"For what the Gods have bestowed upon us mad creatives let us cherish" M.S

Hello hello, Happy New….well let’s be honest it’s a bit late for all that isn’t it? However I just wanted to come back and wipe off the virtual dust and fill you in on my latest fashion shenanigans.

As mentioned in ‘Design Your World’, I am back at fashion school this time round studying design. After my first term I was incredibly surprised with myself, previous attempts to pattern cutting and sewing were not always successful. This occasion I learnt that design is not always about the outcome and more about the process. I faced one of my (now former) fears of working on the stand/translation: creating a pattern for a garment using the mannequin.

I remember watching episodes of ‘Project Runway’ in awe at how they would whip up patterns in what seemed like matters of minutes using the mannequins, my experience though has taught me that first and foremost it’s not matters of minutes and secondly it requires a great deal of patience.

The brief set was to design a jacket for a live competition set by the Society of Dyers and Colourists entitled ‘Making It Personal’, the key elements of meeting this brief was:

-Colour,

- Unique and personal,

-Bulk manufacturing with minimum waste

-Sustainable.

At the introduction of making it personal I decided to do this in two ways.  Tailor the personalisation to me the designer as well as to the consumer. As an avid art lover, my work is deeply rooted in a lot of historical and cultural references, so it seemed more than befitting to use my favourite painting as inspiration for this project.  Sandro Botticelli’s renaissance Venus would be envisioned as a modern day women walking the streets of Paris wearing her very own unique jacket designed and made by moi.

My favourite painting and inspiration for this brief by Sandro Botticelli 'Birth Of Venus'. Image Source.

My ideas were not so easily formulated but it took to embracing fear by working on the half stand in order to pave the way to what was a glorious full-scale design.

This is where I started, on the half scale, my ideas changed and developed as I went on to work on the full size mannequin.

I’m happy and proud to say that I struggled because I believe that creativity and it’s process in all its forms should be honest. There is absolutely no point in creating anything that is easily something you hate. Do what you love and love what you do.  Not all have the ability to create human life, but we do have the gracious marvel that the Gods have bestowed upon us to create full stop.  I am not yet in completion but I thought I would share with you a part of my journey for this piece. It is the first jacket I have ever attempted to make and it’s the beginning of many more.

Toile of my design, still a work in progress.

"For what the Gods have bestowed upon us mad creatives let us cherish" M.S

For more insight into my creative word follow me on instagram, pinterest and twitter.   Also check out my uni blog here fore a closer look at my projects etc.

All toile images are property of M.Samasuwo.

Quinton & Chadwick

Today we had an industry talk with Jess Quinton part of knitwear based design duo ‘Quinton & Chadwick’.

‘Designed in Britain, made in Britain worn worldwide’, their design ethos is traditional, modern quirky knitwear for men, women and children.

Since their launch nearly 15 years ago-their logo has been the one thing about them that has remained the same, which they feel sets them apart from others therefore creating a strong brand identity.

Priding themselves to be part of the growing ‘slow fashion’ movement, their USP is that, all their manufacturing work is not done off shore but instead taps into heritage yarn spinning factory’s based around England and Scotland.

Currently their collections of knitwear-based accessories are a one-season product for menswear, womenswear and a small line of mittens for their most recent kidswear collection.  It was my first time being introduced to and hearing about a business module that is based on wholesale trade but only works according to one season.  Usually the fashion season cycle consists of Spring Summer, (Resort), and Autumn Winter, however Jess explained the cycle of the product from initial ideas, design, manufacturing and right through to their stockists both local and around the globe.

Their unique and quirky product got me thinking deeply about market research and the attitude brands have towards their consumers. Quinton & Chadwick’s accessories are made to ‘love and keep’ and that is reflected in the design and craftsmanship which takes traditional techniques and breathes new life into simple products like scarf’s and berets.

They understand the value that their customer places within the ‘heritage’ branding and allows them to trade on a global scale reaching out to people all over that adore the quintessential British lifestyle.

Images pulled from Quinton & Chadwick site.

Fortnum & Mason, Liberty’s, Anthropologie, Baycrews and Tomorrowland are just a few of their national and international stockists. Collaboration is something that cannot be separated from creativity and creative processes. This is very evident with both Jess and Jane. Originally tutored in fashion and textile design, Quinton & Chadwick have used their skills to work with a few brands and schemes from Dashing Tweed to ‘wool week’ initiative, they also created a collection for the Victoria and Albert Museum shop- one of London’s most revered and popular museums.

Images pulled from Quinton & Chadwick site.

The biggest things that I learned from this seminar were that if you work out and think smart about what you want and would like to do from a creative perspective, it becomes much easier to work out a business model in order to start and stabilise your brand-which in turn helps you to identify your market and to see if your customer really ‘is’ out there and/or not being serviced by somebody else/another company.

Being Made in Britain is possible. Yes it is true that the higher the quality of the product, craftsmanship etc does make the end retail price to be considered in the ‘luxury’ market.  However when I look at the price range of their product: £35-£110, it is not ‘that’ expensive when you think of the work that goes into that particular product-and the sense of pride knowing that you have put something back into your country’s economy is like a badge of honour for the conscious fashion consumer. However I do think it’s highly variable product to product.

Finally like with all things creative, it’s important to be a sponge and soak up all the information available and applicable to you. Starting a business can be daunting and a true learning curve-but research everything from competitions to government backed funding and even local communities that have small fares or textile/knitting groups/circles. All these things will help you to start and to maintain that which you have set out to do.

I really look forward to attending more industry related talks and seminars.