A Fashionable Journey

A Productive Day At The Library

2011-04-22T21:19:00.003+01:00

What better way to spend Good Friday than to relax with my first Wedding magazine (very exciting!), baking some fairy cakes and an apple crumble using some of my Grandad's home-grown apples, and to have a quick flick through the lovely books I got from the University's library yesterday.

I found some beautiful books on the French style, books specifically for cafe and coffee shop designs, and interior design as well as visual merchandising and retail design.

After a few hours of carefully selecting the information I wanted to photocopy, I decided to bring a couple of books home - 'The French Cafe' and 'Drawing for Interior Design', both of which have proven to be so helpful and inspiring. They'll both really help with my design ideas for Lou Lous Cafe.

I think I've fallen in love with the French country side and have become more inspired by small cafes and coffee shops than I ever thought possible!

A Fashionable Fairy Tale

2011-04-20T19:38:00.004+01:00

I just wanted to tell you about a wonderful book I received just yesterday from my lovely fiance for Easter.

As you may or may not know I have a thing for pretty books. Yes I do love a good romance or mystery novel but my most pleasurable reading experiences are when the book is full of pretty words and pictures!

For example, a book I will treasure forever is a book by Gisele Scanlon called 'The Goddess Experience - Custom Made for You'

My special Easter present is a very similar to book to The Goddess Experience in the way it is illustrated and focuses on fashion. It's title is 'Christian Lacroix and The Tale of Sleeping Beauty' and is exactly what it says on the cover! It's a memoir of Christian Lacroix's life and fashion accomplishments within the story of Sleeping Beauty. It is beautifully illustrated by Christian Lacroix himself and really puts the magic and fairy tale into fashion!

You can read more and purchase it here, I strongly recommend it if you too get very excited about pretty books!

Pre-Photo Shoot Fitting

2011-04-19T20:28:00.004+01:00

With the sun shining and not a single cloud in the sky I woke up really happy after finishing my final garment ready for the photo shoot the previous day.

I travelled to my lovely friend and model's house today with my outfits all folded and ready to be tried on. Nervously, I arrived hoping and praying that my trousers and shorts would fit as I really thought I'd made them too small. Every time I looked at them the waist seemed to get smaller and smaller!

Thankfully the trousers, shorts and tops all fit absolutely perfectly! The only problem was the shirt dress I've made - I hadn't added enough shape at the hips and it could only be fastened so far down. This is a small problem but I have a solution for the photo shoot - I'm going to have the model wear the shorts undernieth and even though the shirt doesn't fasten all the way down, with some clever camera angles and model positions such as sitting down etc. the problem will be solved!

I have all the accessories and clothes now sorted. On Thursday i'm meeting with my first year student assistant to discuss hair/make up plans and gather any other things needed such as hair spray, bobbles and clips.

Now all I need to do is round up some image inspirations and I'm all set for Monday's shoot on a beautiful farm in the village I grew up in.

Beautiful Cafe and Coffee Shop Images

2011-04-17T20:34:00.003+01:00

Here are some more images I've found while canoodling around on the internet. Beautiful, inspiring, delicious!

A Little Bit of Display Inspiration

2011-04-16T17:26:00.004+01:00

Meeting Follow Up...

2011-04-16T17:00:00.002+01:00

After a very successful meeting, it looks like I have found myself the most perfect work experience, leading into a wonderfully creative and exciting permanent job! I'm being hired for paid experience on the current re-decorating and re-visualisation of Lou Lous Cafe to work alongside an experienced window dresser and gain some valuable experience. If all goes well, which I'm very confident it will, I'll be taken on as the permanent window dresser for the Cafe because the experienced window dresser will only be working with Lou Lou's for a certain amount of time. It will then potentially be my job to keep the window displays and internal decor/design up to date and new throughout the year. The meeting couldn't have gone better, I have a very exciting future ahead of me, and it is even better that it's with a company that is so up my street! My next job is, after some communication with the window dresser, to generate a range of ideas and mood/theme boards to show them at our next meeting on the 21st of May. Today is a super Saturday, now to begin cutting out my trouser fabric!

An Exciting Day

2011-04-16T09:33:00.005+01:00

How beautiful it is outside for such an exciting day.

Today I'm meeting up with my mum and we are both going to Lou Lou's Cafe ( http://www.loulouscafe.co.uk/ ) in Sadlergate, Derby to meet with the manager to talk abut plans for window dressing their beautiful cafe.

This is potentially my first real taste of window dressing and visual merchandising, and i'm really looking forward to it. This actually came about through Twitter so it proves that it is definitely worth tweeting away to local people and businesses!

I'm really lucky to have been considered or this opportunity as Lou Lou's Cafe is somewhere I know I am going to love, it is completely my style - high end, vintage, quaint and chic, and it also sells tea, coffee, cakes and other delicious food.

I'll let you know how our meeting goes!

Once I get home my plans are to go over my trouser pocket pattern and re-shape and to then cut out my fabric ready to begin sewing my final pair of trousers ready for my photoshoot in just over a week. Today is going to be a sunny, exciting, happy and busy Saturday!

A New Year, A New Journey

2011-04-15T23:20:00.002+01:00

Since starting up my twitter account (http://twitter.com/smileyemmarose) to gain some fashionable contacts, I decided to wipe away the cobwebs from my busiest blog and begin a new journey with you. I'm now on my last lap of my univeristy life with just a month to go until I hand in my final three projects. I'll tell you more about my final major project in my future blogs (which I promise will be soon). So in this new year, many things have changed since my last blog entry, both in my career aspirations and personal life. Last September I moved out of my parents home and into my own home with my then boyfriend, I say then because we are now engaged! And in the same way that i've grown up, faced responsibilties (bills and things eek!) and am now standing completely on my own two feet; I am growing up, and taking a real responsibilty for my future in fashion now. The career sector I have chosen is Visual Merchandising. A job I am completely and utterly inspired by, and my plan is to do anything in my power, make and take any oppurtunity I can to launch myself into this highly creative and exciting career. ....and so I continue on my very fashionable journey, taking a different direction but walking with more strength and confidence than ever. Will you join me on my adventure?

