Internship Success!

 I have to begin by apologising for being so rubbish at posting lately! I have been extremely busy working on my final major project, (post to follow) and applying to uni, that I seem to have neglected my blog! I am very happy to announce that I have been accepted onto the Textiles Design course at Manchester School of Art. I am a tad nervous to be moving to away, but so very excited to begin exploring a new city!

During all this excitement I completely forgot to follow up my internship post. A couple of months ago I was flicking through a magazine and got to the 'This Month's Best Buys' page, I was over the moon to see that the printed shorts I had designed for Lipsy had made it onto the list! 

Re Invention of the White Shirt.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been snowed under with work and applying to Uni. Who knew digital portfolios could be so stressful and time consuming! In this post I thought I would share my latest project with you. Re Inventing the Classic White Shirt. In the early days the shirt had neither collar nor cuffs. In the 1930's to 1960's the shirt with a fixed collar revived and the chest pocket was introduced. The white shirt has always been a key piece in every woman's wardrobe and has played a huge role in the status of women.  They were worn by powerful and historic women such as Marlene Dietrich and Wallis Simpson, thus not only showing power but also femininity.

Before brainstorming ideas, I knew almost immediately I wanted to change the colour and look of the fabric rather than concentrating on the shape and form of the shirt. The Nicole Farhi dresses above inspired me. I like the way she has used colour , almost like a tie dye effect. She has also incorporated drawing and digital printing into her work, both of which I am extremely interested in.

I began looking at surrealism and the way people perceived things. I wanted to create an image that would make people look again to figure out it's meaning. I decided to change the idea of what is seen as 'beautiful', and what is hidden and viewed as 'grotesque'. I liked the concept of bringing the interior to the exterior. For example putting an image of something we tend to cover up and keep hidden on something that can be seen. 

Once I had come up with the print to put on the back, I decided i wanted to keep the shirt simple so I cropped it and cut off the sleeves to give it a younger, fresher look, thus in keeping with the concept of a new way of thinking.

I found a shoot in Pidgeons and Peacocks that gave me inspiration on the styling and look for the shoot. It was dark and grungy which I feel suited my shirt well. 

My shirt was kindly modelled by the beautiful Minna.

My week at Lipsy

During my uni reading week, I travelled to London to spend my week working with the Lipsy design team. Their headquarters were just off Oxford St, which was brilliant as I could spend my lunches wandering around Soho, exploring all of the fabric shops.

I was very nervous to begin with but the whole team were very welcoming and I settled in quickly, I was working with three other interns who were all graduates in fashion design. It was good to work with them, and learn about their experiences within the industry. They were also a lot more experienced than I was, so it pushed me to work harder and produce the same standard of work as them. The Lipsy design team is made up of fifteen people. This includes designers of different levels and different departments, pattern cutters and dress makers. Marcel the creative director also worked extremely closely with the design team. I mainly worked with the beading and embellishment designer, but I was also given tasks by a senior dress designer. The designers were currently working on the spring/summer collection. Each garment was designed using varied technical drawings, the patterns were then cut in house. Copies were made by the interns and samples were made by the dressmakers in house and then sent to India or China.

All of the of the prints and beading drawing designs were sent straight to India and China to be put onto garments and sent back as samples.

This year Lipsy s/s'12 collection is going to have a tribal theme, I was asked to create a tribal print for a vest and shorts. I took inspiration from the Sass and Bide aztec print shorts. The designer was pleased with my print and so sent them off to be created into samples. Hopefully they look good and they decide to use them next season!
Every day I was asked to do a number of tasks, from copying patterns, composing beading designs, producing technical drawings for designers and designing prints.

Sass & Bide

I will lastly talk about the project I did on my final day. I was asked to create a beading composition for a vest top on a mesh material. I created the flower piece as I really liked the hem shape, the beading work also gives the flower detail and defines it's features. I learnt how to create specific marks to represent various beads and so manufacturers in India can understand what had to be made.

This is the garment as a whole in 2D shape. It was then photocopied and sent to India to be created. This was my favourite piece of work I created, I think when it is completed in 3D form it will be very pretty because of its shape and delicacy. I will be keeping an eye out in store and online in march to see if any of my stuff has been used!

