Pure London 2009

Pure London Trade Show

I got the chance to go as a visitor to Buyers trade show Pure London in Olympia. At first when I received the email with my ticket I didn’t think it was real I thought it was spam, till I asked Sarah and she told me Pure London was a trade show were buyers from all around the world come to see designers latest collections that they may want to put into their stores. It was a golden opportunity that I enjoyed greatly and learned a lot. I learnt its very important to not brand yourself as a student as in the working world students aren’t taken to seriously, ask questions any kind gather as much information you can and as obvious as it sounds being polite gets you a long way.

I managed to catch the last bit of the Drapers Trend Presentation, which was really exciting and informative. I got a chance to meet with a few PR agencies that look for interns and offer work experience so this was a big bonus.

Overall I had a really great time at Pure, wish I could’ve gone with someone as it was quite a lonely trip, however it was a huge insight into the world of buying and merchandising and how communication is key in all head office positions, being able to liaise and communicate back and forth keeps the business running.

I have enjoyed this half of my blog and hope to continue it even after assessment.

C.V

C.V Writing…what a task!!!

 

Preparing to find myself a placement for the summer…and so goes the task of dusting down and putting into place my curriculum vitae or resume. The easiest part if formatting it and writing down things like education and skills but the hardest part is the mini self statement where you need to describe yourself and what you like doing etc…its proving to be rather difficult to not sound like everybody else!!!

Sportswear Luxe

Jean Paul Gaultier

Y-3

Central Saint Martins

Bottega Veneta

Sportswear Luxe

Our design project this term is based on sportswear; we are to design a collection and chose one final design to make…which will hopefully make it onto the fda fashion show in June.  These are few designers/high street stores that have sportswear collections. 

Jersey Girl

Jersey is a great fabric, you can do almost anything with it, it’s cheap and comes in various qualities and ribs and nearly every single high street store has at least one or more garments made out of it or a jersey mix as its very versatile and its relatively easy to make with, depending on the rib it can only be sewn together using the over-locker or the Kansai machine, having been instructed not to jersey doesn’t sew well on the flat bed machine.

Running alongside our Lectra unit we also have the jersey workshop, were we learn to use and handle jersey as it requires awareness as the fabric naturally moves and curls up at the selvedge end and it’s important to always be aware of the straight grain (depending on if you want to work on the bias).

Having learnt to work with jersey I can say that I am somewhat confident to work with it again and to maybe work more with it to build my portfolio.

New Year New Term

New Year, New Term

Screenshot of Lectra

Lectra Modaris 3D Fit

My house during the snowing months

Winter wonderland

I cant believe that I’m no in my second term of my first year- time is literally flying by, had a good Christmas…lots of people round, lots of food lots of fun was a good holiday.

Starting a new unit at uni doing using the Lectra Pattern System, which is, computerized pattern cutting, created and designed by two French engineers in the early 1970s. So far I’ve really enjoyed this system as it’s quite straightforward to use and quite easy to use once you get the hang of it, I also think my knowledge of flat pattern cutting has helped me a lot, I can look at the system and know which part is next weather it be moving or closing a dart to mirroring the pattern. This has made me open what I like to call my skills book (a chance for me to do a SWOT analysis of all my skills and things I like doing) I really enjoy pattern cutting and this now includes the Lectra pattern system and could see myself in a career that involves Lectra Pattern cutting.

We had a representative from Lectra come and give us a presentation on what the program can do and she showed us a tutorial video of the fabric print making system called Kaledo which I found really exciting, it showed how you can make your own fabric print from scratch i.e. tartans or cotton prints.

In this unit we have to make a jersey t-shirt pattern on Lectra as well as learn a few basics like dart manipulation and paneling.

 

London Town

London Town

Oxford Steet

Outside Armani, Oxford Street

Chrismas Decorations, Oxford Street

Carnaby Street

Outside Cloth House Fabric Shop, Berwick Street

London Town

On this day we visited the fabulous London Town, this was a fabric sourcing opportunity to create an FdA Fabric Bible (if you like). We trawled the area of Westminster, walking through streets in the Oxford Circus area, visiting shops such as Soho Silks and Borovicks another major area for fabric was Shepherds Bush, but due to time running out we didn’t get a chance to go there. We were split into groups to look for different types of fabrics from soft fabrics to plastic like fabrics.

