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Age group

"What age group are you designing this collection for?"

I dread this question. Of course my faculty are very persistent. I want to make clothes, it doesn't matter for who. Of course from a marketing perspective this is not the greatest strategy so here goes.

When I was asked this question I decided to pick my age group, Ages 21 to 35. Of course when i mentioned how I didn't think our age group would wear skirts above the knee and tops exposing ones midriff my faculty very politely told me that I had no idea what women my age wear. 

This is when I called upon my good friend pot. After a lot of pointing and laughing he suggested I make a survey. It would give me more of an insight on what women my age wear and how much they would like to expose. This is evening/lounge wear so how grand would they want their clothes to be etc.


The link to the survey: 
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XGLJ5ZN

I also vow to keep an eye out for people in bangalore who are interestingly dressed, hopefully by the end of this project I will be less oblivious. Pictures will be uploaded as and when!

What Do I want from this collection?

So we have already established that I take Inspiration from the sixties. But the sixties is an era that encompasses so much! Also most of it has been completely done to death. Of course after saying this the first thing that came to my mind was flower power(shoot me) but after a rather enlightening talk with my faculty I decided to take a closer look.

The first thing that came to my mind from our earlier review meetings was one of my teachers telling me that the sixties were about YOUTH and VIBRANCY. I'm putting this in capitals because my earlier collection began to look like something from my grandmothers wardrobe(now, not when she was younger)

to put it mildly they began to look 'frumpy'

So what better way to start the brainstorm than to make a word cloud:

(wordle is acting funny so you can click on the word cloud to look at a larger image)

This only made me realise that i am living in a time where people are bored,unsatisfied, and are permanently attached to their computers. Our main source of excitement? celebrity sex scandals and which of our many facebook friends 'sexted' the other. Pathetic.


Collection,yes. So it occurred to me that since I was working on the floral aspect I would take it forward(after all this) and another point of interest. The beatniks. How could I use the poetry in my clothing?

The extension

   I know it's been quite a while but to cut a long story short my stint with my client didn’t really work out. Due to some last minute glitches on her side my clothes couldn’t be stitched in time and those that were didn’t look Finished.

    On looking at the finished garments Both me and my Faculty realised that somewhere along the line my initial ideas seemed to have been lost in all the changes that my client and I had Agreed upon.

    This was when they suggested I take an extension so I can finish my project properly. They also suggested I tackle it alone. Coming to terms with an extension is a little hard but when I looked at my work I realised I was not proud of it.

    Since I now had the opportunity to rework and make my project worth all the effort I would take it. So after throwing A good amount of tantrums, scaring my faculty and a short holiday I went back to my moodboards and initial Sketches.

   
   Back to square one.

Back to the artwork

Reworking the artwork was more fun considering now I had some sort of direction to work with. My mood boards helped me with ideas but the style didn't come through. Making them black and white line drawings gave me the opportunity to trace them onto silhouettes or play with sizing later on.


shown below are a few examples:

Discovering the dip pen

Alas We keep coming back to the fact the the painting i was going to do would be on cotton not silk and after a few trials I realised that there were points that needed to be noted when painting on the fabric.


1. The colour is much duller than the original
2. The thinner the fabric the more the colour spreads.
3. Gutta liner is to be used only in moderation and primarily on thicker fabric because it changes the texture of the fabric leaving it slightly stiff even after washing.


When I had almost given up the battle of thin lines I happened upon an old dip pen i used to use in school.
After a bit of experimenting I realised that if held at a particular angle one can literally draw with it like on paper! below are some examples:


First, the dip pen:

JoySilk

This is video was the turning point in my attitude towards fabric painting. here i was, my illustrations getting more and more intricate while my fabric painting was beginning to look increasingly like I've let paint spill on my fabric, letting it take its course when Meera mailed me this video. She found it on a site called joysilk. 
The video basically takes the audience through the silk painting process. She also has a great technique to stretching her fabric without distorting it like I was doing.

Taking it further

After Showing it to my client she suggested the floral motifs would work better for the collection.


When I mentioned this to my panel they suggested i look at art nouveau and the paris underground movement. What Inspired me the most were the posters and the jewelry. Below are some that really inspired me.


What caught my eye in the two posters below is the way the artist emphasizes and stylizes the women's hair. The intricate smooth lines add so much movement to the picture. I began to wonder how this could add to the movement of the garment when painted on.

This poster caught my eye for the flowers in the background. The really intricate detailing could work when painted on to garments.

What I found interesting in the two images below were the fact that despite art nouveau being a very intricate style there is a lot of space left plain and quite simple. It accentuates the detail yet making the whole form seem soft and dreamy.

When I began looking at the jewelry it gave me a sense of how the style works on a 3D surface. 

My first explorations on fabric

Painting on Fabric is a whole different skill in itself, It makes painting on paper feel terribly easy. My first attempt with my teacher Meera was a little encouraging. Watching her do it made it look easy enough. That was before I actually tried doing it without her help.


So here are those initial explorations. 

