18th
January 2016
As
a group we each went through each group members Beblin team role. Discussing
each members Beblin team role was an effective task as it enabled us
to see each members strengths and weaknesses, which will allow us to support
one another in certain areas during this assignment. As a group we went through
the unit handbook and marking matrix and set a task for all of the team members
to look at fashion brands/designers that we could use for this
assignment. My team role was a Shaper and Plant.
Characteristics
Highly strung, outgoing,
dynamic Shapers are highly motivated people with a lot of nervous energy and a great need for achievement. Often they seem to be aggressive extroverts with strong drive. Shapers like to challenge, to lead and to push others into action - and to win. If obstacles arise, they will find a way round - but can be headstrong and emotional in response to any form of disappointment or frustration. Shapers can handle and even thrive on confrontation.
Function
Shapers generally make good
managers because they generate action and thrive on pressure. They are
excellent at sparking life into a team and are very useful in groups where
political complications are apt to slow things down. Shapers are inclined to
rise above problems of this kind and forge ahead regardless. They like making
necessary changes and do not mind taking unpopular decisions. As the name
implies, they try to impose some shape and pattern on group discussion or
activities. They are probably the most effective members of a team in
guaranteeing positive action. Strengths
Drive and a readiness to challenge inertia, ineffectiveness, complacency or self-deception
Allowable Weaknesses
Prone to provocation,
irritation and impatience, and a tendency to offend others
Plant
Characteristics
Individualistic, serious-minded, unorthodox
Plants are innovators and inventors and can be highly creative. They provide the seeds and ideas from which major developments spring. Usually they prefer to operate by themselves at some distance from the other members of the team, using their imagination and often working in an unorthodox way. They tend to be introverted and react strongly to criticism and praise. Their ideas may often be radical and may lack practical constraint. They are independent, clever and original and may be weak in communicating with other people on a different wave-length.
Individualistic, serious-minded, unorthodox
Plants are innovators and inventors and can be highly creative. They provide the seeds and ideas from which major developments spring. Usually they prefer to operate by themselves at some distance from the other members of the team, using their imagination and often working in an unorthodox way. They tend to be introverted and react strongly to criticism and praise. Their ideas may often be radical and may lack practical constraint. They are independent, clever and original and may be weak in communicating with other people on a different wave-length.
Function
The main use of a Plant is to generate new proposals and to solve
complex problems. Plants are often needed in the initial stages of a project or
when a project is failing to progress. Plants have often made their marks as
founders of companies or as originators of new products. Too many Plants in one
organisation, however, may be counter-productive as they tend to spend their
time reinforcing their own ideas and engaging each other in combat.
Strengths
Strengths
Genius, imagination,
intellect, knowledge
Allowable Weaknesses
Up in the clouds, inclined to disregard practical details or protocol.
25th January 2016
Allowable Weaknesses
Up in the clouds, inclined to disregard practical details or protocol.
25th January 2016
As a group we decided on three fashion brands that we could potentially use including Bobby Abley, Alex Mullins and Felder Felder. I researched these potential designers that we could use and created visual mood boards to present inspiration I interpreted from looking at their collections.
Felder Felder Research
Felder Felder is a German-born, London-based designers Daniela and Annette Felder are the identical twin sisters on the British fashion circuit (Leitch, 2015). Their label has earned them Bunte Magazine’s prestigious New Faces Award as Best German Label abroad, a British Fashion Award nomination a cult following among the A-list (Gwyneth Paltrow, Rihanna and Florence + The Machine are fans) and the highest calibre of retail stockists across the globe (Leitch, 2015).
Felder Felder has become known and loved for creating elegance with an edge, making it the perfect wardrobe for girls who like to show different sides of their personalities. Always feminine but never girly, Felder Felder has become the go to brand for a cool and effortless look. With a strong focus on music, Felder Felder very much stands for lifestyle, merging the worlds of fashion, music and art. Their presentations and events have become known for excitement and surprise gigs by befriended musicians and DJs (Letich, 2015).
Felder Felder is a German-born, London-based designers Daniela and Annette Felder are the identical twin sisters on the British fashion circuit (Leitch, 2015). Their label has earned them Bunte Magazine’s prestigious New Faces Award as Best German Label abroad, a British Fashion Award nomination a cult following among the A-list (Gwyneth Paltrow, Rihanna and Florence + The Machine are fans) and the highest calibre of retail stockists across the globe (Leitch, 2015).
