Knitting madness

I caved in and got my knitting machine out again, I wanted to try and explore more than just knit but I feel that knit is back in a huge way. Even if it is a  Su

mmer collection. People wear cardigans on the beach at night in front of the fire, and my collection has a casual  element, which should include baggy knits and throw on jumpers .

After many tears and tantrums I finally got it working, as the tension was completely off and was leaving me with tight knotted knits, this accidental mess however would of been perfect for my last collection. So after casting on my knitting machine at least over 50 times due to the machine being tight or dropping stitches. I got a few of these samples done. They seem quite thick and bulky for a summer collection but again, people wear knits all year round.

Love this lace with a looser knit, would be great all over or just randomly placed round the neckline of a jumper or as a shoulder piece. 

These knits seem like statement pieces, which would work with a pair of plain trousers and a loose jersey top. To contrast against the crazy knitted madness. 

Lazer cutting

I spend last Tuesday creating and cutting neoprene with the laser , although the samples look like doilies, some of the patterns will be used as a block pattern across the whole garment. I think this is unusual as I wouldn't venture into different ways to manipulate fabric I tend to stay into the print/knit element. I love the way this turned out and inspired me to think of ways to place plastic and other iridescent fabrics behind the neoprene to make a kitsch collection. 

Firstly we worked out how deep the burn line would go to just touch the surface as I had some patterns that didn't cut right through . 

Above are some of the finished pieces, I wanted a girly floral look, much like the Louis Vuitton s/s 2012 collection . However I may make it more edgier using a less symmetrical placement of pattern and more random sized. 

Fabrics

Took a trip to London to get the base of my fabrics, we visited Soho first for samples and ideas then headed to Shepherds Bush. Overall a successful shopping trip.

Summer at the beach allows cool cottons and thin jersey, also with luxurious silks for the 1950‘s glamour. Combining textural knits into the mix to allow wearer to keep warm during nights with a chilly breeze. Some fabrics will have two-tone or hollographic sheen to them, or even a plastic transparent vinyl. This adds a hint of vulgarity, yet used in small proportions will give a fashionable feel. With the addition of neoprene it will add the bikini beach feel, without designing swimwear.

Resin Moulding

I was inspired by plastic kitsch and was thinking of making some sort of resin mould collar, depending on if i can make the resin thin enough. Then i could add numerous little flowers, or other items in the resin so it is floating in-between. Also fine glitter could be used inside. If this doesn't work i could laser cut flowers into fabric or plastic.

This is an ongoing experimentation and i will look further into this and update. 

Fashion Face- Playful 1950

Looking at the 1950 style, i was most drawn to the American diner, fun casual style for the beach, which would be best suited to the kitsch style.This made me think of head scarfs and oversized cat eye sunglasses.  Bleach blonde or a pastel pink hair would give a contemporary twist to my illustrations. However i still wanted the classic hollywood bold red lips and winged eye liner. Im looking to show a sexy but cheeky female that likes the quirky kitsch in an ironic way.




The drawing to the left was my first idea, just playing around and drawing i liked the sleek curly fringe with the head scarf as i think it fits the concept theme well. However didn't quite have that 'fashion face'  so i drew up some other ideas and came to the drawing on the right. I feel this is much better with the cheeky wink face. More illustrations to come this is just an initial drawing up of ideas

Working with colours

I initially wanted a sweet pastel coloured palette that was sugary, however looking more into kitsch i realised i needed a few more plastic acid hues such as a bright yellow and neon orange, this adds an added depth into normal pastel colours, which tend to come in year in year out for summer collections. 

Below are my first colour boards, which i then developed into final colour scheme. Some of the boards are not finished as i usually place tape over the top of my designs.

First look at pastel candy colours, felt that they needed an added punch 

Looked into blue/Purple/green colour however i think kitsch has an eclectic mix of many colours and so maybe just a few tones from this board to add to the final hues.

Also looking more into depth of pink tones, felt that having just pink hues in a collection doesn't work for kitsch.

Another board that i felt didn't have the right tones. 

Finally decided on colours, think this works great as i have a mix of bright neons and subtle pastels. 

S/S15 Collection - Flourescent Pastel Punch

Due to being undecided on a final theme name for the collection i have been avoiding posting blog posts, but aim to start posting ideas every couple of days starting from now (Lets hope i keep up with this).

First start with a concept theme to spark ideas about what the collection is about. Flourescent Pastel Punch (Purposely spelt wrong to merge the words fluorescent and floral) 

A 1950 Hollywood theme that is fun and flirty. Mainly casual style outfits with an option to turn day to night. Florals and unusual patterns/embellishments that are modern kitsch. This collection has a playful 1950’s American diner feel in the form of print and texture, however with the sexier hourglass sillhouettes of the 1950’s. Tongue in cheek humour turned on its head to allow a fashion concious female with an outlandish style to wear this collection as casual day wear relaxing in the sun, or even dressed up for a night out.

The colour concept has spring hues of candy pink and polka dot pastels. This adds the playful, summer at the beach statement.  Overal the pallete is a soft and gentle shade of colour. The muted subtle colour mixed with the gaudy kitsch addition of decorative details. Kitsch items in the home tend to have a slight acid plastic colour of yellow or green. In which the playful spring pastels mixed with the garish tints will add a diverse colour concept.

This collection forms a range of popular garments of the 50’s with a modern twist. Such as seperates, playsuits, crop tops and thin knit jumpers with added textural embellishments. Kitsch is a german word meaning ‘ of bad taste’ however adding a subtle hue of colour and having a garish representation on the sexy sillhouette of the 1950’s will allow kitsch to be appriciated in an ironic way.

Summer at the beach allows cool cottons and linens, also with luxurious silks for the 1950’s glamour. Combining textural knits into the mix to allow wearer to keep warm during nights with a chilly breeze. Some fabrics will have two-tone or hollographic sheen to them, or even a plastic transparent vinyl. This adds a hint of vulgarity, yet used in small proportions will give a fashionable feel.

This collection is a bespoke collection for the average fashion concious female that enjoys all things LA, mostly a casual beach loungewear. The customer market is for females with a more diverse and eclectic taste in fashion, who enjoys making a statement, yet in a classier tasteful way. 

The ‘look’ of the collection is 1950’s American diner with the cheesy plastic feel. Domestic casual women of that era held pin curls in place with head skarfs, which became an opted style for casual days. The silhouette of the 1950’s was mainly a hourglass shape, with the odd exeptions.  Sweet Peter Pan collars and floral prints add a ditsy girly style yet with the hourglass popular shape of the era. The target level is high end, due to luxurious fabrics and intricate detailing within the collection. Although the kitsch feel is aimed to be of bad taste or cheap, this combination of garments will not be inexpensive.