Thursday, November 27, 2008

Final Reflection

Creating the collection the process
To research designing a collection it was important to have a sound understanding of the Miu Miu brand, style significances and inspirations behind each collection and how this all linked in with the colour choices of the designer. After this preliminary research analysis of information could then be applied to the collection. Several separate colour palettes were selected from various collections and then narrowed down by choosing certain hues, tints and tones were which then used to start the initial process of designing the collection and selecting colour proportion. An essential process of development was to primarily sketch out the designs by hand and apply colour using crayon. This would give a better overview and a bird’s eye view of the whole collection; what colours needed to be changed and what tints, shades and tones needed to be added to make the collection flow, how the proportions needed to be altered to reflect the Miu Miu brand and not make the collection appear disjointed in anyway. With this in mind the work was analysed and reflections and alterations were made. One main issue discovered was proportions. Using colours randomly was not statistical enough and made the collection appear segmented; therefore it was important that colours were pulled out strategically to be used as the foundation of the collection and other brighter high chroma hues to be used as accents. As the collection was designed for fall/winter 2009-2010 it was an obvious choice to choose the low chroma, high value hues such as brown, grey, deep red and black as base colours.
Using my adapted colour palette the next set of collections was designed on the computer. This helped establish which colours worked well together and which clashed. This made it easier to analyse select colour theories and apply them to the collection. It was found that a split complementary colour scheme worked well with the collection and added variation to outfits with splashes of high chroma warm hue used for accessories and detailing.
Deciding a theme for the collection was a lot trickier than initially expected. A theme needed to be chosen that would suit the brand Miu Miu and easily be linked with their strong identity, whilst also being on trend and easily adaptable for patterns and prints. After researching various artists, illustrators and future trend predictions, the idea of ‘magical forest’ was created. This linked in nicely with the colour palette and was dominated by browns, soft pastel beige, warm orange and red, colours and tones which worked together to create contrast and difference. Two different mood boards of images that reflected the trend, as well as different approaches and perspectives that could taken were created, for example natural forest imagery such as leaves and feathers; magical creatures such as unicorns and pixies. Each of which could be used to bring ideas and inspirations for pattern and print. As pattern is such a dominate part of Miu Miu’s collections it was important to get ratios of print to plain correct as this would reflect brand significance and identity. Images were collected from magazines and various designers which allowed for inspiration and ideas for the collection.
Shape and Silhouette was also looked at. It was important to get the correct style which represented the Miu Miu brand. Therefore the collection was chosen to be based upon angular shoulders with voluptuous soft curves contrasting heavily with sharp corners and tutu inspired skirts.
Getting the hue intensity and saturation levels of the patterns was a significant part of designing my collection. It was imperative that the colour levels within the pattern blended well with the colour palette. However it was also vital to make the patterns stand out as this is Miu Miu’s trade mark. Miu Miu is well known for fun brightly coloured patterns which link the fairytale world of a child with the grown up world of adulthood. I used prints butterfly wings and unicorns all key features of the ‘magical forest’ trend. However I felt that my matured palette which I created before hand was not as well suited to the collection as I initially thought. As the theme was magical forest, the colours had to reflect the magical enchanting storey which I had created. They also had to appeal to the fun loving youthful Miu Miu customer. Therefore I choose to adapt my colour palette accordingly. I choose to drop the browns, soft beige and black and replace them with pastel green, pastel purples, bright energetic pink and candy pink. This new and improved colour palette gave a unique and inspiring look the collection, transforming it from old and frumpy to new and exciting. I felt it was definitely a better representation of the Miu Miu brand and the colour was now more suitable creating a quirky and fun image.
Overall the colour palette and colour proportions worked really well within the collection. The prints stand out due to their colour alteration and work well within the collection. After the final colour palette was added to, more definition and a better reflection of the theme was created.

The Final Collection and Colour Palette

After looking closely at my designs and use of colour I decided to alter my mature colour palette and alter the saturation of the hue's so give a more fantastical, magical and mysterious feel to appeal to my target consumer and their lifestyle. I wanted to use colour to create a sense of fantasy and excitement.For example I added more white into the orange to give it a more subtle magical feel rather than overwhelminghly garish.

Winter colour is usally cold and cool colours, therefore I used brights mixed with pastel pinks and green to add wearability to the colours.

