Thursday 17 June 2010
GFW
However, I had some great positive feedback from lots of people who were interested in my work. This was a massive confidence boost. I made lots of contacts with the industry and interviews lined up with people that have contatced me! Very exciting!
I also sold a dress to River Island! They loved our college stand at River Island and I was so excited when they siad they wanted to buy my dress. It will be amazing to see my design in their stores, I can't wait!
Overall a brilliant week- so worth it! I now look forward to an exciting career as a designer!
Tuesday 25 May 2010
Photoshoot!
Today I worked with the images on Photoshop putting poses of the same outfit together creating interesting juxtapositions. This shows lots of angles of the outfits and brings the images to life. My photos when finished will be going into a look book of my collection, which I am planning on keeping quite simple but effective with the strong striking images.
Keep looking to see finished images...
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Photoshoot
As my collection is called floral queen, I thought I could either go with the floral theme or queen...
I like the idea of a field, and this beautiful field in Wivenhoe could be a possibility. It is full of flowers and would have a real summer feel. I like the idea, but am worried it might be too much with my colourful, busy prints and details...
A third idea I have is a brick wall with vine. This has a really English feel, which I like. I think this theme would go well, and is quite simple, however I'm still not sure if any of the locations are too much...
Another option would be to photograph my collection in the studio with a simple grey/white backdrop like with the David Lam photo, which I loved. I have a photographer who is going to do the shoot for me, so I now just need to decide on the location, a model and date.
http://sophiecpayne.blogspot.com/ - Sophie will be photographing my shoot.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Final Collection
There was a few things that I changed along the way, but nothing major. I didn't like the cuffs on one of my jackets as the frills looked a bit twee, and the collar also didn't work. I changed these to more simple leather binding which looks much better. I also had some problems with the hems of pleathing on one dress. The seams and undergraments were showing on each layer where the pleating had been sewn on the bottom. I had to do a lot fo un-picking, pinning, cutting and re-stitching to get this right, but it now looks great! There was also the hem of a jacket I had to unpick, cut and re-sew as it had dropped on one side. A few of the dresses in the silk satin did drop after cutting, so I had to leave them on the mannequin over-night then pin and cut the hems straight before hemming, These are small details that you don't think about or realise until you make in the right fabrics, and I have learnt a lot of things like this. It shows how important it is to plan and be organised because there are always things that come up that you didn't plan for that take time.
Matches
Today I helped sort out some colours and fabric swatches to be sent to Hong Kong to be sourced, did some photocopying and tidying. I got to look around the Matches building including the amazing mail/internet warehouse! It is full of all of the clothes for the website sales, all beautiful designer pieces- Chole, Diane Von Furstenburg etc etc! Like a treasure chest of clothes- amazing!
I think I am going to get on well at Matches and look forward to getting more involved and learning more. Next week I might be able to help out on the Freda photoshoot, which will be really exciting!
Monday 10 May 2010
Presentation
Saturday 8 May 2010
Artsthread pages
I have been working on my final pages for artsthread today. I decided to have my four pages all of my final project as I feel this best reflects what I can do. I have an illustration page, design page, print page and mood page. I am happy that the pages show my work well, and any employer looking at my portfolio online will be able to see the range of skills that I have.
Friday 7 May 2010
David Lam Photograph
Friday 30 April 2010
Illustrations
Monday 26 April 2010
Artsthread
Each student has thier own page, which you can upload 4 images to for your portfolio and a CV. It is a really good way to get your work seen by the industry, and it also promotes our college.
I have decided to use all my final project to put on my portfolio, as this is what best shows what I can do. I have put on pages of my illustrations, development, flats and prints.
www.artsthread.co.uk/p/carlyminshull
Sunday 25 April 2010
FMP progression
I have also been working on my portfolio pages this week. Above is my development board for the project, which I have made quite busy with lots of different ideas to make it interesting to look at. I want it to show a range of my work to show how I have developed from initail ideas. This week I will be working on my illustration boards for the portfolio.
Sunday 18 April 2010
Hand and Lock
I did many different jobs while on the work placement including beading shorts for n'dubz with swarovski crystals, which was cool. I prepared artwork for embroidery and learnt how a drawing is used to create a hand embroidered piece. I also did a lot of errands to collect or deliver items or buy ribbon/fabric. This was useful because I got to know where places were in London that I hadn't been before. I also helped with monogramming onto aprons for the national cafe, then got a free coffee and muffin when delivering them, which was nice!
Friday 9 April 2010
Photoshoot!
Sunday 28 March 2010
FMP Progression
Laser Cutting
I was really inspired by Loewe's S/S 2010 collection, where a whole dress was delicately laser cut creating a lacey effect in the leather. It had a really interesting, detailed effect which I love, and aim to create in my leather pieces...
Sunday 21 March 2010
Toiling
I have also been finalising and developing patterns for the leather to be laser cut in for some of my designs. These will be small details, such as a collar or hem, but I think should make a statement with the contrast to the fluid lines and soft fabrics and prints.