Career Information Links

2009-12-10T11:41:00.000Z

I have an assessment for Professional Studies today. It's in interview form and I have to show my portfolio. I'm quite confident but nervous too because there' so much to think about, points I want to say, skills I have etc.

In preparation for this assessment I thought it would be interesting and helpful to do some research into the types of jobs I'm interested in. The pages have good information about what the job holds, and what skills a person should have to suit this job.

COSTUME DESIGNER - Very interested in

WARDROBE ASSISTANT - Very interested in

FASHION DESIGNER

ILLUSTRATOR

DRESSMAKER

...

2009-12-03T22:54:00.002Z

I just found another DOVE advert which would be perfect for my own individual fashion issue - Anti-Ageing.

Thankyou Dove!

Fashion Issues Presentations

2009-12-03T22:43:00.003Z

Yesterday we had our group presentations on a fashion issue of our choice. My group chose Political Fashion, and I was surprisingly interested and inspired by the information we were giving each other.

We chose to all go and research a certain aspect of political fashion. We also all made a couple of slide each going along with the same look and colour. We then came back the following week to put the presentation together. It went really well and I'm very confident in writing my essay at the weekend all about Political Fashion because of the valuable information given from the people in my group.

I also really enjoyed watching everyone else's presentations. I was really surprised to find every single group out of the whole year had chosen different subjects. Which was great as there was nothing samey and there was no competition between people.

I just wanted to link this video on my blog as someone had put it on their presentation as part of their presentation about 'body issues in fashion'. It's really up-to-date and interesting, showing how images are transformed for advertising - portraying a perfect body which girls (and boys) aspire to be, but it's not real, it's completely photo-shopped. So should we want to look liek a real beautiful person, or an artist's portrayal of beauty?

In Preparation for My Presentation

2009-11-23T14:26:00.000Z

In two weeks I have a presentation of my portfolio and CV. It's in the form of an interview, but I have 5 minutes to talk about myself. I definetly need to practice before going in. I need to state where I think I'm best suited in the fashion industry and why, this should be visible in my portfolio, I should point this out and talk a bit about the points. I also need to talk about any jobs I've applied for so far for my work placement in April.

TRAID Talk

2009-11-14T18:44:00.000Z

First off, I've got to apologise because this is going to be a looong blog entry. I found this lecture so interesting I just couldn't stop taking notes!

TEXTILE RECYCLING FOR AID AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

The aim of this campaign is to protect the environment by recycling, to aleviate poverty by funding projects across the world in countries that are still developing and also to educate the public of environmental and poverty issues.

Ethical fashion needs to exist as the fashion process as a whole is very unethical. From the extraction, to production, distribution, consumption and finally to the disposal.

We have to recycle our clothes as research from the USA said that 90% of clothes are wasted within 3 months of use. That's ridiculous! We all need to take Ecology, Economy and Equity into consideration when creating and using clothes.

Did you know that if the world consumed as much waste as the UK, we would need 3 earths to survive.

Basically, there is a conflict between what we are used to doing, such as throwing things we don't want anymore, and what we should be doing, like thinking of other things to do with clothes after we're done with them.

Some really interesting stories from this lecture I noted;

85% of water in Uzbekistan water in the sea was used to grow cotton, meaning desertification and huge drought for the people to live there. The sea levels literally disappeared, and the most awful thing about this is the fact that only a third of the water ever reached the cotton fields as they were using half-pipes to transport water, which meant a huge amount was lost before even reaching the fields.
In Mongolia, gotas have been raised as a resource for cashmere which has become a hugely popular wool in fashion. in 1949, there were 2.4m goats in Mongolia, and by 2004, because of huge demand, there were 25.8m goats. That a raise of over 10 times as many. This many goats needed feeding so they were fed seeds, which created less quality of cashmere. As food ran out, goats ate the grass on the fields. So many goats doing this created a great amount of desertification of Mongolia.

In Osaka, a man who used pesticides to grow cotton had put his work load on the roof after a long day out of the way of his 4 young children. Over night it rained, and the chemicals from the fabric dripped slightly onto vessels which the children used to eat and drink out of the next day. This tiny amount of the chemical swallowed by all 4 children ended them up in hospital, where all 4 children died. Chemicals are bad! We should stick with natural organic cotton growth with NO pesticides.

In LeSotho, many factories were created to give more jobs for the people living there. Some were fair trade factories which was good as everyone had better working conditions. However, some factories didn't maintain this standard. Unregulated rubbish tips opened at the same time as the factories where waste was set fire to. Children are seen running around these hugely dangerous pits for things to use for their homes. This leads to deaths, dangers and respiratory problems.Some campaigns and organisations which are trying to tackle some of these, ecology, economy and equity problems include;
- People Tree
- Organic Soil Association
- Pesticide Action Network
- Pants To Poverty
- FAIRTRADE
- Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops
- Ethical Trading Initiative
- War On Want

My Unique Selling Point

2009-11-11T20:08:00.000Z

This was so much harder to answer than I expected! I tried to look at my personal statement for answers. What is the one thing that sets me apart from most others and that would make me a great working candidate?
In advertising terms you would be saying, "buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit".
So me as a product, what would the specific benefit be of my 'buyer'?

Some of my good skills would be I have really good organizational skills, my time keeping is good and I'm a quick learner.

So maybe I should say "Employ me and you will benefit from someone who is a very quick learner with great organizational skills"?

Portfolio Plan

2009-11-08T20:15:00.000Z

Here is a copy of the list I quickly made up of ways I plan to improve my portfolio for when it comes to being assessed. I've already started working on most of the pointers here but here's the full list anyway;

- Buy spraymout.
- Print off CV to put in front of portfolio
- Buy labels and write on PC then print to put on each plastic wallet
- Buy pack of white card (need 17 sheets to mount)

- Scan in ZARA designs, make images smaller in the centre with African/jungle-type background with title 'Jump Into Jungle' and 'Spring/Summer 09'.

- College work - scan in illustrations put on blue/picture background that has been faded and include season/year, colour pallet and collection title.

- Print off jacket mood-board, colour board, jacket designs, dress mood-board and designs.

