Coast Live Project : Brand Research : Competitors and Aspirational Brands

I wanted to understand the market place of a brand like Coast better so I have done a board that puts together inspirational brands  Coast could look to , in order to bring a new vibrant tone to their collections , especially the resort collection. 

Brands like Dolce Gabbana use print in a very vibrant way which would be ideal for a Spring Summer Collection . Other brands like Sacai and Balenciaga show an inventive use of airborne shapes .
High street brands like Free People and Monsoon are similar to Coast and they exemplify that you don't have to be a high end fashion house to produce effortlessly chic outfits that are revolutionary and fun.

Coast Live Project : Print Development - First Print Brainstorm and explortion

First Print Developement

The beginning of my print journey is Paintings , it all started from imporessionist paintings , but then we ll drifted and looked into more topics . I wanted to look into the work of Lucian Freud and Fabracis Bacon . Being more interested into creating prints that have a painting like texture rather then prints that illustrate direct inspiration from work of art , I have examined the technique and texture in different kind of styles of paintings.

 I am in particular fascinated bout the depiction of leaves in Lucian Freud's work.

                

                                                   Personal Interpretation of leaf prints

 Exploring with color different mixed media I have created a couple of works that explore different textures and patterns . I am going to digitally manipulate the paintings in Photoshop in order to create contemporary prints suitable for Coast.

                                            Print Proposals

 Below are a series of outcomes from my first experimentation . I like the idea , but they are still in early stages. I want to explore with scale more and change to colors to some more appropriate ones. I am going to show the to people from my group and ask their opinion on how thing can be bettered. 

 

Coast Live Project : Concept Development -My resort

Because we were stuck with our concept development , and we could not be able to produce interesting and practical designs that add an element of novelty to what the brand Coast already offers for Resort , we took a step back from what Coast are doing and look into what would we do for a Resort Collection , what would we wear and how would our resort wardrobe look like.

                                                         Personal Resort Inspiration Board:Womenswear

                                            Personal Resort Inspiration Board :Menswear

My Resort Wordrobe

Coast Live Project : Concept Development-Concept board

Coast Live Project : Concept Development - Abandoned Ideea: Athleisure -20's and sportswear

As i said in a previous post , I want to add a dash of elegance and style to my outfit using elements of the 20's fashion.

As our collection is a Resort one I wanted to make sure my outfit is relaxed and easy to wear. To ensure that from an early stage of design development I have had a sneak peak into sportswear and how could i bring element of that into my outfit.

The idea was quite intense for our brief so I have chosen to drop it . One thing influenced me a lot tho : TRACKSUITS and JUMPSUITS . I am determined to create  jumpsuit for my outfit because that would make dressing up easier and more comfortable. 

Coast Live project: Concept Development- Midnight in Paris and The 20's twist

Our concept development wasn't an easy rout . We started with impressionism , we continued with surrealism , there was  a lot of up and down going on during the process because people in our group didn't get along that well and people refused to cooperate with each other.

We have opted to find a middle ground with the film: ,, Midnight in Paris", the movie successfully merges very different story lines and we hoped that it is going to help us merge our ideas and concepts into one successful story line.

Midnight in Paris is a 2011 fantasy , comedy film ,written and directed by Woody Allen .Set in Paris, the film follows Gil Pender, a screenwriter who is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationship with his materialistic fiancee and their divergent goals, which become increasingly exaggerated as he travels back in time each night at midnight. The movie explores themes of nostalgia and modernism . Gil travels in time meeting some of the most influential people in arts, such  as :Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald , Picasso , Dali , Degas , Toulouse Lautrec  and the list goes on

                My favorite character from the movie was Adriana , an aspiring fashion designer. I have really like her style and I've got fascinated with the style of the 20's.

                  

Below is a collage I've done while i was trying to find a way to integrate the 20's fashion into our Project . The 20's fashion is very elegant and sophisticated . I believe that would be a good addition to our collection development.

Coast Live Project : Development-Draping

Give that our concept is a mix of art currents , I have opted to look into work of the Post- Impressionist master Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I have taken some of the shapes from his  work and  gave them volume an dimensionality by drapping on the mini mannequin . I prefer using mini mannequins at the beggining of the design process  because it saves up on fabric , being mor eco friendly and reducing costs .

                                   A little splash of Degas and the airborn feel of his dancing ballerinas

Incorporating the drappes into my own illustrations , aiming to give the shapes a place into contemporary fashion.

Coast Live Project :REFLECTION-Week 2

                                                      Week Two Summary

     If the second week was all jolly , the second one was to bring a different kind of  group chemistry. 

We met on Monday to discuss and see what further research people brought to the table . I was so shocked to see that half of our group drifted so much from the initial concept . We all settled on Impressionism last week , we were supposed to research into Dries Van Notten   and other influences. During the Coast Presentation a week before , the brand representatives loved our initial concept, so it was a shocker to see that people came to the table with a whole new concept  Surrealism . 

To begin with , Surrealism and Impressionism are completely different worlds.While Impressionism shows emotion through the use of brush strokes and gestures , Surrealism is an entire encrypted puzzle that has hidden connotations .Also , the designers associated with those art currents are very different .While Impressionism can be associated with Dries Van Notten , Dior , Valentino , even Chanel , Surrealism work with an entire different group of designers as Elsa Schiaparelli or Alexander McQueen .

While Impressionism is something that could be related to Coast , Surrealism is an entire different world.  

To sum up my dissatisfaction , Impressionism is already broad enough . I myself am not a big fan of the concept , but there is a lot to work whit . It also seamed to me that the people who brought less to the table were the ones who were hysterical about Surrealism . Also , I have noticed that half of my group has no knowledge about the history of arts , thing that made me very skeptical. The people in my group who are well written and have  broader understatement of the subject they all agreed with my point of view.

It is starting to show who are the people involved and dedicated to our cause and the ones who are just making excises . There is a lot of character difference in our group , but being the spokes person I prefer to be neutral to the fights that are going on .

The General idea after this  meeting was that we are going to continue with Impressionism , but if people want to look into Surrealism they should feel free.

On Tuesday we had to submit our Learning Agreement , thing i was scared about , the lecture we had about it wasn't very helpful and I still don't have a clear ideea on what a Learning Agreement is .

The brightest part of this week was the patter cutting workshops , that I have found very inspiring !

In other order of ideeas I hope the group chemistry is going to go back to normal for next week . We all have to bring design and print  proposals to  table for next week .

                                                        My starting Point

                            Having such a broad subject as Impressionism , I have looked into it differently . I opted to look at what is inside the picture and the feeling the strokes and textures were sending.

                                   

              I have chosen to make the depicted element:Nature directly interact with its medium : Paint.

               Inspirational Board and First Hand research into the interaction of nature and paint

At the moment I am sitting on  top of a mountain of ideas  and i can't wait to experiment more . I wish my group mates would stop arguing and start doing more primary research .I find it peculiar when people say they struggle with getting inspired , but when it comes to show their work they have no primary inspiration just some pictures found on the internet .