This concept for the Leeds College of Art Graduate Fashion Show 2013 branding is ‘old meets new’. Based on the fact that the fashion show is going to be held in an old textile mill but showcasing the new talent of fashion graduates from Leeds College of Art. The designs will use a black, white and greyscale colour scheme with a lime green spot colour. Here, the black and white will represent the old while the green represents the new. There will be lime green stitching used throughout the designs to capitalize on the location being an old textile mill; Canal Mills. In addition to this, the logo design created for the fashion show has been derived from stitches found on sewing machines, again showcasing the choice of location through the designs. The invitation will use cropped images of students final collection garments; in not showing the garment in full it will act as a tease in order to make guests attend the event to see more. There will be lime green stitching running through the images which will also hold in place a clothing style label with the event logo either stitched or printed onto it. The invitation will be sent out in a white envelope which has a hole cut out; this is to represent the idea that they are getting a sneak peek at what is to come at the event and give them more incentive to attend the event. Research into trend forcasts on WGSN for S/S 14 have provided inspiration for the design direction in the hope that these designs will reflect the work that is going to be produced by the graduate fashion students.
There will be an website set up as a point of reference from the promotional material to more information about the event for those interested. This will contain information about the event as well as up dates on the event as time draws closer, again keeping people interested and keen to attend. There will also be social media presence through twitter and facebook which will follow the design direction of the promotional material; this will provide the opportunity to create interest about the event and connect with a wider audience. A notebook will be given as a gift to guests, but also act as promotional material for the graduating students. The notebook pages will have space allocated for note taking in reagrds to each student’s collection. At the bottom of each page will be a perforrated section with the name and contact details of each student, this can then be taken away from the notebook as a point of reference to the user and a mini business card for the graduate. There will also be information included about the mill location and the facilities the students have had access to at Leeds College of Art to make their final collections. Images such as these below will be used to showcase this. Through experimenting with colour on fabric, this colour present upon the above fabric has been colour matched to green of the thread. This can then be used to screenprint the logo onto fabric and used within the designs. The fabric samples above can be printed on and used within the design of the deliverables to give a fashion aesthetic throughout. These are the contextual references that have influenced the design decisions made and will continue to do so.