Be Inspired by the Best: Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld

Creating my Moodboard

To make sure I got the best images, layout/composition and overall visual impression of the brand within my moodboard, I started by experimenting with images I had collected within my research and created some basic composition and content ideas and templates.

Converse
Some of the images that I really liked from within my research were those taken as screen shots from the Martin Margiela and Converse collaboration teaser and advertisement YouTube videos. I took several screen shots and felt that many of them had a really interesting look that summed up the style of Martin Margiela's work. Below is one of the YouTube videos from Margiela's YouTube account, this particular video was the main 'full length' advert which was released after several 'teaser' trailers:

Here are some of the screen shots I took from these videos:

To create a moodboard, or element to be incorporated in a moodboard, from these images I began to layer and manipulate them in Photoshop. Below are some of the draft results:

Here was my final composition of the converse images; I really like the visual effect of this final idea, however, I am not sure if I can translate or incorporate this into my final moodboard:

My Style Tribe

Analysis of My Everyday Style

Minimal/Feminine/Floral/Laid-Back/Practical/High Street/Pattern/Key Pieces/Jewellery/Accessories/Denim/Predominantly Dark Colours/Smart Casual

I would describe my style as a combination of casual comfy clothes, such as denim jeans and vans, teamed with feminine and more formal items, such as floral shirts and scarfs. I also team outfits with statement accessories to add glamour and a more dressy feel to a basic jeans and tshirt outfit, such as a big handbag, watch, necklace or earrings. I would say my style is fairly mainstream as I predominantly shop in hughstreet stores such as Topshop, River Island and Zara. 

UK Tribes - Channel 4 Research Projects 
http://www.uktribes.com

Visual Contrast

Visual Contrast

Photoshop: Editing Colour

Editing Colour Images

In today's tutorial we practiced and refined four ways in which we can manipulate images using colour. 

• Luminosity - 
• Create new Layer 
• Place desired colour layer under original images
• Change original image (top) layer behaviour to 'Luminosity'
• Merge Layers and trim image where necessary
• Hue and Saturation -
• Image - Adjust - Hue (colour) and Saturation (strength)
• Place desired colour next to image to improve accuracy
• Halftone Pattern - 
• (not available in CMYK mode, must be RGB) - image - mode - RGB - don't flat tern
• make sure desired colour is in top layer of colour tool/palette
• filter - filter gallery - sketch file - halftone pattern
• Replace Colour - 
• Image - adjust - replace colour
• adjust fuzziness to determine how much of the colour you want 
• use Hue/Saturation tools to further adjust

Project One: Martin Margiela

First Project: Brand Moodboard
For our first project we have been given a specific brand to study, research and produce a moodboard for. The brand I was given is Martin Margiela.
Below are images from my reflective journal sketchbook of some of the initial 'fact file' style info I sourced about Martin Margiela and his label 'Maison Martin Margiela'.

Collated Research
This is a Powerpoint Presentation that I created in order to collate the information I found on my brand, as well as the images and some final moodboard ideas:

Be Inspired by the Best: Anna Piaggi

Anna Piaggi

Colour Theory, Colour Selection and Colour Palettes

Colour Theory

Pigment Elements and Variants

Hue

This is the quality that we call the colour, to distinguish it from another.  HUE is the name of the colour e.g., blue, red, green

Value

This is the lightness or darkness of the colour

Chroma (chromatics)

This is the intensity of the colour, its brightness and purity, or dullness and impurity.

Tints

Hues with white added are called tints

Shades

Hues with black added are called tints

Tones

Hues with grey added are called tints

Colour Type

Primary Colours: Red/Blue/Yellow

Secondary Colours:  Blue-Green/Yellow-Green/Red-Purple/Blue-Purple/Yellow-Orange         -       /Red-Orange

                 

Tertiary Colours are obtained by mixing all three primaries of a primary with a secondary colour  for example: Orange + Blue/Green + Red/Purple + Yellow

Behaviour type

Harmonious Colours are those which lie next to each other on the colour wheel.  They sit easily together and graduate gently.

Contrasting Colours are those which lie far apart from each other on the colour wheel.  They sit uncomfortably together and clash against each other.

