5.1 project 1

Both Abstract Expressionism and old Virginia inspired my collection. I wanted my clothes to be relatively simple and easy to wear, intending mid-priced garments for playful, urban women. The color palette and detail shapes come directly from AbEx paintings, and the coats are updated versions of the long coats of American forefathers. The fabric story consists of various weights and textures of cotton jersey as well as black denim with a warm middle value gray reverse side, yellow twill, and a black and white stripe. The findings are brass taken from an old button stockpile I have. All the looks are shown with gold ballet flats and loose short brunette curls. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Ali's comments:

 I think your collection has come out very well. It has a certain individual out of fashion mood to it (in a good way) and use of prints placement has been done nicely and balanced well with interesting textures. Overall the rendering is pretty good. The hair and faces are a bit distracting however and do not go well with the more finished rendering of garments. 

Really like the mood board - it has a very simplistic composition  which is really working well in it and the color story extracted from it is strong too.

4.2 fashion mag croquis

Ali's comments in blue. 

 

 your drawing has a very nice contemporary feel to it and i like the flatness of it.

 I liked the last one - these proportions are not very pleasing. Hands this way are distracting.

You need to recapture the proportions and essence of the first page - It had a contemporary comic quality to it as well hints of style. These are lacking that.

4.1: 20 looks

Ali's comments in blue. His favorites denoted with  *

                    nice

                                                              *                                   *

                                                                                               *I like the color field sort of direction - maybe play with the proportion of color blocking - really enlarging it beyond the dimensions of the garment.

                                                                                                  *really love the last piece.

                    *                                                                        *nice

3.2 ten designs

The assignments have a lot of confusing/conflicting information. Size wise, we drew the croquis on 11"x17" and the were supposed to trace them into our book? My book is 8.5"x11". So I drew a new different one that would fit my page and a pose that is more appropriate for showing clothes.

And, it said to trace the croquis onto tracing paper, so I did, then I designed on them, I tested my colors on sketchbook paper (shown on left side of mood board). The colors turned out way different and kind of nasty on the tracing paper so I posted the photos from before I added the color. Rendering the plaid will be an interesting challenge!

So I guess what I need to do is use carbon paper to trace the drawings from the tracing paper to the sketchbooks? I used removable glue dots to adhere everything on this assignment, so it wont be any problem to do that. But I don't have it in my to do that tonight.

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time fully visualizing what we are expected to turn in each week...
Ali's comments in blue

great - love the pattern

 

 

this pant is better - I think it lacks a certain quirky details that can tell us that this your special design.

 

a bit basic - try to put in some quirky details or cutlines - something special yet minimal.

too basic - if you want it that basic then really play with the silhouette.

 

  

same thing - bring in something nice to the top

 

again print is nice - focus on developing better bottoms too.

  

 

nice detail

My response:

The prints are directly from AbEx paintings. Do you think it would be overkill to incorporate more of that into the looks  you find too simple?

Also a lot of them I planned to have some specialness in the back.

3.1 mood board

Ali's feedback:
The images put together are nice - but the fabric and color story are too big and over powering the mood board. Make them small and complimenting to the rest of the composition otherwise show them on an all together separate board. Also the images suggest some nice gray and lighter shades much more contemporary and elegant then your primary tones. 

My reponse:

I'm just struggling with the whole 6 fabrics thing. I edited the gray out because as is I could only get down to 9 fabrics. So I chose the colors that were in the plaid. I would love to have gray in there but is that too much? I'm not wiling to get rid of the plaid, so if i add a couple grays I'm up to 7-8 colors. I mean you saw my original fabricsplosion.

I'm I misinterpreting something or can i just disregard the 6 things rule?

I made some stained glass windows that broke that rule. My prof (who I butted heads with at every turn) said I could only use 5 colors of glass per window design, so for my thesis show I sorted and organized all the scrap glass in the studio and made two quilt inspired windows and used some of every single color.

So I know that limiting a palette is important, but with the right training and discipline one can break the rule of thumb and still be successful!
I was REALLY missing the gray when designing though, so with your ok I'll put it back in and change the color relationship in almost all the looks. I would like it to be mostly gray and black with 2 color accent on each look.

what the big boys are buying

Retailers Praise New York Glamour

This article listed the top shows, in and out trends as thought by the top global retailers including Nordstrom, Barneys, Bergdorfs, Lane Crawford and Harvey Nichols. I think it was fun to read because it's exciting to compare the tastes of these big wigs. Essentially the fashion magazine editors and high end retailers select what is going to be accessible to and coveted by the masses, and therefore what trends will wax and wane.

I really enjoyed the glamor of this fall season. The sleekness and sophistication are things I hope to achieve in the looks I'll be creating this semester. Glamor with an urban edge, or as Ed Burstell, managing director, Liberty said "Street-inspired luxe."

is eco the best option?

In reference to: No Subject posted by Lauren Edgecombe

Colombia has developed a cotton/plastic blend fabric and is selling it as EcoDenim.  The Colombian textile industry has suffered in recent years due to illegal imports from China and South Korea, the appreciation of the peso, increased denim competition from Turkey and Central America, and a bitter fall out with Venezuela.  All these combined have resulted in a 42% downturn in Colombian exports. 

Two of Colombia's leading manufacturers: thread maker Enka and fabrics weaver Fabricato, have joined forces to create EcoDenim.  Fabricato's president states, "People don’t just like the product, they like what it does, which is recycle these (plastic) bottles that otherwise would take 100 years to degrade."  The fabric costs 10 percent more to produce than all-cotton denim but that affords higher margins from environmentally conscious consumers.

Kudos to these two companies for finding a way to recycle our trash into a comfortable and wearable material.  I'm torn on how "environmentally conscious" the product truly is though.  While a pair of these jeans might actually last forever since they aren't 100% cotton (which is biodegradable), consumers will probably still want to buy a new pair of jeans at some point.  In the end you still have tons of plastic waste that will take 100 years to degrade.  They're just no longer plastic bottles, now you have plastic jeans.

Chris Kraul.  "Colombia Counts on Recylced Denim for Revival."  WWDStyle issue 02/15/11.  http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/colombia-counts-on-recycled-denim-for-revival-3490047

I found this to be an interesting article, as well.
My concern was, who wants to wear plastic pants?
I personally started seeking out "green" products back in the late 90's and while a lot of great steps have been made to create sustainable healthy and even recycled products, there's a lot of greenwashing and gimmicks and fad chasing going on. I'm thinking most earth conscious consumers are not going to want even food grade plastic rubbing on their skin all day, and absolutely will not want their kids wearing it. I work in an organic baby store and we sell all organic cotton, soy, bamboo, and hemp clothing. Polyester and other plastic based fabrics have gone the way of the 8-track, as far as eco-conscious consumers go and so who are they marketing these jeans to.The average joe still doesn't care (although if you work the never breaks down angle some boomers may buy into it- and the tight-fisted usually aren't too worried about having the cutting edge styles).

If they want to make a real difference they should create a system to donate all that recycled fabric to people living below the poverty line, where long lasting clothing makes a bigger impact. Educated people with a lot of money are just not going to choose EcoDenim jeans. There are too many higher quality and natural fabrics on the market. And like Lauren said, they will want new looks long before the jeans wear out.

Before we go patting anyone on the back, how about chilling out on the plastic bottle production and consumption and coming up with a way to cut down on plastic production and consumption altogether... This jeans effort feels a whole lot like "too little, too late", and not really addressing the core of the problem... Oh capitalism.....