Design and Creation - Author's Briefing
Hey, great to see you here! For this stage, I want to present my formal fashion advice. The chosen topic was style and practice in fashion design. Let's get started!
In context : Each style is presented with historical information about the development of the cut, and important historical events, designers or dresses are discussed.
Design Considerations: Design considerations—such as silhouette, length, fabrics, zippers, embellishments, necklines, sleeves, lining, details, and shaping—are clearly explained, and simple, annotated artwork shows the dress's construction.
Notes point out technical details and illustrations show the front and back of two extremes of the style.
Enlargements offer a close-up view of the piece's details; drawings show design alternatives inspired by dresses. Create an inspiration board to communicate your inspiration and vision.
The Design Process: The design process is centered on research, experimentation, and innovation, combined with analysis and development. Trial and error, as well as intuition, are all part of the equation. Taste, aesthetics, trends, and who is wearing the dress and why must also be considered. Understanding the client and the market is crucial to finding the right balance between creativity, usability, innovation, and commerciality. To create a collection, you need a solid foundation in design practices and an understanding of construction and manufacturing. You will also need to communicate effectively with the client, who, in turn, purchases the look. This originates from your inspiration—based on the theme, inspiration, and defined trend—and develops into a creative narrative that tells the story of your brand. Understanding what other designers have done successfully in the past and exploring a variety of possibilities is vital to driving your own design process.
Client Profile: Have an idea of who you want to create your work for. Who is your client? What do they do, and why do they need your piece? Browse the book to help identify what your client might want to wear, and use this to generate or exchange ideas.
Muse: Your chosen muse is the ideal person for whom you're creating your dress. This could be a famous personality or simply the ideal figure or style icon to wear your dress. This gives you a focus, and both you and your client will find inspiration in the muse.
Market research: Investigate what competitors in your market are doing to avoid replicating what already exists and to accurately predict what should be offered next. The book presents alternative dress styles from a wide range of designers, across several categories.
Inspiration: Gather inspiration from a variety of sources as a starting point for design development. Use this book, along with the internet, magazines, books, exhibitions, and films, to gather relevant images that fit your theme, client, inspiration, and market. Your own photographs and drawings, fabric swatches, vintage clothing, found objects, and ephemera are also good sources for ideas. See the list of other sources of inspiration.
Fabric Sourcing: Gather fabric samples that match your collection and best express your theme. In the early stages, these can be cutouts for color reference. You can create small seam or pocket samples with certain fabrics to fully understand their performance qualities and create the desired look. Use the book to understand which fabric best suits each silhouette.
Color Stories: Decide which color palette best suits your collection and the story and mood you want to create. You can consult a color forecasting company to help predict trends for the specific season. Colors can be developed through your research, observing nature or vintage fabrics, for example. Use Pantone references to communicate and match the chosen colors. Check out this book to see how other designers use color to communicate ideas.
Inspiration boards: Create a mood board to set the tone for your ideas. Gather fabrics, magazine pages, photographs, postcards, etc.—anything that matches your theme and can motivate and inspire you to further develop your design. A mood board is a great way to communicate and ensure the entire design team is on the same page.
Drawing: Drawing is an important part of the design process for generating and communicating ideas. From capturing and generating original research and inspiration, to developing design ideas and creating sketches of silhouettes and piece details, the final illustrations can communicate and promote your collection to the client.
HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE DESIGN PROCESS, I'm making this my personal advice for every budding designer and everyone else who has a passion for fashion, this is what I call the editor's brief.
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