Fantasy and my theme of 'magical forest' can have serveral different meanings, but by contrasting the light tints of hues I felt it created a pure, light sense of transparency, against the brighter more intense hues which added excitement and surrealism to the pallete. I used the darker tones of purple and grey to add definition to the lighter colours and by creating a greater contrast between the two the colour's stand out more. I changed the colour proportions to the collection was no longer dominated by the cooler hues and shades, therefore the proportion was more 50/50 and the collection has more magical, enchanting, feminime feel. Consequently this was the image, concept and feeling I wanted to portray in my collection, therefore the customer can better connect to my theme.





The collection exurberates the Miu Miu sophitication with a playful hint of the fairytale, 'childlike' world using the butterfly and unicorn prints adding a youthful freshness and feminime modernity to the collection.








Above the butterfly print used throughout my collection. Again I changed the colour of the wings to suit my collection, I used light and dark hues to create contrast and to diversify the pattern and to make it collate with my magical forest inpiration.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Further design: questioning the colour palette

Below are 20 designs with the mature colour pallete for Fall/Winter 2009-2010
I think that the colour palette works really well using a split complementary colour scheme. The main hues for the collection are the cooler colours, black, brown and grey. Then the other more high chroma hues and warmer colours are used to complelemt each individual outfit. I really like how the shoes are subtle heighten the intensity and luminosity of the outfit.

I think that the patterns work really well with the collection and although each print is seperate and uses different hues, together they work really well and add contrast and definition to the collection. I definately think sticking to one main trend worked to my advantage as the collection flows really well.

Overall I think this is a well balanced collection with good colour proportions. The collection definately takes on board the Miu Miu image and brand identity which can be seen through both use of colour and shape and style throughout. However I think that the colour palette lacks a strong sense of magical and mysterious. The hue's tints, tones and shades used do not reflect my theme as well as I hoped and therefore are too general to appeal to the Miu Miu customer. I wanted the colour in my collection to represent a fun loving, playful, consumer with the collection relflecting an informal no restraints image. I think that the colour palette reflects more of the working formal class mature woman, therefore I am going to slightly alter my colour palette to suit what whom I believe my collection should be targeted to.




Thursday, November 20, 2008

Nature trends and patterns used within garments


ASOS Bird print print satin skirt dress

Examples of how nature trends and patterns can be applied and colour tones used don't always have to be nautral, they can be bright opposing the principle of famililarity stating that colour schemes based on nature will be pleasing to most people. Adding contasting colour excites the colour palatte and suits the Miu Miu brand and target youthful customer.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Further pattern and print inspiration theme:Magical Forest

The images below were taken from Vogue November and December 2008. They gave me pattern and print inspiration, from delicate peacocks and the shimmer and subsequent subtle glamour.








Source: http://www.wgsn-edu.com/edu/edu-members/
Unique and unusual beauty, creates feminime shapes and imagery. These images inspired me and I felt linked heavily with my theme of magical forest. Although the colour pallette is a lot paler I can still draw ideas.

Source: Glamour Magazine November 2008
I loved the bright chroma of these flowers and head accessories. Something I will definately think about including in my collection, as headwear is predicted to be a big trend for 2009.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Pattern development


This was my first stage when developing pattern. I used my moods boards for inspiration and took images I felt appealed to the brand and could be used effectively. I used the images and tired to create a pattern which could be used as either a print or design on the garments.


I applied my selected patterns on to the actual garment to see how would look against my choosen colour scheme and how well they suited the garments. My favourite is the peacock feather fitting well with the colour pallette.


Pattern Proportion for Miu Miu’s previous collections: Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2008
Spring 2009
Out of 37 outfits within the whole collection print and pattern are used on a total of 15 outfits which is about 40% of the collection.
Fall 2008
Out of 38 outfits, print and pattern are used within a total of 14 outfits which is just over a 35% conversion rate.
Spring 2008
Out of 40 outfits, print and pattern are used on 12 outfits this is exactly 30% of the collection.
Considering this data and my final collection which is planned to be around 20 complete outfits I plan to dedicate 8 outfits featuring pattern and print. Which is around 40% of the collection a similar average to Miu Miu’s.

I liked the butterfly design in from my mood board, however the colours didnt really suit the collection. Therefore using my matured colour palette I altered certain hues and the chroma and intensity so that the pattern would suit my collection.I then altered the image to make it more abstract to suit the Miu Miu brand.

Using the colour palette I then adjusted the hues again so that I would have two variations to use within my collection, this adds variety and will make the collection more asthetically pleasing.


Developing the Unicorn design
I developed the unicorn design by simply repeating my chosen image onto different hue backgrounds. I then altered the saturation of the unicorn wings as this was the main feature I wanted to stand out and be seen on the garments. I want to use the two different colour background prints in my collection to add variation.