Complementary Colours are those which lie opposite each other on the colour wheel.  When

placed together each colour intensifies the other.  Adding a very small amount of

complementary colour to another subdues the intensity by dulling the colour domain.

Discordant Colours are created by reversing the natural order of colours e.g. red is naturally

darker than orange.  If white is added to create pink, then the pink becomes discordant with the

orange.

Colour Selection

Defining the particular use of colour in any project is important.  When starting from literally millions of options the process becomes initially one of reducing and editing towards a limited palette of colours.

These choices are based on many factors and are all based on the power of colour to deliver specific messages:-

Cultural - gender, age, politically, geographically etc.

Historical - era, association, provenance etc.

Social - life style, mood, attitude etc.

Working in any design discipline fashion graphics, interiors etc requires the skillful handling of colour.  A strip palette can help focus ideas, test feasibility and application theories.

1. Number and Selection

A selected colour palette means just that.  There is a limit of how many colours can exist in a legible combination.  As a result most palettes keep to between 2-10, 5 being a good starting point from which to add and subtract.

Apart from the obvious considerations of choosing colours to communicate your theme/story, it can be useful to deliberately try and incorporate different colours from different groups and avoiding choosing a monstrous range from a predictable category:-

- neutrals - fluorescent

- pastels - foil

- primary - pale tones

- secondary - deep tones

2. Sequence and relationship

Secondly the placement and alignment of the colours, which colour sit next to which colour ? No colour reads in isolation. Judge the colour when it is placed in the sequence , not on its own.Each neighbour’s effect on each other plays a vital part on how the strip reads.

2. Proportion and Composition

Thirdly, having chosen an initial range of colours, and their relationship to each other, consider the proportion of the colours, from the entire range of colours all  being equal to extremes of one colour being dominant other very minor. Remember that often the smallest volume of colour (the spot colour or accent colour) often has the biggest impact.

3. Flexibility and Range

Each palette needs to be considered not just as a combination of all the colours selected but looking at the choices in small groups, trios and parts.  By sub-dividing the range it is possible to demonstrate the full flexibility inherent in the selection to derive drastically different moods from one palette.

By involving the range of tones, tones and shades of each colour into the mix, you can also demonstrate how to further extend the range of colours/possibilities while still adhering to the carefully limited selection.

All this thought and analysis should provide a story and identifiable basis for selection.  Resulting in a colour palette that is:-

Communicative

- through use of colour/tone

- through use of relationship/placement

- through use of volume/proportion

- through use of editing/selecting

Flexible

- through consideration of number – 2 colour, 3 colour

- through consideration of tint – 100%, 50%, 10%

- through consideration of application – material, media, scale

The Visual Critic

The Visual Critic

• Where do ideas come from?
• What does it mean to be creative?
• How do I turn my obsession into professional practice

What is obsession?

To obsess means, by dictionary definition, to be continually preoccupied.

Below are 2 video examples of 'obsession' in the form of advertisement by Calvin Klein:

Passion For Fashion

Is this important? 

Should I be obsessed with fashion?

The two videos below present two ideas of what a 'Passion for Fashion' is; the first demonstrated an ideology of extreme luxury, and the second shows a more realistic aspect of the backstage/behind the scenes environment and is somewhat aggressive:

The Paradox of Fashion

Unique or Ubiquitous?

Media and Obsession

How does this media obsession affect or define our perception?

For example, Barack Obama and how different publications present him:

Are you critical of the internet
Do you trust your sources? Try these:
http://www.exactitudes.com/
http://newdandyism.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/

Do you believe everything you see or hear in the media?

Take a look at these:
Bob – Box of Broadcasts http://bobnational.net/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishstylegenius/

BE A CIRCUIT BREAKER
Below is an 'inspirational' image and an image from Alexander McQueen's 'Savage Beauty' collection: 

The Visual Critic

Personal S.W.O.T. Analysis

Personal Manifesto

Be Inspired by the Best: Vivienne Westwood

Be Inspired by the Best - Vivienne Westwood

Seminar Activity - Semiotics

Analysing an image using semiotics:

In today's seminar we began to use semiotics to analyse and look at images or other visual texts to find both the obvious and hidden/symbolised meanings. Below is my chosen image (an outfit from Martin Margiela's S/S 2005 collection) and my response to the tasks given. 

