Intentions | Unit Evaluation

The Intentions Unit has been a huge eye-opener for me in terms of the purpose of my work. I have taken a lot of time and done a lot of research on where exactly I see my work going. For the first time I have been making decisions based on the research I have done on fashion and have taken inspiration from real designers that are already out there. Making Inspiration, Consumer and Concept boards has really helped me get my head around what I am doing and where it is going. I have made myself much more aware of what I need to be producing to target the right audience, which I hope will benefit me a lot for the rest of this year and Level 6.

I have also tried to link everything together in terms of concept. I often find it easy to get lost and stray from my original ideas into something completely unrelated. I have tried hard to back everything up and link it throughout. Although I did start with windows and stray from that into textures which in the end took over a little, I see that more as development because I became stuck with the windows concept by itself. In terms of linking my work to contextual practice, I think I have tried to find artists/designers/photographers along the way that relate to what I am doing and why I am doing it. However, I definitely could have had a few more just to make it crystal clear where all of my ideas are coming from. I've learned that I need to document this from the start so that I don't get confused trying to place them later.
When I first think about the Unit and the new processes I have tried, I feel like I haven't experimented anywhere near enough. However I then think about the fact that I have really come to terms with which processes and media work for me. I have really dedicated this unit to progressing digitally, and I have realised this is what I enjoy the most and it plays to my strengths. In a way I have learned countless Photoshop processes which I have documented in a technical file, but aren't as obvious to see when just looking at my work. Nonetheless, I feel like I should have taken a lot more risks with my drawings beforehand, as the only overtly new process I tried was paper making. In comparison to Level 4 my drawings are a lot more thought about and considered, rather than drawing for the sake of drawing.

 The one thing I would say I have done the most successfully in this unit is refining and fixing. Although I didn't take as many risks as I would have liked to I certainly made enough mistakes. I kept stepping back and thinking "Ok, what's wrong and how am I going to fix it". Mind mapping helped me a lot along with asking other people for their opinions. I learned that to be able to criticise yourself its important to be able to take criticism from other people and work on it accordingly. Overall, this unit has been a learning curve for me. I can feel myself becoming more prepared for the outside world and understanding what it will want from me. The key process for me has been refining again and again and finding solutions to what needs fixing in order to produce the best possible outcome.

Intentions | Consumer

The whole way through this unit I thought that my work was aimed at high street stores like Topshop, River Island, Urban Outfitters etc. Now that I have my collection and it has been refined several times, it looks more like the higher end of high street. For example Whistles, Cos, Reiss, Zara or & Other Stories.

Although my designs are still classified as high street the consumer will be a lot different than it was previously. It is more likely to be someone with more money to spend at their leisure and someone a little less grungy than I thought before. My prints themselves have a grungy feel to them but because of the processes I've put them through, the garments I have chosen to put them on and the fabrics I have printed them on they have become more polished.

I have digitally printed my final collection on a thin silk Habotai and an optic Cotton. I chose which print should go on which fabric based on what it is used for on the final designs. I spent some time in the studio today pinning onto a mannequin to see what the garments might look like physically, seeing how they might drape etc. Overall I am really satisfied, however there were two prints which I feel should be in different fabric.
I sent these off to be printed in the more expensive silk Crep de Chine that I used previously in the project. I thought that this would be too expensive for the audience I am going for but now that I am aiming for higher end high street the price is less of an issue. 

Pinning my designs onto a mannequin has really helped me to visualise what my prints would looks like as actual products, and I am happy with what I have produced for this unit.

Intentions | Addition of lines and grids

I finally put together my final collection this week based on the most popular designs from the tallys, however when I looked at it all together I just wasn't happy. I like all of the individual designs but when they are put together I'm not seeing a collection that fits together well. This has made me realise that the fashion illustrations and seeing the prints on the product is extremely important, as they can look so different. Thankfully I still have time to make improvements to the prints, so I mind mapped what I thought was wrong so that I can fix the issues. 

I needed some inspiration on what to do so I went on WGSN to look and the Print and Pattern trend forecasts. I noticed a lot of stripes for S/S15. I took inspiration from this and added lines to some of the prints I have already rather than creating all new ones.
I found the most popular design previously was the dress with a white grid pattern over the top of the print, I thought that this might be because the white space creates more of a pattern. I tried experimenting with grids too as it proved popular with my audience.

I feel like the newly added lines break up my designs and make them less similar. Looking at the improved collection, I am much happier with it. It looks a lot more refined and thought about, and each print now is individual to all the rest while at the same time fitting together well as a collection.

Intentions | Fashion Illustrations

In order to start putting together a final collection of garments I needed to create my own fashion illustrations to photoshop them into, and make sure they are keeping in with my theme.

I see my collection is being grungy, which fits in with the original theme of 'Urban Influences'. I took to Pinterest again to research before creating my sketches, making a collection of fashion illustrations and mood boards to take inspiration from [Illustrations/moodboards]. I also did this to get ideas of how I might present my final designs when it comes to doing so. 

After tracing the garment shapes I wanted I then edited them by drawing in what I wanted to change.

The hair and shoes were the main things that needed changing, as well of a couple of arms and legs in a different position. On Pinterest I found that Grunge shoes were chunky and simple, and grunge hair was messy and undone with minimal styling if any. These are the ideas I want to portray however I also want to keep the idea that a certain amount of effort has been made too. I played around freehand with these ideas until I was happy with my sketches. The shading/scribbles links to my grunge theme and makes the sketches more my own. Here are the final designs:

Photoshopping my prints onto my sketches has gotten me really excited, I can finally see a collection coming together.

My plan is to create a couple of designs on each garment to begin with. To narrow it down to a final collection, I am debating asking people around the studio and making a tally chart of people's favourites, then using the results to pick my final garments. I want to be working towards a high street audience in particular young adults, which means the opinion of university students could really be a big help and give me some direction.