Evaluation

As an overview I thoroughly enjoyed completing my final major project. The theme, journey, I believe I followed through appropriately I used it as a starting point by using my recent visit to London as inspiration by using my photographs of Old Bond Streets elaborate visual merchandising to spark ideas for my creative journey by creating illustrator drawings and prints from these images.

I developed my thoughts and ideas throughout the project by keeping up with regular posts on my blog, creating mood boards on Polyvore, playing with Illustrator and trying my prints in different types of fashion flats (shirts, clutches, suit linings etc) reading other menswear blogs, always referring back to my artist and designer research and my own photography and drawings. 

I gathered my research from my own photography, the internet, and knowledge from my contextual studies lessons. I always referred back to the London Collections website to find more influential menswear designers when I was feeling blank. My research really helped me in this project it was very relevant to what I wanted to design, and gave me lots of ideas of what i could put my prints onto. For example, Matt Booths work made me realise that I could do accessories rather than printing onto a shirt, his silk scalf collection inspired me to take my prints onto something I didn't initially consider and thus' I created a collection of menswear accessories with my print on.

I'm really pleased with my final outcomes, I thoroughly planned and was always thinking about this project and how I could take each of my ideas further. I feel I have progressed a lot from my last projects and tried really hard with this one and but a lot of time into it compared to my previous projects. I did have enough time I got everything done and handed in a day early, but say I had another 6 weeks on this project I would have liked to experiment more with my prints on fabric and do a professional photoshoot to show how my final pieces would be styled.

I did encounter numerous difficulties with sourcing my desired fabric for my final pieces. I wanted to print onto silk for my scalf as I wanted my products to be sold to a wealthy target market, but couldn't locate any 100% white silk in Blackburn or Clitheroe so I bought some muslin instead which I didn't end up using because the screen printing had too many flaws for me to be happy with it, so I digitally printed my scalf instead so it had no mistakes on it. For my clutch bag I wanted to use acetate, but it was incredibly difficult to sow with, I then decided to use clear PVC but couldn't locate any in the area and it was too late to order some online, so I used a white leather and used the computer embroidery machine on it to ensure the print was perfectly printed onto the bag. But the print wasn't spread across the whole of the bag as I wanted it to be, so I sporadically free stitched squares and rectangles onto it to soften the print out. I overcame a lot of construction problems as well by persevering and spending a lot of time and effort on keeping at it as I wasn't going to allow the quality of the bag to decrease. On reflection I am really pleased with how I managed the problems that arose and still resulted in a strong collection of accessories.

Final pieces - PRINTS

Im also submitting each of my prints as my final pieces because each individual print took a lot of time and I don't want to not get the credit they deserve by only concentrating on the pieces I'm putting a very small number of the prints onto.

These final pieces are also to show that they can be used for many things in menswear they can be printed onto basically anything; suit lining, jumpers, trousers, cufflinks ect. They are a very sellable collection of prints, with a lot of potential to work well on anything be it menswear, interiors, stationary.

Final Pieces

I started sampling for my final pieces, starting with the clutch bag covered in one of my prints.

I decided to use this print for my clutch bag, as it is one of my favourite prints and I think it compliments the other print I'm going to use for my scalf and looks well together as a collection.

I got my prints photocopied onto acetate, intending on creating my final piece with it or some similar material. I attempted sewing with it, but it was very difficult to sow with due to its inflexibility and my outcome looked shoddy to say how much effort it was. 

Here I attempted to make the clutch 3D to make it more practical and useable making it more of a sellable item. I first attempted to thicken up the side and soften it by sowing in some fabric with the seam, but this didn't work as it was flat as it always was and due the the transparent acetate the fabric looked very cheap and out of place.

I then tried to make it 3D using a strip of acetate, this worked as it made the bag have more depth, but it was incredibly difficult to sow together and make it look like a good quality stitching job had been done because of how immovable the acetate is when in a sowing machine.

But i tried to create another clutch out of acetate using a strip on each side to add depth to see if i could do a better stitching job.

It wasn't as bad as the first try but I'm still going to rule out acetate as a material to use for my clutch as its far too difficult to work with.

I then decided to hunt down some clear PVC to use instead, this being unsuccessful I found some white leather and am going to use that instead. 

