Hectic Week

Well the past week has been incredibly stressful and long! Stressful to the point of crying in a crit...but thanks to classmates and tutor all is back on track! I have made a good start on printing up all the garments! Have had no problems really apart from the time issue...i feel slightly pressured to get everything printed as there seems to be little time left.

Yesterday (thursday) was the photo shoot with a professional model for the ECA fashion catalogue and everything is looking fab! The neon colors are working surprisingly well with the more traditional, classic colors of the jackets. Stay tuned for pictures!

quick update!

Everything has been running pretty smoothly. I have managed to get all miniature samples of designs competed. The colors look great together and are a great contrast to the checked fabric. The only thing i have had to change is the bright blue to more of a light grey blue. The bright blue wasn't really working and when Emma and I chatted about it we agreed with her tutor that it needed toning down a bit so it pulled everything together. Once Emma gets all of her fabric in and I expose my screens we are ready to go!

Today's Meeting

I spoke to my tutor for this collaboration and discussed where myself and Emma are at with the project. Tomorrow and Friday I am going to put some small versions of final designs on screen and spend all of next week experimenting with color and techniques. These samples will hopefully make it easier for myself and Emma to finalize designs for the collection and also sort out the colors to be used in each design. I was thinking of doing sample prints on a range of fabric, so maybe a silk/viscose satin, silk satin, even a fine silk would be interesting to sample on. Hopefully by the time we break up for easter break at least one garment will be complete and printed up!

Color Palette

This is a rough idea of the color palette that will hopefully be used in the collection. The colors are supposed to be slightly more neon...for some reason they printed duller?!

Update on Collaboration Feedback

Hi! So here is an update on the feedback I have been getting so far through talking to people who have collaborated in the past and from people posting their experiences up on this blog.

So far people’s experiences seem to be pretty positive and found the whole collaborative theme a very valuable experience in which they learnt how to work as a team and learnt to listen to others taking on board what they were saying.

Taking part in collaborations meant that there were deadlines to work towards which forced people to make sure they stuck to them knowing that if they didn’t they would be letting the team down and ultimately putting everyone behind schedule. I suppose you could say that there was that fear factor of not getting things done that you said you would do.

It seems that it is very important in collaboration that you are confident, assertive and most importantly are willing to compromise your ideas to fit another’s. Some people I spoke to realized that they didn’t do this and therefore felt like they were just doing what they were told to do instead of speaking out and contributing what they were really thinking.

In some rare circumstances people are given free reign to do as they wish and sometimes that works out perfectly, but like I said that is a rare occurrence.

What everyone seems to have said when I have spoken to them is that they have found their experiences highly rewarding as they got to see their designs on a final product.

Second collaboration project with Danielle

Not only am I doing this fashion collaboration with Emma, but I'm also at the beginning stages of one with Danielle also in textiles with me. She is wanting to compile a trends forecast book for spring/summer 2011, so she is approaching various textile designers and collaborating with them to produce a series of prints and drawings that she can use in her book. The above collecting is of some of my designs that she will be using in her book, only not in the same color palette. Earlier on we discussed colors to be used and have decided that each person featuring in the book will use the colors of their choice within the spring/summer 2011 collection and produce three prints with them.

Meeting with Emma

Just had a meeting with Emma about printing up fabric for her first garment. We discussed the type of stripe she was looking for and came to the decision that for this particular garment I will print up a simple pinstripe using two colors of the color palette. For tomorrow I will get put together small samples of the colors to be used which should help us decipher the balance of color within the garment. We also need to discuss wether the garment shapes are pre cut and printed on or if I print up a length of fabric instead.

1st Critique of the Project

Forgot to mention yesterday that I had my first critique of the project! It really helped to clear up a couple of things for me and has forced me to move away from just creating a technical logbook to exploring the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration...that actually led me to creating this blog. It was also pretty useful hearing what other people thought of the whole project. Now everything is down to me to get up and running!

Fashion in 3D

These images are pictures of Emma's designs that she has made out of calico...putting her designs into context but not made of the material she will use in her final collection.

Designs for the Collaboration

These images are a couple of drawings based on stripes that I drew for this project. Some are based on optical illusions and others are the more conventional stripes with a bit more detail.

other images of inspiration

A bit of Inspiration

I love these two images, simply because the garments illustrate stripes a being a feature of them and not as a simple stripe print which would be more obvious. I love that the designer has clearly thought about placement on the body which helps pull the garment together.

Past Experiences

I have to be honest, my previous experiences of doing collaborations haven't been great. Therefore initially I was a tad reluctant to take part in another, but hopefully I can take forward what I learnt from the experience and apply it to this project.

From past experiences I have learnt that it is really important to work as a team. Previously I was dictated to and told what to do, and because the people I was teamed up with had huge personalities, and at times wanted to take control of the project it became really hard to get my own ideas across. Having said that, I did grow in confidence throughout the project and learnt how to communicate my ideas better to the group. Another bonus to the project was that we learnt more about each others subjects and the processes in which we both go through on a day to day basis. We also learnt that it can be very beneficial to work on collaborative projects as it gives a whole new dimension to your work.

What is Collaboration?

Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together in an intersection of common goals.

Final Collection Lineup

This is the final lineup for the fashion show that I will be designing for. Compared to the first one there is now more edge to the collection, with neon colors brightening it up and making it potentially different to everything else on the market...

Initial Collection Lineup

The image above illustrates what was Emma's initial lineup for the fashion show that I would have designed for. The look she seems to be going for is very preppy, soft colors and very clean cut.

Theme

Hey! So i have just realized that I haven't actually introduced you to the theme of the project. Well as you have probably guessed from the image above courtesy of Paul Smith, the theme is stripes! Potentially a very difficult and challenging theme for me because it is not something I would normally ever go for! My style of designing is usually very decorative and detailed so taking on a project like this is a massive change for me...mainly the reason why I agreed to this collaborative...It will be good for me to try out something completely different and out of my comfort zone!

Project Overview

So I'm new to this whole blogging thing, and to be honest I don't have the faintest clue how to start this whole thing off. So to be honest I'm relying on you to help me out!

I figured that it would be best to start off with an overview of what it is I'm trying to get out of this blog...

I am a textile student at ECA currently taking part in a collaboration with a fashion student. During this project I wish to record the process of taking part in a collaboration and compiling it all in a book (as well as on this blog). Not only do I want to record my own experiences but also the experiences of you the audience who may have taken part in projects similar to this.

I suppose you could call this a 'how to' project book looking at the disadvantages and advantages to working with someone not in the same area of study as yourself.

Ideally what I am trying to get all you readers to do is comment on things that I'm doing, giving your input on the project, and if you yourself have done collaborations then FANTASTIC! Tell me about them...Did they work out for you? What would you do differently? Do you have any advice to give me to help push my collaboration with Emma further and really make it a success. Please feel free to share with me...Upload images and links!!! GET INVOLVED!!!