Live Brief- Dash & Miller

For my live brief I chose to do the Dash and Miller Project.

Project Brief: I am giving myself 3 weeks to complete this project with the remaining time I have in this term.

To identify a designer/brand you wish to create designs for; research their past and current collections looking at aspects such as their inspiration, aesthetic, ethos, market; identify any common trends throughout their design history; and design a collection of fabrics which will inspire them for their next collection.

You should utilise your own creative identity to develop something unique to present to your chosen designer. The swatches should be backed-up with sketchbook work and primary research; choose a subject which you feel will inspire your client; draw on your research from their past collections but also make sure that you present a fresh new subject and not one they have already explored. You can look at new techniques and experimental processes as well as alternative and original ways to present traditional/staple fabric concepts and patterns.

For the live brief I have chosen to look at Ted Baker.

'No Ordinary Designer'

Ted Baker is one of the fastest-growing leading lifestyle brands in the UK. 
• The collections have expanded rapidly since its beginnings as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1987.
• Today Ted Baker offers a wide range of collections including: Menswear, Womenswear, Global, Endurance, Pashion, Langley, Accessories, Fragrance, Skinwear, Footwear, Eyewear and Watches. 
• Ted Baker has a portfolio of stores in the UK and USA and is also present in leading department stores. 
• After signing three new territorial license agreements in 2006 and initially opening stores in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai we've continued our expansion in 2007 with the opening of a further store in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, three in Kuala Lumpur and two each in Dubai and Jakarta. 

Previous Ted Baker Research

Key words to develop from Ted Baker

LIGHT
FLORAL
SIMPLE
SOPHISTICATED
PRINTED
UNIQUE

For this project I really want to look into creating a different style. I love the floral way that Ted Baker works and that is something I want to develop. I also want to bring in elements of my previous project of tropical fauna. I am going to look into working with Tropical Flowers and prints and work to design for SS14. I am also going to research into fashion, different fashion weeks, and other designers that are producing there SS14 range. I am maily going to concentrate on a fashion context for this project even though ted baker has many different elements to there work.

CURRENT FASHION

CHANEL SS14

DIOR SS14

TROPICAL

MANISH AURA SS14

CHRISTOPHER KANE SS14

ALBERTA FERRETTI, MILAN FASHION WEEK SS14

These designers and collections have inspired with there colour choices and there floral designs. 

Drawing.

Instead of working from secondary images, I bought a selection of fake tropical flowers so my work didnt seem as 2D

using images, from books and the internet of tropical flowers I began by briefly drawing using fineliners and coloured pens to create new images.

I also wanted to use elements of my last project of tropical insects.

using past ted baker prints i created these bug collages.

Colour wrap

Mood Board using current fashion magazines.

fine liner drawing of tropical flower

tropical illustration

coloured fine liner drawings

After working with these materials I decided to try and create the lines I had already made using wire.

I then photographed this from multiple angles.

I like how this creates a new image, I also like how it reminds me of embroidery.

From these and my colour pallet I use photophop to work with these images to create new digital prints that I think would work well for samples. 

I really like these prints and I think they work really well. The second print was a quick idea of using white on white. I want to develop these samples into embroidery.

using my photographs of my fake tropical flowers I created these prints using my bright colour palet. I think after they were printed onto silk I really liked them my favoruite being the 3rd print down. 

ETHOS

Ted Baker uses alot digital print for there fashion garnements. However I want to try and introduce a new style for the brand using heavy layer machine embroidery. Using images, drawings and my wire flowers I created a bunch of ethos designs to stitch into fabric. 

I loved working on these designs on the ethos machine. I personally think they turned out well for my first attempt on sampling with this machine. I love how the machine gives perfect lines and creates an exact image of something you have created. This machine is something I really want to push and develop in my third year.

Overall for this project I think I have worked well within the brief however I dont think I have worked as well as I could have. I think the time that I allowed myself to do the project was too short. 3 weeks to create a good standard of work for me proved difficult. I also think working for a fashion context was very difficult. I originally thought I was suited toward fashion embroidery, however after the last two 3 weeks projects I think I am leaning more towards an interior textile area. If I was to do this project again I would have used my time on the Ethos more wisely and booked up spaces in advance. There only being 2 ethos machines and a limit of 4 hours per person made it very difficult to produce alot of samples at once. I would also have explored a range of more fabrics. During my self initiated brief I gave myself the task of working with a new material and from this brief I decided to carry this link throughout my live brief. I do think the chosen silk materials work well with in the SS14 context. Im really glad I had the oppertunity to try what has been a challenge with this project, its made me more determined and excited to produce my 3rd year work. I'm also glad I learnt a lot more about fabric choices for fashion, how things hang and drape when embroidery is used and how things have to be accessible by a chosen age range.