I really enjoyed this trip as I love London and more so fabric shopping, we experienced many stores behaved in a particular manor to students and people who wanted swatches (for free) at first I thought they were being rude but it dawned on me that millions of students go to London for fabric and so they don’t want to have to be giving away their profits… we managed to get quite a lot of swatches of organza, printed cotton and felt.  In all the running around we managed to stop for a bite to eat, nice little pub opposite the Cloth House on Berwick Street- great food, good company +London = good day out!!!

Designers Go One-Off for Oxfam

Designers Go One-Off for Oxfam

Using fabric taken from garments and furnishing donated to the charity the seven designers created the one-off pieces, which will be available from eBay. As well as the names mentioned Jonathan Saunders, Jens Laugesen, Stephen Jones and Richard Sorger have also produced pieces for Oxfam.

It's all in aid of a Jane Sheperdson-helmed project, which saw the launch of an Oxfam boutique in Westbourne Grove with three more set to open in London. The shops will stock everything from high quality secondhand to reconditioned and recycled pieces.

From Eco-Chic to Couture Its all Relevant

A few How to Eco- Chic books

PPRD Debate

This session I think was the most enjoyable PPRD session to date as only 10 out of 24 students showed up. We were meant to be having a debate on two big subjects Ethical Fashion and Couture and the need for it. At first we were all nervous to start as our original group members weren’t there meaning our argument was not to be as strong but Sarah encouraged us to continue so in the end I was a judge alongside Johanna and the debate begun.

These are the outcomes of the debate.

For Couture

· Talent and imagination

· Skills- no slave labor involved

· Important part of economy luxury consumers and increasing

· Surpasses the range that high street is limited to because of cost

· Great deal of creativity shown

Against Couture

· Superficial and false

· Profits could help up and coming designers

· There’s no connection between Couture and high Street

· Nature of wastefulness on couture due to the amount of money used

· Only a few Couture houses left.

For Ethical Trading

· Workers treated fairly and safely

· No use of chemicals in clothing

· Against child labor

Against Ethical Trading

· Eco is contradicting

· Not cost effective

· 50% don’t care and 45% sit on the fence and the other 5% consider Ethical trading.

Even though there were only a few of us, I really enjoyed this session as we were able to discuss a topic thoroughly and look at all the aspects involved and how it affects us now and in the future this taught me it’s very important to be on the ball with current affairs as certain things will affect Creative Professionals if not now then sometime in the near future from politics to money its all relevant.

Damien Hirst and Shaker

As part of our Creative Design Promotion project we were to research the shaker movement. The shakers were a religious group that started out in England and moved on to have a large following in the United States of America, they were similar to the Quakers, they believed in working hard and using your hands to provide you with your living and this is how the shaker design philosophy came about ,which was ‘Don’t make something unless its both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful don’t hesitate to make it beautiful’ and through this research we were to create our own design philosophy and link it to our design ideas.  Through researching this project I stumbled upon the work of young British artist Damien Hirst, his most poignant piece for me was his diamond encrusted human skull titled ‘For the love of god’.

This particular piece was quite interesting to me as it was a piece of art that completely contradicted with the shaker design philosophy yet it was also very beautiful.

Damien Hirst is part of the ‘Young British Artists’ movement, which celebrates young artists, which include Fiona Rae and Gary Hume.

From this project I designed a range of lingerie garments with my philosophy of ‘Just because it’s covered doesn’t mean it cant be pretty’ I felt that my designs really emphasized my philosophy as they were simple, delicate and very elegant.

(L-R- 'Virgin Mother' Damien Hirst, Shaker style furniture, 'For the love of God' Damien Hirst, Shaker Furniture, 'Virgin Mother' Damien Hirst)