Overall.

Overall i've really enjoyed the first semester. I've felt like my confidence has grown and i hope it'll continue to grow in the second semester.
I feel pleased with the work i've produced overall so i'm excited to see my grade I get, especially the Styling project. I am looking forward to work experience and I'm sure of what i want to go into now as a career and have started to apply for ones i'm interested in.

Photoshoot.

For our styling project we have to do a final photoshoot with our outfits customized.
The theme for my group is 'seven deadly sins'. We wanted to go for the forest gloomy feel. We asked the photographers Ewen and Holly if we were able to do our photoshoot outside, in a forest but unfortunately we had to do it indoors, so we decided to go and do our own photoshoot outdoors.
The reason we wanted to do our photos outdoors is because of the background of the seven sins.
The history is the sins were released from a box as animals.

Catherine in our group sorted out a photographer who would come take the photos and Keri-Ann sorted out the animal masks for the shoot.
We did the shoot at 10am so the sunlight was spot on, it was so cold.

I'm really pleased with the outcome of these photos.

For the studio photoshoot we will be using an projection onto the plain white background. Hopefully this would help with the forest effect we are looking for.

Print Talk.

Digitising.

We got talked through producing patterns on CAD CAM digitizing system. Fiona informed us that although it is a pattern cutting system, you still need to be able to know how to produce patterns on a table to be able to produce patterns digitally.

How to digitise.

Firstly you need to go to Start then go on Lectra --> digitizer 2.1C3 --> (serial port) com1 --> click ok --> click off the box --> start --> programs --> Lectra --> modaris (name of the digitizing system) --> config --> change to ico text.

Setting up the model...

Firstly you need to go to file --> new --> make the model name to what you are digitizing --> sheet --> new sheet -->F1 --> Digit ( 2 points for horizontal axis).

-Always have the top of your pattern facing the left.
-Always use masking tape so it does not spoil the bed. Blu tac and glue will damage the bed.

The control points you need to know to be able to produce the patterns are...

-Corner point is 2
-Curce is C
-Straight of grain is A
-Drill hole is 3
-Notch hole is 6

When you first start producing the pattern you need to put the straight of grain in first, then you need to start from the top left point and go around putting in notches as you come to them and finishing the darts which you will use the drill holes for. When you have finished you need to press FF and then 8 on the computer keyboard. You are then able to save the pattern and print it off if nessecery.

Fashion Issues

For our Fashion Issues module we had to choose an issue that we found in the industry, i chose to do the 'slutwalk' campaign that has been happening over the summer.
I'd knew abit about this before researching it but i found the more i researched into it the more interested i got into it.

I was inspired by some of the banners i researched.

I was inspired by some of the stories that i read from some of the women that walked the slutwalk and there own stories of getting abused really moved me.

I enjoyed doing this project, i found it really interesting. I really enjoyed doing the designs for t-shirts once i got into it and knew where i wanted to go with it.

dress.

In this pattern cutting lesson we had to make a dress with abit of everything we'd done in the previous lesson, including pleats, the godet and drapes.
This is something i really struggled with and couldnt get the hang of it. I was okay doing the patterns but when it came to the manufacture side of that is when i started to struggle with it.
I wasnt overly happy with the resuly of my work i did for this, i found it hard but i did learn alot from doing this.

Drapes.

This week in Manufacturing we made a top with a drape on. I enjoyed doing this, i found the pattern alright to do so i was able to keep up with the rest of the group.
When it came to manufacturing side of it I found it okay to make, i wasn't stressed out as I normally am with manufacturing. I was pleased with the outcome of this and overall surprisingly I enjoyed making this piece.

Styling.

We got our styling brief and i was really excited to start it.
We had to use our outfits that we made over the summer in a photoshoot and then again in December on a different photoshoot but they both have the same theme.
Styling is something i reall enjoy and think i want to go into in my career choice.
In my group we thought of the theme 'the seven deadly sins'. I had originally come up with this theme as i thought it'll be interesting as their is 7 of us in the group and cause our outfits are so different this is how i think we could make them work.
We discussed our first photoshoot and talked about what sin we would be, i was envy. I thought this sin worked well with me as my shorts that i made were green and green is the colour of envy.
The first photoshoot we did went well, when we got the photos back we decided that we used too many props and the photo looked too busy with them in.
We talked about how we could make the photo look better and work with the theme more so we looked into the history of the 7 deadly sins and how it all first came about, this helped us with our final idea, to use animal masks. We chose this because each sin has a animal, and we thought it'll be a good idea to show what sin we are and that that is how we show the viewer our theme.
Our final photoshoot went well and although we havnt seen the photos i think they will turn out great, i really enjoyed doing this and felt confident with it.

Five Fashion Designers.

My five favourite designers are:
Alexander McQueen
Coco Chanel
Marc Jacobs
John Galliano
Vivienne Westwood  

I like Alexander McQueen because I especially like the skull design that he uses on some of his McQ collection. I like the way he presents his outfits down the catwalk.

I especially like this outfit from one of his collections. I like the way he goes to another level on the way he presents his collections and everything is so unique.

My second favourite designer is Coco Chanel. I especially like her bag collection out of everything.

