Character project

I decided to choose this project over the Pick 'n' mix brief because I wanted to develop the detailing project as much as possible, so I spent an extra week expanding it as much as I could. I also thought that this brief would be quite fun and light, which is something that I haven't really had the opportunity to do yet.

Following the "fun" theme, my choice of character is a super hero named the Goodwife. It is based on my own mum and I want to make it quite a humorous project playing on stereotypes of women. I want to take this project in a slightly different route, looking more at the fashion promotion side, including styling and photography but still incorporating my own designs into it as well. The reason why I have decided to do this is because I don't feel as if up to this point I have explored this in very much detail and feel that it is definitely one of my weaker points that need to be worked on in preparation for my final major project.

Not only am I working differently by looking at the promotion sector of fashion, but I have also decided to work digitally for this project, doing all of my concept boards on Photoshop and then putting them into a sketchbook to go alongside my designs. I am slightly skeptical about doing this because I have only ever worked in sketchbooks and am so use to doing so.

Detailing Photo shoot

When I create my photo shoots I like them to be quite simple so that the main focus is on the clothing that I have created. I decided to increase the vibrancy so that the orange of the jacket really stood out against the plain white background. The reason why I wanted the brightness turned up so much is to give the viewer the sense that the model is standing on the top of a mountain ready to ski so that all the light is shining on them. 

Overall I am extremely happy with the outcome of my project and think that the process of getting to this point was well thought out and developed. My main regret is not leaving enough time to create a full outfit, meaning the leggings that I designed and also incorporating the heated tubes through the garments that I researched about. 

Even if I was given the opportunity to redo this project again I don't think I would dramatically change anything. The colour pallet that I have chosen, even though it is out of my comfort zone, worked really well and has helped prepare me for my final major project if I decide to use bright colours. 

the final product

I chose to create this particular design because I felt it was the most aesthetically pleasing and it showed off a lot of different detailing. I wanted to use a hi-tech fabric that is waterproof but after looking around at different websites I realised that they were well out of my price range, so I decided to use shower curtain material, as it possessed many of the same qualities. 

The part that proved to be the trickiest was making the hood. I couldn't quite get the sizing right and when I did it seemed flimsy and too light weight. Because of this I decided to give it a thicker lining making it appear fuller and heavier, giving off the look that I desired. If I had had more time to create this jacket I would have added an extra pocket on both of the upper arms and I would have lined the inside of the jacket just so that it was slightly more neater. 

My favourite part about the jacket definitely has to be the shoulders, I think they really work well with the contrasting colour of grey and they give the jacket more dimension, making it visually interesting. 

Designing

To come up with my designs I basically combined all of the ideas I had throughout the project and worked them into different outfits. I'm actually surprised at how well the designs came out especially because I am normally quite reserved when it comes to using colour and when I do I normally use a darker pallet, so working in such bright and eye catching colours was very new to me. I'm glad that I did this because it has helped me over come an obstacle that I know will have to deal with during my FMP and on my degree course. 

One thing that I am going to try and change in my next project is my illustrations. I’ve used the same ones for the last couple of projects and although I think they look good, they don't look original enough to stand out which is so important in this industry. 

I think if I were to do these designs again I would change the figures and also work on adding accessories and style them a bit more, adding scarves, hats and other things that you wear whilst skiing. 

Fabrication

I think the colour pallet that has developed out of my research has really enhanced my designed. I took the colours from the different suits across the different years, so I tried to keep all of the fabric samples I collected within the same colour chart. 

From looking around Berwick street, I found a lot of strange and interesting fabrics that came across as looking futuristic and "spacey" which I would really like to incorporate into my final produce, but unfortunately because of the price I will have to find an alternative that I think will work well. 

One fabric that personally I think will be perfect for this project is neoprene. It is already being introduced into sportswear (such as the new Adidas Jacket that they have released for men in Neon colours), because it has the ability to keep your body at a certain temperature. In cold weather the Neoprene encourages your body to sweat and keeps the sweat at a warm temperature, which then keeps the body warm, but in hot weather it also is lightweight and doesn't overheat the body.