Working on the moodboards

After choosing a mood board I started drawing out things that might work on the clothes. My client urged me to look to look at floral patterns. This was of course before I realized that painting on paper is very different from painting on cloth.

THE DESIGN BRIEF AS INDICATED BY THE CLIENT

THE CLIENT:

SUTRA is a design firm started by designer Julie Kagti in 2001. Their products combine traditional Indian technique with 21^st century design. They believe that ‘fashion has to engage, enhance and entertain.’ Her clothes are contemporary, aesthetic, and infused with a sense of humour.

They are known to work with recycled fabric in patchwork saris and clothing, highly textured hand worked fabrics, knits with kantha work, stylised construction and intricate detailing.

I chose SUTRA because their work is very inspiring. Since my aesthetic explorations are veering towards Sutras way of handling fabric and textile manipulation I thought that this would be the best place to do my final project. It will give me an opportunity to develop my skills and give it some proper direction. Additionally the experience of working in a workshop with skilled artists and designers will be invaluable.

THE BRIEF:

To design a Resort collection for spring/summer 2011 based on fashion trends during the 1960”A resort collection is a collection launched around winter and aimed at designing clothing in the holiday months when people go on vacation to warm places.

It must be delicate, feminine and sophisticated. The focus must be on textile manipulation and technique with particular attention being paid to the details of trimmings, finishing and packaging.

The collection must comprise of 13 pieces. An assorted mix from the following list of products may be selected.

·       Wraps (kaftans, ponchos, stoles)

·       Loose tunics and pyjama pants

·       Short tops and shorts

·       Easy flow dresses

THE THEME

 The theme of the project will emerge from 60’s fashion. The 1960s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions and mirrored social movements during the period. In the middle of the decade, box-shaped PVC dresses; culottes and go-go boots were in style. People were dressing in psychedelic prints, highlighter colours, and mismatched patterns the primary aesthetic focus being on colour and tone. The hippie movement late in the decade also exerted a strong influence on ladies' clothing styles, including bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye, and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints.

What I would like to do is use the original diverse prints and tones to create textures in a limited range of colours. I also want to use the accessories of that era (headscarves, chunky necklaces, big earrings etc.) and incorporate them in the clothes as elaborate accents, cleverly placed to give the collection a lift.

Another Idea would be to use the texture and prints to create illusions on the basic silhouette so as to give it some interest. The bold deco prints will also inspire the silhouettes for the clothes.

CREATIVE CONCEPT:

As this is an up market resort collection that requires some amount of sophistication I’ve decided to work with layering and interchangeability. The garments need to exude a light and airy feel. Layers can be taken off and put on based on where the user is wearing her garment. For example: If one is on the beach a bikini top and a sarong would suffice but at a restaurant the sarong can double up as a kaftan to make the user more comfortable.

The silhouettes will be simple and focus primarily on manipulating basic geometric shapes. This will also put a certain emphasis on the fabric and it’s detailing.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

·       How does one work towards a season?

·       Market research for the Indian market?

·       How much does trend forecasting affect the Indian market?

·       Client profiling.

                                        I.     What kinds of people visit the shop?

                                      II.     What are they looking for in SUTRA clothes?

                                     III.     How much are they willing to pay?

                                      IV.     Where else do they shop?

Do they look at SUTRA clothing as daily wear or something special?

·       What is involved in making a complete coordinated collection?

·       What does a resort collection involve in terms of fabric, colours, and silhouettes?

Research history of origins and development of resort clothing

Who are the famous designers that launch resort collections every season?

Which Indian designers work on resort collections?

·       Material research. (Based on the collection)

·       In what way can I as a designer incorporate my design ethics into the collection?

                                       I.     How can I make the collection incorporating principles of sustainability?

                                     II.     Can I minimize the fabric usage to using scrap fabric from the cloth?

                                    III.     Can I optimize fabric use by sticking to geometric simple silhouettes using darts and ties to give it an accent?

PROCESS, TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES

PROCESS:

·       Moodboards and themes

·       Market research

·       Identifying the client

·       Working on collages and layering

·       Identifying material

·       Material exploration and Iteration on fabric.

·       Experimenting with shape and silhouettes

·       Working with the fabric and silhouette

·       Narrowing it down to the final products

·       Working on a name for the collection any specific branding etc.

TECHNIQUES:

·       Fabric painting

·       Appliqué, details of trimmings, finishing to be given a lot of attention

·       Dyeing

RESOURCES:

·       Julie Kagti as a mentor

·       Sutra workshop: skilled embroiderers, pattern cutters and tailors

·       Market research

·       Trend forecasting sites

·       Films about and from the 60’s

·       Designers of the 60’s

LEARNING OUTCOMES

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

·   Working with and executing a client brief.

·   Designing and facilitating a process that leads to a complete coordinated   collection

·   Market research 

·   Budgeting and pricing

·   Planning a workflow for a larger scale of production within a fixed time frame

·   Technique acquisition

1.  Pattern making

2.  Appliqué

3.  Dyeing

4.  Textile manipulation