Felder Felder has become known and loved for creating elegance with an edge, making it the perfect wardrobe for girls who like to show different sides of their personalities. Always feminine but never girly, Felder Felder has become the go to brand for a cool and effortless look. With a strong focus on music, Felder Felder very much stands for lifestyle, merging the worlds of fashion, music and art. Their presentations and events have become known for excitement and surprise gigs by befriended musicians and DJs (Letich, 2015).
Felder Felder A/W 16 Collection
Felder Felder Mood board
Alex Mullins Research
Alex Mullins
is a British menswear designer based in London, he was educated at Central
Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art and set up his brand in 2014. Alex
Mullins reimagines and handcrafts work wear for men. Alex Mullin gets his
inspiration from real life, from editing the everyday to rework of the classic
male's wardrobe (Hirschmiller, 2016).
Alex Mullins
develops bespoke textiles through innovative methods that resonate with the
feeling of the ‘handmade’. He playfully builds immersive worlds and narratives
around his clothes, and is stocked internationally at luxury stores including
10 Corso Como- Milan, Shanghai, Seoul and Joyce, Hong Kong (Hirschmiller, 2016).
Alex Mullins was in the top 10 denim looks at London Collections Men Spring/Summer 2016. Now three seasons into London Collection the young designer presents more of his signature contemporary takes on denim and workwear with oversized silhouettes worked over with spray painted details (Hirschmiller, 2016).
Alex Mullins Mood Board
Bobby Abley
Research
Bobby Abley is known for his unique charm, wit
and humour, blending nostalgic and playful imagery with a contemporary menswear
design (Walker, 2016). Launching his namesake label in 2012 and receiving a
place on the prestigious MAN catwalk for the inaugural London Collections: Men,
Bobby Abley is the breakthrough menswear name of recent years (Walker, 2016).
From the London design studio, Bobby Abley has taken the international markets
by storm and is available exclusively through the worlds leading retailers
(Walker, 2016).
Bobby Abley A/W
16 Collection
I created a
concept board for brand Bobby Abley, I included images that inspired his
collections and included colour schemes that are used throughout his work.
Bobby Abley Mood Board
29th January 2016
As a group we decided to choose Alex Mullins as our brand for this assignment. We chose Alex Mullins brand as we had not chosen a menswear brand before and also we all gathered a lot of ideas and inspiration when looking at Alex Mullins collection.
After looking at Alex Mullins the key themes we drew out included: portraiture, genderless fashion, art and identity.
Alex Mullins
Logo
After looking at Alex Mullins logo we drew
out the paint concept as his logo is made from a paint brush. It could be done
using finger prints this would then give an identity theme in the logo.
Research on Genderless Fashion
Zara
Zara has recently joined the movement towards genderless fashion with their
new ungendered line (Euse, 2016). Zara released a set of unisex pieces that
include jeans, shorts, sweatshirts and sweaters. The new styles are modelled on
its website by both men and women, proving how versatile the basics can be when
they are not labelled by gender (Euse, 2016).
Many retailers and designers have started to blur the
line between menswear and womenswear (Euse, 2016). The belief shared by
many millennials that gender is on a spectrum and not a binary has helped
be a driving force for a more inclusive take on fashion. The latest approach by
Zara and department stores like Selfridges proves that it is not just a trend
we are seeing on the runway, but a larger movement towards unisex
fashion in the fashion industry.
Vivienne
Westwood
Source: i-d.vice.com
Unisex collections have been portrayed at the Prada catwalk, Selfridges abolished gender and only sold unisex clothes in their 'Agender' collection for a period earlier this year and Dame Vivienne Westwood unveiled her 'Unisex' AW15 campaign shot by Juergen Teller (Pfeiffer, 2015). Fashion is the direct and uncensored reflection of our society, therefore today's interest for gender-neutral clothes is a way to be part of a society with equal rights and opportunities for both sexes (Pfeiffer, 2015).
The idea of gender stereotypes within fashion are dissolving and a new style that can be worn by either gender is emerging. However, this is not an entirely new concept, Alexander McQueen did introduce gender nonspecific fashion in the nineties and it has, in recent years, been subtly included in fashion shows (Bailey-Dowling, 2015).
