The Grand Finale

Oh the final post, post marking of the blog and may I just wish you fun and joy reading hope you enjoy it and find it very enlightening :)

job lot

I started looking through job descriptions for pattern cutting and patter grading jobs to see which is best suited for me; I also looked up design and garment technology jobs too just to give myself a greater depth of the jobs on offer in fashion. And you’ll never guess what but in all the descriptions it clearly labels a warm studio, but the pattern cutters no, no such luck there oh the joys haha though it did enlighten my knowledge and made me laugh and reading the description got me excited to actually get into the industry do something I love for a living. Pushing myself daily with new challenges of new garments I can’t wait. Turning a designer’s sketch into a working pattern, which can be used when constructing the garment. I want to finish and top up with a Ba degree after all as Oliver Wendell Holmes said "Once the mind has been stretched by a new idea, it will never again return to its original size." Still questioning the final outcome options though self employed vs industry, not such an easy dicision :/

The Great Debate

Decisions, decisions oh what a do I’ve been mulling this over in my head, and I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not decided :/ Ba has amazing design tutors but lacks the technical side and the support or the tutors we currently have but FdA has amazing tutor support and a great technical side but I don’t know if I’m liking this commercial hold back. It just seems to be cropping up again and again like I know everything has to have some commercial value but, must it always have to be a prominent part ? This is what’s leading me to question my thoughts. And this placement unit / business unit I don’t know has me going a bit 50/50. My life is either going to take route A 3rd year FdA doing the business unit possibly undertaking a few here and there placements along the same time then opening up my own label/supply chain and working to make myself into something I can be, or route B Ba have a beautiful collection be up for a chance to exhibit at graduate fashion week and then entre the industry gain some experience in a job I love to then either pursue as a career or the open up my own business oh decision.........

To-Do Lists

Ok so over Easter I wrote myself a huge to-do list 3 pages long and its killing me trying to get everything done on it!! Not only is it a 3 page to-do list, it’s a 3 page to-do list with sub to-do lists as well, I know sounds mad but it does make sense. But I’m doing well narrowed it down to 1 page to-do list with only 2 sub to-do list's haha look at me go. Oh Easters nearly over then onto making final collection in bulk fabrics epp exciting !!

Is Sustainable fashion An issue

Sustainable fashion is part of the larger trend of sustainable design where a product is created and produced with consideration to the environmental and social impact it may have, including its "carbon footprint". According to the May 2007 Vogue it appears not to be a short-term trend but one could last multiple seasons which is very true and now more than ever is it such a prominet feature. Sustainable fashion has received frequent coverage in recent years on mainstream media and almost every fashion magazine in the UK. Fashion brands have developed marketing techniques which maximize coverage of sustainability/Eco issues, and used the appeal of their products and imagery to raise awareness about a series of critical issues, and changed consumer perceptions and behavior as a result. Fashion imagery is glamorous and enticing and is used as a means to grab attention by almost every form of media and advertising. Celebrities and top models have aligned themselves with ethical fashion, increasing its media appeal. This appeal in itself has created an opportunity for fashion to become a medium for raising awareness amongst consumers. It also makes it easier to raise awareness in the industry overall and encourage collaboration towards sustainability.

although the issues in fashion task has been covered in several posts its still covered

essay-ness

I was a bit nervous about the big essay unit especially as we need 50% to get onto the 3rd year so we were all a bit shaken up trying to grasp onto education as much as possible. But as I previously mentioned the essay unit was based around technologies and new media and how it effect the displaying of fashion. I also choose my essay to include a pressing issue in fashion also size 0 and anorexic models - In the past female models have been gaining more and more media attention within relations to eating disorders and projecting the waif look onto our growing adolescents, yet we as a Nation are facing an obesity crisis. Seeing an increase of ‘17 percent in males’ being obese and an alarming ‘21 percent of women’. However the country is becoming more and more overweight, obese and morbidly obese, yet these barely living carcass’s are becoming exactly just that, skin and bones, androgynous flesh upon a fragile structure. Take the model that sparked off the whole size zero debate back in 2006, Luisel Ramos who died during Uruguay’s fashion week, the 22 year old collapsed during her final costume change and died despite the effort of an emergency team trying to resuscitate her. ‘At 5 foot 9 inches and less than 9 stone she had a body mass index of less than 18 the level officially described as unhealthy’, even though reports and rumours have said that at the show she weighed little more than 7 stone, the average weight of a 13 year old! As you can see I took a rather drastic attack on the models which I then went on to say that new advancements in media are taking over so is the catwalk model becoming obsolete. The essay for me was quite an accomplishment being dyslexic but I was rather pleased with it to me it even made a thrilling read was very, very active approach. My tutor love it an called me a maverick of fashion which i was mega happy about

colection branding

i have eventually come up with the branding of the collection which i love espically the little garment tag, i think the tags and bags sit with the collection perfectly and gives a good indication of the quality and time put into the garments i also put a few words together about the collection and the targeted customer of the collection

need some inspiration?

