement will be restricted in my designs to portray the emotion of losing your independence and relying on those around you to carry out everyday tasks.

In a world without sight the sense of touch is heightened and because of this I am including suede embossed in braille and garments also lazer cut in braille, creating texture and pattern to the collection. The slogan ‘All We Have Is Words,’ will be used as the braille throughout the collection as it a bold statement which conveys my theme perfectly and describes the traumatic experiences of now relying on others descriptions of your loved ones, the skyline and even your own reflection.

When I asked my nana, who suffers from macular degeneration, what she misses most as her vision has deteriorated she spoke of missing the ever changing skies and beautiful landscapes. The pastel hued, dreamy sky is from where I will pull my collections colours. I created a palette of grey’s, blue’s, lilac’s, purple’s and midnight’s. I choose a muted range as when your are losing your vision colours appear less vibrant and bright.

all

we

have

is

words

//

brief

My target market is aimed at 21-40 year olds who have a strong personal style and unafraid to make a statement. They are hard working and passionate for what they believe in. They have a good income which they use to accomplish personal projects and buy garments which show their influential and individual style. Their lifestyle is hectic and they are constantly on the go. They want key pieces in their wardrobe which are bold, wearable, innovative and interchangeable. I choose this age range as my collection is for a high end brand where expensive fabrics and design techniques were used and to afford these garments my market will need a disposable and good income.

“The loss has Every day, I feel independence and the

been overwhelming.

I’m grieving for my person I was before.”

target

market

//

muse

my target market is females aged 24-40 who have a strong personal style and unafraid to make a statement. They are hard working and passionate for what they believe in. my market have a good income which they use to achieve personal projects, interests and buy garments which show their influential and individual style. Their lifestyle is hectic and they are constantly on the go. Key pieces in their wardrobe are bold, wearable and innovative, able to be worn for both work and social events. Garments are interchangeable and re-wearable. I choose this age gap for my market, as my collection is a high end brand where expensive fabrics and techniques are used and to afford these garments a good and disposable income would be neccessary. my muse is the beautiful fka twigs. She is a singer, dancer and someone who i constantly find very inspiring. she is very conceptual with the way she performs and produces her short films and music videos. she pushes the boundaries on not only the music industry but the fashion industry with her innovative and avant-guarde style. she has such a hectic lifestyle and is very passionate in the relms of her profession and at the same time she still always manages to exude a strong personal style. i feel she would promote my collection perfectly.

photographer// eden hawkins studio assistant// gemma crook model// rosalind shrinivas garments/styling// joanne thomas

DOVER STREET MARKET

Dover street market is a place where established designers showcase their collections which are innovative, inspiring and avant-garde. When creating a collection which would retail here, they are no limits. With this in mind I wanted to create a collection which is both original, exciting and eye catching.

Mad Men is a television series which focuses on an advertising company, set on Madison Avenue, New York in the 1960’s. The show depicts parts of the American society and culture at that time, highlighting the themes of sexism, feminism, adultery, homophobia and racism.

The men in the show are always dressed in suits, and this creates the idea of the suits possessing power and leadership. The women are expected to either be housewives or secretary’s answerable to the demands of their bosses, with their opinions not being valued as highly as that of a man.

Advertisements released at that time appear now as very sexist with women being portrayed as not having much common sense and living their life in the kitchen. I wanted to focus on these advertisements and pull a print and colour palette from these exaggerated images of women. Concentrating and focussing in on the ‘typical housewife’ apron, the garment from that era which symbolises women being tied to the kitchen and the house, I re-designed it to create a more empowering garment for women.

I investigated the term, ‘power dressing’ and looked into Coco Chanel and her creation of the first suit for a women. She freed them of the restricting corsets and dressing, allowing women to dress more for comfort and functionality. With the combination of both the corsets and suits I wanted to create a modern day idea of ‘power dressing,’ where anything can be worn in order for you to feel powerful and confident. No limitations.

My ideal target market is women of any age who are hard working, ambitious, and focused on what they want to achieve. My chosen market are strong believers in rights for women and equality and want clothing which can be worn for both professional and personal events. Clothing which encourages them to feel confident and comfortable not only in what they are wearing but in what they are doing and feeling.

“what you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons.”

