My first term in 3rd year has been an exciting and challenging time, where I have learned lots of new skills, and pushed myself to harness these skills as much as possible.
I started the term by developing the concept for my final collection. My collection is called: Quintessentially British: By the Seaside The collection is an ironic exploration into the everyday lives of people who live and work in British coastal towns, in contrast to the tourists who go to holiday there. Juxtaposing both contemporary and historical imagery of vibrant, quirky and kitsch seaside holidays, with the everyday realities of the local fishermen. Once I had established my concept I started researching and designing, developing the toiles for my first two outfits by the end of the term. These outfits are: An elegant twist on classic dungarees, with a silk shirt and quirky printed roll-neck underneath. A floor-length denim coat, with traditional denim detailing on an unconventional, sophisticated silhouette. I have decided to make my collection from sustainable denim, as I am interested in the long-lasting authentic nature of denim, which is now complemented by advancements in denim to make it less harmful to the environment. Alongside my collection I have also written and submitted my dissertation, which analysed emotionally durable design as a possible solution to sustainability. I really enjoyed writing my dissertation and have chosen to extend it in order to build further upon my research. I have also been working on a competition for ISKO denim, a sustainable denim supplier, which has built on my knowledge for my final collection. I have now entered my second term of 3rd year, which I am sure will bring new challenges and learning experiences.
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I interned at Next for 2 weeks at the end of summer 2019. I was there for a short time; however, I learned a great deal and met many inspiring people who taught me a lot of new skills.
During my time at Next I worked in the menswear team, working on range planning, selecting fabrics, creating technical packs, completing specification drawings, and helping to create the new concepts for the fall. This enhanced my skills in illustrator and taught me a great deal about how the high-street reacts to trends, allowing me to complete in-depth market research to report back to the rest of the team. It was a very interesting contrast to work for a high-street brand, in comparison to Purple Label Ralph Lauren, and this has given a greater insight into different market levels in the fashion industry, and the different ways in which they operate. I was fortunate enough to intern at Ralph Lauren for 10 weeks in the summer of 2019. This was an incredible experience where I relocated to New York City in order to work as a designer for Purple Label Ralph Lauren.
During my time as an intern at Ralph Lauren, I learned many new skills as both an apparel designer and concept designer for Men’s Purple Label. As an apparel designer I learned how to execute specification drawings accurately so that the factories in Italy were able to interpret my designs correctly. I also learned a great deal about garment fit, luxury fabrics and how to design for a target customer. As a concept designer for Purple Label Ralph Lauren I learned how to set the mood and tone for the upcoming collections in 2021. I worked in a small team to capture the essence of Ralph Lauren in a new concept, working closely with the creative director to create a new concept to be shown to Mr. Ralph Lauren. During my time as a concept designer I learned a great deal about colour, trend, capturing the mood of a brand and concept development. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to work for such an iconic brand, and met many incredibly talented, inspiring and like-minded people. I have really enjoyed the innovation project, as I have seen it as a test run for my final year, and so have pushed and tested myself so I am confident for next year.
My project was about the Human’s psychological need to touch the world around them. This concept was originally inspired by an artwork I saw in the Victoria and Albert Museum by Dafna Kaffeman, who created a sculpture named ‘Tactile Stimulation’, exploring how humans wish to touch alluring objects which are either beautiful, grotesque or dangerous. I explored many avenues of my topic ‘Touch’, such as looking at other tactile artists, investigating the science behind human touch, and touch in nature. This inspired various textile processes which are tactually stimulating. I wished to design for well-being and create garments which have emotional durability because of the users’ relationship to them through touch. One of the main reasons I have enjoyed this project so much was because I have felt inspired by and confident in my concept the whole way through. I hope to carry on this concept into 3rd year, however I would like to add in an extra element into my concept (which I will decide over the summer) to make it even more visually interesting. Additionally, I think there are many avenues I have not yet explored in the topic touch which I am looking forward to continuing to explore. Since finishing the Next Menswear competition, I have been working on my next project ‘innovation’. This is an individual project to prepare us for our final year collections, and the aim is to push the boundaries in concept, design, pattern cutting and manufacture.