If you ever get stuck for inspiration check out Yvan Rodic if you don’t know him the you certainly should

http://yvanrodic.blogspot.com/

Be you looking for fashion picture or just in need of something to get you juices flowing fellow FdA peoples I suggest you follow this blog :)

DO IT!!

Free Thinking Confessions

Well I’ve been thinking a lot lately about fashion and well lots of random bits and bobs and well, with everyone asking my opinions on McQueen’s death and further issues in fashion. I know they happen, but to be honest I never really put much thought into them myself so I decided to ask myself what I think....

well people might not agree with me but I think he’s a complete dick head for doing it now before you all go ranting and raving about my lunacy there is reasoning to me, see in my life don’t ask how but I’ve read / come across / thought up just things to me that make sense and taken on wise word remember them jot them down sometimes wake up say 5:32 in the morning just have ideas thought which ill note down on say a phone, a piece of paper, whatever but any way...

I’m a firm, firm believer in doing what you love doing not what your good at (forgive me now for a feel a few quotes coming up), Take risks in life try new things just enjoy yourself and love doing what you do "You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice." ~Steven D. Woodhull. To me if you’re going to complain about something, yet do nothing about it I don’t want to know, couldn’t give a toss, "If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree." ~Jim Rohn. We have freedom we are free thinkers and relating back to the whole McQueen situation fashion is a hell of a lot of work and effort, sweat tears, pin pricks, est. if you were so unhappy about it why would you keep doing it?? Carlos Castaneda perfectly sums up "The trick is what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."

and to me suicide is just stupid, I know his mother just died and he lost close friends but things like that only make you stronger, we all go through it find a way to cope and strive to become better, we learn from our mistakes not other peoples we all make mistakes no one is perfect we just find a way to get over these hurdles not give up, quit take the easy way out..... No you go at it full throttle turn back and laugh.

My final quote from this post from good old Charlie Brown "In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back."

Welly love

God damn it I will have my wellington booties to style my collection with no matter how many people turn their noses up I was looking at the new hunter lace up willies but my tutor has given me an amazing idea into customising my own welly's got to have the classic bottle green start though but I shall post some piccys of my custom welly's when I get around to them got bigger fish to fry currently


so I eventually got round to it and here is the design I’ve come up with, only a quick simple sketch drawn up on illustrator but it’s a cut out separate tongue lace up welly eyeleted (possibly binded on the edges) with a neon mud painted on them to give them more of a retro garden feeling hope you like them I’m looking forward to playing around with them maybe styling them folded down who knows

Another Busy week

Not only was this week the big essay deadline, I know which I have failed to mention, so I’ll give you a little overview. The Fashion As a Forum topic was all based around new media use's/ technology within the exhibiting of fashion and textile.... so I choose to do mine all wrapped around are catwalk models becoming obsolete as technology progress's, as well as asking the question why are models getting even thinner as we as a nation are mid obesity crisis interesting hey? well after a very opinionated essay and very very vast research file I found I was rather a mean bean in the essay but I was just writing my thoughts and feelings towards the topic though when reading through it I did feel rather guilty.... oh well

well the rest of the week was spent ready-ing myself for second toile review and finally having the collection as presentable garments and here they are, I would of course love to have many more but at the same time I’d much rather get these ones out of the way before taking on more than I can handle rather have 5 amazing outfits then say 12 shoddy 1s fashion to me truly is quality over quantity and always will be

If your wondering were the middle outfit’s bottom is well i have an amazing multi-functional skirt that can be reverses and looks awesome talk about 2 birds with 1 stone

5 is the magic number

Well well well future plans the big 5 years how do I see myself spending these years.. . . . . . Well I’m split in 2 directions I really want to launch myself in the industry starting my own business brand and label but is it the right thing to do it straight away? Is it best to go alone? Would I benefit more from an MA? These are all questions a continuously ask myself and to be honest I’m not 100% sure on the answers. No. If I do go it alone and start straight away in the self employed business side could I face it alone, well maybe, but I do know a fellow course mate that is also interested in doing the same I might talk to her see if she’d be interested in proposing a collaboration working together to get us both set up could be very successful, she is an incredible designer after all. Or should I go into the industry part time and do a part time masters degree at the same time and the a few maybe a year or 2 more just to build up my knowledge before I would brave it alone, but in my time industry would I get 2 comfortable, would I get comfortable with the money, would I get too comfortable where I was to not want to strive for this great adventure. I don’t know but suppose either way that covers the 5 year plan. Though I still haven’t decided which path to pursue but I’m sure whichever way I choose will be the right 1 for me but hey ill talk to my course mate see if she would be interested fingers crossed