Research on
Identity
Identity relates to fashion in that what we
wear can create an identity. What we choose to wear can depend on how we feel.
Fashion gives us the power to present ourselves in any attitude or identity we
want.
Alex Mullins collection includes pieces of fabrics that cover the models’ faces with printed faces on, which twists ideas of identity. It is as if the models are anonymous through the veil of another identity.
@art.lies
I gathered inspiration from Instagram account @art.lies as it portrays images of headshots that cover the faces of individuals. This relates to our theme in that each image could be hiding an identity. In order to create a similar affect within our digital campaign we are going to add paint effects over the models faces with pastel colours to link with Alex Mullins brand.
1st
February 2016
Alex Mullins Target Consumer
When a
painting is framed, viewers cannot see the artist’s process (Matthews, 2016).
Paint often flows to the sides of paintings resulting in a texture and mix of
colours being created. It gives the painting a unique look which often enhances
the theme of the composition (Matthews, 2016). However, many artists use frames
as framed paintings tend to sell for much more than unframed. Many artists add
more than the cost of the frame, since choosing the frame is a design element,
and affects the overall presentation of the piece (Matthews, 2016).
We decided to incorporate frames into our digital campaign to develop our theme of portraiture. We wanted to visually portray how the future could be without a frame in order to reveal everything that is in the image being taken.
Artzu Gallery
7th March 2016
A conference
with Shop Direct Conference inspired me to look into personalisation with the
consumer. Personalisation is a key factor in building relationships with
consumers. It is important to design and deliver personal experience to
consumers who are constantly changing their shopping habits due to fast
changing technology. It is important to engage with consumers as according to Malcolm Gladwell, the 80/20 Principle, is the idea around 80 percent of profits come from 20 percent of customers.
|
Gender
|
Males (Mullins, 2015)
|
|
Target
Consumer
|
25-35 years old (Mullins, 2015)
|
|
Location
|
Living in urban locations, particularly
London (Acorn, 2016)
|
|
Occupation
|
White collar professional and managerial
jobs (Acorn, 2016)
|
|
Spending
Behaviour
|
Spend freely using their credit cards
(Acorn, 2016)
|
|
Hobbies
|
Fashion, theatre, music events, holidays
(Acorn, 2016)
|
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Read
|
Dazed Magazine, GQ Magazine, i-D Magazine,
read newspapers and magazines online (Acorn, 2016).
|
|
Technology
|
Phones and apps will be used to access
content relating to their travel, lifestyle, financial activity and to
receive news and sports (Acorn, 2015).
|
Consumer
Mood Board
Future Consumer
WGSN (2016) proposed key concepts for the future consumer of 2018. The key concept that was most appropriate to the concept that relates to Alex Mullins digital campaign was ‘flexible identities’. It states that Generation- Z are becoming less concerned by stereotypes and social norms of gender. The topic of gender identity continues to dominate the industry and seemingly every fashion brand has unveiled a gender-neutral campaign, to reflect society's embrace of gender fluidity. The Intelligence Group's online survey with respondents age 14-34 found that more than two-thirds agree gender does not define a person the way it once did and 60% think gender lines have been blurred.
4th February 2016
I researched into different types of typography that would be most suitable for Alex Mullins brand. We decided on using Rough Typewriter as we believe it links well with Alex Mullins brand.
Alex Mullins includes typography within his collection by writing on the clothes as shown below.
WGSN (2016) proposed key concepts for the future consumer of 2018. The key concept that was most appropriate to the concept that relates to Alex Mullins digital campaign was ‘flexible identities’. It states that Generation- Z are becoming less concerned by stereotypes and social norms of gender. The topic of gender identity continues to dominate the industry and seemingly every fashion brand has unveiled a gender-neutral campaign, to reflect society's embrace of gender fluidity. The Intelligence Group's online survey with respondents age 14-34 found that more than two-thirds agree gender does not define a person the way it once did and 60% think gender lines have been blurred.
4th February 2016
I researched into different types of typography that would be most suitable for Alex Mullins brand. We decided on using Rough Typewriter as we believe it links well with Alex Mullins brand.
Alex Mullins includes typography within his collection by writing on the clothes as shown below.
