DIGITAL DIARY: 2010

Sunday 9 May 2010

So a few of us have been making some things for a second hand/ vintage boutique in town, which also stocks some new small independent designers. I managed to make my coat but would like to try and make a few more bits. I think the coat costs too much to make, and probably wont sell in the shop. Very exciting tho seeing something you have made in a shop!

Critical studies

Handed in the portfolio file today im really glad thats another thing thats done and dusted. now i can concentrate on research practices!

Enterprise- Have ewe any wool?

week 3 work placement

week 2 work placement

Work Placement - Week 1

My placement is for 3 weeks and is with a small designer label called Louis De Gama, his studio is situated in white chapel, Ella and I are staying with Dawns sister Claire who has very kindly offered to put us up for 3 weeks. So were staying in south end and to commute into London it takes about 1 hour and then once i get off the train its about a 20 min walk to the studio.

Monday my first day, i was really quite nervous i didn't know what he would be expecting of me. But thankfully to ease me in to the routine Louis teaches fashion design on a Monday and Thursday at a college just outside London. So i was greeted into the studio by another intern named Stelios. He had left me work to get on with, i was cutting leather - making long belts that would be used on garments. and also cutting out shapes on another piece of leather to moulage a dress. The first day went fine, i realised that Louis has a lot of interns working with him, they were all really nice and the atmosphere in the studio was also good, it was friendly but also very work driven even though Louis wasn't there.

Tuesday I met Louis, and he wanted to test how good i was at sewing so he demonstrated the types of seams he likes to use on his garments... he uses french seams on everything, and roll hems. he also demonstrated a curved seam. He also only works with 0.5cm seam allowances he uses these seams as he uses a lot of silks and delicate fabrics and it gives a professional finish. So he tested me on my sewing skills and then set about giving me some tasks. I had to pattern cut a dress and assemble it. Louis also uses a lot of gathering and multiple paneling. I didn't finish the dress but i would continue with it on wednesday.

Wednesday i carried on with making the dress and once i had finished it i then had to dye some vintage lace that i was going to attach to the front of the dress. After dying the lace i then had to tack it to the front of the dress and hand sew it onto the front of the dress. Louis also uses bias binding on his dresses instead of facings as most of them are made from silks. so then i had to bias bind the neck and the armholes. This dress was going to go to the shop.

Thursday when i went to the studio Louis told me that Stelios was going to take me and Zoe another new intern to the shop and give us an inductions on the running of the shop as once a week we would all talk turns and somebody goes to the shop. The shop is in Brick lane and is really quaint and beautiful, Its full of old furniture and nice quirky photography on the walls will old wooden floorboards. and fresh flowers all over the shop a real vintage feel. It really reflects the clothing. (images above are of the shop) I pretty much just had to be shown how to open up the shop, what goes were and how to use the credit card machine etc. After work which my working hours were 10-7 it was Stelios and Hellenas last day so Louis wanted us all to go for a coffee to say goodbye and thank you for their help. We went for a coffee and then to an opening of a photography gallery in Whitechapel. I realised that this is an important part of fashion in london that you must get out and meet people and socialise. It was really interesting seeing all the different people there. I really enjoyed myself it was just a shame i had a 1 hour train ride home afterwards.

Friday i made another dress, i felt a little bit slow as there was an intern there who had taken a year out from uni and had been there since christmas, and had worked for preen previously before that. Also there is Junko who is a paid employee but i think this week i have improved with my speed. and next week Louis said i would be working on some pieces for his shows. which he had coming up in the next month. So im really looking forward to that!...

Critical studies! Bye Bye (for a few weeks at least)

I handed in my critical studies essay this morning, i think it went ok im really not a confident writer, and i often dont have a clue how well i have done!? all i need to do now is finish off my critical studies portfolio...

But now im off to London to do my placement with Louis De Gama, im half excited and half nervous... I hope it goes well.

My online portfolio

I forgot to post this on here but when i was emailing with a stylist in Paris for a possible placement she requested i make an online portfolio so she could see my work.

so here it is

Click here to go to my online Portfolio

also my placement is really soon! Im really excited! but i have to finish my Critical studies essay before then!

Applied fashion feedback and mark

I have my feedback with Gemma and i was very pleased with what she had to say... my feedback form was positive too, it said i that i have a excellent body of work and i had effective and evaluative understanding of research. which i was pleased to hear and that i must carry this forward to other projects. my own photography was successful. my only down fall was that in my trend book when it was projected onto slides for my presentation the writing was blurry and too difficult to read but that i had spoke well ad kept good eye contact with the viewer. which is a shame otherwise it would have been better!

my mark was 71% which i am very pleased about!

Final line up - Presentation - finished

Here are my final line ups without the fabric on, i have used photoshop and scanned in the blank images to add the fabrics to the designs. most of the fabrics i have used are upholstery, thick wools, or thick cotton mixes. I am quite happy with my line up but i would quite like on the next project to try something different with the line up. perhaps the way i present it, so its no just on a A3 piece of paper, or even on photoshop.

All in all im quite happy with this project i have kept to a strict time limit and this has helped me to be less stressed and have the need to rush thing. It does feel odd though not having to stay up late the night before a hand in to get everything finished. I will defiantly try and work to this standard and organisation every-time.

I was really worried about the presentation, i dont think my visuals were the best they could be, but i think i spoke quite well and kept good eye contact with gemma and ian so so hopefully this wont bring my grade down.

critical studies - i made a start!

