Outcome- Illustrated Collection

This is my final illustrated collection for the project. I have tried to combine my favourite elements of rich and poor of staying warm in a duvet, layering and details from suits, frills, oversized pockets and a touch of embroidery. I also decided to keep the collection quite monotone with just flashes of blue to create a greater emphasis on silhouette and shape. Overall I am pleased with the flow of the collection and also how my prints tie in, as print isn't something I had expected to use in the project. I am also pleased with the silhouettes, I feel I managed to improve my designing of trousers/ skirts and these have worked well with the oversized duvet coats. I will analyse the outcome more in the end of project review.

19/5/15- Photoshoot

(Front view, authors own, 15/5/15)

Today I had my work photographed by Ravensbourne for the slideshow in our exhibition. These are some of the photos I took today showing how it was photographed and my finished garments. Overall I was pleased with it, the coat and skirt looked good on my model and the proportions worked well which was something I was worried about. The fit was also very accurate which was something I had learnt about more on this project and meant that the garments felt like they were meant for Jasmine. I also enjoyed today seeing how a photoshoot works as I had never really experienced one before but seeing how much of a difference the white background and lighting makes on making your garments stand out and look professional was really exciting. 

If I were to do this photoshoot again I think I could possibly consider the styling more as I didn't really give it a great deal of thought so went very simple. I think I could have played around with hair or make up or even shoes with this look to emphasise my theme of rich and poor. However overall I think today went well and I am looking forward to seeing the photographs when I get them. 

(The photographing of my garments, authors own, 15/5/15)

(Different views, authors own, 15/5/15)

17/5/15- Coat Construction

Today I focused on creating my duvet coat. At the start of the day I was stuck on the left side of the coat, I was happy with the right side but the left felt messy and uneven and I didn't like the sleeve shape I had created last weekend. I also needed to shorten it as otherwise it was going to cover up my skirt I have made so wouldn't look right as an overall look. I decided to just experiment with creating a sleeve by draping the duvet in different ways till I was happy with the shape. I had to think about keeping volume while creating a smooth shape as this is what I had designed and this is what I wanted so that it created a contrast to the structured skirt. After draping a while I managed to create a simple sleeve that works with the rest of the garment and is voluminous. I had to sew the coat together by hand because of the thickness of the material with the duvet stuffing. Overall this went fairly well, I think possibly I could have been a bit neater with my stitches as they are quite obvious in places which does make the appearance a bit lumpy in places. This looks okay were fabric is joining but in some of the more smooth areas the stitches are very obvious so I may need to remove these as may come out bad when photographed. I then added poppers to the coat to make it functional and wearable.

(Constructing duvet coat, authors own, 17/5/15)

I think if I were to improve the coat I would dye it again so it was darker in colour as it is very faint and I think I slightly stronger colour would look better. I like the feel of the coat as is voluminous so does feel like your wrapped up in a duvet which is what I had hoped to achieve, especially around the collar which is large and wraps around your neck. Next I am going to finalise my final collection so I can create interesting illustrations as well as flats and technicalities this week which will help round up my project. I am also going to plan a photoshoot for my garments which I hope to do Friday so I need to consider location and details possibly looking for existing shoots as inspiration. I don't have experience with photoshoots etc so I am going to try talk to my promotion friends at Ravensbourne to get any advice and tips.

(Duvet coat, 17/5/15)