Black Fashion Designers Exhibit at the F.I.T Museum

While we were in New York, we visited the museum at the FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) and their current exhibition: Black Fashion Designers, which is open until 16th May 2017. The exhibition explores the rise of generations of black fashion designers from African and African American influences. It is clear throughout the exhibition that despite all being categorised for their race, each of the designers put on display portrayed a different voice.

During the Civil Rights Movement, African America was incredibly influential, especially in music, such as disco. Therefore, black designers quickly adapted to the disco trend/lifestyle and worked in a sexy, disco-influences style. Slowly but surely, the talents of black designers became to be recognised during the 70's, as well as the visibility of black models. These black designers found success leading large fashion houses, such as Burberry, Paco Rabanne and Lafayette 148.

I personally really enjoyed the exhibition, because the history and work of black designers is something I've never really thought about before. I quickly realised that they are more recognisable than I originally realised. For example, outfits exhibited included work from Burberry and Balmain, which is currently popular in today's society, especially with celebrity endorsement from the likes of the Kardashian-Jenners', Brooklyn Beckham and Cara Delevingne. And also dresses which Michelle Obama has worn, such the red Tracy Reese dress that she wore for James Cordon's Carpool Karaoke.

One problem I did have though, was the fact that the majority of mannequins were white. In my opinion I felt like the point of celebrating black fashion designers was missed partly by how the garments were displayed.

Georgia.xo

The End of an Era For British Vogue

Today is the beginning of the end of an era for British Vogue, as today I woke up to the news that Alexandra Shulman will step down as editor-in-chief for British Vogue in June, after 25 years. Ever since I've read Vogue, or even been alive for that matter, Alexandra has been in charge, so it's hard to imagine the whole situation changing.

This year, the magazine celebrated 100 years, which included an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, a special centenary issue featuring the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, and a BBC documentary 'Absolute Fashion: Inside British Vogue'. That means that Alexandra has been editor-in-chief for a quarter of Vogue's life and I think that's pretty impressive and something that she should be incredibly proud of.

“It has been very hard to find a rational reason to leave what is unquestionably a fascinating and rewarding role but last autumn I realised that I very much wanted to experience a different life and look forward to a future separate to Vogue." 

 - Alexandra Shulman. 

Although it will be hard to see change within the magazine, change is already set to happen for the Conde Nast company overall, and I'm sure it's all for the best, but whoever's next will have some big shoes to fill!

Georgia.xo

Native Nomads & Paul Hollywood | Execution

LOOK I MADE A GIF!!! 

Originally for my execution I was going to take a few images of flat lays using 6 bread rolls and 2 bread stamps and also a quote that is inspired by Django Unchained, "I count six shots, n***er" "I count two guns, n***er", with "shots" changed to "rolls", "guns" to "stamps" and "n***er" to "baker. However, I decided to change it up a bit by trying to create a moving image out the stills I made, after seeing a tweet by LLYMLRS saying that she'd taught Zoe London how to create a GIF on Photoshop.

I thought I was putting myself up for a challenge, but honestly, it wasn't that hard at all! All I had to do was make sure I had all the images that I needed, edited and ready, and then I did a quick Google search, followed the steps and I had it!

I don't mean to blow my own trumpet but... I am very proud of myself.

As well as this GIF, my promotional idea will include two "teaser" GIFS. One will be the 1-6 rolls and the first quote, and then the other will be the two stamps and the second quote.

Georgia.xo 

Native Nomads & Paul Hollywood | Creative Concept

These are my three concept boards for each of my alternative concepts for my big idea.

Concept 1
My first concept was to create a 'WANTED: Dead or Alive' poster, featuring a photo of Paul Hollywood holding some bread rolls, and an image of the bread stamp layered on top or positioned next to the photo. I found some examples on Pinterest and created a couple of colour palettes on Photoshop in order to visually demonstrate what I would be aiming for the poster to look like. I found a photograph of the part of the Dolce and Gabbana menswear a/w 16 catwalk, which has holes in the faces where people can look like they're in the wild west. I included this in my board because the idea of placing different faces into the overall image is similar to how I would take out the original photo of a poster, and in it's place put the photo of Paul Hollywood. I also edited the photo I would be likely to use of Paul Hollywood on Photoshop by changing the image to greyscale, and then laying an orange layer over the top and changing the opacity.

Concept 2
My second concept was to create a flat lay, which featured 6 bread rolls and 2 bread stamps. Either layered on top, or next to the rolls I would have the Django Unchained quote "I count 6 shots, n***er" "I count 2 guns, n***er", however changing it to "I count 6 rolls, baker" "I count 2 stamps, baker" (or "b**er"). On the board I included some Pantone colours which I thought were most likely to be found within my image/s, some examples of flat lays which I found on Pinterest, and also some pictures from The Great British Bake Off of male contestants to try and put emphasis on the idea of the promotional material targeting males.

