Technical Skills

In an effort to showcase a variety of different projects on this blog.  Here is a compilation of my technical skills I put together for my portfolio flatbook.  In this little package of a post you will find examples of:

Technical drawing made in Adobe Illustrator to further specify the details on a garment, usually sent out to manufacturers so they know what the finished garment looks like, where all the stitches go, distance between details, and all else needed to effectively reproduce a garment.

My fashionable technical packages made in the industry for sending overseas or domestically to effectively manufacture and produce clothing.  These include various different sheets sent to the different areas of the production processes for testing, approval, and samples.  Specifications are made, research is done, instructions given, and approval is required by many different people for quality control and assurance.  Call me strange, but I'd have to say, my favorite part was organizing everything into the tables and streamlining them so that all the files contained the same information (if only I can organize my computer files this efficiently!).

Digital patternmaking, grading (making the pattern in a range of sizes), and marking (laying them all out so as they can effectively fit onto sheets of fabric to be cut) made on Lectra Modaris and Diamono. The program being so new and different (compared to Adobe and Word) took a little bit of time to grasp, but once I got the hang of it, had very nice elements.  For example, you could print the patterns in different scales to make smaller pieces of clothing (ie. if you wanted your doll to have the same dress as yourself you could very well print the pattern using the one you made in your size, scale it down to 25% and make adjustments accordingly) The marking (done on Diamono) was a fun process of trying to squeeze pattern pieces into crannies like a jigsaw puzzle so as to acquire the most efficiency from a sheet of fabric.  I must admit, I spend a good while trying to get my fabric efficiency as high as possible by trying variations of placing difference pattern pieces in different places.  

Last but not least are some of my illustrations.  Done in various ways; sketched and colored traditionally, sketched by hand and colored on Photoshop, and sketched by hand and colored in Illustrator.

And that reaches the end of this post!  I hope you enjoyed this smorgasbord of samplings.  It was interesting for me to see everything complied in this way and how my style has changed and my progress in different areas.  Serves as a great platform for critique and to pinpoint areas of strengths and where I need to improve.


Xoxo!

Ula's Locket: Costumes: Talula & Ethan

In connection to my previous Sea Maiden post (here!), these are the current renderings of Talula and Ethan's costumes.

Talula's costumes initially start out with very tailored details and dusty pastel colors. As the story progresses, her costumes become more draped and the colors become more saturated.  This change parallels her character development  throughout.

Ethan's costumes aren't as numerous as Talula's.  They start out reflecting his low stature and personality of wanting very much to look above his class.  His first outfit is of a little older design and looks as if he has out grown, out worn, and generally out lived it.  After he becomes the town "hero," his wardrobe becomes updated and better fitting emphasizing his rise in status and fortunes and also the rise in his hubris.

xoxo,

Men's Prêt-à-Porter: Vintage Vignettes

Vintage Vignettes is a men's ready-to-wear line inspired by vineyards and traveling.  I wanted the silhouettes to be simple with the differences lying in the subtle details.  The entire concept started with an imagining of what someone would wear if they were to take a quick weekend outing by train to enjoy the vineyards. Maybe he would go with friends, maybe go alone and meet new people simply to have a change of scenery and experience something different.  I wanted it the collection to be casual and comfortable but at the same time to carry a professional quality to the look and the lines.  

xoxo,

Women's Prêt-à-Porter: Me, I'm a Thief

Me, I'm a thief,

I'm a falling star,

I'm a photograph taken,

From where you are.

So shed your tears

That's what they're there for

I don't expect you to understand this war

       -Sarah Slean "Me, I'm a Thief" Nightbugs (2002)

As I was going through my collections, I realized that I had not yet done an oriental inspired line. It was also at this time I was reading various mystery novels one of which was Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, set in the late 19th century involving oriental trade and the opium wars. Around this time, I was also listening to The Painted Veil audiobook, set mostly in Hong Kong, and watching noir films.

This blend of Occidental and Oriental styles and ideas gave way to the following collection. It just seemed perfectly fitting to create a women's prêt-à-porter line based on this theme.  Even before this collection came together, Sarah Slean's song, Me, I'm a Thief, attached itself to this idea and saturated it with its essence. Despite its unrelated theme when put under full analysis, something about it brought whole new levels of meaning to this collection.  Ultimately, there was no other name for it, the song itself, the lyrics, and the mood it created brought the whole collection together.

I imagined the women wearing these garments to be, like the ones in 1940's Hollywood Noir Films, mysterious, devious, glamorous, and graceful. Can they be trusted? What will they do next? Looks can indeed kill (how cliche of me!)

Enjoy!

Applied Product Development: Affinity Bridal Jewelry for Collette Dinnigan

This past quarter I worked on a group project for my Applied Product Development class. We were required to create a diffusion line for a brand and create samples of each piece along with marketing material and technical packages. I was incredibly lucky to have worked with three amazing Fashion Marketing and Management members to pull all of this together.

Our group decided to create bridal jewelry for Collette Dinnigan's bridal line. The idea is to create statement pieces for bridalwear in which the center pieces and pendants may be taken out and kept or exchanged as heirlooms.

The theme for the Spring/Summer 2012 line is called Garden of Faerie Tales consisting, of course, of floral and enchanting motifs. The design echos the brambles, thickets, and faerie dust from these magical tales we grew up with. 

The design consisted of wire wrapping techniques strung with Swarovski Crystals.  We had the good fortune of sitting down with my group member's mother, jewelry maker, Vana Lynn, and getting some advice and tips on how to get started on basic techniques.  We met up at her place for about three weeks in the quarter to work and plan our presentation for our final.

(Click to enlarge!)

While the samples incorporated lots of color, we've also made it an option to keep the designs monochromatic for the brides who want a more traditional feel of simply white crystals on silver wire.

We had a photoshoot session with photographer Dan Novakovich to create editorials for the pieces. Here are a few examples:

Looking back, I have never done jewelry of this caliber before. Of course, I have dabbled in the art for a little while without much progress but this was quite an experience.  I really enjoyed making the jewelry and seeing it progress from concept to completion.  Like a lot of detail work, it produced numerous broken nails and sore fingers, but it was well worth it in the end. It was also somewhat relaxing wrapping wire, kind of like the feeling one would get when knitting.  There was a certain sculpting aspect which I enjoyed very much as I learned to manipulate each gauge of wire into the desired shapes.  Overall, it was a rewarding experience. The class itself was very open and left us to manage our own time, progress, and overall product.  We all worked extremely well together and was able to meet various times outside of class throughout the quarter to get things done.

Here is our display table for our final presentation:

Xoxo,