The classic patent bags are my favourite.
I also like Chanel's clothing collection, I like the classic look they have, everything's so sophisticated.

I like Marc Jacobs because i find his collections all feminime and i love the colours he uses.

I really like John Galliano's collections because they also have a feminime yet sophiscticated look towards them. I also really liked his collection he did for Dior. I really think he made his mark with that collection.

My last designer i chose was Vivienne Westwood. I find her the most interesting and always has me glued to her collections when she first brings them out. I love how different she is and how she makes the most simple things into something outrageous. I love the rock look she has in her collection too.

Shop Report.

This week we got asked to do a shop report, for this i decided to go Birmingham.
I've been Birmingham a few times so i knew my way round there easily.
We had to choose one piece of clothing and a accessory. We had to make note on what was on the price, fabric composition, finish, customers in store, sore layout and general atmosphere (promotional materials, sales assistants, furnishings) and the country of manufacture. The piece of clothing and accessory i chose was a t-shirt and a scarf.
The first shop we went to was selfridges, this was for the premium end of the high street. I looked at designers such as Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Ralph Lauren, Vivienne Westwood and Burberry.
The first designer i looked at was Alexander Mcqueen, and i looked at the menswear first. I looked at this skull t shirt.

The price was £115.00
Made In Italy
On the label it had different numbers for different things, such as production no, collection no, fabric code and order no.
The label also said the size.
The fabric in this was 100% soft cotton and for washing the label said to hand wash only.
They had a few McQueen pieces and all looked smart hung up on railes and the area was very clean. There wasn't many customers looking around this designer, the sales assistant seamed very quiet and kept his eye on us and kept asking us if we were okay.

The next designer i looked at for menswear was Balenciaga
I looked at a t-shirt too for this one, unfortunately i couldnt get a photo of this one and there wasn't one online either.
The price for this was £195.00
It was made in Italy
It was for fall-winter 2011/2012
It said the size and the washing instructiions which again was hand wash only.
This collection was alot smaller than the McQueen collection. There wasn't a specific sales assistant for this brand, there was alot of brands by this one too. The clothes all seamed together and didnt really have much choice.

The next designer i looked at was Vivienne Westwood.
I looked at this t-shirt from the collection

The collection was quite big, had a good collection to choose from. I did notice all the clothes were hung up but abit creased.
The price for this top was £115.00
Made In Italy
It said the size
Once again on the label they'd used numbers such as fabric code, production no, collection no, order no and the size.
The fabric for this was 100% soft cotten and the washing instructions were to hand wash only.
The sales assistant was around this collection too, he seamed helpful asked us again if we were okay but this area was quiet.

The next collection we looked at was Ralph Lauren.
This collection looked completely different to all the others, the set out of it was all classic wook, had the look of a library or oxford uni. This may be used to represent their brand of the classic logo and slogons. The brand doesnt do many t-shirts, we didnt see any, just more shirts and jumpers. Thre was a few more customers in this collection than the others, the sales assistant seamed helpful, asking customers if they were okay and answering the phone. When we went to the womenswear we came across the Ralph Lauren collection and it was completely different, the collection was just on some rails and didnt have the layout of the menswear one.

After looking round the menswear we went upstairs to the womenswear. This floor seamed alot more busier and more of an atmosphere.
The first collection i looked at was the Alexander McQueen McQ collection, There wasn't as much choice in womenswear than there was in menswear, this surprised me abit. This is the t-shirt i looked at

This top was called 'Grafitti print'
The price was £80.00
Made In Turkey
On the label again was different numbers and codes
The fabric was 100% cotton and the washing instructions was to machine wash.
From this collection i also looked at a scarf, this is one of the only scarfs i saw around Selfridges.

The price was £120.00
The fabric was 70% Cotton 30% Silk.
The washing instructions were dry clean only.

I looked at another scarf in the same collection

This was again £120.00 and again 70% Cotton 30% Silk.
The washing instructions again were dry clean only.

After seeing different numbers on the price tags such as fabric code, production no, collection no and order no i went and asked a sales assistant why they use these as i didnt know and the reason was because products a concession of Selfridges so they are sold under Selfridges and not the Brand.

The second shop i went in was Jack Wills. I chose this for middle but then i think it's more middle-high market. The shop was busy, it had a nice atmosphere. The shop layout was you'd walk into the womenswear and then go downstairs to the menswear. The shop had classic theme to it with wood. This is used to represent the brand and i feel it represents it well.
For the womenswear i picked up a plan t-shirt with the brand name on it.
Unfortunately i couldn't get a picture of this top as the shop was busy and the sales assistant were everywhere.
The price for this top was £34.00
The fabric is 100% cotton jersey and on the label it explained the washing instructions.
I went downstairs into the menswear and looked at a similar tee to the ladies one, with the brand name on the front.
Once again the price for this was £34.00
The fabric is 100% cotton and there is washing instructions.

The next shop i went into was Urban Outfitters. You walk into the menswear and the womenswear is upstairs. The shop is very busy, the layout of the shops is spread out, different concessions around the store aswel as mannequinns.
I looked around the menswear. Alot of the clothes were concessions of Urban Outfitters. We knew this as on the labels were different numbers and codes, like the ones we saw in Selfridges. The store was all Concessions.
I picked up this Fred Perry tee.