Sunday 14 March 2010
Balenciaga, Fall 2010
I also find this an inspiring dress, with the interesting placement print against the pleated effect hem and neck and the contrasting sheer sleeves. there is lots of details in the feminine dress which makes it unique and special.
Zac Posen, Fall 2010
I love the print on the light sheer dress, as it has a soft, feminine feeling and has a completely different look on the second outfit. The all-over print is effective on a consrtucted outfit, as you don't loose any of the print with it all over and bold.
Digital Printing
I have had back my digital print samples which I sent to the silk bureau last week. I am really pleased with them, and they are really effective on the silk satin and silk goergette fabrics that I chose. The colours have come out perfectly, and I now have a really good idea of what the collection might look like. The patterns I created are hand drawn and then manipulated on Photoshop, and I was concerned that the hand drawn quality might not be so good when blown up or printed. However, I was pleased that they all looked really clear and effective.
After getting back my prints, I have now chosen my final line up of designs with the print details for each outfit. I decided to choose mostly simple shapes for my garments as there is a lot of detail in the print and embellishment details, but was inspired by the 1920s and Chanel, so did include some interesting constructed and pleated detailing. The shapes and fabric are quite feminine, with light-weight goergette and satin for movement and a delicate summer mood.
On Friday I took a trip to London and went to Shepards Bush Market for my other fabrics. There will be pleating and some panels with no print, so I needed to buy some silk goergette and silk satin fabrics for this. I want to use silks, to make the collection feel really special and luxurious. There was some really good shops at Sheperds Bush, and I was able to get all the colours I needed in the right fabrics, so came away really happy.
From my initial research of the royal collection and the queens jewellery, I was really inspired by the diamonds and jewels. Along with my prints I will be having areas of beading on my outfits, inspired by this, to make the outfits really special.
This is a sample I did with swarovski crystals, which is really effective, giving a glamourous, sprakling effect. I love the swarovski crystals, because they are special and have an exquisite diamonte effect. While I was in London on Friday I went to the creative bead shop near carnaby street, where they have lots of different kinds of beautiful swarovski crystals to choose from, and brought a collection of them to decorate my outfits with.
Sunday 7 March 2010
FMP progression
My final project is progressing well, especially with my print designs. I have come up with many that I really like, and feel that it is changing the vision of my collection slightly as I go along. I was going to have lots of embellishment and embroidery detailing with the prints to compliment. However, as I am loving so many of the prints, and how they all go together I am wanting to use more of them, and maybe less or no embroidery, but still some embellishment for detail. It is very much going to be a bright and exciting collection with lots of detail, and I am happy with where this is going.
(all images subject to copyright)
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Anna Sui
I paticulary like the bright colours and soft floral prints in this recent collection, which have a very feminine, ethernal feel.
The floral print on a sheer fabric is really effective, and has a soft, delicate feel. This collection has an almost vintage feeling, with the colours and mixture of art deco and floral prints, which I like. This is the mood I am going for with my current collection.
I love the embellished dress, which has 1920s references with the dropped waist and shaped hem. I admire the way delicate embelllishment and bright, exciting prints are combined in one collection, and it is this mix that I aim to create, but brought together in one outfit for more of a statement.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Mary Katrantzou Fall 2010
I love the beaded and embellished jewellery created on the sheer neckline of the garment above, and the way she has created the illusion of surface textures with the print below.
www.style.com
Monday 22 February 2010
FMP progression
This is my inspiration wall, which now has a more refined direction. Erdems s/s '10 collection has become a large influence for print and floral ideas. I love the bold colours and the way the florals are filtered out and combined with lace detailing. I adore the bejewelled decoration of Mui Mui's collection, with crystals and delicate colours, which has an expensive, glamourous feel. Loewe's s/s 10 collection has also inspired me, as I want to do some laser cutting in leather, which has been delicately achieved in his collection...
I now have a final colour story, which was taken from a painting I saw at the Royal Collection, and also links with the pallette from the trends boards of s/s 2011. I decided to use quite soft, warm tones, with accents of tomatoe red/pink and kahaki and contrasting black as a base colour for boldness. My fabrics have also been choosen, which include indulgent laces which I brought in Paris, satin silk, silk chiffon, silk goergette and soft leather. I got some pleated samples from Cement pleaters to see which type of pleats I want to use in my collection. They sent me a really good range, but the ones I particulary liked are on my wall, which include the accordian pleat and folded pleat in small sizes...
Copyright
I feel like I am really getting somewhere with my print designs now, and that the collection is starting to come together well. This is one of the prints that I have been working on, and is one of my favourites, because it is bold but still feminine and delicate. The hand drawn flowers work really well once they have been filled in with colour on photoshop, and in repeat of different scales is quite effective...
These are the lace fabrics which I brought in Paris, which are beautifully embellished into to create detail and pattern. This effect is what I love, as it looks really special and feminine. I love the rich, warm colours and edge detailing, which I think would look great as a sleeve or hem.