Initial Research

      Contents:

• Step 1: The brief
• Step 2: Research
• Step 3: Choosing a concept or theme
• Step 4: Research materials
• Step 5: Compiling your research
• Step 6: Design

Initial Research

Translate an idea into a finished product.

Step 1: The brief

Your Brief should have very specific aims and objectives that should consider a number of things:

Occasion and Season: An awareness of when you are designing, will impact your choice of fabrics and colors.

Muse: Many designers are inspired by a historical or modern muse such as the lifestyle of this friend, celebrity.

Customer: If you have compiled a target customer profile you can consider elements such as background, lifestyle, work, and income.

Target Market: Consider using your market sector, such as mid, high-street or high-end price points to determine the direction you will take your design project.

Fabric and Material: Does your brand focus on the use of sustainable materials? If so, how will this dictate the direction your Brief goes?

Costing: This should be a large consideration, as the materials you may want to use will have a huge impact on the price points of your finished designs.

Practical Outcomes: What will your range consist of? Will you be designing separates, lingerie, suiting, or accessories?

Step 2: Research

The two types of research for the design process:

• Gathering the materials, which forms the tangible, practical elements for your collection, such as fabrics, trims and fastenings
• Setting the concept, which is the visual inspiration for a design process.

What Should Your Design Process Research Entail?

Structure & Shape  think about shape of a garment, shoe or accessory.

Color: can be inspired by painting or period in the history of art.

Texture: Add another element to your products by considering their texture.

Natural objects, such as shells or feathers, and emulate their texture through fabric manipulation.

Details: This will attract the buyer to examine your collection more closely.

Historical References: In fashion design, the exploration of historical dress can provide a treasure trove of information in regards to tailoring, shape and surface decoration.

Cultural Influences: Influences can include an appreciation of the arts and literature from your own culture. The ideas that can be translated into a narrative to your collection, fabric, colour and print, and garment shapes.

Contemporary Trends:  Observing political climates, global changes and social trends will enable you to create clothes for a specific target market.

Next,

• Embark on the creation of a mind-map. 
• list every word you can think of that relates to your Project Brief. 
•  use imagery which can be assigned to the words that you write down.

Step 3: Choosing a Concept or Theme

Explore your own personality and interests 

There are several different approaches to consider that could drive your theme choice:

The primary sources include your own discoveries, such as objects you have discovered at a museum of which you’ve made drawings or taken photographs.

The secondary sources These may be found in books, magazines or on the internet.

Step 4: Research Materials

The internet 

you can get access to gather information from around the world

Catwalk trends 

The music industry is now so closely linked to fashion that rap and hip-hop. You could consider using a music star as a muse for inspiring your collection or the theme of a film as the starting point for research.

Travel  

Consider that everything around you has the potential to form part of your research

Art galleries and museums 

are a wonderful source of primary research as they firstly contain a vast selection of different types of artifacts, objects and historical treasures.

Magazines are useful for revealing what is happening in fashion at the present time. 

Step 5: Compiling your research

Compile your work in a Sketchbook.

Within your sketchbook you will, no doubt, exercise your drawing skills.

Use different types of mark making materials such as paint, biro or felt tip pens and exploit the styles and qualities of line, texture, color and tone.

Collage  Cutting up material, photographs and fragments of artefacts and sticking them together on a page.

Compiling Mood, Story and Concept boards is a great way to instantly relay what it is you’re trying to say about your work, to other people. The boards (fashion moodboards) could be called the window to your world and should tell a story.

Analysing research

Should take shape in the form of drawing shapes from your sources, experimenting with close-up studies and mixed-media sketches, details for construction and linear drawings. Consider the exploration of ideas for pattern, texture and embellishments in your drawings.

Step 6: Design

Utilizing the in-depth research you have gathered.

 The model-and-drape technique which focuses on the draping of fabric onto a mannequin until you discover new shapes and structures.

collaged research on a drawn figure: This technique allows you to immediately see the design potential of some of the images.

Photomontage with drapery a combination of the previous methods.

Silhouette: Try to consider the silhouette from all angles, including front, side and back views.

Proportion and line: This refers to how the body is divided into lines or through the use of colour, texture and fabric blocks. Straight lines are more masculine, curved lines are more curvaceous, horizontal lines add width and vertical lines elongate.

Function What is the garment going to be used for? This question refers to your brief.

Details: These are just as important as the line and silhouette of the garment

Color: to set the tone and mood for it.

Fabric: Your choice of fabrics is typically determined by the season you’re designing for whether it be Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter.

Print and embellishment

Historical references

Contemporary trends: Seek out contemporary trends in street style, global and social interests and through forecasting agencies.

Market, levels and genres in fashion:  define your market level and where you fit. They include; High-end luxury, Mid-market and high street.