-Don Draper

colour & print

“i have sea foam in my veins, i understand the language of waves.�

Colour and print are two elements which can instantly update and uplift a collection and make it more innovative, exciting and visually stimulating. With this in mind I wanted to create a menswear collection which was not only bold and bright with exciting print and colour but also had interesting silhouettes and pieces which were interchangeable and layered within the collection.

After exploring the season’s trends, for S/S’15 menswear, I noticed the recurring theme of nautical inspired garments. This led me to my main inspiration for the collection, the fisherman and the sea.

For my silhouettes, I looked at fisherman’s outfits and the stereotypical clothing we think is worn by seamen, such as the mustard yellow raincoats, overalls and the fisherman knits. I interpreted these design details into my own style trying to recreate these classic garments into more innovative and youthful pieces.

The prints seen in my collection were inspired by the creatures and shells found under the sea. All the prints are hand drawn and then transferred into Photoshop and repeated. I believe this hand drawn aesthetic works well with this rustic and natural theme. I wanted the prints to be a key piece in the collection so made them bold, eye-catching and detailed.

I pulled my colour palette from inspiring images of fisherman and sea life and chose an exciting and bold range of colours. Even though the colours are quite bright I believe they are cohesive and complement each other and work well within the collection My target market are for men aged 18-35 years who have individual style and like to express themselves in classic silhouettes with innovative colours, fabrics and prints. My customer likes to be well dressed but also likes to experiment with his style and try new looks and prints. My market is outgoing, social and laid back, up for an adventure and wants clothing which reflects his strong personality.

adidas flow

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.�

Adidas the active wear brand is known for its innovative, wearable designs and successful collaborations with well renowned designers such as Stella McCartney and Mary Kantranzou.

Keeping true to my fashion handwriting, I created an active wear collection in collaboration with Adidas S/S ‘15 which would be equal in functionality and in innovative design.

Dance and yoga are the two sports I am most familiar with, so I began my research exploring active wear worn when performing these sports. The fluid beauty of the body shapes created and the flexibility and freedom of these movements, was something I wanted to emphasise in my collection. A word used often when practicing yoga and dance is flow; the flow of your breath, of your body from one position to another and the flow of consciousness between mind and body.

Focusing upon the word, ‘flow’ I looked into patterns of flowing lines, whether drawn on paper, flowing lines of ink in water, tracks left in the snow or contour lines on a map highlighting mountain ranges. Using these beautiful and arresting images of flowing lines as inspiration, I created my active wear collection.

Although I want my collection to be suitable for most sporting activities, I focused on the functionality required in active wear when performing yoga or dance. The garments cannot be restricting or excessively baggy, but must allow the wearer to move freely, acting and feeling like a second skin. With this in mind I created a collection of cropped and tight fitting garments where the wearer can feel comfortable and free with full use of flexibility and movement.

Flowing lines appear in the collection as a print pattern and as panels on garments. I restricted my colour palette to four, to create a cleaner, minimalistic and calmer collection. My target market would be women aged from, 16 to 40 years who want to look and feel good when working out, remain cool and not be constrained. My garments are made to be worn by women who want to feel free and able to move and flow with no restrictions whether they are training as professionals or just enjoy exercise in their leisure time.

H&M DIFFUSION

By re-contextualizing my main collection I created a diffusion line for H&M, A/W ‘15/16. The inspiration was blindness, focusing on the emotions experienced while losing vision incorporating print and cheaper fabrics into the collection to make it appealing to a wider and younger audience.

H&M Divided is a range within H&M which caters for females aged 13-18 and produces garments which are on trend but still youthful and playful. With this range in mind I wanted to create a collection which allowed slightly more movement in the clothing than my main line has but still keeping the similar strong design aesthetics.

Re-exploring my theme of blindness I looked at the more literal references of vision loss, such as the eye itself and how an individual has to adapt to relying on vocal descriptions of a world they once knew. Exploring various eye prints I wanted to create one that was playful, innovative but also in keeping with my theme. I incorporated graphic prints with the slogan, ‘All We Have Is Words,’ portraying the theme in a more commercial way and appealing to a younger generation as it made the collection brighter and more light hearted.

The colour palette remains pulled from the muted sky line, however I incorporated a few more pastel colours into the collection to brighten it up and make the prints pop out more.

I kept similar design aesthetics such as the tied garments, the transparent layers and the use of braille apparent in this collection. I made my fabrics and design more affordable as my target market would not have a large income and I wanted to create garments in the collection which were affordable, innovative and interchangeable allowing the buyer to create various outfits within the collection.

H00104497