Digital Print

I went to pick up my digital Print and I love the result, I chose the perfect fabric for my prints and also for my concept it really links in well with my floaty bohemian theme.

Flats

I enjoyed making these flats after I got the hang of making clipping masks I tried to show how my print would look on the garment. I think this is a really good way to show how your prints would look before you actually go forward and make them, another advantage is that you can show where your print would be placed and once you get the hang of it you can make loads!

Risograph

I gave the risograph a go this week I really liked the result but I didn't think I really needed it for my sampling because I'm not sure about the results looking different to normal printing, although I really like the result it gives, It has an almost retro feel to the print outs.If I had more time I think I would make a more variety of drawings or samples to take in with me so I could used the risograph to full advantage as I really do enjoy the results even though they didn't work for my prints aswell as other peoples. I like the fact that you can only load two colours into the machine so your completely oblivious to what the results could look like. Have a look at the copies I used.

Original Image

Risograph Image

Risograph Image

Alexander Mcqueen

I saw Alexander Mcqueen's dragon fly collection in Selfridges briefly and then had a look online I actually found myself really liking it! the way he has used the wings to make a flattering pattern for the body and also his use of colour resembles the insect still but looks beautiful. I like the use of the colour because it gives a grungy look and ties in with my own prints.

Consumer

I have imagined the woman I am designing for to be a bohemian young woman between the ages of 18 to mid 20s I've made fashion illustrations (I will upload a few images in the near future) and Flats based on the type of clothes I think a bohemian type of woman would wear. I have also done a digital print of the designs I have done on to a silk georgette fabric because I imagine them to be floaty and loose fitting I looked at photoshoots and different websites where to look at a range of different types of clothing that I found relevant to my consumer. I've included maxi dresses, midi dresses, palazzo trousers and bandeau tops in my collection. here are a few images from a photoshoot I found online which inspired me to do a bohemian style collection.

(http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/credit/photographybynadean.com.au)

Photoshop samples

I found this page in Company magazine and I really liked the print and the colour on a white background so I've decided to use the colour concept in my next samples I thought it really stood out to me so i've used it as inspiration for the lace I created on photoshop.

I decided to make my own lace but with a spin on it I used fly wings that id drawn and scanned them into photoshop and played around with different shapes. I wanted to make them look pretty from far but when you look closer I wanted the fly wings to be visible. I was really happy with the results because they look really pretty when you initially look at them and then when you look deeper its as if there's a secret being revealed its not what it seemed. I tried to keep the colours really subtle with white backgrounds and the colour of the designs to be blues and greens like the inspiration I have taken from the magazine page. I also used my first initial drawings that I did over christmas as background and then changed the colours I also Played around with giving them a grungy theme.

Technical Flats

I found drawing Flats really enjoyable. I thought it was a very therapeutic it was a long process measuring and then drawing but I think it worth it because your end result is very accurate and it helps you later when you take it into illustrator. I thought the illustrator part was very fiddly but once I'd got the hang of it I felt like a pro! I am also going to use this as one of my sampling methods as I really enjoyed it i will post pictures of how it goes in the near future.

A few more samples

I discovered an app that my brother was using called kaleidoscope I thought it was perfect to create my own designs I decided to make patterns on it and then save the images into a black and white colour. I got really carried away and made ten images! I thought they were lovely and fun a quick and easy way to make an image of your own lace! I also tried trapping different threads and plastic bags inside a polly pocket by melting it with an iron. These are my favourite samples I think they really portray my concept of creating lace and they look very pretty too! 

Trend boards

I made some trend boards based on the trends that I'd seen in magazines on the internet and in the shops I though this was a good way to get your head around what's out there and what trends are forthcoming. I found that monochrome is a trend thats in fashion at the moment and also in the future which  thought was quite relevant to my own data theme. I also found that prints and mixing clashing prints is in fashion also. I made these trend boards based on what I found. 

Research

Alberta Ferretti SPRING 2013 READY-TO-WEAR

The luminous film of anemone like threads expanding in an underwater world was a spectacularly appropriate prelude to Alberta Ferretti's show. She wanted her collection to communicate lightness, luminescence, and iridescence, and what better way to do that than to evoke the undulating liquidity of sea creatures? But how to carry such a notion into cloth? Ferretti managed it. She layered organza over fringed, beaded dresses in shades of sea foam and eau de nil, trapping the shimmer and movement so gorgeously as to suggest something viewed through sunlit sea. Octopod arms of embroidery trailed down other frocks. There were clusters of seaweed appliqués, a gown of sequined net, and sheer peplums that floated.

