Block Party (Menswear)

Trend Statement

Menswear... a tricky fashion to find a trend in. The only way one really finds out what is “bang on trend” is by reading blogs and finding out more about the street hype. Word on my street is that fabric blocking is definitely popular at the moment. Bottega refreshed this trend in S/S '11 because the normal colour blocking got a bit mundane and tired. Wearing corduroy elbow pads and strips of silk on shoulders is all over the streets of Ireland right now.

Peppy Curves (Peplum trend)

Trend Statement

Peplum: The main “go to” trend for this Fall season. Suitable for all body types and personalities, the peplum makes a difference to the usual sucking in the hips with body con clothing. It is one of a few trends that can be used throughout the day and into night, from wearing a peplum top with pencil skirt to work, to wearing the same peplum top and a body con skirt for a night out on the town. This trend is fresh and will around for a long time to come.

If You See Kate (Kidswear Trend)

Trend Statement

Her “big day” might be long gone, but for children, but Kate Middleton's wedding day look and conservative attire has only just begun. The tailored, covered up and fitted look now is appearing in all clothing shops for kidswear this season. Thus, making little girls have the ability to dress like a real princess (who is at least 20 years older than them). A far cry from the previous years trends of little girls wanting to dress like Hannah Montana or some other Disney creation.

Research Project

On the 18th of October our class went on a research trip to Dublin. We had our brief which was to find six different trends for Fall 2012 that can be seen in the top, middle and mass markets.My six trends were; Oxblood, Peplum, Statement Pants, Animal Motifs, Fabric Blocking (Menswear) and little girls wearing similar clothes to Kate Middleton (kidswear). We were dropped off at TWI, the fabric store, and we got to find our swatches and trimmings upstairs. From there we were free to find our way around Dublin City Centre and the shops that we were told to go to, especially the more top market shops as we don't have them in Limerick. I went to Costume, Bow, Smock, Arnotts, BT2, Topshop and Forever 21, to name a few.

 

I think that my trends were very concise and so if I found something to do with my trends, you could definitely see why it defined my chosen trend. The hardest part of the trip was trying not to look shifty while taking photographs because I wasn't sure if I was actually allowed to take them or not, especially in the middle market shops because I did inquire in the top market shops whether I could take photos or not. Many of these shops were obliging and had no problem with me taking pictures.

 

The end result we had to come up with was due today and we had to have six booklets, one for each trend, and a moodboard to go with each trend. We had to have a trend statement, research and collage, fabrics and trimmings and silhouette reports in each of the trend booklets. It was an interesting project because I had to really focus on what was "bang on trend" and not just flit through magazines and blogs. In the following posts I will go through each trend chosen and the trend statement I wrote with it.

Photography Project

We were given seven words to research on the 10th of September and we had photography with Peter Morgan every Monday morning. Our photographs had to describe the words so that the viewer would know what was going on in the photo or what we were thinking after just a quick look. Our words were "Clash", "Baroque", "Gothic", "Dark", "Sexy", "Surreal" and "Repetition". Here are my final photographs:

Baroque

Clash

Dark

Gothic

Repetition

Sexy

Surreal

Double Decker - First Impressions

We were given the First Impressions brief on the 10th of September and went off and researched what would inspire our designs. I chose the themes Furniture, Interior Architecture and Transport. Now I must admit, I was hoping that Furniture or Interior Architecture would bring me on some interesting journeys, however I ended up choosing Transport. Something about the new London buses got me excited. I went onto the Red Viking Limerick Tour Bus and came out with some interesting pictures! So we got into our collages...through numerous sticks of Pritt Stick and many missed lunches...and onto our designing.
The pulling out shapes and the mixing and matching was good fun. It took a little while for me to get into it and to realise that I was the only one in control of my designs, colours and fabrics. But I really do like how slick the boards ended up looking as I really do think that presentation is just as important as the journey. We need to get into a habit of presenting professionally so that will help us in the future with interviews or if we end up getting into the fashion business. But... coming back from that tangent... Here is my Mood Board, Fabric Board, Colour Board and Illustration Boards for my 8 piece collection for Autumn/Winter 2012:

Mood Board

Fabric Board

Colour Board

Outfits One and Two

Outfits Three and Four

Outfits Five and Six

Outfits Seven and Eight

Second Year

Within the first 3 hours of being back at college on Monday the 10th we had already gotten a design project, a sewing project and a photography project then on the Wednesday we got our knit brief!! So much work and just too little time!!

The design project basically consists of choosing a theme and narrowing that theme down to a specific category, for example, my one is buses! I will collage, photograph and draw shapes and designs on my croquis and design 8 looks for A/W '13. (More of an update to come along soon)

The sewing project is an "items in my wardrobe" brief where we take a pair of pants, a blouse and a skirt from our wardrobe and photograph it, draw it technically, list all the details like how to and how not to take care of it, where it comes from and what fabric/s it is made from. We also have to measure the items and draw out and identify the patterns within it.

Our photography project involves us researching 7 words given to us and to take pictures that would describe that word. Or like to show someone the picture and them to know instantly what it is meant to be or represent. Though this brief was going to be easier than it actually is!!

Our final brief, which is our knit brief is to design a pattern to be punched on a punchcard and create it on the knitting machine. We also have to research jacquard, fair isle and use the research we collected from last years pattern project that we did!


Sorry for this being a short post! Thought it was needed. More updates to follow in the next few days, along with photographs.