the fashion sitting

As my final year approached so did my final year project!

The project brief was to produce a small clothing collection and create the branding and marketing to compliment the range. The collection could either be for a made up brand, or an existing brand. I chose Forever 21, the american retailer which has now moved over the UK with stores in Birmingham and London.

To make my range more unique I decided to produce a hypothetical collaboration between Forever 21 and Stylescrapbook, the fashion blog (www.stylescrapbook.com). I wanted to explore this concept to represent how fashion blogger's are becoming more and more influential within the fashion industry.

Everything I designed and produced I based on what I thought Stylescrapbook would personally design.

Project Overview - Explaining the concept

A mood board I created to show StyleScrapbook's personal style

A mood board for the trend I chose to base my collection on

After looking through trend prediction books, magazines and analysing catwalk collections I decided on the trend, Watercolour Dream (see above mood board).

From here my next step was to begin designing the collection and sourcing fabric and trims.

Range Boards

Range Board One

Range Board Two

Range Board Three

Fashion Illustrations

After designing a commercial and easy to wear range I chose two outfits in which I wanted to produce.

Fashion Illustrations of which clothes I chose to make

Photoshoot

After producing the outfits, we had the opportunity to have a professional photo shoot. I chose the silk dress I created to feature in my photo shoot. The images I wanted to created reflect the style of photos StyleScrapbook takes on her fashion blog. I was so pleased with the outcome, the dress looks amazing and the colours really stand out and are perfect for Forever 21.

Branding and Marketing

To create the full package around the collaboration, I looked extensively into the branding of the collection.

Clothes Labels - I had these printed with the logo to sew into the clothes I produced.

Hangers - I was able to source identical hangers to those in store Forever 21 and print the logo onto them.

Carrier Bags - I developed the existing pink plastic bags found in store into glossy paper bags with tags attached, to make the collection more exclusive and unique.

Swing Tickets - After researching in store swing tickets I developed these Swing Tickets featuring an acetate overlay of the floral fabric. Each ticket personalised to the garment.

Postcards - I designed these postcards to be available in store to promote the collaboration and be given out to prospective consumers. The postcards add a personal touch to the branding and encourage shoppers.
Gift Cards - I designed Forever 21 Loves StyleScrapbook specific gift cards to be available in store.
Lookbook - The Lookbook I designed and had professionally printed features a mock interview with Andy Torres aka Stylescrapbook, photo shoot images and key pieces from the range. It also features various online discounts which promote the use of social media and online purchasing.

Website Design - I created three different homepage graphics to show how the collection could be advertised and promoted on the the homepage. And a further product selection page to show how this would appear.
Social Media - Social Media is a huge part of fashion and retail and I wanted to show how the collaboration would be promoted through this.
Bag, Pen & Notebook - These were all specially printed to be sold in store.

Store Design

After researching Forever 21's in store visual merchandising I created a look I feel would fit well within the store. The design below would either be seen in the shop window or at the front of the store to promote the collection. I decided to showcase the clothing in a statement wardrobe and chest of drawers alongside would feature the photo shoot images in white photo frames.

Front of Store Display

To represent how the clothes would be seen and arranged in store I produced a mock up on Photoshop. I designed similar fixtures to those already seen in store and then carefully placed the product so customers could easily see how the clothes could be worn together.

The signage I kept simple apart from the easel with a large photo frame matching those seen in the marketing material and in the design above. The clothes would all feature the exclusive clothes labels, hangers and swing tickets so customers would know these clothes were apart of the collaboration.

Fixture Concept

Press Release

As part of the project I was required to write a press release, I wanted to show how this would appear on websites such as Drapers and WGSN. It could also be sent out to fashion magazines, newspapers, websites and other fashion blogger's.

I really enjoyed creating the work for this project, there were stressful times but I had enough determination and motivated for the project to achieve what I wanted to for the collection.

The parts I most enjoyed were the branding and marketing aspects, creating the whole package of which surrounds the clothes, or simply put 'making things look pretty'.

Creating the store design and visual merchandising concept was also a highlight and is something I hope to do a lot more in the future.

Sorry this is such a long blog post but I wanted to capture the process I took to complete the project.

Biddle Sawyer Silk, a fabric store from London came to DeMontfort University to set a live competition to re-brand and design four new canvas tote bags to give to their customers.

Their requirement was to design a bag to attract new and younger customers.

After research into the company, my concept was based around their store window. Biddle Sawyer Silk use their store window to showcase student work they feel is exceptional and innovative. With this knowledge I created various repeat pattern's using sketches of various window designs, introducing the colour palette I created to make the bags vibrant and stand out. I also re-coloured the logo to fit in with the bag designs.