- Mount all work (this will take the longest amount of time!).

Proffessional Studies

2009-10-31T13:17:00.000Z

This is the unit of my Fashion Studies course that deals with developing my portfolio, improving my CV and cover letter skills, growing confident in interviews and preparing for work, as well as looking at possible work placement opportunities for easter.

I began this year with getting back on track with my blog. I had done only a few over Summer so I'm really glad I am back on track with them, I have much more information this semester to write though, which is why there's been so much more writing!

Before this module I didn't really have a proper portfolio. OK I had some of my work from college, but that was all A1 work which quite frankly looks very unprofessional compared to my university work. It was all A1 whereas all my work from university has been A3 at the biggest. I got hold of an A3 portfolio which looks so much more professional and neat, it is also so much more handy to carry around!
I have improved all my favourite uni work so much using Photoshop, I'm very proud of it. I also labeled all my pages, and added a business card to the front. Also adding a pretty label for the outside to make mine look a bit different to everyone else's is a nice touch!
I'm very proud to have a good portfolio now which I'm very confident about showing at my mock interview at the end of this module!

My CV has improved no end, along with the creative CV which I have never done before. I found that looking at past student's examples in lessons was really helpful along with the lectures about how to improve. I went home confident enough to create a good looking CV with all the right information needed.

Cover letters I've always been quite confident with but I'm still interested in getting my feedback to see where I can improve on that.

Overall this has been a great module with a lot I've learned which I know will help me no end with my work placement at the end of the year and work after university. I realise I need to perhaps make my portfolio and CV more swayed towards the job that I'm interested in for my work placement such as the Derby Theatre wardrobe assistant. As I don't know for certain where I'm going yet I think it'll be alright for now.

DPP Talk

2009-10-30T20:13:00.000Z

DPP information on University Of Derby websit e.

Last night we had an evening of presentations by the third years who had a year out in industry. All 9 students gave a 10-15 minute presentation talking about their year out, their finances, where they lived, how they got on, jobs they were given and how they got on with the people they worked with.

Although I don't plan to have a year out for working in the industry myself, I found some of the information interesting and helpful. I think the information will help towards the 5 week work placement I have to do in April next year.

Some points I found that were repeated quite a lot were;

* You can apply for a half student loan as fees for this year out to the uni are £640.
* You have to do 38 weeks of work placement, and an average of 40 hours a week.
* Not all companies pay you, so remember living/travel/maintenance finances.
* Some students have been offered further employment after graduation.
* London College Of Fashion website is a good source for placements in London area.
* Don't be intimidated by workers, just be yourself and don't be afraid to voice your opinion. Don't be bullied.
* If you want to work with a foreign company, communicate visually as images can be recognized in any language.

Future Laboratory Guest Talk

2009-10-29T20:52:00.000Z

We had a really interesting presentation from someone from the Future Laboratory last night that really opened my eyes to the marketing side of fashion and the future of advertising/marketing in general.

The Future Lab speaker Ravi Khanna was a past student of Nottingham Tent University who studied Fashion Marketing. He won an award during his time at university which landed him a job at the Future Laboratory. He worked and lived in New York and now travels almost everywhere. His job involves traveling, interviews and presentations of his findings, publications and client work.

The Future Lab began by distributing a magazine called Viewpoint which looked at issues that could effect the word. It then moved on to creating a website similar to that of WGSN which looked at current trends and movements effecting the globe. This updated daily so was used by many individuals and companies.
Here are some facts and notes I found really really interesting during the lecture -

- "the growing need for customers to collaborate with brands " "participating culture" - letting customers interact with the brand is becoming more and more popular.

- brands need Conversation, Collabortaion and Creation to be successful.

- Conversation - approachable, casual, open
Collaboartion - flexible and democratic
Creativity - imaginative, inspirational and daring.

- even though brands are becoming more involved with the customer, the public believe brands;
- lack honesty 32%
- lack fairness 12%
- lack inegrity 14%
- are deceptive 6%
- 46% want brands to be friendly
- 33% want brands to be personal
- 31% want brands to be local
- 30% want brands to be simple.

- Technology makes brands more accessible, it's all about customers changing the brand, for example Burberry had a live show online with a comment box, which made it as if the public were on front row seats and their views were important.

- brands have to be interesting and fun - 'Wish You Were Here' swap shop - swapping New York store with London for a fun new perspective in stores.

- We have to think of the brand as more of a personality rather than a public or private entity.

- Overall brands, to be successful have to think LATTE - LOCAL, AUTHENTIC, TRUSTABLE, TRACEABLE and ETHIC.

Portfolio Points

2009-10-27T12:38:00.000Z

1. Never put in anything you don't like.

2. Strongest piece of work at front, and end of portfolio.

3. Try not to switch between portrait/landscape layouts.

4. Be very neat, mount work - no tears or wonky edges.

5. Use neat, clear portfolio sleeves.

6. Photograph garment to take to interview, or if you really want to show a garment take only one.

7. Show pattern construction/work, technical files mounted on A3 in project.

8. 3 or 4 projects should be kept inside portfolio.

9. Show a cross-section of your work, wide diversity of work you've done.

10. In an interview, always turn the work, and any negative points back to being positive.

11. Label portfolio - different projects, with an added index if possible.

12. Include a copy of your CV or business card in the portfolio so you can hand it out easily.

*** how I need to start improving my portfolio -
- sort through work - choose what I want to keep in portfolio
- need to buy some new plastic sleeves for my portfolio
- write list of the projects and order them
- write a list of changes/adaptations to projects I want to do to improve
appearance/effectiveness.

In Desperate Need of a CV Update!

2009-10-20T20:39:00.002+01:00

I had a lecture today which involved looking at past student's CVs. Oh my, I really need to get mine up to scratch! OK, so most of mine is up to date but my personal profile definetly needs rethinking. Also looking at the creativity of most people's CVs made mine look really boring, I'm thinking of adding some of my illustrations to the CV, and possibly playing around with the layout and size/shape of the page. I also learned an important thing about cover letters - they need to give the reader a feel good factor about you from the first word to the end, mine in the past have been so plain and boring, no wonder I've not been very lucky in the past! Time to do some thinking...