Amendments

probably the most boring yet vital part of fashion but I won’t lie I do love it and find it extremely helpful, allowing me to progress and exaggerate my shapes and silhouettes a lot more and I must say I believe they are looking fantastic I love them all :) let’s just hope I can get all the amendments done before 2nd toile review epp 1 week Tuesday

interview with Maria

As part of the Lectra competition not only did we get to see her show but also have an interview with her travelling to my favourite (not)place LONDON TOWN!! Had a cheeky little nose through some fabric shops, seen a beautiful fabric for £250 per metre, think that’s a tad expensive for collection. but then eventually found our way to London college of arts were it was being held and meet her and sat in on a live interview then ask her questions ourselves. i know throughout this project I’ve said I’m not a true fan of her style but I’m very impressed how she’s done it and find her a very inspirational person did you know she has had no formal training!! it’s crazy she started pattern cutting at 15 and has worked her way from their she went to LFW whereby she says she found out her most important message she learnt in life were some1 told her to go and learn some business skill, so off she went found out as much as possible for her business skills which she says has made her what the brand MGV is today. Got some very helpful tips for next year so watch out ;)

Stop the press

it is true 1 is now famous (I wish) well checking out the MGV show at LFW you can see us stood in the background and also on the BBC news were also in view talk about getting papped :P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8524153.stm

http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/lfw_tv_video.aspx?id=2773

But all in all how was it..........

To me I think the thrill of the show took over me, I loved every minute I was there, seeing Yasmin Le Bon and Erin O'Connor and all the news reported Vogue and Harpers Bazaar to name a couple but then after words thinking through it I believe it was all just in the thrill, I won’t lie I got so far into it but completely lost myself. Looking back and thinking now I just see some ridiculous skinny models a beautiful collection with a few questionable sewing practices though the garments were beautiful and my main disappointment was the length of the show seemed to flash by in seconds and some of the choreography of the models needs work but the garments themselves were very attention grabbing indeed and the prints were to die for and absolutely stunning, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself and even managed to pinch a little goody bag for myself

plus how often do you get in the bbc news website and London fashion weeks website??

Appologies

I must appologise fellow bloggers i have gone on and on about collection time but havent even mentioned what my collection is actually about

Well allow me to introduce you to Anthesis or Effloresence

The State Of Perfect bloom

My collection is all based around organic forms striping everything back and taking inspiration from the things that shape our world

i did start and design a basic collection but as this is my final Project of my foundation I’m taking it to a whole new level and have my separate couture line from which I’m making and taking inspiration from its absolutely amazing

nature is perfect so why mess with it

Hartnet Hardhit??

today we had a little group session with none other than Paul Hartnet himself not only is he a trend reporter for wgsn a journalist but also completely mental I mean I applaud what he's able to do and what he does but it’s down to people like him that put upcoming designers in the gutter he willingly admits he'll go trade fairs and all sorts fashion week blah blah take pictures and then sell them on to WGSN and other which then anyone with an account can see and once it’s on there its literally a matter of weeks before you will see it in the high street store taking innovative upcoming designer work then selling their ideas so they go bust kind of disgusts me but hey.. we all know fashion is dog eat dog and he made it very clear if you don’t put any effort in you might as well save yourself the debt of uni and try something else fashion only works for the hard working and the fighters and don’t mean to be big headed but I’m going to make something of myself in this industry, tho i do applaud the man for labeling me with a 'retro-sport' look see tracky b's for the win

woah relax

Crickey it’s been a very very busy week rushing round for the toile review then the toile review itself trying something new...
For my toile review I decided to base it upon my theory essay which being Are Catwalk Models Becoming Obsolete? so did it without models well it got a mixed reaction I’ll give you that but defo was a good empirical study to back up my essay plus generally just a creative way of thinking I mean what's the point in doing everything the same I like to do things differently I like to stand out it makes things so much more interesting probing people to get a reaction I think it leaves a far better impression on the mind but overall toile review went well got some very handy advice and got to make all amendments for toile review going to be a busy boi

