London Trend Report

I have finally finished my Trend Report booklet.. what a relief! As I was only familiar with the program Photoshop, I decided to have a go at InDesign as this is the key software people in industry use. Getting used to it was a pain as I was so confused by the image box, grids and layout but I think I managed by the end! My brief was to not only look at content but also layout. I based my booklet around the city of London, as London is my favourite city, you can find something new every time! I looked at advertising - ambient, print and digital, shop experiences, visual merchandising, events/exhibitions and in store magazines. With the booklet only being allowed up to 12 pages, I found this very limiting, therefore I decided to use visuals and experiment with layout rather than wording to make my booklet look more visually interesting, yet still informing. Enjoy! x

CB | I hate perfume

Wythe Avenue, Willamsburg.
How much? Perfumes start from about $60 for 15ml.

available in liberty london 

My key taste-makers

For our next brief for FCP creative networks, we were told to write a little bit out our 'key taste makers'; someone who influences us and the fashion industry. My first choice was easy; Andy Warhol, probably one of the most famous artist with his signature values of pop art. Warhol was a huge part of the art movement, pop art and bought colour, loudness and youth to the colour palette of the 70's. One of his famous works was the pop art screen print of Marilyn, which is instantly recognisable! He also influenced designer brand Versace, which in the 90's bought out a flamboyant, loud outfits.

My other inspiration was the fashion designer Mary Quant.

 She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements. She was one of the designers who took credit for the miniskirt and hot pants, and by promoting these and other fun fashions she encouraged young people to dress to please themselves and to treat fashion as a game. Quant later said "It was the girls on the King's Road who invented the mini. I was making easy, youthful, simple clothes, in which you could move, in which you could run and jump and we would make them the length the customer wanted. I wore them very short and the customers would say, 'Shorter, shorter.'" She gave the miniskirt its name, naming it after her favorite make of car, the mini.

Quant also was apart of the big sexual revolution as her designs made women feel they could rebel against their parents wishes. 'Free love' was introduced within the rise of youth culture which made the contraceptive pill very popular.

Addition to the Fashion diet

A must read!

Over the duration of my reading week, I've had my head stuck in the book 'Fashion Brands'. As a fashion student, I was dying to get my hands on a book that would give me a insight into the history of fashion branding that wasn't going to bore me to death with facts and jargon. This book definitely did it for me! It explores the popularization of fashion and explains how marketers and branding experts have turned clothes and accessories into objects of desire. With first hand interviews, it analyses every aspect of fashion from a marketing perspective. Also looking at the impact of blogging and the rise of celebrity-endorsed products and fashion ranges. Have a read! http://milymartin.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/fashion-brands.pdf

Perfume!

To get myself prepared for my next module 'Creative Networks' I have been watching the BBC Perfume Documentary to gain insight on the fragrance industry. In Creative Networks I will be launching a new fragrance and will be in charge of complying research of the industries market. This documentary I found very interesting as it gave me a broad understanding of the products time line; from birth to death. Episode 1 is all about how avant-garde brands such as Calvin Klein have mixed cultures by allowing their product to trade within the high street sector. Take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annRzLYrRwM 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz3_tY6Ld5I
'Bottling the memory'
"colour and texture can describe the perfume"
"scent is about emotion"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3A9g5Eoz2Y
'The smell of the future'
"Russians want rich and heavy, Chinese crave light and airy, Brazilians go crazy for fruits"

Reading week

After handing in my portfolio containing my coursework i've completed over the past semester, I have finally completed my first module at NTU! The portfolio consisted of mood boards, presentations, blogs and a zine which I will post later. Before I begin my 2nd module; Creative Networks, I have been set a task to do on my 2 weeks off (yay!) to help me understand the basics of the next semester. I will be reading and taking notes on the book 'Fashion Brands' by Mark Tungate, watching a few clips and be updating my blog with some of the latest fashion posts. I'm extremely excited to start this module as the last semester was very design based which is one of my strengths. I loved working with Photoshop and the practical aspect of the semester. However, when it came to the marketing side I wasn't so confident, I feel this new module can help me practice this weakness and make me more aware of the fashion market.

To start off the reading week, I will be reading the book 'Fashion Brands' (as mentioned before), as this will help my knowledge of branding and increase my when writing about the fashion market.

See you in a few days!
Jorja x