To begin the live project and determine my concept for the brief, I begun by browsing online on the River Island website to get an idea of the current trends and upcoming seasonal styles. I also created a A/W mood board and colour board inspired from the current trends on the River Island website, as well as making a S/S mood board and colour board to help me decide which season i wanted to design my collection for.
My first impression of the website was that it is aimed at students to young adults, as the homepage features lots of student discounted deals, and offers. I also noticed it has the options of browsing womenswear, menswear and kids, which shows that their customer profile covers most ages. After browsing their current and upcoming styles I decided to focus on women’s spring/summer wear, as I felt most inspired by the colours and styles that River Island has designed for their upcoming spring/summer 2020 collection.
Trims, Colour and Fabrics:
Looking on River Islands website i found that trims are an important element in their designs for S/S wear, they incorporate lots of lace, zips, gathers and buttons in their clothing. To expand my research i looked into high end brands that use gathers as a major part of designing. Jacquemus is a french brand who’s garments contain no patterns trims or bright colours other than experimenting with draping and creating gathers, i love his designs as they are so simple yet powerful.
I have also been researching a similar high street store to river island ‘and other stories’. The clothes designed for this brand tend to be simple and use pastel tone colours which appeal to the 20+ age range. The reason for researching this brand is when thinking of design ideas for my collection I would like to design seven garments taking inspiration from river island with their bright colours and use of trims, as well as designing seven garments in a more low key style using pastel colours and lots of gathers and draping.
When thinking of a colour palette I didn’t want to narrow my research down to a few set colours, as i find that in the spring and summer people like to experiment more with colour mixing and i find you can get away with wearing and mixing together whatever colours you like.
Breathable fabric is essential in the warm seasons, which is why for my fabric board I have looked at Silk, Linen, satin and cotton. Keeping in mind that my collection must be sustainable, i did some research on WGSN for sustainable replacements for my fabric choices.
Overall I am happy with the outcome of my two illustration line up pages, I think the colours and styles I have chosen are ideal for spring/summer wear. My feedback in crit was that I confused my audience at first by showing a A/W mood and colour board as well as having a S/S mood and colour board which i can understand. I was also told that I designed a collection too large, which could be overwhelming when showing it to the fashion buyers.
