Day of Presentations

Monday was presentation day, and i had to give three. My groups presentation was first, where myself and Sarah had to present our research to the designers and the tutors. As we had looked at the wrong season, the trends had to be changed and we had to re-do the boards.
On Tuesday i came in and told the designers I had discovered a trend named 'Castaway', which is going to be seen in Spring/Summer 2010 collections.

'A raw and rugged effect is achieved with beaten, crinkled fabrics and sloppy layers that wrap around the body. Details include an island-stuck feel in various stages of undress, highlighting simple tie closures and exposed undergarments.'
Here are a few of the images that i found which have inspired the designers in my group:

My second presentation, was where i had to tell the class; how i got into fashion, how i found the first year of the course, why i chose promotion and where i want to go next.

My last presentation was were we had to go in either pairs or groups of three and make a business plan for an item from Modip. Jenelle and Ivy were in my group and we had to make a business plan for a stylish bottle opener. We had to present it 'Dragons Den' style. Here are a few of the questions that we answered:

1. What is the big idea? We have created a stylish modern bottle opener, which will be a massive hit, especially with young professionals and families. We have only got the bottle opener to show you, but we plan to design and make a whole range of stylish kitchen untensils, similar to the bottle opener.
2. How would you develop the product? We would develop the product by introducing a whole kitchen utensil range, including a can opener, salt and pepper shakers, egg timer and jar opener. We could also design and make a range for pets and bathrooms.
3. What have you named your product? We have named our product Billy the bottle opener, and our tag line is 'Don't let Billy be a no mate' therefore there is possibility for developing the range.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

On Friday the 16th of October, all of the promoters met Jo in the town square. Our task was to go into the high street retail stores, such as H&M, Topshop, River Island, Next, Miss Selfridge and New Look, and analyse the coats and jackets they had to offer. Here is a list of things which we had to note down in each shop:

• key colours
• key shapes and styles
• fastenings
• fabrics and linings
• average prices
• collars, cuffs and hoods

All of the information that we collected, helped towards our group projects. We were able to identify which stores our customer would most likely shop in and also the key colours, trends and styles. We had a team tutorial in the afternoon, which went very well. The tutors liked our concept and the trends, colours (and fabrics) we have chosen to use. We have also started a group blog, which can be viewed at fdafashion@yahoo.co.uk

On Wednesday we had ict with Jamie where he taught us another skill in Illustrator. He taught us how to layer different parts of an image to create one image, using the send to back and send to front options. In the afternoon i went into the library and looked at the Peclers Spring/Summer 2011 trend forecasting book. I wrote down notes on the overall trends, themes, colours and inspirations. This information will help me for when i start producing my own trend book.

On Thursday we had our PPRD2 session, where we each had to present to the group;

• how we got interested in fashion
• what we studied prior to the fda fashion course
• how we found our first year of study on the fda fashion course
• what we plan to do now
• what we want to achieve from the course
• where we want to go next
• how we will achieve this and who inspires us

And on Friday we had our morning session with Jo, where she gave us information on suppliers in the fashion world and also how to create a critical path.

2nd Year - First Week

I've now been back at uni for a week and well into my two main projects as a promoter. I decided to choose the promotion side of the course for various reasons, these included;

• My interests lie within magazine work, styling and buying
• More career opportunities
• Dislike designing

The first unit we were briefed on, was our group project. It involves working as a team with both promoters and designers to create a jacket, based on the theme 'Traces' - 'Memories'. The people in my group are Zoe, Leanne and Sarah. We have already had one meeting, in which we brainstormed all of our ideas and possible themes and today we had another brief team meeting where we discussed our ideas further. Myself and Sarah finally came up with the name of our theme, which is 'Castaway'. The sub-themes/ideas are;

• memory boxes
• message in a bottle
• releasing balloons
• time capsules

These will also be the 4 sub-themes in our trend book.