Alexander McQueen S/S 2010

2009-10-06T23:55:00.003+01:00

Here is a link to one of the greatest finds I've had for a long time. I watched this as it was streamed LIVE officially from Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 catwalk. I don't think I've ever been so excited by a video! The prints reminded me of the natural bark prints seen a lot this spring/summer but were based on Atlantis, deep sea colours and fluid-looking fabrics. The heels were AMAZING, they were so high that the angle the feet were made to look reminded me of old Chinese shoes.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO

x

Summer Sketchbook Update

2009-10-06T23:48:00.004+01:00

Here are some images of my finished sketchbook which I'm handing in this week!

I worked really hard over summer to complete this, a moodboard, colourboard, 40 jacket designs and 40 dress designs. I'll add more photos of my work as soon as I can.

Robot Fashion Model

2009-09-30T12:58:00.000+01:00

I was just browsing youtube today when I came across this.

"The HRP-4C robot. The girlie-faced humanoid with slightly oversized eyes, a tiny nose and a shoulder length hair-do boasts 42 motion motors programmed to mimic the movements of flesh-and-blood fashion models. At just over 5 feet tall and 95 pounds in weight, she's still thin enough to guilt teenage girls everywhere into puking up their lunches. And the manga-inspired face, with a tiny nose and large eyes, should keep the plastic surgery market afloat in even the most dire economic climate. Unlike modern models, however, the HRP-4C walks down the runway with constantly bent knees and it fully capable of smiling. In case you are looking for an HRP-4C of your own, a similar model will cost you $3 million dollars."

Could this be the new fashion model in centuries to come? Maybe this would tackle the size 0 issue, we have less models and more robots. This would be a great way to show that size 0 is virtually impossible to achieve, and young girls won't see real thin people and want to be like them, because this time it's a robot.

Sketchbook Update

2009-07-01T19:10:00.002+01:00

Oops I haven't been sticking to my summer resolution :(...

I have got well and truly stuck into the sketchbook - having done half my list of what I need to to do it's looking very full and busy. I'd even say this is my best sketchbook yet, I've put so much effort into it - spending about and hour on a double page spread. I hope it pays off! I've done a lot of research and definetly know what details to look at designing on the jacket.

I'm currently on the designer research part of my sketchbook, I've looked briefly at Vivienne Westwood and now looking in depth at Bill Gibb...after that I have some research into John Galliano, Yohji Yamamoto and Alexander McQueen to stick in. I've just bought the Bill Gibb Fashion And Fantasy book and I'm loving it - I went to an exhibition of his work in November and wanted to look more at him.I'm finding his work really inspirational and exciting. I want to use his links to nature to inspire me in designing a floral pattern for the lining of my jacket.

After that I've got to look at future trends and colours. I've looked in a Colleczioni magazine for Autumn/Winter 09/10 and I need to look on WGSN, style.com and possibly fashiontrendsetter.com for more research.And then finally I'm looking at flowers, doing some observational and other paintings/drawings for shape ideas and research into floral fabrics/patterns, possibly vintage. I'm swaying more towards brighter colours and more unusual, tropical flower shapes to be different to the ditsy English garden type florals that are in now.

I want to try and get some scanned images of my sketchbook pages onto here as soon as I'm done.

Then it's onto my 40(+) designs....busy busy busy!

A Perfectly Tailored Summer Project

2009-06-09T23:28:00.003+01:00

So now I've broken up from university for Summer; but not without any work to do!

Our brief for the Summer is tailored jackets. I've basically got to produce a sketchbook, 40 designs and a moodboard or two. I'm actually really excited about this and got stuck into my sketchbook straight away.

Now I've done many sketchbooks through school and college but the last one I did was really disappointing and quite boring so I'm determined to create the best sketchbook for myself to date! It's going very well so far - I'm thinking out the box and bought a book from a charity shop to work over. Each page is like a collage and it's turning out to be really exciting and fun to do aswell as read afterwards. I plan to upload some scanned pages of my sketchbook as I go to keep you updated.As part of this project I'm planning some trips to local places to get a broader range of research. I'm going to go to the Derby Museum and Art Gallery as I want some of my inspirations to come from victorian paintings and floral decorations. I also want to go to the Pickfords House Museum to take photos and sketches of old costumes for inspiration of styles and silhouettes. I also need to take many trips to the libraries around for books on aaaany information I need.

Looks like I'm going to be a busy bee! I promise to keep this updated, it's my summer resolution :).

2 days in the life of a Dresser

2009-06-06T19:21:00.003+01:00

Wow it's been a long time since I wrote an entry on here. ...So on Wednesday and Thursday it was my job to work as one of the dressers behind our university's graduate fashion show.
It was a real eye opener to what working behind a big fashion show was like. I thoroughly enjoyed it although it was hard work, I would definitely do it all over again.I think the main thing I learned was just how well organised a show like this had to be - hair, make-up, rehearsal, fittings were all planned to specific times and places. I enjoyed meeting professional models and working with them, and I also enjoyed looking at the third year's work and seeing them all together looking great with hair and make-up and accessories.

Another great thing about Thursday was the atmosphere. There was a great team feeling like we had to work with each other and help each other if we got stuck to make this fashion show run smoothly. I spent a few hours between the two fashion shows with friends for a meal and it was great just doing that too because it was the first bit of out of uni time we'd had for so long. It's a shame really because it was our last day before breaking up for summer!After working behind the fashion show, it made me want to look at possible careers like this. It was tiring and hard work and nerve racking but I just enjoyed it so much, it was so much fun and being apart of this relieved, happy atmosphere at the end of the night was really nice.

Could a dresser be one of my possible career options?? Perhaps I should look to see if there is ever anywhere local who want dressers volunteer work.

Holiday Work

2009-04-17T15:33:00.006+01:00

I'm so pleased to have finished the first major process of my Fashion Design Practice module.

Over the easter holiday I've created 4 different boards - one overall African themed mood-board (the 2009 trend I've decided to go with), a colour board, a target customer board for my chosen high-street store which is ZARA, and a board of silhouettes that inspire me.

