Journey of an eskimo

Its been a while since I have blogged, but here is some of my recent work. I made the garments in the photoshoot which is based on eskimo clothing mixed with an element of sportswear.

Twenty8Twelve SS11

Inspired by Joni Mitchell's album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, with a road trip theme. Sienna and Savannah Miller mix denim, suede and lace with bright yellows and prints to give a cute vintage feel. I particularly love this girly neutral dress and layering of denim and print.

MOSCHINO!

Whilst researching Moschino for a uni presentation I discovered these amazing cushions in the shape of pastries, which can be found at the Maison Moschino Hotel in Milan. I want one!!

Bunmi Koko SS11 'Matriarchy' Collection

I have just finished a 5 day placement with a new design company called Bunmi Koko Ltd to help in the run up to designer Bunmi Olaye's Vauxhall Fashion Scout show. It has been such a good experience to work with such a new and small business and it was very hands on.

The 13 piece collection was based on Nigeria, in particular the royalty link between the UK and Nigeria, but also the masquerade and 'Ekpe' which are sacred symbols. A man wearing a masqerade costume comes into view and performs a dance which sets the mood, followed by the models wearing amazing printed dresses, skirts, jumpsuits, blouses and jackets, sleek and beautifully draped in shades of black, bright red and yellow. The models were all styled with theatrical feathered masks and canes which added to the theme.

Soooo overall....

I still have 2 weeks left but so far I am really enjoying my time at French Connection and it isn't anything like how I thought it would be considering French Connection is classed as a high street shop. The work like high end designers however they are under more pressure and therefore especially towards the end of designing S/S 11 there are lots of things to do.

The designers seem to take inspiration from anything, there isn't a particular direction, which I found quite odd. They look at designer trends but different designs use different elements, however the collection looks very youthful as head designer Emma has the last say, and chooses more commercial looks rather than the design she likes the most, they also asked me a lot whether I would wear the designs.

I have learnt a lot about fabrics from listening and watching them choose particular fabrics to do particular jobs and also I have done a lot to do with prints which I have found really interesting.

In the time have been been working there a total of 8 designers have designed, chosen fabrics and artworks, fitted toiles and done spec sheets for everything and next week will e checking up on the factories in India, Hong Kong and Turkey, which just shows how fast they have worked.

When all the designers come back I will be helping to put outfits together for the show at the end of may and dressing the models. It will be so good to see everything that I have helped with!!

DAY 31 & 32

Both of these days were spent sewing the buttons on more garments, including shorts, skirts and shirts which hadn't been done at the factory. I had to neaten up the working drawings for all of the stylesin the collection as they had been scanned in from a hand drawing rather than on illustrator.

I also did a few more artwork placements for a style called georgie silk, Gemma voile and a vintage looking embroidery. All of them had to be finished by friday so Emma, the main designer, could take them and all the patterns to India when she arrives on Sunday.

Below are some of the patterns and artworks:

DAy 30

This morning was quite quiet, i finished some artwork for a leather dress which has decorative holes punched into it, then I did some emailing to factories.

In the afternoon I had to sew lots of buttons of jackets and coats which hadn't been sewn on by the factory.