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