8th
February 2016
This week I
gathered images to inspire us for our formative assessment. I chose to look at
images that involved paint as that is what inspires me to use after looking
at Alex Mullins work.
These are
the images that I chose which I feel represent Alex Mullins brand and
collection appropriately. The images represent the themes within this campaign
being identity, genderless and portraiture.
13th
February 2016
I
visited Liverpool where I gathered inspiration from looking at museums and the
Cavern Club. Visiting the Cavern Club enabled me to see 3D portraits of the
Beatles that we could use as inspiration for our assignment.
I also
visited the Tate Museum in Liverpool which gave me inspiration by looking at
artists work. In terms of semiotics the colours used in the ‘brain image’
portray a dark blue, grey and black. Dark blue in the UK can mean trust, dignity, intelligence, security,
authoritative, professional and masculine (Westland, 2015).
Alex Mullins uses pastel colours in his work this could represent
genderless as they are neutral colours that can be worn by any gender.
Therefore for our digital campaign we will use pastel colour as paint effects
on our images to relate to Alex Mullins brand, Alex Mullins also uses a wide range pastel
colours in his collection.
Tate Museum
15th
February 2016
This week I
gathered further inspiration that could be included in the formative assessment
board. I chose to look at painting and how painting is portrayed on models. I
also looked into how certain objects for example the balloon can cover an
individuals identity.
After
looking at the paint artists, we decided it could be effective to incorporate
paint effects onto our work when we take the photos. This would link well with
Alex Mullins brand as he draws and paints on his products as shown below.
16th
February 2016
I attended the Big Issue Luxury conference
which gave me inspiration on what Alex Mullins consumer would want as his
target customer are a luxury consumer. The luxury consumer is now wanting pieces that are more genderless. We could incorporate luxury into our
outputs by relating the outputs to Alex Mullins brand in in order reach a wider
consumer range, this could build up a customer base for Alex Mullin.
Our formative assessment boards consists of inspiration for brand Alex Mullins. We have taken two concepts which include gender and art. Our focus for this assessment was on a frame capturing a portrait. Our assignment will further look into how frames portray individual portraits and what is hidden behind the frame, for example a portrait may only show a face and the rest of the image is hidden.
19th
February 2016
Formative
Board Submission
Our formative assessment boards consists of inspiration for brand Alex Mullins. We have taken two concepts which include gender and art. Our focus for this assessment was on a frame capturing a portrait. Our assignment will further look into how frames portray individual portraits and what is hidden behind the frame, for example a portrait may only show a face and the rest of the image is hidden.
22nd
February 2016
We had a
meeting with our tutors Jennifer, Zoe and Elizabeth following the Formative Assessment.
In our meeting it was suggested that we focus on exploring into looking at contact sheets and portraiture. All of the group then went on to research into these topic areas and gather ideas and inspiration.
In our meeting it was suggested that we focus on exploring into looking at contact sheets and portraiture. All of the group then went on to research into these topic areas and gather ideas and inspiration.
Portraiture
This week I
gathered ideas for our photo shoot. I looked at optical illusion portraits by
Tigran Tsitoghdzyan. Tigran is an Armenian artist who developed a number of oil
painting. The artist painted portraits along the most unexpected surface,
creating a surreal illusion of hyper-realistic faces that emerge through
detailed feminine hands (Pinar, 2012). As our group are looking at genderless as a theme
I thought incorporating a female face with male hands could be an idea we
develop from inspiration from this artist.
The History of Portraiture
Source:
fabulousnoble.com
Portraits have been around since the beginning of time as a
means to describe not only physical features but more importantly power and
status (West, 2004). Testaments of portraiture as a genre can be seen as early as Ancient
Egyptian wall paintings of gods and pharaohs. In the mid 20th century pop art developed a fascination for celebrity
portraits, with Andy Warhol as its master, which has continued to the present
day. From the ‘60s onwards photography takes over portraiture by the storm, due
to its immediacy, developing many different trends (West, 2004).
Illustrators and
graphic designers have gained momentum in the past decade and represent the
pulse of both the art world and the media world (West, 2004).
The modern day portrait is now the selfie, some individuals use GIF’s as their profile photo on social media sites including Facebook. Future portrait may be 3D images on screen. It could be suggested that more individuals create GIF’s and videos as their profile photos instead of an image.