The price of this was £35.00
The tag said what size it was aswel as the production code, collection code, fabric code and order no.
The fabric is 100% Cotton and the washing instructions is machine wash.
I then went up to the ladieswear. This floor again was busy, the layoud was spread out yet had alot of chice. The shop was tidy and the sales assistants all looked busy.
I picked up this 'Truly Madly Deeply' tee.

The price for this tee was £28.00
As it was a concession the tag again had the codes and numbers.
The fabric is 100% cotton and the washing instructions were to machine wash.

The final shop i went in was Primark. I chose this shop for the lower end of the market.
The shop was massive and very untidy. It was very busy and the atmosphere wasn't very nice.
You'd walk into the womenswear on the groundfloor. There are 3 floors in this shop. Downstairs containing the childrenswear and upstairs containing menswear, accessories and lingerie.
I picked up a top from the womenswear.
The price of this top was £5.
The tag also said the size, it was made in Madrid, washing instructions was machine wash.
The fabric for this top was 100% polyester.

DPP evening.

This evening  was the DPP evening. I found this very interesting as this is something i want to do next year, it was interesting to hear about all the third years experiences.
The first third year we heard from was Nazish Atteu, who worked at J Model management in Birmingham. This was based on events and marketing. She then went onto Trend Boutique in Nottingham, for this she was working on trends and writing articles. She then went on to Arcadia Press Off in London. This is something i'm really interested in as its PR, and i feel this is something i want to go in aswel as events and styling.
The next third year that spoke was Jessica Brown. She worked at John Lewis in London, Young Ideas in Ashbourne and Native Clothing in Nottingham. She mentioned that she most enjoyed her time at John Lewis.
The next thirs year we listened too was Laura Milward. She worked for Rankin who is a photographer in London. Her time there really interested me as i could imagine how good it'll be to work with Rankin. She helped out with styling photoshoots and commercials. The next place she wet to was Topshop. She did alot there, womenswear design, make-up and creating boards for these. The last place she went to was River Island where she worked on the range Chelsea Girl where she helped with tailoring and designing.

exhibition.

This week for fashion issues, Josie took us to the little exhibition down by the fashion rooms. I always noticed this but didnt really stop and have a look at it, so it was nice to do so.
It was really interesting for me and inspired me alot with my fashion issue's work as i want to involve text in my t shirt designs.
I looked at a few of them and these are my favourite.

Pleat Lesson

This was the first pleat lesson we had. When i got told we were doing pleats i paniked and thought i couldnt do it and that it would be too hard.
When we started making the patterns i got to grasp quickly with it and found the patterns suprisingly easy, i was going at my own pace and kept referring to the example patterns we had. This made it easier for me to complete it.
After doing the knife pleat, box pleat, inverted pleat and the godet pattern pieces it was time to make the actual pleats. I wanted to make sure the pleats were spot on as i really wanted to do well in this.
We started to make the knife pleat, and the box pleat. Unfortunately that is the only ones i could do in the lesson so i came in on the following tuesday night to complete the inverted pleat and the godet.
The godet was something i struggled on, especially when 'easing' the circle onto the pattern pieces. This was the most difficult thing.
I was pleased with my pleats and my research and i really enjoyed making these and i definately felt confident with these which was suprising.

Clotheshow.

For the first week we was back we got put a brief on the clotheshow assignment and given a theme which was 'red carpet'.
We got into groups of 6 and discussed on a colour pallette, a image and an icon to base our designs on. We decided to have a 'nude' theme and to base our colour pallette around nude and pastel colours. As we couldn't all decide on a icon as we all chosen different people we decided to choose our own icon but keep the theme the same throughout our designs. This would make our designs abit different but have the same look, so they all go together.
The celebrity i chose was Kim Kardashian. I chose her because she's at alot of red carpet events and is a fashion icon to many people aswel as one to me.
Along with our designs we had to do a moodboard. I enjoy doing moodboards and a final design board. This is something i struggled with as i did mine on illustrator but i dont feel as confident on that then in other areas.
I enjoyed doing this project, i would of liked longer on it but i enjoyed it all the same.

Back to uni.

After having a few months off for summer it was time to go back to uni. I had enjoyed that summer to chill out aswel as work and see family and friends.
We got assigned the summer homework which was to make a outfit that we would personally wear for a photoshoot when we're back.
When i first read the brief i had a feeling i would struggle with it as pattern cutting and manufacture wasnt one of my strong points.
I did some research into the latest trends and decided what i wanted to make, i liked the color block trend aswel as the pattern. I decided i wanted to make a pair of chlottes and a crop jacket, i just wasnt too sure on what colour or pattern. I went to birmingham to get some samples and found the fabric i wanted to make my outfit with.
My chlottes were gonna be a pattern and my jacket was gonna be plain black, i liked the colors used together.
I struggled with the pattern for the chlottes but followed it step by step by the pattern cutting book i have.
After toiling it up i started to make my final piece and then started onto th jacket.