Concept 3
My third and last concept was to create a 'set up' (I'm not sure what else to call this to be honest), similar to those in the top, right hand corner. The props would all relate to the Wild West genre, such as a bandana, a cowboy hat, a Pendleton blanket, a cactus, and also the bread stamp. Somewhere in the image I would include a quote, which would most likely be from Dirty Harry or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. For example, there's a quote in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, where Clint Eastwood's character, Blondie, says "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig", and I would replace the "loaded gun" with "bread stamp". Again, I included some examples of colours from Pantone, which would most likely appear in the image.

Chosen Concept
I chose to go ahead with concept 2 because, by doing the first concept I wouldn't be taking any of my own images and by doing concept 3, I would most likely have to buy some of the props from a fancy dress shop and I was worried that it would look like too much of a joke. However, I'm going to change the concept up slightly by taking several images of the flat lay, each image counting up from 1 bread roll to 6, for example, and then create a gif/quick video out of the stills. There will still be a quote, but this will either be a separate still or layered over the top of the still of all six rolls and two stamps. I may also have two separate "teaser" images, one with the first half of the quote and the other with the other half. I have chosen to put my idea on a Facebook because the generation X consumers are most likely to use Facebook, despite the fact that the majority of his followers overall are on Twitter.

Georgia.xo

Native Nomads & Paul Hollywood | Big Idea

So, the second part of my FCP summative project was to gather some research about the social media presence of a brand/product that we were allocated. We then had to develop a variety of mind-maps, combining the trend (context stage) with the brand and product, before refining our ideas and defining it in a 15 word statement.

The brand I was given was Paul Hollywood, with the product being his newly released bread stamp.

I began by researching the Paul Hollywood brand as a general starting point, finding out which social media the brand/Paul Hollywood used, where Paul Hollywood started from and where the products were sold. Then I did some more in-depth research of the different social media presence, the specific product and previous promotion, just to get an idea of how Paul Hollywood presented himself and his brand. From this I learnt that he has accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with Twitter being the most followed account. On each of the accounts, there are links to his website and the other social media accounts, which helps increase the interaction between him and his fans as everything is connected. There are also elements of promotion, such as his Twitter location being 'The Tent', therefore referencing his part in The Great British Bake Off, and his Facebook cover page is a photo of his new range with the phrase "Introducing my new bakeware! Tried, tested and loved by me. In stores now."

I also learnt that the bread stamp was distributed by KitchenCraft, John Lewis and a few independent department stores, suggesting that the range is somewhat exclusive and sophisticated. John Lewis' product description is "Great presentation can make all the difference to your baking, that's why this Paul Hollywood bread stamp is a quick, easy way to add a rustic finishing touch". From this I realised that the main aim of the product was to offer easy solutions for baking, which can sometimes be seen as tricky and too time consuming for the everyday, busy person.

I then wanted to get a bit more of an insight into what real people thought of the brand, so I did a questionnaire asking for the words which people first thought of when they thought of Paul Hollywood and his brand. I also asked for the words which they first thought of the they looked at the Native Nomads trend, so I could see which words kind of crossed over and this would therefore help me come up with my concepts for bringing the two together. Rustic, crafted and culture where my main three.

After doing a bit of brainstorming, I came up with my final idea.

"Combing the Native Nomads trend with Paul Hollywood's bread stamp with a Wild West theme". 

I noticed that Paul Hollywood's primary target consumer were females, so I wanted to try and extend his target consumer to men, in juxtaposition with the product trying to offer an easier solution to baking. As well as this, I realised, from my primary research, that the Wild West genre is easily recognisable, and as my trend was a menswear trend, I wanted to add a touch of Paul Hollywood's masculinity to an otherwise feminine product.

My three alternative ways of communicating my big idea:

1. A 'WANTED: Dead or Alive' poster, with Paul Hollywood holding some bread rolls and a bread stamp layered on top. The crime would be 'attempting to change the game by making bread rolls easier with a bread stamp'.
2. A flat lay of 6 bread rolls and 2 stamps. Layered on top, a quote would say "I count 6 rolls, baker" "I count 2 stamps, baker", relating to the famous quote in Django Unchained ("I count 6 shots, n***er", "I count 2 guns, n***er")
3. A set up, which features a Pendleton blanket, a cowboy hat, the bread stamp and some other western iconography. There would also be a famous quote next to it, possibly from a Clint Eastwood theme such as Dirty Harry or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Th next stage was to create three concept boards, which you'll be able to see in the next post! 