I'm happy with all four, but I think my favourite is the African mood-board showing the inspirations for the trend I'm going to design for - it's really colourful and I feel that this board works the best out of any I've done before.

Then, using a combination of these boards and research I've designed 42 different items of clothing which include - Jumpsuits, Trousers, Skirts, Dresses (short and maxi), Tops and Cardigans. I had to keep my target customer in mind so while designing the clothes and prints I was constantly thinking about the type of woman who would shop in ZARA.

Here is a photo of some of my design sheets and down the left hand side are the mood-boards which helped inspire the designs. It's not a very clear photo as I only took it on my phone but it gives you some idea of the work I'm doing;

Overall, I enjoyed all the design process, I find the mood-boards and design presentation always fun to do. Drawing the same template for my clothes to go on was a bit of a drag but I like how the face are all different, giving them all their own look. I definitely found that some designs work much better than others but all together they work really nicely - it's going to be tricky picking just one outfit to represent the whole bunch of ideas I have!

Style Icon #2

2009-04-16T18:43:00.002+01:00

LADY GAGA!!

Another music/fashion female I am loving at the moment. Not only can I not stop listening to her music and have Love Game as my ring tone, she seems to be in every magazine I read. It's quite understandable that a hell of a lot of people don't like her style because it's so daring and out there but I think I admire her just as much for her bravery than the style she pulls of brilliantly.I read an article/interview with her the other day and she explained that she's always had an interest in fashion, she has great respect to elegant major designers like Chanel. I guess this just proves that she does really have a love for fashion and it's not just for show - she picks what she wants to wear and with a little bit of help from the Haus Of Gaga she has an amazing wardrobe.
I think Lady Gaga's outfits just show that she can pull off some of these crazy haute couture designers out there, although I'm afraid almost everybody else is left to stare in awe and wonder what this crazy lady will be wearing next.

I Want To Be A Pin Up Girl!

2009-04-16T18:17:00.005+01:00

Oh what I would give to be around in the 50s, if I could travel back in time I know this would be an era I'd stop at. And given the chance, I would definitely give being a pin up girl a go!
Being a 'curvy' girl myself I've always dreamt of the defintion of beauty back then to still be here today. Women are meant to be curvy, we are meant to have more bumps than men because we carry children and it's just the way our bodies, when healthy, are supposed to be. But now it seems that to be considered pretty or good looking you have to have a figure close to that of a man, and a thin man at that! The 20s Twiggy look is still the fashion now, but i say less of the size 0s and more size 12+ real women sizes please!
Anyway...

I just love the whole look of pin-up art and photography, they're so cute and naughty, and I love the fact that it's not all in your face like most magazine models of today. The detail gone into the clothes and lingerie they wear is just as delicate as their perfect hair and make-up.
I've been thinking and I might just have to persuade my boyfriend to use my camera just so i can play dress up and do my hair and make up like a pretty pin-up girl!

Easter Suprise - a Magazine Review

2009-04-12T15:12:00.004+01:00

Along with a few easter eggs, some money and bits and bobs I got a sewing magazine for Easter from my mum. The title is SEW HIP, a magazine that looks as if it's not been out long with this being only issue 6. It was surprisingly a really good read and I'm still happily flicking through.

It's basically a magazine dedicated to fabric - patterns for a 60's inspired dress, a cute simple dress for a little girl and even a turtle soft toy were in it! It might sound like the type of mag for middle aged women the way I just described it but it also had some really helpful and up to date information inside like countless adverts for vintage and contemporary fabric suppliers, an interview with a fashion graduate who has her own label, product reviews and book reviews.

So much of the mag just reminded me of vintage, kitsch designs found in places like Paperchase and fabric prints similar to those found in Topshop. It made me want to get my sewing machine out and start creating little fabric wonders myself, and I may even start doing that in this Easter Holiday!

I would strongly recommend it if you're bored over summer as there are so many fashion and craft ideas inside. It's full of inspiration and filled me with excitement and I know I'm going to spend the rest of my Easter Sunday flicking through it again and again and again!

P.S On a random note, how adorable is this Hello Kitty sewing machine? I've really become a fan of CUTE recently, buying floral dresses is becoming my thing and now I have a Russian doll bracelet. Hello Kitty is the epitome of kitsch. Ooh I want it!!

Trousers Handed In!

2009-03-26T16:22:00.004Z

I had to finish them off at home but I'm sooo happy with my final pair of trousers. The sewing went so well and I had no major problems, not one minor problem either really!
I chose a grey fabric as you know and ended up using a baby pink silk for the pocket lining which worked really well as a contrast. The trousers now fit really nice and I'm so happy to have handed them in today.
I'd love it if they got picked for the media fashion show in a couple of weeks which will feature some of the trousers made by first years. It's a charity event for the blind so I had to provide a written description which, if I get picked, will be read out as the model walks down the catwalk.

Also on a random note, I met the 3rd year student I will be helping for the rest of term today. She seems so lovely and I'm actually really excited because the collection she's designed is just the sort of thing I love - bright colours, patterns and quite commercial items. I don't start work with her for another 3 weeks but I've offered to go in during the Easter holidays if she needs me.
Work I need to do with her includes pattern cutting, tracing off patterns, helping with photoshoots, designing and making accessories, and basically just to help tie up any loose ends. I think I'll also be needed to help dressing for the graduate fashion show at the very end of the year which will be hard work!

I'll let you know how this goes!

That Vintage Feel, My Shirt and Trouser Project Update

2009-03-18T18:44:00.005Z

I bought my fabrics for both the shirt and trouser on Monday and they are exactly how I wanted. I bought some gray fabric for the trousers, they've got some stretch in them and are plain pale grey, they quite thick with a nice weight should help the fall of the trouser legs. I bought 2 metres at £5.99 per metre. I then bought the prettiest dusty pink silk dupion which has a slight shine to it. This was more expensive at £10 a metre, I bought 2 metres again.

