About Me

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As a little girl I would make dresses out of pillow cases and colour them with crayola markers, spend hours scribbling shoes and dreamed of working in the fashion industry, not much has changed since then. Im studying at Limerick School of Art and Design which I love,in my third year of fashion design. My favourite designers at the moment are Haider Rick Owens, Hussein Chalayan,Iris Van Herpen,Stella McCartney,Steffie Christaens , Gareth Pugh and Anne Sophie Madsen (and the list goes on and on and on!). I am driven and excited about fashion and look forward to the future.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Dover Street Project / Rick Owens For Zara A/W 12

This project required me to research a designer while in London and then create a collection for a high street store, I choose Rick Owens for Zara.
 Rick Owens has always been one of my favorite designers. The brand is edgy and innovative. The colour pallet is always muted and your always guaranteed to see some leather or fur. When I think of a Rick Owens collection I think of layered clothes,clever detailing and an interesting mix of fabrics.
Zara in my opinion is one of the best high street stores there is. The quality is impeccable and the standard is high. Zara only stock a small number of each of the same garment and never get the same item in again, it encourages the customer to impulse buy as they know it might be gone the next time they visit the store. The prices in Zara are also very reasonable.
For this project I had to constantly think about who my customer was, how much did they earn and what did they need from their clothes. When choosing fabrics for the collection I had to always think of the price point, expensive fabrics were left as trims or used sparingly to keep the costs down.

Looking @ Rick Owens S/S 12

Looking @ details. Rick Owens signature neckline.

Thinking of fabric and swatching.

Zara S/S 12

Zara's muted colour palette for S/S 12

Zara TRF 

Inspiration for the collection came from my trip to London. The graffitti on streets provided the urban feel I was looking for. A visit to The National History Museum also gave me ideas for swatches.

Working on the stand in paper.

Mixing fabric and paper, playing with silhouettes.


Working on the stand and then drawing from the stand.

Using Collage.

Constantly looking back @ previous collections.

Here I cut shapes from the car out of fabric and placed them on the body.



Greta Constantine. Here the design duo used seat belts to make a collection.
I went to a scrapyard to get loads of seat belts, I ripped them, shredded them
and knitted with them. I came up with a new texture and it is in the collection.

The collection was mainly jackets and trousers.

The collection. 

Fabric Bord. Colours do not represent the collection.

Mood Bord.

The jacket I made. I choose to use bias binding on the inside as I thought
it would resemble the inside of a car door or under a bonnet. Top
stitching featured heavily in the collection inspired by the upholstery
in the cars I looked at. The hood added a casual and urban element.
Rick Owens signature detail is the flap across the neckline and I tried
to replicate that here.
 

Front.

Side.

Back.

Inside.

Time to Start Sewing!

I went fabric shopping in Malaga recently and bought back a whopping 20kg of fabric, I am so excited and cannot wait to start making. Normally every scrap of fabric I buy I have to follow a strict brief and make something in a teeny size to fit the mannequin, this time I am going to make everything for myself. First thing on the list is a Chanel style jacket for my lovely Mum, who has been hassling me for years to make her something, I just cannot listen to her anymore : ) After that I am not really sure but I am looking forward to sewing it has been a month and I am having sewing dreams, bring it on!!
Here is a look at what I bought










Saturday, June 16, 2012

Vera Wang S/S 12

This has to be one of my favourite collections of the year so far. It's femine, delicate, sporty, fresh and young. I like how she introduces colour and pattern throughout the collection. The fabrics are light and airy. The broderie anglais adds a typical Spring/Summer element and really compliments the sporty feel. Last but not least I love the bias binding and the zips, I cannot get enough zips.
For my construction class I had to make a dress for Spring/Summer, inspired by a current collection. I choose a top in this collection and slightly adapted it to suit the breif.

















The New Balenciaga Shop Paris

The new Balenciaga shop in Paris makes me say 'Ohhhh Wow'. Its very futuristic and it makes my eyes excited!! I also love the new A/W 12/13 collection its the shop in clothes form and that certainly is not a bad thing. I love the mix of fabrics, light, translucent chiffons hemmed with heavy metalic leathers and neoprene jackets with silk trousers. Its smart and still sporty.I really cant get enough of all these sporty details we are seeing right now









The Demise of The Rose











Note To Self!


So assessments have come and gone and my blog has been well and truly abandoned : ( So in the mean time I have been to Spain and went fabric shopping (20kg of fabric to be precise) and I am excited to get stuck back into doing what I love, designing, pattern drafting and making lovely new clothes!! Tomorrow is D Day and my mission begins.