An analysis of the phenomena and status of Haute Couture

Investigating the Phenomena of Haute Couture, looking into the history of the possible art form, its origins and how it has evolved over time. Examining Couture in the terms of a commodity, it’s social status in correspondence to hierarchy and class. Whilst examining Marx’s theories surrounding Capitalism in relation to Couture, alongside looking to Adorno’s theories in correlation to Couture as a potential art form.

so this is my opening paragraph for my critical studies essay, im quite glad i've chosen a subject now, im looking into haute couture and its possibilities of it being used as an art form, also looking at its purpose it apposed to make for the brand. looking the Marxs and Adornos theories with capitalism. Im quite nervous about this essay its quite hard to write an academic essay when all we have done since i left gcse is 1 essay a year and its normally on something to do with fashion. im finding it hard to incorporate the critical theorists. I also think i need to read more, it can only help with my dissertation. actually id rather not think about that right now! but i should make a good start to my dissertation in the summer and not leave it too late like i have this essay!

Trend book

I decided to call my trend demure bloom these are some of my pages from my tend book i choose to do it in a wallpaper style book and add my pages to it myself its more like a file. im quite pleased with it, i would perhaps have thought of a better way to try and do my illustrations if i were to do it again. I think the colours of the pages work well with the trend and the fabrics in the picture frames is fitting with the trend also. I tried to make it more touchy feely kind of trend book. I would perhaps have liked more time to do the trend book also but i need to get on with designing.

Critical studies

The essay is looming over me, i really need to start doing some more reading i was really influenced by the seminar talk we had with Tom about communism, and Marx left and right wing. Also on aesthetics... im really confused right now and it just dousnt seem like im getting anywere i really need to start reading!

Applied fashion research

through my research for applied fashion design i have looked to future trends for AW 10/11 and there is a strong influence from victorian times, be it fashion, decor, fabrics or wallpaper. I have keyed in on wallpaper as influence for my garment flats for the trend book. I also went to temple newsam which currently had a wallpaper exhibition on and the decor inside this place was amazing! all the furniture was really influencical and the colours of the decor were amazing too. I have used these images in my research too. Another source of colour influence came from the group of painters the glasgow boys especially Charles Anastase's work.

I feel this project is going pretty well so far, i am managing to keep on track with work and the research seems to be successful hopefully this will feed into my trend book.

Applied fashion design

I got off to a good start with this project over the February half term, I did my extended branding research i decided to research into Reiss i found quite a bit of interested things out about the company. I think this way of doing a shop report/brand report has worked more successfully than previous layouts for shop reports it looks more professional. But it just means i cant add my drawings that i would have made in the store. Now researching into the brand i think i can now begin to think about my research and who i will be designing for.

work experience!

Work experience is happening! I was quite slow at getting into the swing of applying for placements but i had to force myself to do it. Surprisingly a few people got back to me. Some just letting me know that they didn't have a placement available. Others asking for me to come for interviews.

I arranged an Interview while the last project was coming to an end with a designer called Louis De Gama, he is a womenswear designer and he makes lots of one off pieces which he sells in his shop down brick lane. His style is quite romantic, he mixes tailoring with soft silks and leathers. I really like what i have seen of his collections.

I have my interview ( getting the portfolio together was a bit of a rush ) and he offered me a placement over Easter for 3 weeks. I am really excited about this opportunity. It is a design placement and i will be doing a lot of pattern cutting, and sewing which will hopefully be great experience.

Realisation result

So i got my results back for design realisation and i got 68% its not my best mark, but its still a good grade. To be honest i though i was going to get a lot less! I would have liked to have tried a bit harder on this project. but i will next time...

Design Realisation

Here are some images of my research and designs from design realisation, i really didn't enjoy this project for some reason. I thought i would really enjoy it but i couldn't get into it. I also think i made some big mistakes when making the trousers, i choose the wrong type of material and the wrong colour! I am really disappointed with them.

Although i personally didn't enjoy this project i have learned a lot from it, it was a really useful brief. Learning how to use illustrator to do flats and the technical package is also a very useful tool to have. I just wish i has been a bit more dedicated to the project and not made the mistakes with fabrics and colour choices. I have a feeling this wont be my best grade! At least i can learn from this project that i really do need to focus on my time keeping and thinking about fabrics and if they will work or not.

Shop report

So even though the snow will not go away and has turned to ice! i made it into town to do my shop report. I am focusing my project on s/s and the shops are starting to get rid of all their sale and getting in there new s/s stock. My shop report is done now and i need to start my research, I am seeking influences from trends on WGSN predicting that pastel shades will be in this summer i really want to use these in this project. Before i even really start designing i would really like to make some trousers its something i haven't made yet and this for this to be our last making project i really should know how to make trousers for 3rd year.

New project design realisation

so coming back from a long Christmas being at home was hard, i had to work over Christmas and then with it being my 21st birthday and going on holiday i didn't have much time to get started with this project. Also being at home near Carlisle we only have very basic high-street shops so i really needed to wait till i got back to Leeds to start the shop report. I feel i have made a bad start to this project already.

Tailoring processes results

I received my mark back for tailoring processes and was pleasantly surprised i got 74% which i really was not expecting, I'm really glad i made myself do a mens wear project. It was quite exciting and different. My feedback from Sue was also positive, she stated that i am beginning to get a signature style with the way i work and that i should continue to try and better it, also that i should possibly try and look more at contemporaries in design.