I have had lots of fun creating this Blog and have found it a great way to record my work, feelings, achievements and interests.
I have really enjoyed my time on the course so far and feel I have accomplished a great deal and come so far!
I still have a lot to learn about the way the fashion world works and I am looking forward to one day being a part of it!! =]

CDDP
I have now brought my fabric in a navy blue and have decided to use round bronze buttons and have started making my jumpsuit, i have really enjoyed making my own outfit and have learnt so much through the process.

Above is the picture of my toile outfit (without buttons)

and Lucy modelling my toile!*

My outfit will be made out of a royal Blue in a Crepe De Chine fabric, it will be loose and draping, down the centre front there will be round bronze buttons.

I was inspired by the old sixties tennis dresses and all in ones!

Info on Buying and Merchandising:

Documentation


Range Plan terminology
-Margin: The gross profit shown as a percentage (SP-CP/SPx100)
-Sell Value: The value of the garments at their selling price (SPxunits)
-Cost Value: The value of the garments at their cost price (CPxunits)
-Size breakdown: the number of garments bought in each size
-volume = units
-value = money


Sales Report terminology
-Current SP: the price in store for that week – taking in to
consideration any promotion or markdown activity
-Profit: SP-CP x units sold
-ROS: Rate of Sale (This weeks sales in volume/number of stores sold in)
-U: units
-Sales TW: Sales this week
-Sales units wk -1: Sales 1 week ago
-Branch Stock units: volume of stock in stores
-Total Stock units: volume of stock in stores and warehouse combined
-Total weeks cover: Total units/number units sold that week

Week 19 , 20

During the last couple of weeks I have been spending most of my time completing the toile of my outfit. I have now finished my jumpsuit and I am pleased with how it has turned out and now just cant wait to buy the correct fabric and make it in that, I am making it in crepe de chine as I think this will work best for the design.
During last week we also had a careers presentation which helped a lot with how to improve c.v’s and tips on interviews.
As the course of B&M has progressed I really feel I have gained a huge amount of knowledge in this area and have really enjoyed it so far.
We had our toile review and I felt this was extremely helpful and it was fun to see my outfit on a friend, I am proud of what I have accomplished and can’t wait to see it in the proper material.
Next week I am going to London with friends from the course so we can buy our fabric and then I can get on and make my jumpsuit.

B&M:

Sourcing the Product -

Eastern Europe: close but not the cheapest
Asia: low prices but distant
Middle East: politically unstable
Amercias: unknown market for Europeans


China can make practically anything! Between 40% and 50% of the worlds textile consumption comes out of China

India has a good reputation for highly embelished and embroidered woven cottons – yarn dyed checks, prints and plains


Bangledesh used to produce very basic jersey and woven products at very low prices e.g school polo shirts and shirts

Direct sourcing – going directly to the factory or through your own office in the country of source

Indirect sourcing – working with an Importer or Agent who then interface on your behalf with factories. They often manage the design process as well

Week 18

This week is the deadline for Lectra and I have completed an essay on the topic and evaluated my learning experience, I feel I have gained a good understanding of computer generated pattern design and increased my awareness of industry methods. As part of the unit we had to produce a flat drawing of the garment we produced, using the software Illustrator.

The image is shown above.

Week 18

Lanvin Collection Fall 2008 style.com ----

'It's all about character driven clothing' Milla Jovovich

'Lanvin is completely about individualism' Style.com

‘The collection of the fragility of life, you felt love for the work’ Style.com

'The challenge was about taking a thread and making a dress out of a thread, without making it out of a fabric and I find it quite magical that you can not take a tree and make a chair out of a tree and not out of wood.' Lanvin

'It flows so easily, it’s unforced' Sarah Mower

'Why become beautiful at 5pm when you can become beautiful at 10am' Aliona Doletskaya

‘Fashion is not intellectual but yet it’s not just about sex and glam’ Lanvin

Marc Jacobs videos on style.com:

'What should be fun now is the idea that things don’t have to be practical and they don't have to make you pretty and don’t have to make you powerful they just have to make you, you, in your freaky imaginary place of mind.' Style.com


Donna Karren videos on Style.com:

‘She has a special way of cutting clothes, and draping clothes that are always so flattering to the body.’ Style.com
’She brings out the goddess in every woman’ Style.com

