Assignment 12.2: Develop an Introductory Page for the Final Project

Ali: Love it - Perfect!

trend: androgyny

There's a certain thread of gender play that weaves in an out of many of these designers collections.

Dries Van Noten

Comme des Garçons

Ralph Lauren

Ali:

You have special talent at trending things - good job

week 12 discussion

Topic 12.1: Research on Various Designers: Research the various designers mentioned in this module and try to understand their style categories. Identify their unique philosophies and see how each one differentiates themselves from the competition. What do you see as the similarities between them and where does your own philosophy and style fit in the mix? Share your finding and opinions with the rest of the class.

Georgio Armani
What I love about Armani is the softness and wearabliity of the fabrics he makes formal cut clothing out of. It's so movable and flexible. He got a lot of notoriety from the film American Gigolo and even still there's certain boudoir influence to it. Like formal wear you can make out in.


Ralph Lauren

I dig the western Americana flavor to this. It's definitely something important for me to look at while working on my final.

Assignment 12.1: Develop Mood Board with Fabric and Color Story

11.3 inspiration

I haven't finished collecting the images for my inspiration yet but more on that in a minute.

This collection will be derived from Tinkertown, a museum/tourist destination/one whittler's creative outlet, located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM. I went there a lot as a kid; any time someone would come to visit my family Mom would take us there. It's the only place that I loved as a child that was even better when I returned as an adult. The humor and wit is incredible. I think this is perfectly in line with the Betsey Johnson brand. There's nostalgia mixed with the notion that being grown up is awesome because you have more accessible and you can to whatever you want.  The most impressionable themes from there are old west (which I have translated to Annie Oakley, a long time inspiration that pops up in BJ collections every now and then), good.v evil, fighting over the soul (alla William Blake, etc), gypsy fortune teller (similar to the Zoltar machine that makes Josh turn into Tom Hanks in Big), and big top, multi-ring 'n' sideshow circus.

I was thinking I would style the girls in handlebar mustaches. Gender bending and mustaches are totally in, not just on faces but everywhere!

Now the other element that I don't have any images for yet is: I have an appointment on Friday to go see a collection of old Richmond society ball gowns. I want to use that as inspiration for class and sophistication and glamor. I'm really excited about this. I made this contact some time ago but I haven't had time to squeeze it in as a leisure activity, but it's perfect timing now as I think a spoonful of elegance is just what the BJ brand needs.  Plus there's a certain "playing dress-up" quality to the Betsey Johnson clothes and I bet seeing those gowns will feel like going into grandma's attic!

I'm trying not to have any idea what the clothes I design will look like until I have all the materials together. I emailed Bill Martin at the Valentine Museum as soon as it hit me how important it would be to this project and that's his earliest availability. The gowns are not on public display. I always have a sketchbook with me especially in bars and I was doing some fashion drawing last semester when someone approached me and gave me this contact. I feel so exclusive!!! Very exciting!!!

  Ali: Very interesting - and i really like your gender bender idea - maybe you can push it in more then just an urban androgynous look.

Ali: Try to build on these pages now with sketch ideas, fabrics, print ideas and what look you plan to derive from it.

Ali:I would not go too much into the classic circus element - done too much before.

me: I think the circus I really important though to this concept. It's a metaphor for having a bunch of stuff going on at once, a band of outcasts, over the top, modern nomadic, not to mention the original bearded lady. I think the colors and large scale prints are also important. I don't want the girls to look like they are in the circus, but I do think there's a lot of fodder for new work without being cliche with this theme as long as it's incorporated well with other elements.

Ali:definitely keep it in your concept - I am just making you aware to not follow that aspect too literally in your design interpretation.

In general I'm not into cliché and spend a lot of time keeping clothes from being costume. We are on the same page.

Me: In general I'm not into cliché and spend a lot of time keeping clothes from being costume. We are on the same page.

good.

I was thinking of doing some cut and sew pieces making pictures our of the different fabrics. Figures, objects. I want to do an intarsia sweater legging with a gun holster knitted into it, and a top with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, trapeze artists swinging across dresses, ooh maybe a crystal ball print!! and of course bold stripes What do you think?

Also is 4 on a page cool? I'm sure it is but i wanted to ask, on 8.5"x11" 5 is really cramped.  I have a few 5 on page but mostly 4 on a page.

