Sketches

These are some sketches done in the past few months. I haven't written on her in a while as I have been busy getting my Major Project Proposal and Dissertation Synopsis in. Third year is really flying by. Some of these sketches I included in my digital sketchbook, of which I will be uploading some pages shortly. But originally these sketches were just done in my spare time, for no particular project, which is why most of them are pretty unfinished! 

Tank Magazine Editorial Spread

During my first term of my second year of University, I had a unit called Fashion styling, photography and the Media. We had to choose and research a fashion magazine, mine being Tank, and create a fashion editorial in the style that they use. We also had to choose models that would not conventionally be in a fashion magazine. My original idea was to look at height- one model being short  and the other tall to create a contrast. However there were complications before shooting and the former could not take part in my shoot. Regardless I think the shoot turned out really well, with the post production to change the colours. This was influenced by pop art and the music video for Crush On You by Nero. I also had to write an article to accompany this, but as that isn't particularly visually intriguing I thought I'd leave that out of the post. 

Model: Dwayne 

Assistant Photographer: Leslie

Ralf Lauren Denim and Supply

Yesterday I came across the promotional video for the Ralf Lauren- Denim and Supply range for Fall 2012. It really is a clash of two different worlds, bringing Avicii's electronica dance tracks to Ralf Lauren's American vintage clothing. The video portrays an underground club scene with Avicii, obviously, as the Dj, who gets the crowd going with his summer hit Silhouettes. The crowd and the swedish Dj are fittingly dressed in items from the denim and supply range. I wasn't too keen on the collaboration at first, as they didn't seem to fit together. After all, how would go to a club dressed in a boho maxi skirt and fringed top? But somehow, the styling gives the scene a cool, urbanised edge- with Ralf Lauren updating the bohemian trends of 2007 with rural individualism. 

                  

I love...

Paul Cadden

I came across Paul's work a while ago and bookmarked his website to be looked at in more depth at a future date. Well that date happens to be today and I have got to say, his work is unbelievable. His hyperrealist style is unique to anything I have personally seen before, so it is truly fascinating to read about the ideas behind his work. His images are initially based on real photographs, images and stills but, he explains, they have a hidden depth to them

 "Hyperreal paintings and sculptures  utilise additional, often subtle, pictorial elements to create the illusion of a reality which in fact either does not exist or cannot be seen by the human eye. They may incorporate emotional, social, cultural and political thematic elements as an extension of the painted visual illusion; a distinct departure from the older and considerably more literal school of Photorealism. " - Paul Cadden.com

The stills he chooses are in themselves interesting, often deciphering an immense amount of detail, as well as depicting seemingly irrelevant yet personal moments in peoples lives which is what I love about them. They represent the little moments in life that often go amiss. Aswell as his exceptional talent, using graphite and pastel to create a lot of those images, the choice of image is just as relevant to help best exhibit his skills. 

Results: Proceed.

So I have officially passed my second year of University! I can't believe how fast it has gone so far and I guarantee this third and final year is going to fly by. For my individual modules I got one 2.2, three 2.1's and two 1st's! The firsts are in Retail Research: Buying and Merchandising, and Fashion in Context (research and bibliography for my dissertation). I'm quite apprehensive for next year, purely because you get to choose whatever you want your Major Project to be and I am so bad at deciding these things! However I decided the topic for my dissertation. and that seems to have been the right choice so far!

Sexist or feminism?

During one of my many frequent trips back to my home town at the beginning of the week, I found myself having to wait at London Waterloo for an hour until my connecting train. To pass the time I decided to purchase a magazine to read on my journey. I grabbed a copy of the august issue of Elle and, eventually, got on my train. As I flicked through the front pages, admiring the latest aspirational ads by Chanel and Burberry, 5 business men in suits sat in the seats opposite me. Now of course I am interested by the content of Elle otherwise i wouldn't have bought it! But I couldn't help feeling like these middle aged business men were judging the fact I was reading a magazine deemed having 'less intelligent' content. Flicking past the editorials however I got to the articles, on titled 'How to look good on Facebook' and further on another 'Can you handle casual sex?' 

At this point I felt a bit naive for telepathically defending the magazine to these men for being "inspiring and useful- especially for my future career!" These articles were neither relevant to fashion or inspiring and intelligent. It felt like I had picked up a cheap copy of cosmo, but I actually chose this magazine to learn more inside details into the fashion industry. Maybe more up and coming designers? Photographers? People that have used the creative industries in a positive way to help change the world. This is what I want to read, and I'm sure- I hope- in not the only young woman interested in fashion that feels this! Or maybe their magazine just isn't aimed at me any more. I better stick to my Love magazine and I.D. 

