Fashion Buying Blog

Over the last term we have been learning how to use InDesign and here are two skills which I felt are helpful to remember when using the adobe application.  the first skill is learning how export your work into a PDF.  you can do this by clicking the File button which will then give a drop down menu from there click Export. if you follow the next steps it shall create a PDF. it is like saving the product without having to save the document. an example of using this would be if you have made changes to the document you were working on but didn't want to keep them but you want to keep a copy you can follow these steps. it is an alternative to packaging the whole document you can just export the document to create a PDF version.  the next skill is learning to use the layers which are on most adobe  applications. to find the layers menu which i have up on this screen grab go to the window menu and click ...

My first attempt at a trend board was successful I would say. I found it was easy to put together since I had quite a lot of background that could help the process. My understanding of indesign was very helpful when creating this board and the practice I had helped me because i could create this quickly but still have if look effective and high quality. This board doesn't have a name or any writing because i was just attempting to fill in one of my previous templates but the images look good on the board and I think layout works well with my theme.

PLM software is something that companies can use to coordinate all their resources and store past resources for future use making it easier to work on projects across a company and different departments. as part of one of our modules we are learning how to use Flex PLM which is one of the types of PLM software on the market. We are learning how to use it and then apply that to our group project to put our learning into practice. My personal experience with Flex PLM is limited but what I have done has been hard at first but as i have gained more understanding of the software it has become easier to use. Things I found hard were general orientation of the software, finding products that have been uploaded and finding different colours I can use that have been uploaded in previous ranges. These things are simple things that i am getting better at and were improving on even as our first session progressed. My over...

Trend Forecasting is something we have been learning about over the last 6 weeks. We have been shown how we can interpret what trends are being set in the future and get the best information from them. The university supplied us with WGSN as a resource to help us with predicting trends and making our own. It has many resources such as trend reports, images,designing resources, trend news, helpful blogs and much more. I have been using the reports mainly to create different trend boards as they go all the way to 2018 spring summer. I think it is such a useful and helpful resources and i feel it has helped in my learning of how to trend forecast because it is so easy to use it has made the process very simple. i would recommend using WGSN to other as a trend forecasting resource.

I decided to do a comparison shop of Next as well for my research because that would be our main competitor when selling work wear. they are very good at selling clothing that can be classed as work wear and many of our target audience for our range, women aged 18-25,do get much of their work wear from them. When I went into the Next in Huddersfield shopping center I noticed there was definitely a different feel to the shop, River Island felt trendy and up to date where as Next felt more adult and responsible. the clothing in the store was still fashionable but it had more items which were timelessly classic which would appeal to an older generation. The shop had a designated area which had a collection of clothes which were definelty designed for work wear, it had plain black trousers, blouses, shirts and work dresses all which I felt were designed for an older generation. The range was good but the styling of...

For our latest project in our Context and Communication module we are putting together a range of work wear for River Island for this I was asked to put together a comp shop of their stock to help our research into what would work in their stores. I took a trip to the River Island in the shopping center in Huddersfield town center. I already had an idea of what was in the store because I had been in about a week before but I went in especially to look to see if they had any items which someone could wear to go to work in. I found few items I felt that could be acceptable to wear to work in their stock, I know they were not designed to be for, but I found some items I felt could work if they were marked right. I found a wrap around coat, a blazer and a blouse which if altered slightly would work in the range. However most of the clothing in store were casual clothing which is definitely not m...

For one of my other modulus at university he had to create a bargain ball gown to simulate the different stages of designing and creating garments in the industry. we were given a budget of £10 to create a dress and were told create a dress out of simple materials such as things you would find around the house. Our final outcome for this project was a sweetheart neckline ball gown decorated with doilies and flower petals.This project was a group project and I feel how good the outcome looked is directly linked to how well we worked as a team. Final Product Front View Side View Back View

Adobe offer a wide range of products that are all so easy to work with that help create great outcomes if that is artwork, photo editing or for trend boards which is primarily what I have been using it for. In our tutorials we have been taught how to use two of adobe's products, bridge and indesign. The two programs have very different original uses, bridge is a organisation app that will let you organize your documents and photos so that you can then sort through them easily to find the best images which you can use. Indesign however is an app which helps create different layouts for any hand out you may need. I found my experience with bridge to be stressful and confusing especially at the start, but over time I have become more confident when using it but I feel that I still don't have a wide knowledge base on it. I understand features like taging and creating contact sheets but I feel there is lots more for me to learn...

In our context and communication lesson we were introduced to the Trend Hub. This is a resources that the unive rsity of Huddersfield has put together to aid their students when they are creating and researching trends. it is a extensive collection of  old fashion journals, trend reports and fabric samples all there for students to access at any hour when they need it. this resource is more personal and tactile than other trend resources, such as WGSN, which we have access to. When we were taken in we were given time to look at all the resources then were asked to collect and create a new trend by finding, images, old colour boards and other things we found interesting from the hub. If I said I wasn't daunted I would be lying, It was our first time being asked to create a trend but I decided to dive straight in and I was impressed with how much I found which I felt could create a trend. The pieces I collected spanned many different genres from architecture to art journals but I...

On Thursday 22nd of September, Burberry opened the doors of the Makers House exhibition to students at the University of Huddersfield. I was one of those students. The exhibition was not only to showcase their latest S/S 2017 collection but to showcase the New Craftsmen, a group of selected designers and craft men, who were all running workshops to  show their skills all of which were inspired by Burberry's collection. The collection itself was the first ever that was available for customers to buy straight after they had been showcased on the catwalk. Burberry is pioneering this idea so that their customers can get their hands their products as soon as the show has finished. It is Burberry's answer to an instant generation, making it quicker for customer to get trends from the catwalk cutting down the waiting time and using the hype and publicity of the catwalk to sell their clothing, instead of waiting for the selected season to come around w...