An extremely productive day in the studio...

Deborah Morgan and myself felt our studio was looking a bit bare, so we have come up with a genious plan to make it a more positive workspace, and what better way to do this than plaster it with fashion *cough* related images.

Morgan is currently still in the library printing and scanning...lets see if we can change this place and make it more interesting...

The fourth year studio...and fiona

Before...

Joel & Sons

London - Day 4

So the highlight of the day was visiting Joel and Sons.  After spending a lot of time on Goldhawk Road (an experience in itself) I headed to Church Street in Edgware.

Walking along the street, I started to wonder if I had made a huge mistake...and then I entered the shop.

OH.MY.GOD.

  I am pretty positive that there is absolutely EVERYTHING in this shop that you could ever want or need for a collection.  Althought it's quite pricy, there are some reasonably priced fabrics and all of the fabrics in there are extremely high quality.  I was showed around my Mr Joel himself, who literally knows every fashion house and the fabrics they use.  He also informed me he's been getting his suits tailored for him since he was 14 years old - instantly fallen in love with this man!

  As you can see I came out with quite a selection.  Most of which are references to find fabrics elsewhere that are perhaps slightly cheaper!  I have a very expensive taste in fabrics...but sometimes I get a bit carried away with myself.  As if I can afford to spend £130 a meter on fabric!  It really gave me a great starting point for the kinds for fabrics I want to use and will definitely be back to see what else I can find.

  They do free samples and write down all information for you, so its a great shop to go to and the staff are so helpful.  I think I'd get some fabric for a really special show piece, if I was feeling flush.

p.s. Check how AMAZING the bag is!! 

Tommy Nutter

Day 3 in London - Museums and Knitting Shops

I went to The Fashion and Textiles Museum which I heard about when I visited Newham College in East Ham.

Tommy Nutter : Rebel On The Row

Literally one of the most exciting experiences of my life!  This exhibition was like a dream land for me, with so many Savile Row suits!  The exhibition really helped me with design ideas as tailoring is a big part of my collection.  The era was bang on for my research also, so a really great exhibition to go and see.

There were also documents on show, such as customer records, photographs and sketches.  The exhibition is on until the 22nd of October, so I would definitely recommend checking it out!  The museum also has several talks, evening classes and discussions on throughout the year.

London Day 2

This was a very busy day for me!  I headed to Bond Street, Savile Row and Berwick Street.  I felt it important to mix high end well known designers so Bond Street was the best choice for this.  I also went to Dover Street Market which was an experience in itself.  I could have stayed there all day, definitely worth a look if you're in that neck of the woods.

Fabrics.

 I spent quite a bit of time on the shops looking at all of the different fabrics on offer.  I must admit, this place is expensive...but the quality is great!  The first fabrics were from the Cloth house, second and third from the Cloth Shop.

Trimmings.

MacCulloch and Wallis

I spent a long time in here also, a treasure trove of trimmings!  I cam away with a few fastenings but could have come back with a lot more had I had the money.  Another successful stop!

London!

As part of my research I was required to go to London and do some fabric sourcing and market research.  As we were allowed to take up to a week off, I of course decided to go for the full week!  I'm not going to write too much about it, but here's a runthrough of the highlights of my time there.

Day 1

I visited Harrods, Harvey Nichols, The V&A, The Library and Tate Britain.  Harrods was a great place for market research, the menswear floor is packed full of great designers and really gave me a lot of inspiration in terms of silhouette, fabrics and detailing.

The Library

This is a small Menswear boutique in Knightsbridge, packed full of designers that I wasn't even aware of!  There were so many stand out pieces and interesting use of fabrics with a great and coherent colour palette from each designer.

Incarnation

Isaac Sellem Experience

Lost and Found

The V&A

I went to "The Power of Making" while at the V&A, which I must say, I was a little disappointed with.  Although there were quite a lot of interesting pieces on show, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, however I liked the emphasis on the importance of the skills we posses as designers/artists and how these skills can be utilised to shape the world that we live in for better and for always.

Sandra Backlund

I love this knitwear, Sandra Backlund is one of my favourite knitwear designers, not just for the garments she designs, but for the textiles themselves.  The volume and dimensions of this piece is fantastic.

Commercial Portfolio Revisit

So I ended up with 8 books in total amoungst other things! The final outcome of my project was a suitcase of evidence, which I felt could be shown in an exhibition, kind of like an installation I guess, with the films running in the background.

Not only did I make film 2 films, I also arranged the audio track behind the first one. A mashup of pretty much every visual source I used, audio pulled from interviews, films and documentaries as well as a song which related heavily to the evidence of the moors murders case.

Here’s a few snaps of the books that I put together for my research.

Below are a few garment ideas - just rough!  For the next three weeks I am concentrating on the design of my collection.  Let's see how much these original sketches change!

Backtrack

Autumn/Winter 11/12 Capsule Collection

I looked at clothing as a form of protection, a way to expose a personality while hiding an identity.  These images were taken by the amazing David Anderson and are going to be featured in the "Emerging Fashion Designers Europe" publication.

Photography : David Anderson

Model : Kevin Mdanga

Styling : Amber Hunter

As well as my capsule collection the publication will also include my surrealism dress, inspired by armour and lobster shells and Fashion Theory Piece, a mini dress burka with revealing panels.  This looked at the clash between British and Muslim youth.

Photography : David Anderson

Model : Nicole Gardner

Make Up : Nicole Gardner

Styling: Amber Hunter

Thank you to Framed Gallery Edinburgh for letting us use the space!