Final Major Project Research

For my final major project, I had to choose my own theme and research into it; finding trends, designers, techniques and garments that I could link into my own project.  After a lot of thought and research I decided on Festival wear for SS14.  Once I had chosen my theme I was able to begin my research and design process.

 

 

After looking through many colour trends and forecasts for spring/summer 2014, I decided on this one (above) because I feel the bright colours and warm tones are very much suited for festival style clothing.

 

I started by researching into the origins of festival fashion, for example 60's hippies and traditional bohemian fashion.  I found that a lot of the clothes worn in the 60's and at some of the first festivals, e.g. Woodstock, featured a lot of intricate embroidery and other embellishment, this inspired some of my initial designs and print designs, as shown above.

 

I found that a lot of the garments typically worn at festivals are vintage or one off garments and so I struggled to find a lot of shops and designers to research.  Although I found a few relevant designers and brands, I found that researching into celebrities that have a festival vibe about their style was one way to give me inspiration for initial design ideas and sample techniques.  Above are photos from actress Millie Mackintosh's summer 2013 look book, many of these images helped me to decide what garments I should put together as an outfit and also influenced some screen print designs.

 

My research and initial designs led to samples of techniques which I had found, for example above is a sample of free machine embroidery which links to the design next to it.