Ali:All great ideas - go for it.

4 are ok as long as they don't look to be stepping on each others toes. Though these days usually it is being preferred that you do each piece individually with its technical and even fabric swatches and then cut and past through computer and show the entire line up together as well.
Your choice...

11.2: Customer Profile

1.Demographics:

1. Age: 16-25
2. Sex: f
3. Marital status: unmarried
4. Level of education: in high school or college
5. Career: student, maybe a part time retail or hostess job
6. Salary: still on Mom and Dad tab
7. The location of work: anywhere
8. Living location: anywhere
9. Leisure activities: hanging out with friends, athletic or academic extracurriculars, texting, prom, watching tv & movies, internet social networking & blogging/vlogging, shopping, partying, beach by day, bars by night

2. Lifestyle: active, fun-loving, enjoys the spotlight
3. Physical Characteristics: the current line serves 24-30 inch waist,  32.5-39 inch bust and 34-41 inch hip. I would like to restructure the sizing for my line. Part of feeling good is being able to find clothes that fit and not be mortified by the number on the tag. I don't want this to be a "plus size" or "fiercely real" line. I just want to design for all girls, not just skinny twigs. I definitely think the aesthetic can translate to more voluptuous body types. 
4. Psychographics: These girls know their fashion, they buy the mags, they watch Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars and Glee and want to emulate these fashion oriented starlets. 
5. Social Class:  middle to upper 
6. Social Behavior:   these girls have nothing to spend money on but themselves.

7.Values and Attitudes: these girls want attention. They want boys to think they are hot, and girls to wish they were them. They will stop at nearly nothing to get this. These girls haven't had hard times. They are light and naive and fairly innocent but don't want anyone to know it. Or they aren't and they don't want anyone to know that!
8. Economics: varies. Some customers go to BJ for special one time gowns like prom, etc. others may have a larger amount of disposable income to buy separates, day dresses, intimates, accessories, etc. The price point makes the accessibility pretty broad.
9.Religion: whatever family practices, girls may be finding some new found independence here in college.
10. competitor: tons of competitors, anyone selling frilly girly clothes at a similar price point but this is THE target audience. More demand=availability for more supply, boutiques and online retailers.

11.1 Fashion house- Betsey Johnson

Before I read the prompt for the final assignment I had made a decision for the last project to target a younger audience. I wanted to push a play a little more. The last two collections I had myself in mind as a consumer, and I like to wear easy, simple, yet interesting clothes. But I feel like targeting girls 16-22 would give me a lot more room to push a play with bold prints and frills, design elements I'm attracted to visually but have grown out of wearing as part of my own identity.
So with that decision already firmly made, I chose Betsey Johnson as the fashion house I will be "taking over". I think she has done some great stuff and some hideous stuff but I love the spirit of it! Girls just wanna have fun! I think the point of fashion is to make everyone either wish they were the wearer, or wish they were in bed with the wearer (or both). And I DON'T think all her stuff does that, but what it has is an "I don't care if you approve or not," vibe that I really identify with. But I'd like to add a little more "you wish you were me" back into it. I looked back though all the collections from the past 9 years. I really appreciate her ability to create a story with each season. I love that she is unabashed, and sometimes downright vulgar (boys <3 BJ tees, kiss marks on the butts of shorts etc). However, it falls apart for me when there is just too many things happening at once. She's not a great editor. And yes, this is part of her signature, but no one wants to literally look like a clown other than Halloween or a kids birthday (or if you are into that kind of thing).
As we all know glamor is in for the coming seasons, so I'd like to give signature Betsey a little polish, no too much, it still needs a gritty side. The clothes will still be fun and flirty and sassy, but just not so tacky.
I know Betsey already has a successor in real life, her daughter, but I'm not going into fashion anyway so my fantasy can be as fantastical as a Betsey Johnson runway show.
The price range of Betsey Johnson is between $150 to $700 for dresses, making some of it affordable for special occasions for a lower income bracket and also seduces people with bigger bank accounts to buy more pieces. She also has more than a dozen license agreements including footwear, intimates, accessories, and fragrances that seem to be relatively affordable for a high-end brand.

Ali:

somehow your chosen company does not come as a surprise. Good analysis and customer profiling though!