Contact
Sheets
I researched
Mario Zanaria who is an Italian Fashion Photographer, Mario Zanaria is a talented freelance photographer and filmmaker, who
was born in Milan, Italy and currently based in New York, USA. He shoots a lot
of portraiture, beauty and fashion photography.
Instagram
could be the modern day contact sheet. We will use the photo booth on an iPad
to create images that will look like modern day contact sheets at the photo
shoot. We will use paint effects onto our images to link to Alex Mullins brand
as shown in the images below.
23rd
February 2016
I gathered
images for inspiration for our photo shoot as shown below.
Frames
We decided to incorporate frames into our digital campaign to develop our theme of portraiture. We wanted to visually portray how the future could be without a frame in order to reveal everything that is in the image being taken.
I gathered
magazines to experiment with before our photo shoot. This involved cutting out
models faces and photographing them on to our own faces, this concept will be
used within the photo shoot as a way of hiding a true identity.
This week I researched outputs that could be
used for our digital campaign. As a group we decided to create a behind the scenes video, GIF’s
and conceptual magazine for our digital campaign. We believe these outputs
would be most appropriate for Alex Mullins consumer, the brand and align to current industry innovations. We focused on making sure all of the
outputs are consistent throughout and is evident that they all link. We did
this by using the same typography in our outputs and having paint effects in
each outputs as this relates to Alex Mullins brand.
27th
February 2016
Today we
visited the Artzu gallery and People's Museum in Manchester, we were able to
take photos in order to get inspiration for our photo shoot. I gathered images
on frames and portraiture as these are the themes within our work for this
assignment. The Artzu gallery contained a selection of
Carl Melegari's art work which focused on mixed media portraits. The portraits linked
closely to the theme of identity that was used throughout the Alex Mullin's
digital campaign.
People's Museum
29th
February 2016
We planned
on street casting in Manchester for models however; we were more successful in
getting models through our online advertisements on Facebook. For preparation of
the photo shoot I created a t-shirt, the t-shirt had written words on it that
are associated with gender including male, female, feminine, masculine,
feminism, stereotype and equality. I got the drawing idea from Alex Mullins
collection and thought writing and drawing on the t-shirt would fit well with
his brand.
Story of the photo shoot
1. Basic shot of the models without the frame
2. Include paint on the images
3. Include the frame into the image
4. Frame used in a different and unusual way,
the models can make the frame their own.
The story
within the photo shoot is for the models to start serious and to then finish
having fun with the frames and props. We each had
a role in the photo shoot, my role was the styling. I created mood boards of
styling to take to photo shoot, we were then able to ask the models to wear
denim jeans and white t-shirts, we wrote on the t-shirts and gave them to the
models on the photo shoot. We chose denim jeans and white t-shirts to represent
unisex clothing.
1st March
2016
This week we
carried out our photo shoot using the models we casted the previous days. The photo
shoot was at Wellington House, Pollard Street, Ancoats. We had five models in
total. Props we used throughout the photo shoot included cameras, IPads, canvas
frames, handmade t-shirts, disco ball, magazine cut outs and stool.
Here is a
selection of photographs that I took at the photo shoot before they were
edited. We edited them to be black and white to keep the images consistent
throughout each of the outputs.
Photos
We used the
photo booth app to create our own contact sheets that we could use as GIF’s for
our digital campaign. I also took
video footage at the photo shoot, this was so we could create a behind the
scenes video as one of our outputs. As a further development we would use the short
video clips on social media sites including Instagram if we were to take this
campaign further. Short video clips could potentially be an effective strategy
for Alex Mullins to use on his Instagram as he currently has 5029 followers with being a new brand. With the incorporation of hashtags the
short video clip could engage with more consumers. We created the outputs with Alex Mullins consumer in mind. , it could be suggested that adding the GIF’s could also improve his Instagram following and engage with potential consumers.
3rd
March 2016
As a team we printed off the contact sheets
and reviewed the images and videos that were taken at the photo shoot. We each
selected our favourite images from the photo shoot in order to reduce the
amount of images to the ones that we will use in the digital campaign. We each
looked at how our research could be combined with the images that were taken at
the photo shoot.