On Tuesday I fitted the trouser toile and the only change I needed to do was to take in the leg more, as it wasn't quite fitted enough. I took a good 4cm off from the master-draft and re-drafted my pattern. I've cut out all my fabric now and have over-locked all the pieces except the pocket bag and facing as this is a different fabric which I didn't have on the day.My trousers are slim fit, and they come out slightly at the hips to give a good silhouette. They are size 10.

Today, after fitting the shirt onto a mannequin last week, I changed some of the shirt such as the length of the sleeve. I also wanted a gather at the sleeve head so had to sort this out on the master-draft. I changed the collar shape too, I made it smaller and rounder to make it look more delicate. I've cut all of this fabric out too, ready to start sewing next week at university.

I need to buy a zip for the trousers and some buttons for the shirt, I've got some in mind I just need to find somewhere that does what I'm looking for!

After falling in love with the dusty, antique pink silk I immediately made my mind up that I wanted the style of this outfit to be quite vintage - accessories would be gold and I'd love a model to wear my shirt with a really big, statement necklace. I can also imagine a huge pair of gorgeous, cute heels that would go perfectly with the fitted trousers.

My Portfolio

2009-03-16T16:39:00.006Z

All work done by me, I'll update it as I add to my portfolio.

I wrote my CV this morning in Professional Studies. It was the first time I had written one since school, oops! But I was surprised to find I could write so much about skills that I've learned since college. I was asked why I had kept my CV to only one page, which I thought was a good question. I guess it was my instinct to just fit it all onto one page. I think it just looks a lot neater and as employees only take a minute to skim through, one page is simpler and more straight to the point to look at. On the other hand, if I had a lot to write about, only keeping it to one page would be silly; why only have 1 page of information about yourself when you've got so much more to tell? As my skills and experience grow I'm pretty sure my CV will too - just like my portfolio!

Super Cute Strawberry

2009-03-14T21:35:00.004Z

Thought I'd just share with you a bag I ordered on Wednesday. It's the cutest bag I've ever seen. Quite Katy Perry inspired don't you think? I've not been so excited about a bag for a long time, oh this joys of being a woman!
Ok, it's not very practical, I can't carry much in it but I don't really care! It's definetly a pretty accessory more than a practical item. I'm counting down the days until it arrives at my door.

There's More To Fashion Than Sewing & Shopping

2009-03-14T21:13:00.003Z

So Friday's session at university was our Fashion Design Practice lesson. We were working on the Macs on Adobe InDesign to create a fashion magazine front cover. I've then got to use the shop research and reports I did earlier in the semester to do a page comparing prices that would appear inside the fashion magazine. I'm really enjoying this kind of work! I have Photoshop at home and so I'm pretty familiar with the program but InDesign is really new to me.

It's really opened my eyes to the different areas in fashion and if I'm honest, the newer things like this are exciting me alot more than standard pattern cutting and manufacture. Many people close to me are great at art and I've always enjoyed drawing and painting, so I think the reason I'm enjoying these sorts of lessons is that it's bringing the more creative side of me out at the moment. I even enjoy writing, I've got really into this blog malarchy and I quite enjoyed writing the essays on fashion and it's history.

I've really opened my eyes to the possibilities of doing something other than sewing and pattern cutting. Perhaps I could be a future fashion illustrator? Or magazine columnist? Or even a trend researcher for a company?Above is an image I did for a Visual Studies module last semester. I chose to look at gothic architecture and created 2 illustrations based on this. I drew the original figure with pen, scanned it in then using Photoshop, scanned in other images and fabrics for the clothes. The male image I created was similar to this.

I plan to upload more photos of my work to show you soon.

Technical Fashion Projects

2009-03-10T18:31:00.003Z

Just a quick blog from me today. I spent this afternoon finishing a toile of a basic pair of trousers, which I've then got to adapt to my own design for a final pair. Tomorrow I'm doing more work on a shirt project which is alongside the trousers- I've completed a toile of this too.

So now I have to seriously think about how I want to change the designs for this shirt/trouser combo. I'm thinking dusty pink shirt with puff sleeves, low neck-line and darts to make it fitted, but I'm still trying to find that extra something to make it different. I'm thinking maybe how I embellish it with buttons etc. could really make the shirt more individual.

Now for the trousers I'm not too sure...maybe a grey fabric, or a dark brown? and I can't decided whether to make a really nice wide-leg trouser, or slim-fit, I'm swaying more towards the wide leg at the moment but I'm pretty sure that could change! Anyway I'm going fabric shopping soon at the market in Derby - there's a really great fabric stall (that's been extended recently yay!) which is where I plan to go.

I've already spotted the shirt fabric, ooh I love fabric shopping I'm actually quite excited! It's like looking through your wardrobe and finding something you forgot you had but once really loved - just rolls and rolls of fabric piled up, I have to admit I spent a while browsing the material last week, and I plan to do that again but come away with something this time!

I'll keep you posted about my final designs for this project.

I'm A Barbie Girl

2009-03-04T20:35:00.007Z

I was browsing blogs today, something that has grown on me immensely since starting my own, and read an entry about a Barbie Runway Show which happened on February 14th this year (valentines day how cute!). The pictures just say it all really, I guess this was a fashion show to present the many different Barbie looks. It amazed me that the clothes looked so much like something Barbie would wear, but at the same time the models didn't look too bad either!I guess Barbie is probably one of the first things little girls look at for fashion inspiration - without knowing it obviously. I remember thinking I wanted to get married in the same dress one of my Barbies had. I also used to get sooo excited when I'd buy a new outfit for her, or sometimes my mum would even make her a cute dress. Although nothing could beat those little pink shoes that always got lost, and strangely it was never the pair that went missing it was only one shoe! I was smart enough to know that Barbie would not look cool in odd shoes, so most of the time she went bare-foot.