Georgia.xo

New York, New York!

As you may already know by a very excited previous post and my Instagram, I went to New York last week with FCP. I've been dreaming about the day I go to NYC for as long as I can remember and then it's been and gone within a flash! I had the best week and, without sounding too cliche, it couldn't have been more perfect. 

When we first got there it had snowed and it was about -4C, which isn't the greatest of weather's when it bites you in the face. It did gradually warm up though, with Thursday being 16 degrees - we were literally peeling the layers off like an onion. 

On the first night, we headed straight for Times Square and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (BEST BURGERS EVER BY THE WAY), before realising that it was way too cold and we were way too tired to carry on much longer. On Tuesday, we strolled up 5th Avenue, visiting the library, various shops, the cathedral, the Rockefeller Centre and Central Park. Central Park was absolutely beautiful in the snow and we went to the zoo too! Then we took the Subway to Chelsea, where we visited the Chelsea Food Market, which I highly recommend. Then on Wednesday we had a tour of the Garment District, I ate the BEST smoked salmon bagel and we walked down to Greenwich in the afternoon. Thursday involved even more walking as we took the ferry to Williamsburg (my future home), had a bit of a wonder and then to Brooklyn, before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. On Friday we tried to pack in the last few bits such as the F.I.T Black Fashion Designers exhibit and the 9/11 Museum, which was deeply moving and we all came out all teary. 

We stayed in the Hotel Wolcott on 4 West 31st Street, which is over 100 years old so has some quite old fashioned decor. Depending on what room you have, it can either be very old fashioned chic or actually quite haunted looking, but as the hotel goes in general, it was a lovely place to stay and they were even filing Gotham the day we were leaving! 

You definitely need more than a week or to go multiple times if you want to get everything done, and I mean both the landmarks, the shops and the different districts. On the other hand, we did do a lot of wondering about exploring rather than going straight to each bit. But it was everything that I expected it to be and more! 

Georgia.xo

Native Nomads | Context

For the first part of my FCP summative project, I've had to research the emerging trend 'Native Nomads'. The trend has emerged from influences such as the Wild West, Clint Eastwood, western films and Pendleton. I actually really quite enjoy researching into trends and finding out where they've developed from. I've never focused on menswear either, which made it even more interesting.

In general, the trend is quite folky and includes neutral tones, layered styling and aztec-style patterns, which include geometric shapes and are consistent in colour with pops of reds, greens and yellows. The tones are quite saturated "with hues that appear burnt out, as if faded by spending miles under the sun", for example, the yellow shade 'Apple Cinnamon'. The materials appear to be strong and long lasting, such as the Krammer & Stoudt spotted jacket and are quite rug like, such as the Gyspy Sport striped shirt.

When styling the trend, you can accessories through boots, bags and hats, which are all very typical of the Wild West due to the fact that they are made out of brown leather and the hats can be seen as an extension of the cowboy hat.

I then looked beyond my general trend and began to look at influences. These included the actor and director Clint Eastwood, the film Django Unchained (directed by Quentin Tarantino), the artist Georgia O'Keeffe and the family owned business Pendleton Woollen Mills. Each of these has clearly influenced the trend in some way or another. For example, Clint Eastwood is practically the face of the Western film genre, Georgia O'Keeffe's famous skulls have been replicated in motifs within the Dolce & Gabbana A/W 16 catwalk and street style, and Pendleton directly studied the colour and design preferences of local Native Americans.

Once I had gathered enough research to see a steady link between the trend and historical and cultural references, I started to see how the trend had been communicated within the media and through street style. I can definitely see that the trend has been noticed, due to the fact that Vogue.com, GQ magazine and Fortitude magazine have all reported on it, as well as various blogs. However, in terms of street style, I don't think that it's particularly popular. When I asked people what they thought of the trend, many said that they couldn't see themselves buying into the trend, and some said that they'd probably wear elements of it, e.g. just a patterned shirt or a scarf, rather than going all out. After also having a look on street style websites such as lookbook.nu, I found that it was most popular in A/W 15 rather than this current year. This could possibly be because the trend is a bubble-up one ('essential' on WGSN), meaning that men on the street were wearing it before it hit the catwalk.

Overall, I've really enjoyed researching into the trend and being menswear it was a new challenge for me. I can confirm that the trend definitely exists, however it isn't as prominent as other menswear trends, such as a roll neck with a long line coat or skinny jeans with shearling jackets. It's quite a bold trend to wear and buy into, with only the most confident dresses choosing to style their clothes this particular way.

Georgia.xo

* Top photo is from WGSN, the rest of the photos are my own.