I am very glad and grateful to Lipsy for giving me the opportunity to experience what it is like working within the industry. I enjoyed it greatly and it has helped me find what path I want to follow.

I have decided to do a textile design course next year, as working for Lipsy confirmed my love for drawing, fabric, colour and pattern! I am currently in the process of applying through UCAS, wish me luck! x

Colours, Lines and Christopher Kane!

This week I have been mainly working on the idea of colour and line, working on quick studies using different techniques such as continuous line drawing and drawing within a limited time. Also experimenting using different media such as layering with paper, working with black fine liners and inks and then working the colour back on top. Whilst working on my studies I am constantly looking for artists and designers who are relevant and who can inspire my work further. This week we were concentrating on flowers (yes, doing the same flower head over and over got a bit testing after a while!). 

Georgia O'keefe

My obvious choice of artist to look at was Georgia O'keefe. Her bold and bright painting of flowers are beautiful and she conveys flowers and plants in their true light. Whilst working on this project, I looked at designer Christopher Kane's spring/summer 2012 collection, his collection was made up of leather-look shift dresses covered in gold and silver embellishment, matching jackets and shorts with bright bold flower pattern which still retain the expensive texture and look of embellishment. The pieces that stood out the most to me were the nude shift dresses and jackets with bright flower embellishments covered with shimmering organza. Christopher Kane's collection is exciting and full of personality, it is understated, light and sophisticated. With this collection Kane has shown he has taken as much time and detail creating the fabric and modernising embellishment as he has with the cut and lines of the pieces.

London Fashion Week

I have been following this years LFW,  and watching the shows online. Things are completely changing aren't they? I have a theory that in years to come there won't be any actual shows but it will all be digital, designers will show their collections in screenings.  Thus losing all excitement of being there in the same room as the models and designers. 

There are so many designers that I would like to talk about, but I narrowed it down to my favourite three. I have two more designers I would like to discuss as their collections really showed the key trends of the seasons, but I will talk about them in a later post with a mix of my own looks.

So the first of the collections that caught my eye on the catwalk was of designer Felicity Brown. I have been a big fan of Brown's work for a while now. Her work is very rich in colour and pattern and her techniques begin with extensive drawing. Thus and her love for the surface of her designs is what sets her apart from the rest and makes her collections unique. I began looking at her work when working on my art project last year, I worked on recreating the surface texture and colour of fish using paint and fabric. Felicity's signature hand-dyed ruffles was very similar to my own ink work. Brown uses deep and also bold colours which contrast, but she loosens the harshness with the blending of dye's from dark to light. Brown has stated in the past that she is inspired by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, this comes across in her work as she shows the womanly figure in the most flattering and real way. Her designs capture movement and can also portray the emotion and feeling of the woman wearing the dress. This collection was based on a Victorian adventurer in Africa, she has combined both Victorian tailoring with traditional African neck adornments to convey this. Brown's last spring/summer collection was breathtaking and this year's collection is no different. Brown has concentrated on wearability which will in no doubt get her commercial success. 

Alice Palmer

Holly Fulton

Alice Palmer was another designer that caught my eye much for the same reasons as Felicity Brown, she takes great detail in producing the fabric for her designs, and her sculptured and highly talked about knitwear is sought after. Her designs are very womanly and also have a high fashion edge but are comfortable and wearable at the same time.  Holly Fulton was another much talked about designer at LFW. She is well known for her bright and patterned art deco lines. Her collection is based on a Las Vegas holiday, and she has taken inspiration from the bright lights, arcades, casinos and fruit machines. She takes old trends such as the 90's checkerboard prints and makes them fresh and fun again, unlike many designers who just chase trends every season. 

A quick hello.

So I have been meaning to set up my blog for a while, but due to exams and travelling I have left it until now. I wanted to start my own blog as I have many opinions about Art and Fashion and until now, I have had nowhere to express these!
This Blog is going to be working alongside the work I'm currently doing in Uni, so I will be posting about  new artists and designers I find. I will also be posting about things that are currently inspiring me and my work. On top of this I will be posting my own looks and looks of people around me.