Another memory has just popped into my head and it made me giggle. I once attempted to make my beloved Barbie a shiny silver flared mini-skirt out of one of those silver tin foil cake wrappers (you have no idea how long it took me and my boyfriend to work out how to describe that thing!), I made a hole and stuck her legs through it, it didn't go to plan. Hmm it looked very uncomfortable and I think the next day she was back into her pretty wedding dress. That was probably the only fashion disaster my Barbie ever had!
“Sometimes I wish I could go back to the days when I was six and my biggest problem was what kind of dress to put on Barbie"

Style Icon #1

2009-03-04T13:32:00.004Z

KATY PERRY <3
I've been into her music for a while now, and I respect her just as much for her style.She said herself that she strives to be unique, and she pulls it off so well!
The amount of fun she has shows through in everything she wears. It's really impressive how much it reflects in her music and videos too. I think she's such a great example of showing your own personality in the way you present yourself. I'd like to think I do that too.I would just LOVE to have a rummage through her wardrobe.

Giving In To Temptation

2009-02-26T13:37:00.004Z

Just a quick update today, I gave into the temptation of the net and bought the Disney Couture 'Believe' necklace from asos.com!

I bought it just this morning and it came to about £25 including p&p, not bad to say that it's 14ct gold plate, and it comes in a super cute pouch.

I can't wait to wear it, I've got a feeling it's going to be one of those necklaces I have on every day. I also have my eyes on the treasure chest ring because it opens to reveal diamante treasure and it looks so unique and pretty.

A Disney Lover's Dream

2009-02-24T19:34:00.006Z

WOW!
As a Disney fanatic from the age of 5, this is the best news I've heard yet.

DISNEY COUTURE is a new jewellery line based on, yes you guessed it, Disney classics such as Peter Pan and Cinderella (my most favourite Disney animation EVER!). Jewellery designer Kidada Jones is part of this fantastic idea.

Celebrities like Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have all been spotted wearing these cute, naive pieces.

I am now making it my ambition for this year to get my hands on something from this range. OH IT'S SO GORGEOUS I'M SO EXCITED!! As a super Disney fan I think I have an excuse to buy some amazingly cute jewellery don't you? I'm collecting the dvds as we speak after I got rid of the VCR years ago which stopped me from watching the videos I loved when I was a child; perhaps I can start collecting a little more grown up version of my obsession.

They're not even too expensive at all, the 'Believe' pendant which is apparantly 'by far the most popular piece', Grazia, is only £22. Other prices range from £11.75 to £75.

I've checked out the jewellery on ASOS.com and have to say I would have to put every single one of them on my wishlist. This is a pure Disney lover's dream.

Here's to hoping dreams really do come true!

My Love For Leopard Print

2009-02-16T21:19:00.011Z

So a while a go I was really into leopard print this and leopard print that, then my style got slightly tamer with plain block colours, tights and pretty florals. Basically, I was thinking back to last year and have decided I want more fun with my clothes again!

Now I have re-discovered my love for leopard print and can't help but walk (with quite a pace) directly to something hanging up with that lovely spotty pattern. My new found passion is being fueled even more because more and more shops seem to be selling items with this purrfect pattern!

With this thought in my head tonight and too much time on my hands, I couldn't help but search the net for pretty leopard print pieces:

I bought this top from TopShop last week. It's an over-sized vest with a really nice drape. It hangs well at the hips and is just the right length to wear with a pair of black leggings and heels - my favourite!
These heels are so cute! Found on the Office website at a price of around £60.

Able to splash some cash? ASOS.com are selling this really pretty dress by Roberto Cavalli for £210 (originally £545.00!). The detail at the bottom of the shoulder straps is so pretty, and I am loving the different sizes of print used.Another ASOS.com buy here. I LOVE this Ted Baker bag going for £160. The zips and buckle add a little somethign to this bag.Something a little more affordable? Grab this spotty umbrella from New Look for just £8.00!
How NOT to wear leopard print! This picture made me giggle. I found it on a super blog - The Fashion Police. This is what they said;
'"Who the hell is Abigail Clancy?" we asked ourselves when we first saw this photo. And then, "Who the hell cares?" we thought, "For forever more, Abi Clancy will be known to The Fashion Police as "That chick who turned up at The Brits in a completely see through dress and leopard print thong." Actually, it turns out she's some kind of lingerie model, which further begs the question: why didn't she wear a matching bra with her thong?'.

And on that note, I'm finished searching the net as I am quite tired. Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it. Tomorrow I am going shopping (yet again) and will no doubt be returning with my next loved leopard piece.

A Busy Day

2009-02-12T18:24:00.006Z

So as promised, I went to Nottingham today to check out what's in our shops this season (S/S). I was pleased to find a lot of the new trends I'm into at the moment are big on the high-street!

My task was to basically pick a store to represent each sector of shop – lower, middle and higher end store. I then had to pick four garments which fitted into a trend I've researched and all four garments had to be the same style in each of the three stores. If that makes sense. So basically I chose to look at an a-symmetrical (one shoulder) dress, a double-breasted jacket, high waist trousers and a blouse from three stores which were H&M (being my lower store), River Island (middle) and Vivienne Westwood (high). I decided to look at womenswear because this research is leading to a design project and I find womenswear much easier and more fun to do.

Obviously The higher end clothes were much much better quality, and much much more expensive. For example, a one-shoulder black dress from H&M was £14.99, whereas the Vivienne Westwood dress was £275! I felt like I was touching gold! Believe me, if I had the money I would choose the Vivienne Westwood dress but as I am not even close to being able to buy things like that H&M is always within my price range.

The main trends I spotted in a few shops were block colours, animal print (I couldn't resist buying an over-sized leopard print vest top from TopShop), pretty florals and skin tones. Everywhere seemed to be fitting the trends really well, but still in keeping with their own image. It seemed that a lot of the styles hadn't changed from TopShop, but they had updated their ranges to suit current trends, which is fine by me!

River Island really surprised me with the amount of bright colours in the clothes. A t-shirt my friend Ben pointed out looked like a t-shirt used by art students experimenting with fluorescent paints. The a-symmetric dress I picked from River Island was the brightest yellow I'd ever seen, and there were bright pink bags and dresses all over the place.

It seems that colour is the over-riding factor in this seasons fashion. Bold colours seem to be getting bolder and prints crazier.

I had a good afternoon altogether, it's really interesting seeing pictures of designer-wear in magazines which have then been filtered through to much cheaper clothes on rails for us all to buy.