1. Initial Response (Words/Phrases)

Layered, Dark, Scruffy, Disheveled, Contrast, Rough, Covered Face, Emotionless, Collage, Simple, Business wear, Number, Writing, French, Possibility of underlying complex meaning, Roland Barthes - "The terror of uncertain signs". 

2. Description of Visual & Purpose

Photograph from photoshoot, model is wearing an outfit from Spring/Summer women's wear collection 2005. Could be classed as advertisement or documentation. 

3. Denotations

A woman/female model in collection outfit

All black clothes - some contrasting nude/flesh/white tones - white shoes

Hair is not done - slightly scruffy/disheveled looking

Black line across eyes

Straight face - quite emotionless

Strip of paper over-layed with typewriter style typography - states what women is wearing - written in french

Number in the corner - place in order of collection

4. Connotation
Combination of scruffy, disheveled clothing, mixed with ideas of business dress - goes against conventional ideas, pushes boundaries, tries to move away from traditional tailoring 
Black line over eyes and straight face - shows no emotion - makes clothes the focus of audiences attention - more about what they were than the face -  the clothes may tell more of a story than the face
Writing in French - French company - French associated with elegance and perfection/precision - this emphasises a point of going against the conventions

5. Q&A
What is it?
An outfit created by Martin Margiela at his company 'Maison Martin Margiela' for his Spring/Summer 2005 Collection
Who produced it? 
Martin Margiela under his label
When was it produced?
Made for 2005 S/S so most likely 2004
What else was going on at the time of production, both in the field of fashion and in the wider social and historical context?
Does it belong to a specific trend or movement? What immediately preceded it?
Did any specific ideas or theories inform its production?
Who was it produced for?
What technology/media/materials have been used and why?

Sketchbook

Below is an image of the notes taken in my sketchbook, which I have then translated onto here:

The Eye Has to Travel

Diana Vreeland and 'The Eye Had to Travel'

In today's lecture and seminar's we watched the film 'The Eye Had to Travel', an inspirational and fascinating film about Diana Vreeland's 50 years of international fashion. I found the film interesting, informative and inspiring. Diana Vreeland was an incredibly creative woman, who saw the world in an entirely unique and almost magical fantastical way; her whole life's work reflects this, and her innovative thinking and interested take on all things fashion. Her interest in what surrounded fashion is admirable; to be able to take in culture, surroundings, era, historical events, revolutions and politics, and see beyond the fabric, materialism of fashion and into the world that the industry creates is a fascinating and incredible feet when done so effortlessly. The result of her ever-growing passion was the power and impression that her work had on the industry, she was on top of the fashion world. She spoke in the film of clothes being the key to everything, she said "you can see and feel everything through clothes" and stated that even a revolution can be seen coming through changing fashion trends. 
Her work was always luxurious, as was her lifestyle, she spent and made money all the time, her world revolved around money, she says so within the interview in the film, stating that "money is everything" and "anyone who says otherwise is mad". Her work was also very much about story telling, something that matched her personality entirely, she lived in her own fantasy world, where things were the way she believed they should be and therefore not necessarily how they really were. She was as aware of this as those around her, but says quite simply that "we live through our dreams and imagination, for really it's the only reality we know". She was a key player in the history of fashion, changing the image of both Harper's Bizarre and Vogue; she always did something new and something different, even when going back to past era's where historical elements of fashion were made her own. She took unusual people and made them into models, she saw something in people that the others could not and the results were incredible, unique photographs. 

Trailer

Here is the trailer for the movie:

Q&A

Did I enjoy it?

Yes, I really enjoyed the film, it was fascination and engaging, the same was it is with other similar documentary style films that give you this close-up and personal take on the lives of these icons to the fashion world. Such as with Bill Cunningham in 'Bill Cunningham's New York', the correlation between these two great people in the fashion world is their love, passion and dedication for what they do. And it isn't always about the clothes and the lifestyle that can often be associated with it, but instead the beauty and almost fantasy of it all.

Was I inspired? 

