Year 2 Application of Design:Research

Defining chosen designer brand

"Prada" 

For this project the brief was based on working as part of a design team for a chosen designer. As a group we decided to choose "Prada" as the designer we would design for. The season we had to design for was Autumn/Winter 2013/2014. As a group of five we decided who wanted to do women’s wear and who wanted to do menswear. I had chosen to design for the women’s wear. In order to understand and define "Prada" brand i researched into "Prada" Fall/Winter 12/13 collection. I created two boards pinpointing the key detail such as the pattern style, embellishment and key colours. By doing this helped me to understand what Prada is known for and how i would go about designing part of the women’s wear collection.

These are the two boards from my research that identity the key colours, details, patterns from Prada current collection Fall/Winter 12/13. The Fall/Winter 12/13 collection features bold patterns, vivid colour combinations, geometric prints and detailed embellishments. The silhouettes are simple and clean cut with hints of embellished detail that stand out on the dark toned colour palettes and on the vibrant coloured patterns.

Group Mood Board

After i had finished researching and defining Prada, as a design team we had to discuss what theme we were going to choose, in order to design a collection. I was really drawn to the 21st Century Romance trend on WGSN as i felt out of the three themes on WGSN this one was the most inspirational for me to interpret it into my own way. As a design team we decided on the theme 21st Century Romance. As a team we gathered a range of images and samples to go onto the group mood board. A group decision was made on how the board would be set out, a chosen colour palette created from the key imagery featuring 8 colours. This group mood board was a starting point to help us interpret the theme in our on way, by referring to the group mood board.

My Mood Board

By creating a group mood board and defining Prada brand, i created my own mood board of my interpretation of 21st Century Romance theme. My mood board features the colour percentage palette, key imagery and key fabrics. This mood board will help me with designing my women's wear collection for Prada by referring to my own mood board and the group mood board.

Research Sheets

I began my research by using my mood board as my key inspiration, i gathered a range of images i had taken at the V&A museum and The Louvre in Paris. I gathered a range of images such as intersting  celinging detail, ranaissance paintings, natural form and shape outline, outline mirror design detail, tapestry design.

For this research page i was particularly inspired by the natural form, inspired mirror detail. I chose the bottom mirror detail outline, that i drawn out and number of times. I thought about layering and folding the outline detail, by using paper to create interesting new shapes.

Moving on from using paper to create shape inspiration i had drawn the shape outline onto crepe fabric. I cut out two shape outline pieces of fabric, sewed down the middle using a wide straight stitch. I gathered the fabric to create ruffled detail and placed it on the mannequin to show what it would look like on the body. As you can see from my research below showing the samples i made, which i placed on the body.

For this research page i used a picture of a painting i took as i liked the shape outline and the colours used within the painting. I reduced and enlarged the size of the painting to create interesting, geometric pattern shapes. I copied the outline of the shapes i created onto calico as enlarged shapes, which i folded and pinned onto the body. By using calico to create these geometric samples gave me a wider range of shapes to choose from for inspiration for design development.

After focusing on shape inpiration, i then focused on key detail inspiration by looking at parts of interesting detail from a mirror design. I repeated the curved detail a number of times on a range of different materials to see, which material would work the best. I used gold pen, denim, paper, beads and leathearette to create these samples.

For this brief my initial goal was to make my research more interesting and creative with the way it has been set out. By drawing more and creating samples to show my forward thinking ideas created from my research. I feel that my research is visually exciting and inspiring as i think more about how i want it to be laid out.