Cosumers' lifestyles and mass consumption

School mate A
Angelica Koivisto

Lifestyle:
Mälardalen University Postgraduate Student, Hong Kong exchange student studying a combined business and tourism degree. If from a small town in Sweden and works part time in H&M. She shops only on the high street and her favourite place to buy clothes in Hong Kong is Fa Yuen street market in Mon Kok. She loves extreme sports and dancing. Her favourite place to eat out is Outback Steakhouse and Pizza Hut and she has a passion for Italian food. She loves to read the magazine Cosmopolitan in her spare time and watch episodes of sex and the city. Her most recent favored film is Mama Mia. Loves spending time with her family whom she shares a very close relationship with.
Mass consumption:
Chanel and Mac makeup, Vidal Sassoon and L’Oreal hair products, Dove moisturiser and Neutrogena face wash. Gucci purse, Addidas trainers, H&M sunglasses, Baby G sports watch, Roxy jacket and swimwear. IPod nano in black and i-phone.
Colour preferences:
Shades, tint and tones of the hues pink and purple are her favourite. She also loves yellow but when choosing clothes she sticks to safe colours and a monochromatic scheme of grey, black and white.

School Mate B
Alexis Erian


Lifestlye:
City girl brought up in London very cosmopolitan, fashion student works part time in health and beauty sector for the Superdrug, in the same chain as Watsons. She has lived at home all her life.She shops on the high street and her favourite shops are River Island and Topshop. Her hobbies are cheerleading, volleyball and tennis. Her most recent favoured film is High School Musical. She loves to eat out especially in Thai and Indian restaurants. Her favourite book is the Devil Wears Prada and she likes to watch Friends on a weekly basis. She loves all the gossip magazines such as Heat, Hello and OK. She likes to indulge in an expensive hair cut once three times a year.
Mass Consumption:
DKNY watch, IPod nano in white, Havianna flip flops, GHD Hair straighter, Miu Miu bag, Ted Baker purse, M&S food, pearl earrings and Ray Ban sunglasses. Topshop trainers, Nivea face wash, Britney Spears perfume, Tresemme and John Freda hair products, Sony digital camera, Nokia mobile phone, Primark and Aldo shoes.
Colour preference:
Orange, black and yellow are her most worn colours with gold accessories. She wears a complementary colour scheme as she loves bright high chroma colours and hues and this scheme makes colours appear brighter. She is a fan of primary hues and wants to stand out from the crowd with her colour choices.

The Miu Miu lifestyle and customer

Lets not forget that the most important people in fashion are the consumers! Therefore I felt it necessary to redefine who the Miu Miu customer was and why and how my collection would appeal to her.

Who is the Target Market?
Pen Portrait

21-40 yr old
Young professional, ambitious and career minded
She high end high street with luxury and vintage for a fun, young, fresh,image
Likes to socialise and eat out with friends at the weekend
Cosmopolitan, lives in the city centre
Enjoys reading fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Vogue, loves to visit art galleries
Fashion aware and trend led
High disposable income
Hobbies are yoga, Pilates and dance
She loves to travel, her particular favourite place to holiday is Italy
Her favourite coffee is Starbucks and her favourite drink is a Martini
She is a big fan of expensive make up and body products and looks after herself by eating organic.

Marketing Mix
PRODUCT – Unique styling, interesting unusual design, attention to detail, strong use of pattern and print, youthful fun fashion a totally different image from its sister brand Prada. Focus on the lifestyle the brand offers to its customer, therefore there is little limit on age, but focuses more on attitudes, values, social interests and hobbies. An accessible brand for woman of all ages with personality, sophistication and style.
PRICE –High end price points, luxury market
PLACE – Sold in luxury high end department stores such as Lane Crawford
PROMOTION – Magazine advertising, PR for example magazine features and in-store promotion.

Trend and Pattern for Autumn/Winter 2009-2010

Magical forest
Mysterious and magical forests full or interesting creatures. Feathers of birds, fur markings make use of a subtle palette using browns, soft pastel beige, dusky pinks warm oranges and reds. The image is one of chic luxury and soft decadence. The trend is dominated by warm colours but cold tones are added to create contrast and difference creating a playful world of pattern and emotion. This trend gives way for many inspiring shapes and inspirations through the use of subtle animal, plant prints and patterns which redefine animal motives in a complex fashion.
From previous collections it is evident that Miu Miu’s patterns lack structure and evoke a sense of surrealism. To add this to my collection I intend to play around with colours and prints to give a more abstract, indirect feel to the collection. Miu Miu’s collections use creative boldness to fearlessly experiment with pattern against the ‘norms’ of the fashion industry and its sister brand Prada. The collections induce fantasy and flaunt it whilst running away with reality and abandoning the consciousness. I want my collection to interpret these elements by alluding to animal print by the original pattern but using colour to draw away from the realism factor. Although my trend theme is the magical forest it is important to steer away from natural colours within the patterns as Miu Miu’s designs use a vivid colour palette with strong use of unnatural tones and fantastical imagery.



