Alberta Ferretti

Ferretti's fall 2010 collection is simply gorgeous. The designs are sophisticated and elegant, and the colour story is perfect for fall. It consists of a wintery palette of white, nude, greys and teal.

I love this dress because I like the way she has blended jewellery and clothing. The necklace has become part of the dress rather than sitting on top of it.

I like the way this dress falls at the bottom, the silk trimming highlights this. This dress looks very soft and light and this has been achieved by using a lightweight fabric combined with the nude colour.

I love the shape of this outfit, the lines from the bust give shape and definition to the body. I also like the double layer asymmetric technique with the detailed trim.

I particularly like the shoulder detail to this dress. The shape looks simple, yet the detail when looking closer is extremely delicate.

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Mary Kantrantzou

Mary Kantrantzou is a designer who has inspired me ever since she first debuted in 2009. I always look forward to her collections and her newest one has not failed to amaze me. I love the way Kantrantzou uses her prints to portray contours of the female body. I also really like how she combines her outfit with jewellery in every collection, something which I can particularly identify with.

Mary Kantrantzou's fall 10 colllection is a burst of energetic prints that have a geometic nature. The way Kantrantzou places the print is key to the success of her collection. I will have to consider the placement of my prints in order to make them successful.


Her prints are strong and dramatic, the colours are alive and energetic. She combines digital print with areas of embelishment and fabric details such as frills and ruffles. She does this with much softer fabrics such as chiffon, this contrasts with the hard print and softens the whole collection. This also gives the outfit a 3dimensional aspect rather than just being a print. I love this inovative idea of making the print come to life.

The closer details of this collection are really beautiful, in particular how Katrantzou uses the shapes of her digital prints to determine the shape of the garment.

Mary Katrantzou for Topshop

Mary Katrantzou has just done a line for Topshop. And its certainly not for the faint hearted. She has taken her catwalk designs and transformed them into wearable commercial pieces. Her sculptural trompe l'oeil dresses featuring blown-up images of perfume bottles and jewels are now available for everyone to wear at an afordable price.

Holly Fulton

I really love Holly Fulton's new a/w10 collection that was shown this week at London fashion week . The garment shapes are simple, yet she uses this a blank canvas to inject colour and demonstrate fascinatingly bold prints. The geometric patterns shows her inspiration from architecture and buildings.

The simple shift shape of the dress allows the print to be shown in the best possible way. This is something that I must consider with my own prints, and establish which shape shows my prints the best way. My prints are fairly complex and busy therefore it seems most appropriate to design more simple garment shapes so that the print does not get lost in the design.

Fulton embroiders over her prints which is something that i will be doing in my final collection. I think this gives the garments an extra special edge to it.

I love the colours in this dress and how Fulton has highlighted the key parts of the print with embellishment.

I really like the colour palette of the collection, the pastel theme has been carried on from the spring summer 10 trend, and been combined with black and white to make the whole look much bolder and sharper, perfect for Autumn winter.

My final collection

I feel my final collection has progressed a lot in the last few weeks. I have been analysing all the research that I have collected and began experimenting with all the vintage jewellery I have been collecting over the last year. This has allowed me to begin developing samples and has led to print ideas.

Sketch book pages, showing the developmental stage of the project in relation to the colour story and drawings to be developed.

My collection can be defined as an extension of myself, it demonstrates my complete addiction and love for jewellery. I feel that with intricate embroidery and beading I can enhance the beauty of the jeweled prints and make the collection very special .

After creating initial print ideas it gave me the opportunity to identify the strengths and weaknesses within each. I have been able to work on this and develop many more print ideas. I then began experimenting with the print on the mannequin to show what the print might look like on the female body.

PURE LONDON

I recently went to Pure London, which is the UK's leading fashion trade event for contemporary and directional womenswear, young fashion for men and women, accessories and footwear.

This is a place where buyers come to choose from the collections for their stores. Visiting this event gave me the opportunity to look around and talk to designers and get an insight into how it all works.

At Pure, I discovered lots of companies that I haven't heard about before which was really beneficial because it opened the door to lots of opportunities. I was able to speak to some designers and also collect business cards to use for possible work experience or placements.

Some of my favourite stands at Pure where Ruby rocks, Gia London, Aftershock London and Glamourous.