‘For me it’s about the soul its not about the fantasy of what’s new for the season’ Donna Karan

‘She’s all about lines and angles and a little bit of the unexpected’ Style.com

Alexander Wang videos on style.com:

‘I make clothes for girls to put them on and then know that they are going to go out that night and have the time of there life’ Alexander Wang

Week 17
During this week we continued making our pattern for our final piece and I managed to start making it in calico. We also put together the jersey top for Lectra, this was easier then I had imagined however jersey can be difficult to work with but I did enjoy it. (see below for image of completed jersey T-Shirt)
For buying and merchandising we created a customer profile board for Newlook, I really enjoyed this task (see below for customer profile board) and as part of homework we had to complete a SWOT analysis on a retail store, I chose H&M and also found this task very enjoyable. Work experience is getting close and I am hoping to have my placement with Topshop sorted soon, I'm not certain on what part of fashion I want to go into, I only know that I don’t want to do the design side, and so I have decided to carryout more then one placement and I am waiting for people to get back to me so I am able to sort dates, I am really eager to get out there and see what it is really like working in the fashion industry and think the more experience i get the better as it will help me decide which area i love most.

Week 16

6,3,4,5,6/02/09

We started to create a pattern for our final outfit for the Fashion Vs Sport Project, I found this quite difficult as I am not very confident is this area however I did find it exciting and cant wait to see the finished result of my outfit.
We had another presentation on buying and merchandising, I love this section = ) and feel I am gaining a lot of knowledge.
We had two sessions of Lectra which I am starting to enjoy and I can feel myself progressing in.

SWOT – strengths weaknesses opportunities threats

Lead in price point = lowest price

Price Architecture – the range of prices, lowest to highest

SKU – stock keeping unit

The second years in Design asked a few of us to model the jackets they made, i was very impressed with the quailty of the jackets -

I found this extremely helpful as is showed me where the different options of Design or Promotion would take me in the second year as we were present during there critique.

I am really interested in Styling and love photography, so i have started doing some photo shoots with fashion as the subject, here are some of the results from my first shoot -

Week 15
26,27/01/09
This week We had another tutorial with our design tutor Azleen, she helped me chose a final design for the sports project and told me to develop the idea.
We also got our results back from the work completed in pattern cutting, construction and design from the first term, i was pleased with my results and passed with 59 for PCCP and 61 for Design.
This week we started the topic of Buying and Merchandising which we are being taught by Joe Everett, I really enjoyed the presentation as this is the area I am most interested in and I am eager to learn more.

¡ 3 million people in the UK are involved in retail
¡ Over £600m per week is spent on clothing and footwear in the Uk
¡ Ladieswear is the biggest market, followed by Menswear, then Kidswear

Critical Path- is the tool that makes sure the stock comes in on time.

Merchandiser - Buyer Accountant

It is not where you start from that is important, it is where you end up!!!

‘Any era-defining cultural event, style or catchphrase will always reappear in some sartorial form or another. As well, when it does reappear whatever the form, the point is almost always different.’ - March 5th, 2008 Milan Fashion Week

It’s how you make use of what you have that will enhance your fashion statement.

Week 14

19,20.21,22,23

During this week we had another tutorial, the tutorials are extremely beneficial and help me a lot with my project, I am really enjoying the Sport Vs Fashion project, I have decided to collaborate with K-Swiss as they have a very small collection of women’s attire and I feel my designs will bring a new style to there collection. I have decided to design and make a jumpsuit getting inspiration from the sport tennis and the Yves Saint Laurent collection.

We had the Presentations of the Fashion Capitals which I found very useful as I learnt a lot of new things about each country, we chose Paris and i researched the designers.

We started Lectra computer Pattern cutting Last week and I am enjoying learning the techniques and skills it involves, it can be confusing but I’m sure after time I will get the hang of it.

Presentation:

-Here is some of the information from the presention on paris:

French Designers

Yves Saint Laurent...”The King of Fashion”

•Yves Saint Laurent was a French fashion designer who was considered one of the greatest figures in French fashion in the 20th century..
•"The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable".
•Yves Saint Laurent, who retired in 2002, changed the way women dressed when he launched his label in 1962. He put them in mannish pant-suits with square shoulders, smoking jackets, safari jackets, and tuxedos, but softened the androgyny with billowy peasant blouses and fitted, flouncy couture gowns in dramatic colours.
•New designer Stefano Pilati is bringing it all back home, returning to those YSL classics and making.
•The Past and the PresentIn 1954, Saint Laurent went immediately to work for Christian Dior. Saint Laurent became Haute Couture designer when Dior died in 1957.

