GOLDHAWK ROAD

For fabric research I took a trip to goldhawk road in London. It was amazing for fabric, shop after shop full of fabrics from silks to wools. I felt overwhelmed with the different types and styles of fabrics and started to feel lost in what I was looking for. I took samples of crepe de chine becuase that's one main fabric in my tropical collection. Goldhawk road is a brilliant place for fabrics and will be going again soon to search for fabrics for my final collection.

DIGITAL PRINTING.

I've got my 8 prints ready for digital printing. The next stage is getting to prints into the right format to send off to the printers. I was going to get them printed onto jersey but when feeling the fabric i wasn't convinced with how the prints would look on jersey. So i've changed my mind to light crepe de chine. I like the way this fabric feels, falls and looks as it doesnt have that shine like silk satin does.

These engineered prints have a influences from Preen's, Dries Van Noten's and Stella McCartney's Spring/Summer 2012 collections. Taking the Pixelation effect from Preen's collection works really well within my prints, also taking the direct cut effect with photos in Dries's collection and the tropical theme from Stella's collection has created a strong family of tropical engineered prints for the fashion industry. By mixing these elements together creates fresh prints with a tropical twist which is going to be a massive trend from Spring/Summer 2012.

PREEN SPRING/SUMMER 2012

DRIES SPRING/SUMMER 2012

STELLA McCARTNEY RESORT 2012

I can't wait to see the prints on fabric ready for paris in februray.

THE DREADFUL DISSERTATION.

YES, the time has come the write this dissertation. i need to make a start, once i've started i know i'll feel better for doing it but in the back of my mind i know the deadline for the draft is hovering like a black cloud. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
MUST...KEEP......GOING.

CLUB TROPICANA.

Carring on with the tropical theme, i've came up with a new title 'Club Tropicana'. I've chosen this classic title from the 80's hit group WHAM! because they were massive in the 1980's and with the references of 80's fashion and tropical prints in my collection this is a perfect title.
The project is moving fast and i'm just about keeping on top of things. I've started to play about with prints by scanning in my paintings from my sketchbook and editing my photos from KEW and using photoshop to create the prints. I've chosen my final 12 prints for the collection. The collection with include 12 outfits and each outfit with include 1 print.

The next stage is to put the prints in the outfits and put the block colours in to see how the prints work with the block colours. I've done this to see the scale, balance and layout of the prints and colour. I think this works really well and i'm happy with the way it's coming together.

MY WONDERWALL.

This is my wonderwall which i thought i'd share with you, To show you whats keeping my head ticking with inspiration. Sometimes sitting infront of this makes my head want to go 'BANG' but my ideas are developing fast and i can't wait to see what the final outcomes are. I'm starting to develop a collection inspired by Stella McCartney's resort 2012 collection which i love.

ANDROGYNY: IT'S A BOY GIRL THING.

My symposis for my dissertation has to be handed in on Monday, it's pretty scary thinking about the dissertation but it's only around the corner when it has to be handed in. My dissertation topic is androgyny and the blur and also the boundaries that are being pushed between womenswear and menswear in the fashion world today.
Amazon has hooked me up with some books which will help me get a understanding of the subject.
This is something i feel strongly about as i'm a open homosexual and it interests me to think why women wear mens styled clothes and sometimes look better than men but in a way it's very sexy without trying to be. This dissertation will help me get a better view of the topic as i want to aim to make a androgynous collection for my final majour project.

TREND ALERT: TROPICAL HEATWAVE

Right, i'm back in the habit with researching trends for Spring/Summer 2013 to create a print collection for Indigo in Paris and i've fallen in love Stella McCartney's resort 2012 collection. I think it's fresh and fun with the mirrored tropical prints, colourful strips and also the blazers and trousers works really well with the mix of print, creating a smart but playful collection. So this made me look at other designers which have had a tropical influence in their collections, for example... Givenchy, Pedro Lourenço, Suno, Peter Pilotto and Salvatore Ferragamo.

After looking at these designers and their collections i decided to go the Kew Gardens in london for some tropical inspiration for my print collection. I took as many pictures as possible and what a great place to take photos. The palm house was the most relevant to my topic and It was a giant room with cover crowded palms trees in with the odd tropical flowers poking through the leaves. Looking back on the photos i took i now feel i have a good family of tropical photos as a starting point for my collection. I've also looked a beaches and sunsets for a primary influence to get the colours of the ocean blue's, hot oranges and bright yellows as a base for my collection

I'v now started to play in my sketchbook with painting for the photos and starting to get a feel of the prints and colours. After that i'll scan the paintings into photoshop and play with the placement and repeat pattern to see what works and what doesn't.

I've put together a research map for an idea of what i want to create.

I want this collection to be bright, colourful and playful but only time will tell...