Week 7 - Fashion Loves: Art

In today's lecture we looked at Fashion Loves: Art, we looked at how art has affected fashion from the 19th Century to just before present day. During A-levels I had looked at quite a lot of the movements mentioned for example Art Deco and saw how they affected graphic design and textiles so I already have quite good knowledge on this yet I still saw many designers work that I hadn't previously.
In our seminar we did a writing analyse task, we mainly looked at one article which was about digital publishing invasion. We were given different questions to answer about the article.


Main points being made

• Print vs. online technology

• Magazine industry incline / digital invasion

• Print industry decline

• How publishing has evolved?

• Reasons why they should target on older markets

• Key Theme

• Data

• Decline of print

• Digital invasion 

Who is it aimed at?

• People who enjoy books

• Well-educated

• Mature/old

What was it originally published for?

• The Times – broadsheet

• A dissertation

What do you think about it?

• Complex

• Well-informed

• Supported with facts

• Biased

• Opinions stated straight away and acknowledge their aims

What research methods?

• Secondary – stats: databases – Mintel/keynote

• Other published sources – books/journals/magazines/broadsheets

• Primary – first hand – interviews/face2face/email

• References – clockwork orange – book/film

Design and layout

• Little paragraphs easy to digest – grid structure

• Quite sophisticated

• Simple = minimalist

• Text heavy

• Flow quite confusing 

Tone of voice

• Formal

• Persuasive

• Intellectual

• Sophisticated

• Biased

• Convincing

• Arrogant

• Reference is male

• Straight to the point

At the end of the seminar we found out it was a dissertation from a past female student and got a 1st for it. Quite a lot of us were shocked as almost all of us thought it was going to be someone much older.

Week 7 - London Trip

Today we went to London to research our brands for our projects and also look exhibitions. After a not so smooth 4 hour journey to London my group started by going to the V&A museum, currently they have an exhibition on about Club to Catwalk, London Fashion in the 1980's which was £5 for students to go into. We weren't allowed to take photos in the exhibition, I wish we could have as there was lots of very interesting outfits! I particularly liked the Blitz Denim event that was in 1986, 22 designers customised denim jackets from Levi in each of their own unique styles. The exhibition also featured sections including; english eccentrics, evening wear, knitwear, new romantics, high camp, body map, body conscious, rare, goth, glam fetish, customised and hard times. Definitely an exhibition to see if you like all things wacky and eccentric!

Then in our group we went to Covent Garden, grabbed some lunch and then went to the independent Mulberry store to see how it was laid out, visual merchandise and to see what competitors were around.  Right next to the Mulberry store there was a Radley store and just down the street there was Lulu Guinness. Mulberry already had its christmas visual merchandise up featuring cute white nut crackers with some of the best sellers in between. In store it was pretty small, a very simplistic layout but it did also have a feature wall with some bags handing off of it. 

We then went to Selfridges to see what one of Mulberry's concession stores was like in comparison. Again the store was very simplistic, their best sellers were featured at the front of the store, they even had a swing tag or sign by them saying 'Great Gift' for Christmas. 

Week 7 - Lover's Guide to Brands

Today we watched a video called the Lover's Guide to Brands, it talked about briefing, focus on the idea and surviving execution. I noted down quotes that I thought were particularly helpful or that I thought just stood out.

In the section about briefing they said 'briefing is more important than the brief', I thought this was quite interesting, they basically were saying that sitting down with the people working on the brief and discussing it is more worth while than just having the brief put down nothing more said about it, which I would think is pretty true!
'People in agencies think by doing, not think by thinking' - I really liked this one, it's basically saying that you need to be doing something to end up of thinking of something useful towards project or just an idea, instead of just sitting down thinking whilst doing nothing. Sometimes the best ideas are thought up in the most random of times and places!

The next section was called 'Focus on the idea'. I really like this statement that one of the people said 'It's not just about the ingredients, you need to emotionally satisfy the customer about the brand or product.', probably my favourite quote from the video was 'Don't analyse it to death when it's just been born.', I think too often people get an idea, but before even giving it a chance they analyse it so much that the idea is completely ruined when there could have been potential.

Week 6 - Market Research

Today we were introduced to market research and trends.

Primary research is original data, this can be collected by experiments, field study, surveys, prototypes and interviews. It's more complex than secondary but you get one to one information and focus's on prospect companies.

Secondary research is existing data, this can be collected from literature or case studies. It's easier to conduct than primary research, there's a broad understanding and it can help for preparation for primary research.

'Fashion used to come from one source at a time, be it the street, the runways or the entertainment business. The interesting thing about today is that influences come from high and low, everything from couture to target.' - Michael Kors

I really like this quote which was mentioned in the lecture, it is so true and shows how much the fashion industry has changed!

Long term trends include;
Political
Economy
Sociocultural
Technology
Environment
Legal
Demographics

Dominant Megatrends 

• globalisation
• digital
• environmental
• health & wellbeing

Social

• ageless society
• body perfection
• networked society
• personalisation
• globalisation/homogenisation

Technology

• mobile payment
• e-commerce
• price comparison
• QR codes
• wearable technology
• augmented reality
• 3D printing
• personalisation
• live participation
• social media
• apps
• interactive retail
• click & collect

Environment

• environment/globalisation
• closer to markets
• faster/reduced lead times
• more flexible - customisation

Short term trends include;
Brand
Consumer - street, celebrity
Competition - catwalk, in store/visual merchandising, advertising
Media - print, film/tv, music, photography, art
Product - colour, materials, prints, patterns, design

Week 6 - Analysis Of Writing Styles

In our lecture today we just went over how to reference, the London trip itinerary and how to document what we collect in London.

In the seminar we analysed an article called 'Fast Love' from The Sunday Times, we weren't told where it came from until we had finished the task.

What are the main points being made in the article?
Fast beauty for busy women

What key themes, issues or questions are addressed?
What do most women want and need?, Beauty & Time

Who is it aimed at?
Working/busy women

What was it originally published for?
Magazine or Metro Paper

What do you think about it?
A very promotional piece of writing, could be controversial, I think it's weird!

What research methods do you think they have used?
Primary research from the company advertised through interview. There were no consumer views.

Week 6 - Brand Handwriting

Today's lecture I found really interesting, probably because I'm very visual and the power point was very visual!
A brands handwriting can include; colour, pattern, monogram, signature, letter form/font, media/material and product.
We started at looking at brands that use colour as their main feature;

Elsa schiaparelli - Pink - Inventive, Controversial & Playful.
Tiffany & Co. - Blue - Cool, Luxury & Romance.
Liberty - Purple - Privileged, Rich & Rare.
Hermès - Orange - Well Travelled, Equestrian Prestige & Exotic.

We also looked at brands that use print as their main feature;

Paul Smith - Stripes - Eccentric, Witty & Playful.

Missoni - Chevron - Electric, Decorative & Bold.

Emilio Pucci - Paisley - Groovy, Flirtatious & Zestful.

Burberry - Check - British, Heritage & Young Aristocracy.

To end the lecture we looked at brands which use monograms as their main feature including; Coach, Gucci, Dior & Louis Vitton.

In our seminar we created compositions using powerpoint, we had to generate 6 layouts using few elements starting off with an image from clipart and then include blocks of colour and text. Here are the 6 layouts I composed.