Chanel

• "Coco" Chanel has signed new designs and revolutionized the fashion industry by going "back to basics", incorporating elegance, class, and originality.
• Under her tight reign from 1909-1971, Coco Chanel held the title as ‘Chief Designer’ until her death on January 10.
• In 1983, Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for Chanel.
• He changed Chanel's fashion lines from the old lines to shorter cuts and eye capturing designs.
• During the 1980s, more than 40 Chanel boutiques were opened up worldwide.
• Coco Chanel revolutionized haute couture fashion by replacing the traditional corseted silhouette with the comfort of simple suits and long, lean dresses.
• The years of the 1920s and 1930s will best be remembered as the era of Coco whose simpler lines of women's couture led to the popular "flat-chested" look of the 1920s.
• Her clothing was relaxed and changed the way women dressed for outdoor leisure.
• Coco omitted corsets, liberating women and creating more comfort. Contemporary Fashion states, "She dressed the modern woman in clothes for a lifestyle.“
• Coco is credited for making jersey (a soft elasticated knit used for undergarments) a new fashion fabric. Her jersey dresses in navy and gray were cut to flatter the figure rather than to emphasize and distort the natural body shape.

Louis Vuitton

• Is sometimes shortened to LV, it is a luxury fashion and leather goods brand and company.
• Known especially for bags and trunks, the company collaborates with prominent figures for marketing and design (most notably supermodel Gisele Bündchen and fashion designer Marc Jacobs).
• Internationally renowned and highly regarded for name recognition in the fashion world, as a result LV has become one of the most counterfeited contemporary luxury brands.

I really enjoyed researching into french fashion designers and feel i have gained a lot of knowledge from it.

week 13
12,13,14,15/01/09

During this week we had our deadline on Monday for all of our design work from the first term, which I had managed to complete and hand in on time which I was very pleased about!
On Tuesday we completed some work on the Paris presentation, Lucy and I researched into French designers, I like this presentation as it is increasing my knowledge on fashion in Paris. We also modelled the second year jackets which I found really useful as we got to see the work they have to do, and it gives me a chance to see what I will be doing next year.
Today our course leader talked to us about the importance of c.v's and letters when applying for a job, this was really helpful.

‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression’

Curriculum vitae comes from the Latin meaning ‘the course of your life’

week 12
4 , 5/01/09

The First week back feels strange returning after adjusting to life at home, although it’s nice to see friends.
On the first day back we had tutorials with our new tutor Azleen for the final project Fashion Vs Sport, we were in groups of 5 and I found it really helpful to share ideas and be pointed in the right direction, I have decided to look into sportswear for women’s tennis and research into appropriate fabrics.
On Tuesday we had PPRD, we were put into groups and were asked to complete a PowerPoint presentation either on New York, Paris, London, or Milan or any other fashion capitals of our choice. We chose Paris; I am going research French fashion designers.

French fashion sets the trends with icons such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Hermes, Jean-Paul Gautier, Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent.



PPRD

Clothes create a wordless means of communication that we all understand.

Function Form Fantasy Subliminal Comfort Identity Religion Self Expression


Popular fashion trends are close to impossible to trace


Does what we wear define us????

It does to a point. Although clothes can say a lot about a person, they don’t tell the whole story of who you are.
The choice in dressing up is as complicated as the person you are, I don’t think dressing up has to be only for special occasions.
I think it is typical for people to judge somebody by their appearance, however appearances can be deceiving.
I do think what you wear is both consciously and subconsciously a way of trying to express yourself, it tells us how you feel about yourself, if you are revealing a lot of your body then you feel comfortable with yourself if you cover up with a unflattering baggy jumper you clearly don’t like your body.
If you saw a person walking down the street in a bright pink jumpsuit then you would look twice, this would mean the person wants attention and wants to be noticed.
If you wear all black this portrays depression and an element of gloom.
Today people are labelled and categorised by the clothes they wear, such as Goth, Emo, Townie, chav and Trendy.

Experiment with clothes and use your imagination!