Considering how I am going to transfer my print onto the white leather, after a discussion with my fellow students about my options I decided to use the embroidery machine to stitch on one of my prints onto the bag, as I can ensure all the print will be fully on the bag unlike with screen printing when some areas can be more clearer and darker than others. Also with the embroidery machine I can get each side of the bag to be identical by repeating the process. I want this clutch to look as professional as possibly so I think the Embroidery machine is the best choice as I can guarantee no mistakes.

I am using muslin for my scalf and pocket square, I have been unsuccessful in tracking down the right kind of silk i want for this piece. Muslin will hopefully give a good effect, but had I had more time I would have got the exact silk i wanted of the internet to create my desired look. 

This is the print I'm using on the scalf, as it a big enough print to fill a scalf with and the pattern isn't very confusing or hard to figure out, when a man is wearing it draped over his shoulders when the material is bunched up its still going to be visible what the print is.

Statement of intent

After looking at my research I have come to a decision of what to do for my final pieces as it is coming up to the hand in date.

My initial thoughts were to create a mans formal shirt with my print but after consideration I decided that would be too time consuming and inefficient for how much time I have left, as my garment construction skills are not as good as necessary to quickly put a shirt together and I don't have enough lessons with my contstruction teacher to realistically to it.

So I then thought of embellishing a shirt by putting my prints on the collar and cuffs and button lining of the shirt, but after looking at Matt Booths work on scalfs and seeing how Christopher Kane printed his prints onto various garments and considering the time I have left I decided to create a collection of menswear accessories.

After discussions with my tutor of this as my possible final pieces, I decided to design a collection of ties on illustrator to see how they looked filled with my print this was my outcome.

These illustrations portray the look I want to achieve, I think the formal style and status of a tie mixed with an unconventional print like these gives a very abstract unique vibe. I can see these ties being sold Marlybones department store - Matches fashion, Wolf and Badger, The shop at Bluebird. A quirky store with key one off unique items. 

I also created some fashion flat scalfs filled with my prints.

The black outline inspired my Matt Booth, I also think it will add something to the scalf and make it look more expensive and close in the print rather than make it look like I have just cut it off a large piece of fabric. As I want my product to be sold in quite up market London department stores, I need to ensure my product looks desirable and fitting to my target market. This being, quirky men with an eye for one off pieces for their wardrobe and a disposable income to spend on non essential pieces such as a clutch bag, or pocket square with a wacky print on it. These men have a purpose in their careers, style and how they present themselves to the world in real life and on social medias such as instagram and the black outline gives the scalf a sense of purpose as it frames the print and gives it prominence to show this is it.

I can see these scalfs also sold in the same shops as the ties. I intend to create a scalf or pocket square out of screen print onto silk after deciding against my digital printing plan due to restricted options of materials and non of the digital printing fabrics are suitable for a scalf to sit elegantly on the body, and I wouldn't be able to print the same print on each side of the scalf. However when using screen print on the silk the pigment of the paint will be so strong it will show through on the other side of the fabric getting the double sided scale print effect as desired. 

My final design idea is a clutch bag, can be used for an iPad, documents for work, or as a general bag to keep daily necessities in it. These are my fashion flats I created on illustrator filled with my prints.

Matt Booth - artist research

After looking at Christopher Kanes SS14 collection and considering doing accessories for Menswear I went looking for further research into geometric print designers, and I discovered Matt Booth.

Matt Booth is an experimental graphic designer and artist based in the UK. He has done a collection of silk scalfs with geometric prints on them.

Similar to Christopher Kane these 2D prints look 3D and quite hypnotic.

I really like this collection and the style of his work, each scalf looks like an optical illusion. The black and white colour palette really compliments the complexity of the prints.

Christopher Kane Spring Summer 14

I was on the London Collections website looking for relevant designer research for inspiration when I found Christopher Kanes SS14 menswear collection which was very similar to the route i wanted to my designs down. 

The geometric lines Kane has used on all his pieces give the collection a high tech computerised, futurism vibes. The 2D lines give the clothes a 3D illusion, its a very clever and unique design.

I really like the scalfs he has designed. At the moment I am unsure of what exactly I am going to put my prints onto but after seeing how amazing the prints look on scalfs, has inspired me to consider menswear accessories.

This is a very formal shirt, which typically you wouldn't see the everyday man wearing to work or a formal occasion. But seeing Kane pair what is quite a fun, weekend kind of print onto a monday to friday work shirt has sparked an idea to embellish a shirt with my print on particular parts of the shirt. For example the collar or the cuffs.