Personal Assesment Document - Gaia Name: Rachel Blackburn Student Number: H00163048 Course: E19AC 7 E19BC: Capsule Collection 1 & 2 Academic session: 2015/2016, Semester 2 Heriot -Watt University, School of Textiles and Design
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Brief What was asked of the students was to design a collection of six outfits and then create two outfits from this, which should be a minimum of three garments per outfit. The starting point for this whole project began with an exhibition visit where the student was to take either one or two pieces of work and start re-contextualising this in a way in which they could then create a design concept for their own work. The student created a concept from pieces of work at one of the exhibitions that was a reflection of something close to their heart. Their concept was the idea of nature changing through time and how we can start with something so small it grows into something beautiful yet can then wither away and die. This was the essence of the collection that would be created from the 3 pieces of work within the exhibition which related to nature. “Gaia” is a high end womenswear collection based on the idea of nature changing through time. The purpose of this collection is a luxury everyday wear that can also be used of an evening and is designed to be worn for Spring/Summer 17. The key inspirations for this collection are, pieces of art work, nature, Holland & Sherry, new designers, 80’s fashion and trends. The mood of this collection is simple and peaceful, the collection should create feelings of joy and relaxation so in theory it is one with its wearer. The ambassador for this collection is Florence Welch as she fits to the aesthetic of the collection and shares similar views to the designer. The target market for this collection is a high end market and its target consumer is women aged 21-30 who have full time job which allows them to have disposable income to spend on their luxuries and those who are passionate about the world. The key design features in the collection are: fitted and boxy garments to contrast 80’s and urban feel, luxury fabrics to make the collection high end, a colour palette which shows the design concept and fabrics which can show manipulation such as laser cutting or print and finally fabric manipulation that reinvents the fabric to show Holland & Sherry inspiration. The aims that are to be achieved from this project are as followed: • To create six garments that could fit into a high end market and be retailed as such from fabrics to finishing’s. • Incorporate an urban feel within the collection so that it also appeals to a more youthful audience. • Use fabric manipulation in a unique and interesting way that it can clearly show its inspiration. • Create a collection that is able to be diffused down to a mid-level market and still have the essence of this capsule collection. These aims are what the student feels most need to be achieved within this project and as such were the main aspects of the brief. These aims will be achieved through extensive research into each aspect, such as high end fabrics/urban designers etc., and re-contextualising them in a way that is new and innovative to achieve them to the highest standards.
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Conent Exhibition visit/ Design Concept Holland & Sherry Market Research Trend Research New Designers/Urban Research 80’s Research Print/Laser Cutting Experiments Design Development Final Line Up Fabric Choices Working Drawings of Chosen Two Outfits Toils and Development Final Outfits Conclusion References/Bibliography
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Exhibition visit/ Design Concept For the first part of the brief a choice of either a museum or exhibition visit were given to the students to choose from they could go to anyone they desired or could use stuff from a previous visit which inspired them. This was the starting point for them to help create a design concept from what peeked their interests. As two exhibitions were suggested for the brief it was in the best interest of project that both would be visited for a variety of choice. There were pieces in both exhibitions which were inspiring ideas for a design concept so to begin with the Fruit Market exhibition pieces were explored first as these were the preferred pieces. However this lead to a dead end of ideas and as it wasn’t going anywhere the RSA exhibition was then explored but as there were many different pieces of work at this exhibition the selection had to be narrowed down to make the concept clear. Upon exploring a hand full of the pieces a final selection was made and what was found was that these pieces all revolved around the idea of nature. After seeing a theme of nature from the pieces of artwork at the museums this gave an inspiring idea for a design concept. That concept being “The way in which nature changes through time” This was inspired from the following pieces of work • Votive Offerings by Kirsty Lorenz • Vela by Alastair Clark • Final Flight by Elaine Allison The flowers as a starting point which could also be seen as the start of life, the flow of the water/river as time constantly moving and not stopping for anyone and finally the skull as decay the ending point of life. Exploring these pieces was exciting as I could bring in past photographs I have taken which relate to the concept. This is what inspired ideas for laser cutting and print ideas.