Miu Miu used the distortion of faces throughout her spring summer 2008 collection and considering this I want to incorporate a similar design features and strong brand significance into my collection.

The strong use of colours gives strong brand identity something which I will consider when designing my print.

Inspirational artists
Louise Bourgeois, an artist and sculptor born in December 25, 1911 in Paris, France. Her most famous works are the spider structures. Her works are abstract and symbolise relationships- considering an entity in relation to its surroundings. Her works convey feelings of anger, jealously, hatred and treachery.


Illustrator and artist Lauren Moshi


Marion Bolognesi
‘Tiger man.’ Surreal multi layered watercolor splash tiger.


Inspirational mood boards



Trends and colours for my collection Autumn/winter 2009-2010
Considering the proportions of colour used in each Miu Miu fall/winter collection, the cooler colours such as black, cool grey, deep red and beige will be allocated the highest proportions of colour use through the main collection. The brighter hues such as oranges, warm red and purple will be used to accentuate the collection and adhere to the brands colour philosophy. This will highlight colours within the palette and make a stronger impact on the garments. High chroma hues will be used as accents on accessories, belts and smaller detailing. This is to keep continuity and equal proportion throughout so the collection doesn’t appear disjointed or uneven.


Shape and Silhouette
For autumn/winter 2009-2010 collection the focus will be on volume with soft curves contrasting heavily with sharp angular shoulder dimensions emphasizing the hour glass figure. It is all about modernity.
An example below showing ideas for shape which continue with the Miu Miu brand identity. I want to collection to represent a new modernity with sophisticated volume and distorted angles something engraved into the Miu Miu brand which will easily interelate.


Inspiration for Shape and Colour for the collection
American Vogue November 2008




British Vogue December 2008

I liked this image due to the bright colours and high saturation levels. I like the tight fitting leggings and styling of this outfit.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Colour sensitivity:peliminary research creating a collection

Maturing the colour palette
Tints and shades of brown were added to give a more fluid flow to the collection. There were too many hues overpowering the collection so green and bottle blue were removed and replaced with tones of darker blue resembling more of a grey shade. The chroma of the pink was altered so it appeared more dull and grayish, now a dusky pink this helped to unify the collection.
A split complementary colour scheme was applied to the collection; for example red with orange and dusky pink and purple with darker tones of blue. The brighter hues used to complement the cooler colours in the collection.
More beige was added to soften the stark contrast between brown and other hues and another shade of red to blend in the warm red. This now links in with the principle of resemblance, which simply states that colour’s harmonise when the difference between them is less, using different tints and shades of a hue makes the collection flow better and generally appear less disjointed.

Adding more beige to soften the stark contrast between brown and other hues. Added another shade of red to blend in the warm red with the rest of the collection more subtle difference. The colour’s look too primary and secondary based although Miu Miu’s style is fairytale child like it is important to design a colour palette that will suit the demographic of a mature independent young woman.

Below is the second colour pallette I have choosen for my collection. This is the second stage of highlighting colours which clash and colours which complement each other, vital elements to consider when choosing my final collection.This is part of the development of my collection and important for choosing colour proportion.


Colour set 12

I think this colour scheme would of worked well if the orange trousers were changed to black. I think that they overpower the collection. However I like the use of purple and violet, as well as the black and warm red, these combinations work well together and give an emphasis on colour. More repitition of the darker brown hue is needed as it is only used in accessories.

Colour set 11

This collection uses too much of a split complementary colour scheme. Some outfits need to made more mono-chromatic which will give a more subtle effect and can easily be highlighted by a brightly coloured accessory. This represents more or Miu Miu's style and brand identity.

Colour set 10

This collection needs more black and smaller proportions of warm red. The collection appears very disjointed, there is no hue to unify to determine that these garments belong in the same collection. This is something I have to make sure I aviod when creating my collection.