My Overview Of Spring/Summer '09 Trends

2009-02-10T19:08:00.011Z

After looking through the internet, magazines, a few shops and tv (going to look into more sources soon), I thought it would be good for me to give you my own review of some of the latest trends for this season.

Along with the bleached denims, western, big shoulders, crazy print and jumpsuit trends there are a few I like the sound of surprisingly enough!

I'd buy leopard print things anyway, but it appears this fits into a new trend! Natural Prints have been seen on numerous S/S 09 catwalks, with designers such as Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Christopher Kane and Jimmy Choo being inspired by nature's art. One thing I really love about this new look is that this isn't just dealing with animal prints; for example, Christian Lacroix looked deeper into the people wearing his clothes and I'm amazed by this oversized necklace representing a human skeleton. Other unusual inspiration includes wood-grain, fossils, x-ray images and even guts, yuck! Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve!

A more elegant look at nature has given us the inspiration for the next 'Emma-approved' trend: Petals, Prints and All Round Prettyness. Very traditional floral prints are making a comeback, but this time less cute cottage and more metallics and modern twists. This weeks Grazia has a good page showing some of the things on the highstreet which have been inspired by designers like Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano and Moschino. I really love one of Fendi's dresses which is covered in appliquéd pink and white roses, it's the ultimate girly dress! I've already spotted a gorgeous pink floral skirt in H&M which i may have to grab. Why not try mixing a pretty floral dress with some black shiny leggings or a chunky gold bangle or two (which are a growing trend on their own).

This leads me on to my next exciting prediction. Metallics were a growing trend last year, and they seem to be coming still with more futuristic fashion in our sights. Not only is more and more metallic fabric being used, but unusual details and silhouettes are being used. Gareth Pugh and Gianfranco Ferre are great designers to look at if you want to see their super spacey creations.
"Metallics are innately bold, but this season's dazzling golds are textured, beaten and beaded, creating an even stronger first impression", executive fashion designer of Vogue.
On the highstreet, I think you're probably going to find much more toned down versions of these shiny silhouettes - I've seen quite a few of accessories out there and Topshop have some great textured metallic items, like these crinkled gold jeans.

A few more S/S 09 must-haves include one-shoulder dresses, skin tones, sheer fabrics (if you dare!), bright block colours (another favourite of mine), BIG necklaces, and crazy shoes;
"Spring's shoes are real works of art, bedecked in ribbons and feathers, beads, metallic ruffles and sharp studs. This seasons styles are extreme", fashion features associate, Vogue.
So it seems this year is all about standing out, making a statement and being brave. just have fun finding the trend that suits you and I think you could be surprised.

I'm going to Nottingham on Thursday to do some shop research, and hopefully I'll be able to tell you if some of my favourite new styles are out there and where to get them!

The Rise Of Celebrity Fashion...

2009-02-09T14:37:00.000Z

This was mentioned in my class today, and I found it really interesting. My opinions?

I can see why celebrities are style icons. They are constantly watched by the public, and we all want to look like them and so I understand how celebrities and fashion have met. But what I don't understand is how they can claim to design a range of clothes.
'Kate Moss has officially turned her hand to design for the first time, having agreed to create a line for TopShop ', says an article on the Vogue website I read earlier. Isn't this a bit misleading? We all know she didn't design the clothes for TopShop, she would've got a hell of a lot of help from the very beginning. I can imagine her just picking out the fabrics and styles she likes, which she then claims as her own designs.
But as annoying this is for someone studying fashion and learning about the intricate details from designing to pattern-cutting to manufacture, it's OK for celebrities like Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham or Colleen Rooney because we keep buying 'their' clothes regardless.
Personally, I wouldn't go out and buy a dress just because it looks like something Kate Moss would wear, I would buy a dress that looks like something I'd wear!
Celebrity fashion, right or wrong? It doesn't really matter because as long as we keep on spending money, the amount of celebrities 'designing' their own ranges will become as popular as them adopting children (which is another topic for a blog sometime!).

Assessment Feedback

2009-01-29T18:31:00.000Z

I was meant to write this on Tuesday, the evening that I got my grades back but it flew completely over my head. So this is 2 days late, oops.
I was given my grades from 3 of the modules we did last semester, and overall I'm pretty pleased! I always seem to want better than I get, but that's a good thing isn't it? I got C+,C+ and B+, which overall added up to a B+. Which is cool, and I now know what I need to aim for this semester, an almighty A!
I was given the B+ grade for the Visual Studies module, which was basically exploring fashion illustration. I have to say I enjoyed this the most, so I'm chuffed I got the best mark out of my results for it!
It's made me start consider looking at Fashion Illustration more.
I bought this book from Amazon last week, and it's so amazing, I just keep picking it up and flicking through it. I love books like that. It just fills me with inspiration and I highly recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in illustration for fashion.

My First Blog....

2009-01-26T23:51:00.000Z

So as part of my Professional Studies module at uni, I've got to set up this blog to let you all know how things are going whenever fashion inspires me, informs me, fills me with questions or just simply excites me....

Why fashion?
I've always been part of a creative family, taking most inspiration from my mum as I grew older. But when I was younger, I stayed with my great grandma, she'd show me how to sew teddy bears during the day and in the evening I'd sit and watch her do a beautiful piece of tapestry in amazement. She had books about dolls and dresses and she'd tell me stories of how her grandma used to sew and she herself taught sewing classes. I guess this was my first glimpse into the world of fabric and needles and thread.
I never grew up wanting to have anything much to do with fashion, i wish i could say that i did, but i always seemed more interested in drawing. I did very well in my Textiles GCSE which ultimately changed my mind from doing a BTEC in Art & Design to a BTEC in Fashion and Clothing. And I'd never look back. Ever since college my interest in fashion has grown and grown and grown.

And so here I am now, in my first year of university, a BA Hons Fashion Studies only 2 or 3 years away, getting more excited about fashion but seeming to know exactly what I want to do less and less every month.
You see, I enjoy so much about fashion - pattern cutting, manufacture, illustration, photography, articles, writing, designing...I can't pick a favourite at the moment.

I'm hoping this module will help me decide, or atleast refine my paths for decisions in the future.

Thanks for reading!