I went for an interview today for an internship at Matches. Matches is a pretigious name in fashion, who have stores in London, stocking designer luxury fashion. They also have thier own label called Freda, which is a classic, luxury label. The internship is to work with the head designer, Danielle for 1 day a week. The interview went really well, and i got offered the place to start next week.

I am really excited to begin working at Matches. I love the elegant designs and luxurious fabrics they use. I think it will be a great experience working with Danielle, and I hope to learn lots about the industry and the brand.

Illustrations

I have been working on my illustraions this week for my portfolio. I wanted to have them quite lively but showing all the details in each outfit well. I did the drawings by hand, then painted the figure with watercolours. After this, I scanned the drawings into the computer, and filled the outfits with the prints I designed using Pohotshop. I think this works really well, showing a combination of hand-drawn and CAD techniques.

Artsthread

I have been putting together my portfolio pages for Artsthread, which is an online place for graduates to show their work and for the industry to look for employees.
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

FMP progression

This week I have been carrying on with the making of my collection. I have now made 4 outfits, with 2 more to make, so I should be finished for when I want to to do my photoshoot of the whole collection. I have started thinking about where to do the shoot- maybe a manor house or something similar. However, I do need to do more research into where I can do it, who is going to photograph it and model the collection, which I will hopefully sort out this week.


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.

Hand and Lock

Last week I did a work placement at hand and lock embroidery studios. It was a really good week and I learnt a lot about the industry and what they do there. I entered the prize for embroidery which hand and lock do last year and got to the finalists. I love the details in hand embroidery and beading, and how it always looks so special.

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!

They do lots at hand and lock, and seeing all their beautiful samples was really inspiring. The royal badges are delicately made with gold work, which has an amazing finish. They have a designer, Claire who designs some things in house for the client or sometimes the client will provide the design for them. I have learnt a lot about how a studio like this works and what they do, and feel a lot more confident when I do start work in the industry. I would enjoy working in a studio like this, but I would like to design myself still rather than just making.

Photoshoot!

I had my photoshoot today for my final collection. It went great and I am really happy with how the pictures look, David Lam, the photographer was amazing. I decided to shoot my 3rd dress, which I have just finished. I was originally going to do my first black dress with the golden/green jacket. However, this one is definately my favourite with the adorned beading on the neck and delicate shape... I decided to go for quite a dark edgy look for the make-up to give a contrast to the feminine, pretty dress. I love the make-up look, which is really strong on my dark model. Her eyes look beautiful. The hair looks quite boy-ish in the up-do, but makes a great contrast to the dress, giving an edgy look. I love it!

We went for an elegant sitting down pose to give a sophisticed, modern look. It shows off the dress really well and has a soft feel, which works great. The dress fit Hannah perfectly, so I was really happy. The sheer side panels look great on her tiny waist.