Polyvore

I have had a Polyvore account for some time now after falling in love with the concept and vowing to use it religiously. However due to university work and other commitments it was left gathering dust in my bookmarks folder. Now that I have five months off untill my final year at Uni, I have some time to spare and have started using Polyvore a bit more. I mostly use it for layout and composition exercises, combining clothes I love with images and inspirational elements. It is great fun, and for my future career in the fashion industry, to gain strong visual composition skills will always be useful. Here are two boards I created recently:

Above: titled 'Tribal Mix Up' was inspired by a collection I was creating for Zara as part of a Uni module called 'Buying and Merchandising' This board shows the colours, textures and prints that were very relevant for my collection.

Above: This board was my first on Polyvore and was just a play around with the tools really. I am in love with all things coral coloured which this clearly shows!! 

I love..

You probably haven't heard his name before, but judging by his latest collection for spring/summer 2012, Wes Gordon is set to be big. Originally from the stateside, the 24 year old graduated from Central St Martins and has internships with Ocscar de la Renta and Tom Ford under his belt. His debut collection was quickly snapped up by luxury stores Saks and Harrods, demonstrating his classy style that is steadily gaining in popularity with the wealthy youth of London. 

His latest collection is themed on 'irrelevance' mixing cocktail party garments such as lace cardigans and elegant playsuits with casual day wear pieces consisting of skinny jeans and slouchy dresses. Ribbons tied into bows are a consistency amongst the designs adding a quirky, delicate feel.

(Photos)

Retail Preview- Nike

As mentioned in my previous post, I did work experience for Mudpie. Here is one of the posts I wrote for their blog titled 'Retail Preview AW 12 Nike Footwear':

http://trendjournal.mudpie.co.uk/?p=7892

Mudpie work experience

Over the past two weeks I have been working at Trend Forecasting company Mudpie. Their role is to provide inside knowledge and assist industry professionals 

into what will be trending in coming years in terms of fashion, interiors and design. They aim at buyers , CEOs of companies such as Disney, Coca Cola as well as consumers. Companies subscribe to them because of the information they provide on business, and current events and the economy- forecasting future consumer trends. 

My role was to support the editorial team with their research and editing of the website MPDclick. I did a lot of research into the three main trends that they have developed for s/s 2014 which was incredibly interesting and useful to me to see how they came up with the trend. It proved that what I am studying on my University course is relevant and exactly what the industry actually do- looking to the past for inspiration and referencing movements in art, history and society. I learnt a lot in particular about the gilded age of america. 

As I mentioned, they do not just look at fashion, they also relate the trends to interiors which was an area I looked into and was completely new to me- be very interesting! I even did some research into 'The Best Of Stationary' for an editorial to be put on the website. They also are about to put up City Guides for the major cities around the world, suggesting the best places to eat, shop, stay, visit and sight see. Melbourne and Barcelona were the cities I was given to look into in detail- giving exact co-ordinates and the nearest public transport routes. Luckily I have been to Barcelona, so this made that easier to recommend places to visit! 

The two weeks have enabled me to utilise my skills in researching, Photoshop and InDesign which was great, and also helped me to build on my written skills and history knowledge which I have learnt is very important for this industry. 

Overall the experience really opened my eyes as to how hard they all work- it is such a small team for the amount of work they produce and it is unbelievable that this global company is in this tiny converted barn four miles out from Romsey. 

Chloe s/s 12 photo shoot

These are some of the photos that were taken on the shoot for Delicate Nature for Chloe s/s 2012. 

My client board for Chloe. 

Trend Board for Delicate Nature (will update with better photo). 

The Photo Shoot: 

Dress: Emily Bowles 

Dress underneath: Topshop 

Model: Isabel Bowles

Location: Salisbury 

Final Images with post production: 

The final images were edited in Photoshop to give them a similar hue and tone to what Chloe use for almost all of their promotional shoots. 

Chloe s/s 12

During my first year of university (last year) we did a module focused on Promotion. The brief told us to choose a trend that is forecast for s/s13, develop it, and choose a fashion brand that would be most suited to it. The outcome was to do a promotional photo shoot that would be in their Press Pack along with a Press Release. 

The trend I chose is called Delicate Nature and is basically exactly what it sound like! Nature and natural elements that are delicate and fragile. This is WGSN's take on the trend: 

Key fabrics and textures relevant for the trend were woven knits, mesh bonds and crushed tie die. They look fragile and are made of natural and organic fibres. 

Key Silhouettes are loose and flowing, delicate shapes skimming the body and billowing drapes of sheer fabrics. Loose and light. Spontaneous ties at the natural waist- if any shape definition at all.

 

 

My developments on the trend include building on the handmade and natural elements by taking on a hippy, 1960's feel. I looked at mixing tie die and dip dying with chiffon and silk fabrics, juxtaposing class with culture. 

 

 

I know the images are bad quality at the moment- my scanner has broken! So these are taken with my phone! But you get the general idea. The above images are taken from my sketch book development of the trend. I began relating delicate nature to underwear- in particular Victorian underwear and designer Laura Ashley who took inspiration from this in the 90's. I then looked at photography of x-ray flowers by Hugh Turvey which is very beautiful and fragile looking. I loved the transparency which led me on to look at sheer fabrics, floaty silhouettes and the seventies.