Some of Ferretti's outfits were so encrusted with embroidery that the effect was akin to barnacles on wharf posts. But her most oblique concession to the life aquatic was a set of tulle bodysuits that looked like they were tattooed with lace. They had a bare-naked audacity that would send a shiver down the spine of any old tar. The same lace peeked from under a dress and suit in shantung, which were likelier preludes to commercial success.

Curiously, the oceanic momentum of Ferretti's show lapsed when she paraded the eveningwear that is usually a strong point. Charmeuse mermaid gowns might have had the look of light reflected on water, but they somehow didn't rise to the level of so much of this collection.

Research

The look: Gothic fashion revived
We’re drawing from traditional notions of Gothicism, not the Gothic subculture of more modern times. It’s an important distiction: the look isn’t about smudged eyeliner and the addition of tough, punkish details. It rises up from the shadows with flawless, porcelain skin and blood red lips. The starting point is that cold beauty, paired with a sharply androgynous velvet suit or a vampishly feminine black lace number – and the imagination grows wild from there. If you look at the female archetypes in Gothic fiction and fairytales, there’s the virginal maiden and the evil queen. Fall 2012′s fashion trend can draw inspiration from both, but when we’re looking at dark, noir themes it’s the latter that wins out. Frida Giannini typified the theme with her fall 2012 collection for Gucci. Hair was wild and flowing with a twist, lips stained berry red. Billowy sheer fencing blousons, tuxedo jackets and capes were married to voluminous jodhpur pants and riding boots. The feminine contingent at Gucci was darkly ethereal: rich velvet off-the-shoulder gowns and creeping black embellished vines across sheer floor-grazing gowns were some runway highlights. Alberta Ferretti headed to the dark side for fall, but she took her trademark delicate touch with her. Black lace and textured gowns were constructed around structured – but not too strict – Victorian bodices. Black leather accents featured heavily, as they did for Diane Von Furstenberg. And who could imagine this list of neo-Gothic proponents without Givenchy? Enter the mind of Riccardo Tisci and you could lose yours in his dark imagination. Tisci’s collection was dreaming of Dracula, shadowy figures and brooding Victorian castles. The masculinity tailored outfits – more jodhpurs and riding boots, paired with silk high-necked shirts and pallid skin – rode in on a 19th century literary storm. Channel them, and you can too.

Drawing a day

Over the christmas period we we're asked to do some drawing work in relation to our data project, I kept to my shadows theme and tried to record the differences in the types of shadows. I used lace and doiles that I'd reflected on the wall and then tried to draw from the shadow I also diluted ink and sprayed onto the lace. I tried to make my own lace by cutting into paper I think this was one of my less successful drawings because I think they looked more like snowflakes and was verging on christmas decorations. Here are a few pictures of my successful and not so successful drawings.

What is design?

Design is about enabling ideas, processes and products: making them approachable, usable, desireable and memorable. — JAY DUTTA

I absolutely agree with this quote I think there is more to design than just idea I think design has a lot of different meanings for different people. For me design is about an initial idea which changes with lots of different inspiration and influence along the way. It's like a journey that starts as a small seed and grows with different ideas that contribute to it. I love to look at my final result and then remember right at the beginning the first thing that gave me the idea and remember the long journey that got me to my final outcome. everything around us is design from nature to man made objects. Usually in shops and gallerys we always see the final outcome and not the journey or the initial idea but sometimes its just nice to imagine the journey yourself. I think design inspires everyone it something that makes everyone feel something for me its like an escape to something I love to do something that makes me happy.

An interesting website I found about design http://desizntech.info/2009/05/do-you-know-what-is-design-41-answers-to-one-simple-question/

Shop report

I thought this was a good task to do because it helps you to have a look at what's in fashion on the high street at the moment. I went into Zara, M&S, French Connection and Selfridges. The trends that I'd noticed were lots of floral prints and lace I also noticed lots of figure flattering garment silhouettes such as peplum tops and pencil skirts. I also noticed there was a lot of embellished clothing I think this was because of the festive season. The colours that I came across on the shop report were yellows, navys, greens and pinks mainly a variety of colours in prints. I thought this was nice because of the winter period here being quite dull and cold I thought the prints in the shops make the shopper feel happy because they don't reflect the weather outside.

Cutting Edge Exhibition Manchester Art Gallery

I went to see the cutting edge exhibition with one of my friends and I have to say it was one of my favourite exhibitions I have been to. The way the artists had cut into the paper in a really intricate way. One of my favourite artist was Andrew Singleton's stellar spiral in the eagle nebula, i really enjoyed this one because not just the art work inspired me the shadows that it left on the wall also really inspired me It showed another side to how the art could work beyond the object itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition because fistly it was beautiful and secondly it gave me inspiration for my data project as I have decided to use shadows and light in my project. I have selected a few favourite images from my visit.