My project is named ‘Touch’. This is because the concept for my project is the Humans Psychological Need to Touch The World Around Them. I would like to create tactile clothing which feels as good to touch as it looks. I will create tactile clothing by using material processes which are interesting to touch, and fabrics which feel comfortable against the body. This will give my clothing more emotional durability because the wearer will feel sentimentality towards their clothing. This will hopefully minimalize the need to constantly buy new clothes, fuelling fast fashion. Since starting this project, I have investigated many areas of touch such as: tactile artists, household germs that we touch, thermochromic paints, touch within nature and the science behind touch. From this research I have created material processes which represent the imagery and used this to inform my design development. I have also used my research to inform my colour palette: Grey tones and accent colours of orange and blue. From this I have designed a 6-outfit capsule collection and begun to work on my first toile for my outerwear piece- in this project we must make one outfit consisting of 3 pieces. Thanks for reading, Issy I received some very exciting news in February: this summer I will be spending 10 weeks in New York working as a menswear purple label designer at Ralph Lauren! It was a very lengthy process to achieve this internship, starting with an initial interview in November, portfolio reviews, and an additional video interview. I was overjoyed when I found out I had been offered the internship. Only 5 people from outside of the United States were offered the internship, and 1330 people applied! I also feel extremely lucky that it is a paid internship, as often fashion design internships can be exploitative and unpaid due the high demand for experience.
Since accepting the internship, I have sorted out my flights and accommodation, so now all there is to do is wait! I am extremely excited to start, especially as I have been made to feel so welcome by the Ralph Lauren employees that I have been in contact with. Here is a link to an article written by Nottingham Trent University about my success in achieving the Ralph Lauren Summer Internship: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2019/03/fashion-design-student-selected-for-prestigious-ralph-lauren-internship?fbclid=IwAR1v8CgsozEU6vO0GktkMliPAEUqGw9CvlpMcuGa47ElGGYfXVvx8RCvlz0 Thanks for reading, Issy Following our final presentation to Next, we had one final hand in before we had finished the project. As a team we worked hard on finalising our project, and handed in a sketchbook, market research report, look-book, video and 4 outfit collection we were really pleased with.
Our catwalk show for this project was also extremely successful. Each collection looked great and everyone was proud at the end of it. Our team ‘Mugen’ were especially pleased at the end of the catwalk, because it was announced by the menswear designer at Next that we had won the competition! This means that we have been awarded internships and mentoring which we are so excited to undertake. Additionally, to this Next would like to buy our print which we featured on our collection, which we never expected and are so proud of. Here is an article about our success with Next written by Nottingham Trent University: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2019/02/fashion-design-students-impress-in-challenging-live-project-set-by-next2 Thanks for reading, I have attached a photo of my team when we found out we had won! Issy During the last 2 weeks we have had 3 deadlines to prepare for. The first was our final garment hand in. For this I had to hand in two pairs of trousers, and a kimono coat. I was really pleased with how my final garments turned out, and I even managed to sew in our brand labels into my garments before the deadline, which really finished off the look.
Our second deadline was our presentation to the design team at Next. For this we had to present our portfolio pages on a power point, alongside our promotional video and look-book. We also had our final garments displayed on models for the design team and our tutors to look at. We were really pleased with the feedback we got from our presentation- Tom, the head designer for Next menswear even said he wanted to change his whole wardrobe to our collection! We were also praised on the strength of our branding, and professionalism of our look-book. Tomorrow is our 3rd and final hand in. We must hand in our portfolio, market research, look-book, sketchbook, final patterns and final garments. This hand-in has been particularly challenging because it is only 3 days after our presentation, therefore everything that was not necessary for the presentation (sketchbook, market research) had been naively neglected- not something we would do again! However, the sketchbook is taking shape and the market research is nearly finished, so we are feeling confident and positive for our final hand-in tomorrow. Thanks for reading and take a look at our photo-shoot pictures, which we are all really proud of. Issy. The focus of the last few weeks has been on the development of toiles and beginning to manufacture our final garments. I am responsible for 3 garments: 2 pairs of wide leg corduroy trousers (one black and one maroon), and one Kimono Coat.
To develop the trousers, I made various alterations to the ‘casual trouser’ basic block. I dropped the crotch, widened the leg, lowered the waist and added two deep reverse pleats on the front of the trouser. The back of the trouser features a jet pocket on the right leg, and darts at the top of each leg. The jets on the pocket of the black corduroy trousers are in a contrast fabric, with a pattern which we created and printed. This printed fabric also features on the binding of the inside waistband and pocket. To develop the Kimono coat, various alterations were made to the casual jacket block. The sleeve was dropped to create a kimono sleeve, a collar was added, and the centre front was altered to create a kimono silhouette. The length was dropped to below the knee and a vent was added to the back to create a cross between a kimono and a tailored coat. Jet pockets have been added to the inside breast of the jacket. Top-stitched square patch pockets with semi circles inside have been added to the outside of the jacket. The top-stitching is a contrast green against the black twill wool blend fabric. This contrast green colour is carried through to the lining. I have finished both pairs of trousers in final fabric, and I hope to have the kimono coat finished by the end of the week. Thanks for reading, Issy. |
Issy HamblyThird year fashion design student at Nottingham Trent University. Archives
February 2020
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