Yes. I think that the work Vreeland did was spectacular and unique and all together quite wonderful. She had such a individual way of looking at the world, and fashion; she took in everything about the clothes, not just the material, the colour, the cut etc...but the setting, where it's from, why it's been made, who's wearing it, the culture behind it, the fantasy life that can be attached to it. As they say in the film, the magazines for her where always about trying to 'give people what they can't get at home'.

What characteristics made Vreeland successful? Good or bad?

I think that the film makes it clear that there are many sides to Diana Vreeland, not all of them positive, but certainly all of them contributed to her success. For example, her drive, her passion and her love for what she did, her need to work and her need for the industry and the clothes; these were the things that kept her there, she both wanted and needed it. However, as the film portrays, this may have made her less of a good wife and mother to her 2 children, as her passion and love went into her work, she travelled a lot for photoshoots and model scouting. Her daring attitude was definitely a positive contribution to her work, this made her take risks and go all out on an idea without a worry or a second thought or a doubt as to whether it may sink or swim. This head-strong certainty made her swim. 

Would you recommend the film? To who? And why?

I would definitely recommend this film, it's both interesting and inspiring. I think that anyone with a similar interest in fashion, especially those who read Harper's Bizarre or Vogue and are interested in it's history as Diana Vreeland definitely played a vital part in both. However, I also think somebody interested in art, design or media and advertising would be interested and inspired by this film; her way of seeing and interpreting, not just the clothes but the world, is unique and admirable. 

Sketchbook

Here is an image of the notes within my sketchbook in relation to the film:

Be Inspired by the Best: Diana Vreeland

Be Inspired by the Best - Diana Vreeland

Be Inspired by the Best: Isabella Blow

Be Inspired by the Best -Isabella Blow

Photoshop: Creating a Moodboard - Layouts

In our first Photoshop seminars today, our  covered the basic tools and functions that may help us with style and composition. Below is the image I created during the session, as you can see I have experimented with composition, colour palette, colour blocks and transparency:

Moodboards

In today's lecture we were introduced to our first module, which is entitled 'Visual Awareness'. The first section of this module is based around moodboards, and their use within industry. Therefore, within today's seminar we carried out a moodboard task following a brief that was provided prior to the seminar.

Brief:

Could you please make sure that you are prepared for the mood board activity on Thursday October 3^rd 2013.

You will be making a new mood board (mixed media) and you will need the following materials:   

·      Old magazines,

·      newspapers,

·      photos,

·      drawings, etc.

·      anything else that might be useful for the Mood Board workshop.

You will also need:  

·      1 Sheet of A3 White Card  

·      Glue (Pritt Stick type) and or Tape (Masking, Electrical, Parcel, etc.) 

·      Assorted collage materials (if you have them!)

·      Fabric swatches, etc. 

Mood board Topic: My Favourite Fashion Brand/Designer

When collecting material for your mood board, please think about the following:

·      Key colour schemes which may crop up / signature motifs?

·      Are there any overriding themes? Is there an identifiable mood or personality?

·      Are there any other key influences on the brand such as artists or designers referenced?

·      Consider any other cultural and contextual references outside of fashion such as literature, film, music or politics.

My Moodboard

The designer I chose to base my moodboard on was Alexander McQueen, my all-time favourite designer. To sourced the images for moodboard from several different places; firstly, I used magazine advertisements and articles from Interview, Pop, Hunger and Vogue magazines, collecting anything that advertised or included McQueen's clothing, as well as pictures from other brands/designers that have created something in a similar style/with a similar theme. Secondly, I collected images from Google, and thirdly, I photocopied images out of my own books, including 'Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation'.  

During the seminar we were encouraged to play around with the layout, images used, colour themes and image size. To do this I arranged and re-arranged my moodboard several times, to make sure that I thoroughly considered the placement of each individual element in order to create the perfect tone and mood to reflect my chosen designer. We we're not allowed to use anything with the brand or designers name on within our moodboards, so this made the layout and the consequent mood/tone of our work even more important. 

Below are images of some of my trial layouts, which I documented using my iPhone camera so that I could refer back to previous versions and adapt elements I did or didn't like.

 Final Moodboard

Below is an image of my final finished moodboard: