shoes and shoes

Looking for inspiration for shoes to use in my collection... Really hoping to get some made, perhaps overseas, (will see how bank balance is holding up) and I'm thinking of going with a flat shoe. As a lover of sky high heel, I'm a little resistant to go with the flat, but I think it makes more sense considering I'm doing swimwear and our coordinator seems dead against heels .
Anyway, this hasn't stopped me looking at some amazing high heels as well as some flats that I would wish I could use in my collection. The photos below are just a snap of the shoes that Ive been inspired by. My favs have to be the silk jersey wrap around shoes from Fendi... in love...

Lanvin

Chloe

Fendi

Rebecca Taylor

Rodarte

Givenchy

Ann Demeulemeester

Givenchy

Images: Sea of Shoes (one my fav blogs at the moment) W Magazine, Style.com

Print me up!

I have never put a big emphasis on print in any of previous collections, I've mostly created interest in surface manipulation or just in the silhouette and shape of the garments, but this year we were told to create our own prints to give the collection an element of individuality and differentiate it from ALL the other student collections that are created in the other fashion courses. I was a little bit overwhelmed at the beginning of the semester, because of my lack of experience in creating prints for a collection, but finally after weeks and weeks of experimentation and playing with colours, scales and repeats I have created a digital print that will work throughout my collection. I'm really happy with what I've come up with, it works in most of the colours from my colour palette and is graphic enough to work in swimwear as well as in other garments in my collection.

I was aiming for an organic, painterly and most importantly feminine feeling to come through and I think I've been able to achieve that in the final print and let me tell you it feels good to come up with a print that I'm happy with after working on it for such a long time. I can breathe a small sigh of relief at one thing that's been ticked on the long list that is creating a collection.

In the Mix

I'm currently in the final stages of deciding on my 12 looks for the collection and one of the things Ive found challenging is mixing swimwear with the rest of my garments. Its difficult getting the balance between showing enough of the swimsuit whilst creating interest in other garments at the same time. I came across this shoot from Amica (Italia) June 2010, shot by Massimo Pamparana. The simple and clean styling suits the garments perfectly, with a mix of fitted jackets and vests with cute crop shorts styled effectively with swimwear... perfect.
Definitely the kind of approach I am trying to take when mixing my other designs with swimwear.

Images from fashiongonerouge

The Digital Age

I've been doing a lot of work in the past few weeks to develop my textile print that will be used in my collection. Ive decided to go with digital printing because of the almost endless possibilities with print and colours it allows. With my ideas of painting and brush stroke textures, its a great way to create an individual print which lifts your collection and make it something unique that can stand out from the rest. Not being a textile specialist I'm glad that UTS puts such a strong emphasis on creating prints and has the expertise and equipment to help us do this.

I found this article in the Courier Mail from Fashion Week which talks about the rise in digital printing seen at this years RAFW.

Unfortunately it comes at quite a cost here in Sydney, but we've been lucky enough to have found a supplier in India who does it at a fraction of the cost, which has made the price seem a little more bearable. Looking forward to posting my prints once I have them all finished so stay tuned!

Zimmerman

Lisa Ho

Dion Lee

Josh Goot

Images from Harper's Bazaar

Eye Spy

Last night I went to a great event put on by a friend of mine called Eye Spy. It was an event designed to showcase up and coming artists in the areas of music, film, design and art, where they could display their work without limitations and at the same time broaden their networks. All money raised was to go to Autism Awareness, which made it even better! There was a real mix of work displayed, from sculpture, to paintings and photography and even video art. I think its important to support these kinds of events to help up and comers as much as we can, after all I'll be wanting that same chance when I graduate.

Band - J.U.N.K

Photographer - Jessi White

Illustrator - Kirbee Lawler

Illustrator - Alana Elliot (this one was one of my favourites)

Fabric Shopping.

Just a little update: I just went fabric shopping for my collection... and it was soo much fun! Normally I find it all a bit to much, finding the right colours and the right weights and everything, but for the first time I went to wholesalers other than Greenfields and I came back with so many samples I just don't know what to do with myself.

Super fine jerseys and slinky modals, stiff matte linen and paper touch voiles, sheer cotton guaze and I could go on... The best part is because I'm getting my fabric dyed I didn't have to worry about finding all the right colours, which makes everything so much easier!

And with names like Turkish Delight and Elyeeses its hard not to get inspired to design!

Pretty as a Picture

I've started to develop my own textile prints for my collection and have been digging around to find as much inspiration as I can to inform the prints. I'm trying to create a textured paintely print that will be trasferred digitally. I have been experimenting with dry painting on fabric and layering up paint on fabric. In the latest Bloom Trend Magazine, there were different painted prints on fabric that looked amazing. I love the way you can see the brush strokes in the paint and the way its layered up to create a very textural look.

Images from Bloom Magazine