I liked these stands because I could relate with what they design and make. They produce feminine printed dresses with embellishment and beading throughout.

Overall I found Pure a very worthwhile and inspirational day, and will look forward to going again next year.

PARIS

Feb 10

We took our collections to Paris, to exhibit at Indigo in Premier Vision. This was a great opportunity to understand how the industry works and also research for my final collection.
I visited the trimming section which was completely overwhelming but inspirational all the same.

The range of different beads, trimmings and embroidered pieces was amazing. It gave me a real vision into what I could achieve with my own collection. I also spent a lot of the time on a vintage stand, looking through boxes of sequined pieces, buttons and fastenings. I bought to pieces that I fell in love with, and will be looking to use them in my collection.

I also visited Versailles which was great because I have looked at Mary Antoinette for this collection therefore it was a great opportunity to look around where she once lived. Versailles was truly the most amazing and breathtaking building I have ever been in. Every aspect of the building was considered, from the floor right up to the ceiling.

The interior is completely over the top and dramatic but I love it. The whole place is saturated with Gold edging and borders. The ceilings in particular amazed me the most, the detail in the paintings is impeccable, and it makes me imagine how long it would have taken to paint.

I also visited several fabric stores by the Sacre-Coeur. Here I found some gorgeous embroidered lace that I will use in my collection.
I left Paris feeling very inspired and ready to get going with the collection.

Simply Yours

I have entered the Brief to Bra competition for SimplyYours.co.uk. The brief is to design a lingerie set consisting of two parts i.e. bra/corset/slip and thong/ full brief/ French knickers. It is for Spring/Summer 2011

I have looked at Dior, Erdem and Marc Jacobs for inspiration for this project, and considered the way they use print and use underwear elements in their collections.

My digital prints from the Premier Vision collection relate to this brief therefore I have selected one and developed it to create a bra and french knickers set.

I choose Cyan and Black as the colour palette. I didnt want to go for the obvious pinks and reds that are used a lot in underwear prints so i picked a bright, energetic colour which would be great for Spring Summer.

Illustration board for the bra and brief collection.

Tim Walker

Tim Walker is one of my favourite photographers. His style is breathtaking, the pictures are just so incredibly detailed, interesting, crazy and beautiful all at once. Walker continuously brings imagination to the pages of Vogue magazine with a modern style. I love turning the pages to discover yet again another gorgeous image from him.


I love the distressed nature of this shoot, the walls and the staircase. The colours look old and weathered which make the cleaness of the dress stand out even more. I also like the way the model is standing with the dress hanging down, it reminds me of images from a fairytale, like rapunzel up in the tower and the dress representing her hair.





I love the way Walker has used light and reflection in this shoot. He uses the mirrored disco balls to create light on the model and even on what she is wearing. The whole mood to me is mysterious. The image on the left is captivating, as you look at her wanting to know what she is thinking, whereas the image on the right portrays a more enlightening, spiritual nature.

Walker's interest in photography began while on work experience at Conde Nast Publications where he established the Cecil Beaton archive.


I love how this photo looks like its from inside a dolls house. The model looks like a statue, so still and perfect. I like how the walls are falling apart, yet the dress looks perfect. The complete contrast works really well and shows the beauty of the dress.

This photo makes me laugh, I like Walkers surreal ideas with the model sitting on the oversized glove. Again I feel this makes the mood relate to fairytales, making the model and dress a tiny thing next the the glove. This is clever because Walker makes such a dramatic, huge dress look relatively small compared to the glove.

Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton is another one of my favourite photographers. He was best known as a photographer of theatrical, royal and societal luminaries and he photographed many models.

I love how the lady is covered in pearls and Jewellery, I think thats what attracted me most to this picture. I also like the dark make up used on the models face because her dress and hat kind of merge's with the background however the darkness of the make up stands out boldly.


There is a charming nature to Beatons photography. They scream sophistication and elegance and he captures his object in an alluring way.


I love the glitz and glamour of this shoot. The whole photo is sparkling, the dress and the background glitter. The whole image demonstrates glamour and wealth.

Cecil Beaton was in love with the worlds of high society, theater, and glamour. Beauty in his hands was transformed into elegance, fantasy, romance and charm.

Cecil Beaton and Tim Walker are photographers from different eras yet both capture romance and femininity in a breathtaking way. This is the very essence that I want to achieve and represent in my final collection.