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Holland & Sherry An opportunity arouse for this project to work with Holland & Sherry which allowed us to go on a visit to H&S. The idea was to explore the factory and what they did and to take inspiration from this and re-contextualising it in a new and innovative way that then would be used in the final collection. After the visit a lot was learnt and that a common theme that could be picked up on was the idea of pinstripes and thread count could be used within collections. However as this could be used by many others I took a step back from the obvious and explored ideas that could be used in a clever way. H&S have their own personal sheep called a Monadh which was something I found very interesting as no other company is allowed to use this sheep’s wool to make fabrics. This linked with the concept in the sense that the sheep is nature and it decays its wool to be used by H&S. The original idea for using the sheep within the collection was to use it as a hidden design such as pinstripe made from tiny monadh sheep. However this was very basic and I wanted to be really clever with the idea so what I decided to do was take wool and deconstruct it, after this I scanned it in and created patterns on illustrator which could be used in laser cutting. It was suggested much later on that I could have created a big motif of the sheep and use this. However this would have taken a lot more time to make and even more money so this idea was not used.
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Market Research At this point in the project the requirement of a target market and customer ambassador was required to help focus the collection at its market. The collection is aimed at a high end market which was kept in mind when considering the target market. The type of audience that this collection would be aimed at is people who have an interest in nature and are free spirited people who will wear things that express this. Someone who will work hard to get the things they want in life and strive to make a difference in this world. As the collection’s narrative is focused on nature the type of ambassador that would work is someone who fits in with the aesthetic of it all. Keeping this in mind I looked at different celebrities who I thought would fit this yet still be someone that could attract a larger audience. After much consideration I decided that Florence Welch from the band “Florence & the Machine� would be the most ideal as she fits with everything that was wanted from an ambassador.
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Trend Research It was necessary that the collection fit into a trend as every collection that comes out fits either A/W or S/S. This collection would be seen in the S/S 17 and was inspired by trends from this season. One particular trend that stood out from this season was known as the “Pause� trend. What stood out from this trend was its clean lines in the silhouettes and metallic colours with pastel pinks reminding me of the new H&S pastel pink they’d brought out. As the collection had to be on trend I decided that foiling fabrics with metallic colours that fit in the collection colour scheme and this would be the main thing I would use from the trends, I did also take the pastel pink and the idea of clean lines through silhouette but these were side factors.
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New Designers/Urban Research To have an idea of urban fashion a list of new designers was sourced and from this list a selection of designers where looked at including one more well-known designer for a high end idea of urban. The designers looked at where Masion Margiela who is the more well-known designer, Bobby Kolade a new designer, Greg Lauren who is also a new designer and House of Had who is a new brand. This helped give a better understanding of urban and from this decisions could be made on what aspects to use in the design process. This urban aesthetic that was required would be seen through fabric choices and details such as metal chunky zips that would be on display and through oversized garments with little fitting and things as such.
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80’s Research A challenging part of this project was to incorporate 80’s style within the collection so to get an idea as a starting point the vogue archives were researched and analysed to see what best could be taken from the 80’s and reinvented in a modern way for the collection. Things that were commonly a theme were, leotards, big necks, sportswear, baggy trousers, denim on denim, leggings, off the shoulder garments, crops, layers and big shoulders/shoulder pads. So from this we had to keep in mind the concept of the collection and the high end market while thinking what could be taken and used within the design stage. As to not over power the collection with the 80’s style only taking simple things forward such as off the shoulder garments, big necks and taking the idea of baggy garments forward would be best to be subtle with 80’s style.
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Print/Laser Cutting Experiements With the need of fabric manipulation within the collection it was decided that both print and laser cutting should be explored to see what fabrics worked well for each manipulation. What was discovered was that most fabrics worked well with the heat printing and a lot of fabric could also be embossed however this was something that was not suitable for the collection so it would not be used within it. Sublimation print would work best for print as it would be easiest for creating patterns that could be printed on fabrics. This then lead to creating a floral pin stripe style print that would be used most probably within linings of garments. Using similar designs that could have been used for sublimation print were changed to vectors to be tested for laser cutting and etching with a selection of fabrics to see what works best. This resulted in find that real leather worked best for both laser cutting and etching, some leatherettes worked also for this but wasn’t as strong as the real leather. Thin fabric when laser cut worked but would flop and not hold its form very well. Although velvet worked with etching so this was considered as a fabric choice. Again to add more detail and to add more metallic aspects to the fabrics it was decided that foiling would be used to give the collection an even higher of quality.
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Design Development Taking all previous points into account, the process of design development began with drawing basic silhouettes and taking the ideas further through adding components to see what works from the research found.
