With the prospect of my final year at university approaching I'm spending a lot of time having a look at my brief for collection next year. This will be my biggest collection to date and whilst we also have the option of doing a dissertation I feel that another collection would be the best direction to go in.
This post is a warm up to what I'd like to write about on here once I start the new term. This post is to help others who would like to do their own collection. Here I would like to talk about the process I go through when coming up with my ideas and developing the garments so that they make up a cohesive collection of clothes!
So first of all I want to make it clear that coming up with a collection is by no means an easy task for me, the very initial stages involve me pulling my hair out as I try and come up with ideas for themes etc and involves me spending a lot of time either with my head in books or staring at a computer screen! To come up with a collection you have to consider target market, retailer, fabric cost etc which is why it can take ages to get a collection that meets all your needs effectively.
The Brief- At university we are given a brief and are told to dissect it. In our briefs we are given a lot of free reign over target market, retailer, theme etc but we have to explore each aspect as deep as we can so that our garments meet the needs of our customer as much as possible.
For example when researching your target market you would look into gender, age, income and interests.
Once a brief has been thoroughly looked into and all aspects explored you can start coming up with ideas for your collection that will tailor to your target market.
Last years brief with annotations
So here is the first step:
1. Get plenty of inspiration. Last year the inspiration for my collection came totally from left field when I was watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics but this year I'm looking more into YouTube videos and catwalk shows to get some interesting stuff. Definitely invest in various pattern cutting books for a little inspiration and I also have a few books on innovative pleats and other crazy stuff you can do with fabric which is giving me a lot of ideas.
Amazon is a great place to start, I get almost all of my books from there and everything is reasonably priced.
I have quite a few books that I will consistently turn to when looking for inspiration. I have a book all about fashion designers sketchbooks and a picture of a fabric used in a Chanel catwalk show inspired me to make my own similar fabric made from much cheaper ric-rac for my collection last year.
I also have a lot of books on inventive pattern cutting which are a fantastic starting point for ideas.
I also highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the likes of Tumblr and Pinterest where users avidly upload pictures of the latest catwalk trends as well as interesting style features they find on garments, these provide a lot of inspiration and starting points upon which to develop your designs.
My internet research into structure
The designer sketchbook which gave me the idea to make my own fabric for last years collection
My holy grail when wanting to explore with silhouette and structure
Every pattern cutter will have come across these books. A pioneer in creative pattern cutting, these books include some seriously crazy designs.
A Winifred Aldridge womens wear pattern cutting book. Very good for basic ideas you can build upon.
2. Get all of your ideas onto paper. I have little scraps that I keep all over my bedroom, last year I would be lying in bed and crazy stuff would come to my mind which I would get up and get onto paper straight away. Even if it is a napkin each thought you come up with could lead to a fantastic end outfit. Even really interpretive drawings of a silhouette can be a good reference, obviously if you can keep all of your very early ideas in the one place like a sketchbook that'd be ideal as a place you can constantly refer back to and build upon.
Even a small collection of fabric swatches or little cut out and stuck down pictures of a style feature you've found with a little bit of information written beside it is helpful. For last years collection I had a few sketchbooks and notebooks that I'd just fill with scribbles and notes, right now I have one that I take to work and write ideas in on my lunch break.
A list of points I'd have to think about when coming up with a collection eg. style features, time constraints, trimming, fabric choice, necklines
A mood board showing key aspects of the design direction such as structures, fabric swatches and colour scheme which can be referred to when coming up with initial designs
Theme research
I also like to come up with ideas by taking two things I find particularly interesting and blending them together. For example there could be a really cool style of pleat I want to include in a skirt as well as a certain style feature I've been fascinated by so I'd draw these onto a skirt and then develop it from there to get a more fluid idea that will fit my brief.
I cant say enough how important it is to annotate your drawings, there are many occasions where I've seen a drawing and thought 'what on earth is this meant to be made from?' which is why it is so important to include colour, fabric choice etc beside your drawings.
Initial design ideas with annotations
Very quick silhouette drawings
Completed design drawings ready to be presented
4.Fabric Choice this is the part of coming up with a collection that I almost always mess up. I learnt the hard way last year that it pays to have a thorough idea of what fabrics you are going to use before the toiling process. Last year I wanted to make a chiffon blouse but my fabric was so thin that you could see all of the stitching through it and it was much too fragile. Instead, I had to resort to a heavier crepe fabric.
I studied textiles a little in 1st and 2nd year and they encouraged us to keep a fabric file so that we could refer back to it and make informed decisions about what fabric would be best to use for particular garments.
For example, if you're making something that is quite structured it is best to use a cotton drill and this is a thick fabric that can be manipulated easily into different shapes, if you are wanting a fabric with good drape it is better to use a light cotton or crepe fabric which is light and hangs well.
When I came up with my collection last year I had to think a lot about fabric choice, I had to ensure I used the correct fabrics for my draped skirts and tops and thick fabrics for my dress etc, fabric choice can affect the end look of a garment, you have to collect swatches and understand how the fabric hangs to ensure you're garment reflects your design drawing.
A list of online fabric stores I refer to
Fabric research
Final fabric choice which was actually changed later on due to poor research
A page from my old fabric file
The toiling stage also has it's moments of intense frustration though, last term I had a dress with a crazy 3D structure on it and I couldn't for the life of me get it to sit right on the garment, I had 2 technitions and my lecturer have a look at the dress and on several occasions we had to take it all apart and start again, something that you don't want to do when you're nearing deadlines!
6.The Final Garment This is when all your hard work pays off. You've slaved for months carrying our research, developing design ideas and perfecting final garment proposals, collecting fabric swatches and creating outfits and FINALLY you have your finished collection in front of you.
I'll admit there are many moments throughout the collection process that I would come up against
a problem I didn't think I would fix but it just makes the finished outfits feel more rewarding.
It's always best to carry out as much research as possible before coming up with ideas to limit the chances of things going wrong.
I hope this helps anyone who is coming up with their own collections!!
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