British Heritage: Aquascutum

After having an initial briefing, the only thing that stood out to me was this idea of creating an image around British heritage or the quintessentially British, as it something that mid-age women can relate to, and I guess it brings back memories, or is something that is familiar.

This reminded me of a previous module: tailoring, where I had to do a report on British tailoring companies, some of which had a strong British identity. The companies I looked at include Aquascutum, Hackett and Paul Smith.

Aquascutum has a long history with British fashion, it is engrained in its DNA. The company as a whole including its style of clothes, marketing and branding,  has always retained a British aesthetic, but manages to keep it up to date.

For this advertising campaign, Aquascutum has used Pierce Brosnan, who plays a part in the quintessentially British movies, James Bond. The overall image sticks to a British theme, and I like how they have chosen to create a scene that isn't what you would usually picture when you think of British. The whole polished James Bond- suit and tie, English gentleman look is there, and the model wearing a mans shirt and tie. The decor is quite simple, but you can still imagine it to be English. I think they have created a really strong image.

This is from another advertising campaign by Aquascutum and it still feels very British. It creates an image of the clothes being made in the UK and a sense that they are hand made with care and quality. The factory feel, with the rails of clothes, the sewing machine, the seamstress, British!

New Year, Fresh Start

Its the beginning of the year and after having an amazing summer spent in London and a great internship at Erderm, its time for a fresh start with a new pathway: communication! It wasn't after a lot of thought that I decided to transfer from design to communication, purely for technical reasons! When I say technical, I mean the manufacturing side of fashion, which I just haven't managed to get the hang of in the 2 years that I have been on this course! So I have decided to focus more on the graphic or visual side of fashion, and I will see where it takes me...!

Back to the start of the term. A new term means a new module, and this is a really exciting one because it is a brief and competition set by the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). It is also quite a refreshing task because the target customer are the middle aged. I know very little about them and there are lots of misconceptions surrounding them that may need to be looked into a little more.

So the brief is to create a new clothing concept or brand for 40-60 year olds, whilst designing something that challenges the idea of middle age and focuses on the positives. It will be interesting to research and discover more about a generation that is not mine!

Final Shoot

Designs

Sportswear Research

I continued to research, but this time I focussed solely on the sports side of things, including fabrics, aerodynamics etc.

Design for Stretch: Sportswear

The purpose of this project is to learn about how stretch fabrics work and can be used. In order to do that, I will make up an outfit consisting of 3 different layers...

Layer 1: This will be an under layer made up of an organic jersey, as the theme of the project is ethical. This will need to be either leggings, t-shirt, vest top or briefs etc.


Layer 2: This layer will compliment layer 1, so if I decide to make a pair of leggings, I may want to make a vest top to match.


Layer 3: This final layer will be made up of recycled knitwear and will be used to add volume to the whole garment.


So, the theme is ethical, and the inspiration will from current trends, however I would also really like to focus on sportswear as it involves quite a lot of stretch fabrics, and its a particular aspect of fashion that I am interested in. Its about adapting sportswear to make it more wearable and a bit more formal. To begin the project off, I've looked to WGSN for help with current sportswear trends.

The Jacket

I finally managed to finish the jacket after 5 long, hard weeks of work! And I'm so happy with it! Its everything I wanted it to be: minimal, masculine and oversized. I like the simple details, the pockets and the lapels, the silhouette is always quite straight and slim. The fabric is an amazing 100% wool, with a really nice lined texture and a slight shine. Its probably more suitable for a winter jacket, however I like the way the jacket has sorted of adapted the brief to become a winter piece and more of a coat than a jacket. I love that its very wearable and timeless. Hopefully I'll get many wears out of it before it falls apart!