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Final Line Up To decide on a final line up all points from the brief had to be considered so that the six outfits worked with each other and met the brief. Once done it was then decided that the collection would be called Gaia as this was traditional Greek for Mother Nature and it fits the concept.
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Fabric Choices When deciding on the fabrics it had to be kept in mind that they needed to be of a high quality and match the concept yet have an urban feel. It was then decided that as the concept was around nature it would be best to use real leather along with crushed velvet, boiled wool jersey knit and silk organza tea rose as a subtle break into the colour palette.
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Working Drawings To help give more idea of how the garments look working drawings of the front and back for each outfit has been created. This also allows people to see how the garments can be constructed.
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Toils & Development Before the final garments could be made the patterns needed to be tested to make sure they were all correct. From toiling the results were mostly good as only two patterns needed to be adjusted – the wrap crop top needed to be made smaller as it was very larger when tried on and the oversized knit jersey jumper being too small so the pattern had to be made two times larger to get a better result.
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Final Outfits After completing both outfits it was time to model them and take photos. Firstly a location had to be chosen to help bring out the outfits in a way that would market them to their best potential. That is why it was decided to do the shoot at Formby Beach as it is a beautiful sandy beach yet just before said beach there is a large open forest. This location fit with the concept of nature and was the ideal location. Here you can see close up details of the garments along with full professional shots.
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aia 43
Outfit 1
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Outfit 2
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Conclusion To conclude, this project was something that was challenging yet rewarding as it gave the opportunity to create a collection that was more personal to the designer. Over all the project was difficult and there was a worry of it not being completed due to the fact a large amount of work was given in a short period of time. However this tested the time management in a way to help better skills and although a challenge the work was completed on time. Other things that were difficult were making the collection unique yet urban with 80’s style as well. However this was accomplished by doing intensive research to have a better understanding of how it could be included within the collection. Urban was also achieved through the fabric selection and details such as zips and manipulation. Going back to the brief points that were to be achieved, we can see that the collection used high quality fabrics and industrial techniques which made the garments fit into a high end market. The use of fabric manipulation was innovative and new as the patterns created from the manipulation aspect were well thought out and kept the design concept in mind at all times. Finally this collection is something to be proud of as it met the brief yet also incorporated Holland & Sherry in a new and clever way that brings H&S to a larger audience and reinvents them. In conclusion this was a successful project over all.
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References/Bibliography Bibliography: WGSN Fashion (no date) Available at: https://www-wgsn-com.ezproxy1.hw.ac.uk/ content/reports/#/Future+Trends/w (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (WGSN Fashion, no date) Bibliography: TopFabric (2013) Quality fabric - the finest fabrics from around the world. Available at: http://www.topfabric.co.uk/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (TopFabric, 2013) Bibliography: The Vogue Archive (no date) Available at: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy1. hw.ac.uk/vogue/browseissues?accountid=16064 (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (The Vogue Archive, no date) Bibliography: The royal Scottish academy, Edinburgh, Scotland (2015) Available at: http://www. royalscottishacademy.org/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (The royal Scottish academy, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2015) Bibliography: Artists, S. of S. (2015) Society of Scottish artists. Available at: http://www.ssaexhibition.co.uk/catalogue/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (Artists, 2015) Bibliography: Gallery, T.F. (2016) Home - the Fruitmarket gallery. Available at: http://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (Gallery, 2016) Bibliography: max-width, px, 1024 and display, b-logo_women{ { (2016) LL-NC. Available at: http://www.ln-cc.com/en/home (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (max-width, px, and display, 2016) Bibliography: FarFetch (no date) Available at: http://www.farfetch.com/uk/shopping/women/ mm6-maison-margiela/items.aspx (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (FarFetch, no date) Bibliography: Maison Margiela (no date) Available at: http://www.maisonmargiela.com/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (Maison Margiela, no date) Bibliography: Trust, N. (2016) Formby. Available at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/formby (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (Trust, 2016) Bibliography: Holland and 2016, S. (2016) Holland & sherry - the finest cloths in the world. Available at: http://www.hollandandsherry.com/apparel/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (Holland and 2016, 2016) Bibliography: 2016, H.N. (2016) Designer fashion, beauty, food & wine. Available at: http://www. harveynichols.com/ (Accessed: 23 April 2016). In-line Citation: (2016, 2016) Word Count (Not including titles/subtitles/refrences): 2569
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