Week 16

Monday is where I really started to get myself organized, I wrote down lists of each step I needed to take to prepare myself for the week. Pinning this lost on my noticboard has really helped me stay on track this week as I’ve been able to constantly check on what I should be doing.

Tuesday was the first day working with my third year mentor Stella Armstrong. I really enjoyed getting to know her and seeing her creative direction. Her style seems to be different to mine, but I think this is a great thing as it has given me the opportunity to broaden my own imagination and creative practice. Though we did not do much that day as they had only just received feedback I really enjoyed working with her. I learnt some interesting things concerning print placement on garments, such as how you can use a projector and project your print onto your toile to decide where and at what scale you want it on your final garment. I found this interesting as I had not thought about it before. This process would not only save time, but materials as you only need to make one toile and alter the print with the projector.

I also did some research into the brands that inspired her after our session to get a better sense of her style and creative direction. Such as Shrimp and the Dear data postcards that inspired her collection. I found this incredibly helpful and it gave me a real insight into her work when paired with her sketchbook and samples. I am excited to work with her again next week.

Wednesday I met up with my group for our group project to research the brand we were given, Moncler. I really struggled to find information on them as they seemed to be very vague about their progress in sustainability and technology. In the afternoon we had an into to illustrator, I was fascinated by the different techniques and can't wait to test these out. I plan to go and play around when I have some free time next week.

Thursday was incredibly busy. In the morning we had a talk with Holly on Market levels, Brand identity and customer profiling. This was incredibly helpful for our group project as it really gave us some direction into what we needed to do in terms of making a brand profile, and customer profile. I really enjoyed the talk.

After this we had a study research session. In this we looked at objects and our initial understanding of them. In terms of line, shape and form, space, colour and texture. I was shocked to realise how much those initial things impact how we view an object or how makes us feel. I am considering using a trenchcoat for my essay as it has an incredible history. However I need to do more research into this idea.

Finally we has a lecture given by a fashion historian, Dr Christine Boydell. She spoke of Horrckses Fashion. a brand famous for making the dresses of the 40's and 50's. While I was fascinated by her knowledge and the work of the bran itself. what really stood out to me was Dr Boydell's depth of research, and interest in her work. her passion and knowledge was evident in her research, gathering references form everywhere, from museums, to interviewing people that used to work in the company. From this I plan to really dive into my essay, and really try and acquire as much information as possible on a subject that I am passionate about.

Over the weekend I managed to go down to London and visit the Alexander Mcqueen exhibition at their flagship store. This was fascinating, not only was I amazed by the detail and ability to create such imaginative silhouettes, but I really loved the layout of the displays. You could clearly see the progression of each piece from an idea to a final piece through photos and samples. This is something I really want to include in my own development boards.