Colour set 9

Again in this collection their is no domineering colour to suggest that this is a fall/winter collection. More black and darker brown from the colour pallette needs to be added. The beige dress/top also doesn't work as it is too light and there is no contrast provided in terms of a bright high chroma coloured accessory.

Colour set 8

I think more brown and beige needs to be added to this collection to make it flow better. The lilac and grey are too overpowering as they are not the main focus of the collection their proportions need to be toned down. I don't think the black on the sleeves and colour of the skirt/top works well with such a low chroma, gray scale hue. A brighter more intense hue should of been used instead to add intensity.

Colour set 7

This is probably my least favourite amoung the collection. The colours appear washed out as there is not enough darker hues in the collection. The light grey and lilac clash and appear washed out without a high value hue to seperate them. This might of worked better with the introduction of pattern and print.

Colour set 6

I like this collection as every outfit complements one another and it is apparant that all the outfits are from one collection. The light and dark values show a powerful opposition.

Colour set 5

I like the end outfit combining both purple and warm red. It brings a lot of energy to the collection. However there is little sequence in this collection and there is no obvious order. Higher proporions darker hues need to be added.

Colour set 4

This collection has no uniformity and I think that the combination of the dark grey tone, deep red and orange do not complement one another. I like the black dress broken up with the belt. Again as previouly mentioned with warmer high chroma hues work best when accenting an outfit. I think that the two tints of brown need to be broken up with a more intense colour rather than black, the outfit appears boring and unappealing and does definately not reflect the target demographic of youthful independant women.

Colour set 3

I don't like this set. There is too much purple and I think the purple hue should be used more of an accent on accessories and smaller garments as it is too overpowering against the darker colours, brown and black. I also think that the colours make the collection appear very dated and it does not represent the Miu Miu style or clearly reflect the brand image. However I do like the first outfit. I think the mono-chromatic colour shceme works well when seperated with a brightly coloured accessory, it creates a more subtle effect due to the lack of contrast.

Colour set 2

In this collection there is not enough of one hue used to make the collection appealing. It is too mix and match and the colour proportion is wrong. More low chroma colours needed to be added to add fulidity to the collection. In Miu Miu's collection there are only a few complete outfits dedicated to full warm, high chroma hues with low value. Therefore my collection needs to be formated to represent a similar order. However I think that the lilac and orange complement each other suprisingly well, using a complementary colour scheme. The first skirt, top and belt outfit I want to use in my final collection. Unfortunately the flared trouser in red and warm orange and deep red dress clash. I will not be using these colours together in my collection as the difference between them is too great.

Colour set 1

The collection above conveys a feeling of a balanced colour scheme, the variety of hue, light and dark values, bright and dull intensities all help balance the collection. All the outfits are extremely balanced with no one hue overpowering the other. However not all the outfits signify the Miu Miu brand. I think the lilac and purple shirt and skirt with bell shape sleeves is too harmonious and doesn't give enough variety for interest. One way of developing this would be to use a pattern or print on the skirt or add brightly coloured accessories, by using the hue 'warm red' and changing the lilac to black. The principle of novelty then applies and the unexpected surge of warm red against the cooler black colour becomes appealing and creates strong interest.



Below is collective overview of all the collections placed together and you can get a better idea of colour proportions.

Looking at Miu Miu's previous fall/winter collections I think that it is important not to use too many bright colours within the garments but use them as accents, for example on sleeves, belts and over smaller surface areas. The collection could easily be percieved as spring/ summer therefore more shades and high value hues need to be added. High Chroma hues such as the warm red and orange should be used to make the collection more colourful, rich and full. In the fall/winter 2009 collection accents of green and bright orange are also used but in smaller proportions and link the collection together through use of pattern. This is something I need to research further.

Looking back through Miu Miu's history the fall/winter 2007 collection also uses brighter colours mixed well with black, greys, beige and brown shades, tints and tones. The collection only has several pieces which make use of more high chroma colours.

Below was the first step for creating my collection and colour pallette. The first task was to select the basic hues for my collection, I did this using the pure hue without little variation of tint, tone and shade.

For the first four sets I choose my basic colour palette according the idea I had more my collection. This helped me decide which colours complemented one another and which clashed.

For the third two I used Miu Miu’s colour proportions used in fall/winter 2007-2008 and applied it to my collection. Using this technique I was able to clearly see which colours’ would dominate the collection.

For the final two sets I decided to experiment with both pattern and colour proportion using my chosen colours.

I think that within the colour palette used for this first draft the colours look too primary and secondary based although Miu Miu’s style is fairytale child like it is important to design a colour palette that will suit the demographic of a mature independent young woman.