PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

My key skills discovered from this project would be: Attention to detail Fondness of contrasting colours Sewing manufacture skills Digital illustrations skills - starting this year as someone would who would consider my illustration skill to be my weakness skill. I know have become more confident in this skill. This came about from volunteering to do my groups colour line up illustration. I found so many new and quicker ways to edit and refine my drawing, all from just spending time on Illustrator and trying out different methods.

Setting up a LinkedIn page Choosing profile picture - I made sure to pick something that represents me in a positive and professional way. Filled out my profile in as much detail as possible. Had a goal in mind when filling in my profile - internships / work experience. Here check out my LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/savannah-smith-602515140 My CV is linked through my portfolio website (Portfolio in the options)

From my toiles all being signed off before Christmas this allowed me to plan and be product about my making of my garments. With only two week to manufacture my outfits once back after Christmas it is critical that I manage my time productively. First week spent on my coat and trousers as they are the most time consuming. Four days spent on my jersey piece. Completely the making of my garments I am happy with my outcome.

MINUS SIXTY The idea for our name and branding came from us looking into Mount Everest. The name was discovered from finding out what the temperate is at the summit of Mount Everest (-60). We also incorporated the concept of have coordinated of mount everest as we researched into areal maps.

As a group, we have developed a strong print idea. We now needed to decide on placement print. From our tutorial session, we received feedback that it would be interesting to have a larger and small print used in our collection. Rachel and Ciara in my group helped created a variety of repeat print and we helped select the most relevant print to our concept. We went for one that showed the snow came print ideas and that graphic lines. Taking the print on I design some labels and combined it with our branding. Now that the labels have arrived I am extremely happy with them as they look to a high standard.

Having my outfit finalised, I have refined my toiles until I believe it matches the design I want to create.  This meant I made 3 jersey titles, 5 outwear jackets and 4 trouser toiles. I have also made more 8 samples from pocket to trailing embroidery on different fabrics. I have really enjoyed this process as it's exciting seeing my design go from 2D to 3D.  Area's I found difficult in Toiles: Refining the overall shape of my coat.  Lowering the armhole the correct amount (I kept doing either too much or not enough). Producing a collar on my jersey that didn't flare outwards/ away from the neck. Sewing jersey that had a large amount of stretch in it. Area's I succeed in: After not being confident on industry sewing machine in first year I now prefer using them to my own machine! I have discovered what machines need what amount of pressure on the foot pedal. Understanding construction of tailoring in pattern cutting. being able to chose appropri...

I consider making rubber coated toggles for our zip pulls so I booked onto a casting and moulding workshop at my university. Thought i learnt a lot on this work and found it extremely interesting the actual result of my rope and plastic toggle dipped into plastic wasn't as successful as i'd hope. From hanging the toggle to dry it meant all the plastic ran off the toggle creating a very abstract piece. This technique wasn't refined enough for our collection to we decided to move on from the idea. Branding is a very strong element of our collection. We decided to continue this idea by exploring embroidery in our collection. From my market research, it was clear that branding on collars and sleeves were extremely popular to I trailed some embroidery of our logo to sizes that would work for this placement areas. It was hugely successful and I have decided to use it on my final outerwear piece.

After sourcing our fabrics from Barry's in Birmingham and on Goldhawk Road in London. We manage to match our colour palette perfectly. We made sure to included a range of different texture and weights of fabric. I liked the idea of using tech fabrics to represent our concept of mountain climbing as there usually use in snowy conditions. But sourcing tech fabrics was extremely difficult as most fabric were either out of our price budget or could only be bought in large amounts of fabric. Our final fabrics excluding the print and trimmings. I felt silver hardware represented our concept more than using plastic or gold metal. The silver allowed the bold colours to stand out even more.  My final fabrics for my jersey fleece. Final fabrics for my outerwear piece  Sourcing fabrics with neon orange fur for a trimming on a hood was extremely difficult. In the end we found some in Victoria Market. 

Initially starting minus sixty's line up was daunting. Having to pull together 5 different peoples version of one concept to make a conceive collection that fills the gaps for a wide variety of garment is difficult. We learn that you can't have 3 puffer coats in one collection. We adapted our designs to 1 parka, 1 puffer and a ski jacket inspired denim jacket. This allowed us to fulfil a range of occasional wear but still relating back to our concept. It can be difficult to adapt your design once you've set your heart on it but this adds to the design processes as it's likely you'll end up with a stronger outcome if you keep pushing you design ideas.

Midway Through First Term My group has a clear idea of what our concept and colour palette are allowing us to start our design development. As a group we really want to emphases on our collection being interchangeable, conceive and cover a wider variety of styles. Our concept is bases around mountaineering so we have decided that oversized parkas and puffer coats are a must! I have grown fond of the idea of making an oversized puffer but in a contrasting colour.  Market Research Visiting now Birmingham, Nottingham and London River Island stores This has really helped our group understand what the target audience is for River Island and how the store likes to layout the garments.