the power of Lectra

Great opportunity as I’m doing the Lectra brief with MGV (Maria Grachvogel) she has invited us all to her show at ye olde Londion Fashion Week with a learning lunch after ohh exciting hey What a great opportunity hey I’ll let you in on the know how maybe a few sneaky pics if it’s actually going ahead

mens wear proj

we were set a wonderful challenge by Clare and Jody turning a readymade garment into another garment the original challenge was to turn it into another men’s garment but I wanted to rework it so it fitted in with my project I incorporated volume and structure into it as in my project I might actually cheekily use one for toil review as I’ve fell in love with it have a gander hope you like :)

what-inar

Its official Scott has now had his 1st webinar yes people webinar and his opinions...
well the webinar itself was ran by the Lectra company but mostly about up Cumming colours for s/s'11 and to celebrate the new goings on with pantone and lectra combined shocked I was we watched a slide go round while the lady on the phone (loudspeaker obvs) talked us through it I found it quite interesting but useful hmmm I kind of knew most a bit of the presentation through my initial research but I found out my project is so on trend it’s ridiculous I was a lil disappointed that there wasn’t really much content for the Lectra enthusiast but I still would rather like a copy of the presentation *note to self email Lectra* but webinars.......... I’m going to give it an even 5 kind of unsure ill keep you updated if my opinion changes on the webinar front

Check this out lad's and lass's

Been looking at this website to get more information on fashion jobs and how to get into the jobs what the working environment is like and so on and whilst looking through the qualifications what did I come across but, none other than our very own little foundation in fashion being valued more in industry and placed higher on their qualification scale than the very own Ba in fashion but I’m guessing that a foundation with a top up to Ba is going to be a good route to head for the who knows maybe a part time work part time Ma, own business or just industry who knows?? But check it out!!
http://www.canucutit.co.uk/qualifications.cfm

Gorgeous or grotesque..........

well well well the be all and end all of our FdA the big show the showcase the event call it what you want.... but so far what are my thoughts on this topic erm tad annoying the time issue I would love to be able to research more and have more design time but hey ho it’s got to be done but what if it’s not as spectacular as every1s hoping am I playing it safe is t too wacky questions questions questions and how much is too much when does the gap between fantastic and kitsch become too small is it gorgeous or grotesque is there to much going on hmmm

I choose to base my collection all about designing from organic forms like truly getting in there and designing from what we don’t see looking at small flowers maximising them by 3000 times and then try and fit a ridiculous Amazonian style woman in the middle confused .. You should be ... amazed you will be watching this space!!!

Claire

you know what I think I’m just going to go ahead and say it I think I have a little thing for Claire I don’t really know what it is or why but I just think she’s amazing. She’s so inspiring and I like how she can get excited and inspire others about there chosen subjects. I love her craziness and randomness it just amuses me I’m glad we have her coming in to help us and give us direction. it’s just nice to be able to design to showcase our talents and do what we want to do though I do like designing to certain cliental but I just love the opportunity to go wild make it crazy and amazing so looking 4ward to it all now though I’ve got some work done just don’t want to stick it in sketch book hahaha

Branding

We had a recent pprd session on branding which was fun but I don’t know really got me thinking about it like we did a little silly 1 but it definitely something to think about for future epically if I want to end up in the Enterprise Pavilion but I don’t know I shall get back to you with this branding malarchy see how it goes

some very wise words

We all gain inspiration from many places, many of us do not talk about our inspirations or our dreams because we feel that we will not live up to those who inspire us and I doing so make ourselves seems smaller, concluding in the inspiration disappearing. I embrace my inspiration, and aim to be like those that inspire me Galliano, Westwood, Saab, but not only in fashion but in life there have been so many inspirational people in this world and I just hope one day people will look up to me for inspiration. Here is part of a speech from the son of Martin Luther King Jr given at the remembernece ceremony of Michael Jackson which I believe sums up my ethos in life and how I plan to love my life never thought I could find it in such well written words

"My father once said that in life, one must discover what their calling is and they must do their jobs so well that the living dead and unborn could do no better. He constantly told us to do our best, by stating that if you cannot be a pine on the top of the hill why just is a shrub in the valley. But be the best little shrub on the side of the road. Be a bush if you cannot be a tree. If you cannot be a highway, just be a trail. If you cannot be the sun, just be a star. For it isn't by the size that you win or fail, you've got to be the best at what you are. In life, if it falls to be a street sweeper, you must sweep the streets so well. In fact, you must sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets like Raphael painted pictures. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of the heavens and earths would have to pause and say, here lives the great street sweeper that did his house well"

Such an inspirational passage don’t you think?