A Man's Story

So this week I have been working on a number of things, but most importantly my entry for the "A Man's Story" Competition.

A Man's Story is a documentary film, skimming through the past 12 YEARS of one of the most influential menswear designers in the world.  Ozwald Boateng.  This man is an absolute genius.  Having visited his Savile Row store last Autumn and keeping a watchful eye on his collections over the years, this is a film that I was so excited to see, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to see that the film wouldn't show until a day before the initial closing date of the competition!

Being the chancer that I am, I phoned up press for the film and the lovely Suhan sent a copy out to me straight away!  I sat in my room ( I felt sorry for my flatmate that night because I literally just left her on her own for half the night) on my own with my laptop in-front of me and stared at the screen with my mouth open pretty much the whole time.

This man is the definition of brilliance.  Someone that fought his way to the top and still fights everyday to keep things at the highest level.  I wont give too much away, as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but I really do recommend it!  So my concept from the whole film was the idea of no matter what is happening the show must go on.  All the struggles, the fights the drama, everything has to be put aside for this one show that could effectively change everything or balance everything out.

if you have a spare minute please go onto the page, like a mans story and then VOTE on my designs!  Make sure its the Mood Board one NOT the final lineup one...just so all votes are going to the same thing! :D

http://bit.ly/H63lDC

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Development

I thought it would be a good idea to put up the development of the collection which I would have done already but I have so much work that it's hard to keep track of!

This collection has been an ongoing project for the past two years, and the amount of time and effort I have put in to it is really quite unbelieveable to me.  Looking back over everything it's amazing to see how one idea can spark and entire world of research, development, knitting, sampling, weaving, experimental textures, design, pattern cutting, fabric sourcing, construction and so on and so forth...oooft!

Inspiration and Development

A few images of the beginnings of the collection, including my self initiated brief.  To date, I have designed, printed and hand bound 28 books of research.  This seems like a lot (who am I kidding it's ridiculous) but is in actual fact all relevant and has helped me arrive at the stage I am now.  A lot of time and effort, but successful at the same time.  All of the pages were made to look worn, like they would in an old book or journal.  As Ian Brady documented a lot of the murders and wrote in books often, I felt this would add to the overall mood of my research.

 Sketchbook Work

Mostly collaging of inspiration and hand drawn garment illustrations.  These took a long time, however the end result was worth it!  I tend to draw a number of garmnets and then the final stage will be to select combinations to start to develop a final lineup.

And.........BREATHE

So here we arrive at the final lineup.  i definitely worry that the end result doesn't look as good as the illustrated line up...but let's hope that this is not the case!  

 

Photoshoot

Designer : Amber Hunter

Model : Jamie Hillen

Photographer : David Anderson @ DNAnderson

Assistant : Kerry Lytwyn

So on Friday I travelled through to Glasgow (VERY EARLY START) to give this photoshoot thing a go...

With a suitcase full of shoes and ties, a clothing rail (which I didn't need in the end) 6 garment bags and a load of other things I didn't need (a woman's handbag really is an aladdin's cave) I travelled up the never ending stairs to contrast studios in Glasgow.

My model Jamie arrived shortly after, followed by Photographer genius David Anderson and his lovely assistant Kerry Lytwyn.  I had been up all night ironing and fixing things so that everything would run smoothly so it is safe to say I was feeling quite tired, but still excited for the day ahead.

All looks were shot inside at Contrast Studios and then we managed to get outside for a few shots as well.  Luckily the rain had calmed itself down and we didn't get too wet. My intern Sarah was also on hand to help out with dressing and giving advice on different ideas on styling, but I am pleased to say there were no major issues so everything went smoothly!

I cannot stress enough how happy I was with the team of people that helped make this shoot possible and not only did David shoot the collection, he also gave me a lesson on how to tie ties!  And knowing what the collection was based on, had in fact managed to do a bit of background research on the moors murders, what a guy!

I leave you with a taster of what we achieved yesterday, I haven't yet seen the rest of the images, so as you can imagine I am DYING with anticipation!

Designer : Amber Hunter

Model : Jamie Hillen

Photographer : David Anderson @ DNAnderson

Assistant : Kerry Lytwyn

See No Evil photoshoot - DONE

OH NO!!!!!!!

Okay, so I must admit I am a little disappointed with the way my collection looks, however not to worry - Hermes fabric should be here soon and I know there are a few fabrics in there that are really special so fingers crossed it will look better!

The lighting isn't the best, and obviously I chose to use all ridiculously dark fabrics so you cant really see much....but anyways, here are the first few shots of the collection.  Hopefully with styling and with the other garments it will pop out a bit more!

I have my photo shoot with that AMAZING David Anderson this week, so I'm sure he'll be able to work his magic and make this look alright!

4th Year is HORRIFIC

Okay.

So we have a week left at Heriot Watt School of Textiles and Design to finish our collections.  and let me tell you, the pressure is DEFINITELY ON!

6 weeks to make a collection seemed not so bad at the start, and having completed all of my patterns and bought all my fabric for returning, I thought that everything would run smoothly...

I WAS WRONG!

I forget that everyone makes mistakes (including myself...quite often) and this time scale hasn't really allowed for that.  The next few days is going to be really quite something, although our lecturers have managed to pull some strings and allocated us extra workshop time...from 7.30AM!

I don't sleep enough as it is, so I may as well get rid of my bed because god knows I wont be using it much over the next few days.  Sad times.

Anyways!
The collection is coming along okay, who knows what will happen in the next few days.  Today I was working in the knit room with my little sister.  She's down for a placement which is meant to benefit her, however I think I'm the one gaining most from it, in the form of emotional support.

HELP ME!!!!!!!!

Maybe I'll fall asleep after sewing for 9 and a half hours and impale myself on the knitting needles....I can dream.

Back to reality...

So I have landed with a huge BUMP back in Scotland this week.  My sister and I managed to make all of our connections and even braved the sleeper train!  I must admit, I had a great sleep...don't know if Jasmyn will agree!

So Hermes.

What can I say?  Absolutely unreal experience.  I cannot put into words how absolutely mind blowing the two days I was in Lyon were.  From a meal with the director of one of the biggest luxury fashion houses in the world, to the Hermes HQ and of course presenting my concepts and designs to the director and another colleague.

Unfortunately I cannot say too much about it due to confidentiality but the group of us that went are the first to be welcomed into the labels HQ and due to their new policies THE LAST!  So it's something that no one else will be able to do.  After being selected down from 38 institutes, I think all of us were just completely amazed by this and truly honoured to be there.

Another amazing thing about the trip was how well we all got on with each other.  I'm not sure if it was because a lot of the students were textiles students (who tend to be a lot friendlier than fashion students..!) or just because we were genuinely all friendly people, but it was really refreshing to get on so well and spend time with them all and hopefully we will keep in touch :)

A lot of exciting things to come.

watch this space :)