We decided to use the male models in the outputs as we believed using only the male’s fits with Alex Mullins menswear brand and the images could relate to the consumers more than the female models. However, using the female models on shoot enabled us to gather ideas that were then used on the males, including the models placing themselves through the frame as this towards the end of the story where the frame was used in new ways representing the future of the selfie.
7th March 2016
This week we
edited the images in Photoshop before starting to create several GIF’s, a behind
the scenes video and a conceptual magazine. We linked all of the outputs by
having the same models, the same pastel colours as this links to Alex Mullins
brand, same typography to represent brand handwriting, pastel colour paint
effects on the images and text and black and white images.
Our tagline
for the digital campaign is ‘Leave the Frame Behind’. We chose this as it
represents our story where the models first took serious shots and then
developed into making the frame their own by being creative, this developed to
then leaving the frame behind. We also used as it portrays that as a frame may
only be around the individuals face it is hiding everything else that is in the
shot therefore leaving it behind reveals all. This relates to our themes of
genderless and identity. It represents that no matter what your gender or
identity is be yourself and portray who you really are instead of hiding behind
a frame.
We added
Alex Mullins logo at the end of the behind the scenes video with our tagline
‘Leave the Frame Behind’ to further link to the brand.
I recorded a
voice over as we decided to have voice overs playing in the behind the scenes
video about the topic of gender. We decided
to create a behind the scenes video to showcase behind the scenes at our
photo shoot. We decided to create GIF’s as one of our outputs to represent the
future of the portrait as individuals are starting to use moving images on
social media instead of an image. We created a conceptual magazine to link in
the photo shoot, our conceptual ideas, themes and the behind the scenes video.
10th March 2016
We added
paint effects onto the photo booth images and created GIF’s. We also added
effects and included text to the conceptual magazine, adding the effects
creates a strong brand handwriting throughout that is reflective of the brand
and the consumer.
11th March 2016
14th March 2016
We had to
make the behind the scenes video again as unfortunately it did not save
properly. However, this enabled us to improve on our new video as we were given
advice form Zoe where we learned new skills to make changes.
We reflected
on our concept and outputs and improved them by adding more creative content
for example text, images, more pastel colours and paint effects to the
conceptual magazine. This enabled us to improve on our outputs and further
enabled each of the outputs to link. We decided to decided to add music to the video, the song was London Baby by Michael Woods. This song was chosen as Alex Mullins is a London based designer and this genre of music is currently popular with his target market.
I researched
into current innovative ideas that could be used as a further output. We
started looking at WhatsApp however we felt it was not personalised or creative
enough so decided to choose to do an app instead. The app would be available to
iPhone holders only, therefore they can access their iPhone by using their
thumbprint. This links to our theme of identity as only the iPhone holder can
enter the iPhone. We decided to make the app personalised to consumers by them
signing up through Alex Mullins website they are then welcomed when they
download the app and sign in, this could motivate consumers to go onto Alex
Mullins website.
The app
features a shopping page that is displayed like Tinder, consumers are displayed
with Alex Mullins collection and can swipe left to ‘bin’ the product or right
to put the item in their ‘basket’, after twenty of the products are shown the
consumer is then directed onto Alex Mullins website where they can browse the
items they have swiped into their basket and have the opportunity to purchase
those products. This idea was inspired by Missguided who launched its first
shopping app complete with a Tinder-style feature called 'Swipe to Hype'.
I researched
what apps the consumer would already use on their phone, this enabled us to see
what the consumer would want from the app. We found out by looking at
competitor brands such as Mr Porter that apps the consumer is likely to use
include LinkedIn, Sky Sports News, Uber, Fitness app, Spotify, Hugo Boss, Facebook,
Twitter, Snapchat, GQ magazine, Dazed and Mr Porter.
15th March
2016
We created a
mock-up of what the app would look like including app store descriptions, home
screen and shopping page. We created a variety of snapchat filters that are to
be used within the app.
We discussed the pitch and what
section each team member will be discussing. I will be discussing the industry
context. This will include genderless in fashion including industry examples
from Zara and Vivienne Westwood. I will be discussing the relevance of the
outputs we have used and the reasons we have chosen them. I will also discuss
Alex Mullins competitors and how his brand is different from competitor brands.
16th March 2016
16th March 2016
We all
reviewed and finalised our logbooks ready for hand in on Friday 18th March.
