Final Menswear Lineup - Refined Freedom.

Hey guys!

So I just came back from Paris last Sunday…it was amazing!! I have so much to tell you and most of all - as it always works better for me - show you through pictures I've taken during my journey. The trip to Paris lasted just three days and two nights, but it was magical and I'll write a whole post about because it definitely deserves its own space in this blog. In the meantime, take a look at my final Menswear Collection for the Tailoring Project I'e talked so much about here.

I'm posting the tailoring project material slowly because it was quite a long one and we had many different assessment components so to show you guys better and explain everything properly I'm just posting bits of everything :)

I made this lineup drawing the figures and clothes by hand, then scanned it in my computer and, after scanning all the fabrics I wanted to use, I added them to the lineup and made a few adjustments on Illustrator.

Hope you'll enjoy and let me know what you think about it - or if you have any question in particular!

Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me your opinion about this :)

x, Val.

Design development for tailoring - Refined Freedom.

Hey guys!

So as promised in my last post, I'm going to show you some of my design development pages for the tailoring project. I'm gonna start with showing you two pages for my Menswear collection development, and two pages for my Womenswear collection development. I really hope you'll like them! Let me know what you guys think about them with a comment! And don't forget to check out my previous post to see the final result of my Made to Measure project!

x, Val.

Fashion & co: London.

Hi everyone! I apologise for my absence but I've had LOADS of things to do since I've moved back to the Uk on the 18th and I've been sorting my new house and room out :)
Thank god now everything's done and I've started university again so I can also come back to my blog.
Being very close to London I'm always very interested in what's going on there; I love London, it's one of my favourite cities and it's not only a cultural melting-pot, but a "fashion melting-pot" (if that makes any sense) as well! It's such a diverse and fascinating city, and the people who live there are as part of its charm as the buildings and streets.
Right now there are some really nice exhibitions going on, all worth checking out.

• "Club to Catwalk: London fashion in the 1980's" at the V&A Museum - this exhibition is going to be open until the 16th of February 2014 (Ticket price: £5) and I will go see it on Saturday, 28th September, and hopefully I'll be able to tell you guys how it was and show you some pictures if it will possible to take any. In the meantime if you're interested, you can check the website out here.

• "The glamour of Belville Sassoon" at the Fashion + Textile Museum - this exhibition will be open until the 11th of January 2014 (Ticket price: £8 adults; £5.50 students). You can check out what this exhibition is about here.

• "Miles Aldrige: I only want you to love me" at Somerset House - hurry up, this exhibition will be open until the 29th of September (Ticket price: £6 adults; £4.50 students). You can find more info about this exhibition here.

• "Isabella Blow: fashion galore!" at Somerset House - this exhibition will be open to the public until the 2nd of March 2014 (Ticket price: £12.50 adults; £10 students). you can find more info here.

• "Pearls" at the V&A Museum - this exhibition will end on the 19th January 2014 (Ticket price: £11 adults; £6 students). You can check it out here.

• "Fashion Rules" in Kensington Palace - this exhibition will be open until Summer 2015 (Ticket price - including tour of the palace: £15 adults; £12.40 students). There will be dresses from the collections of HM The Queen, Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales. You can check it out here.

So have you seen any of those exhibitions?? If yes which one(s) and did you like it/them?

x, Val.

Goodbye Tailored Jacket: an autopsy.

I know it sounds really weird and kinda creepy too, but this post is not about what you might expect. For the summer I've been given a "Made-to-Measure" project about tailoring. In the long list of things to do for research there was the deconstruction of a tailored jacket in order to see the multitude of hidden techniques and details in a garment. We also had to take lots of photographs to document our autopsy and record the process through detailed notes in our sketchbook.

I wasn't that excited at first - the idea of tearing into pieces a tailored jacket wasn't high on my list of favourites - but I need to admit I've changed my mind as soon as I started the process. It is time consuming, but like all things we have a passion for, it got me completely. I found myself cutting through paddings, linings and pockets, literally craving for more details and interesting ideas.
I ended up with sleeves looking like fabric patterns of a tailored jacket, padding and interfacings barely recognisable and a more than ever vivid interest in the art of tailoring.

I thought you might be interested in how a jacket is on the inside, under the lining that covers all the magic happening underneath; so here is a short visual reportage of my "findings".

So this is how the jacket was before the process...

Inside pocket and lining visible here.

This jacket had just one central vent. You can also find jackets with two vents or with no vents at all. The positioning of a vent on a jacket helps the tailor to give the perfect fit to the jacket and to allow freedom of movements.

Front darts visible in this picture.

Lapel seen from the "other" side: it's made of felted fabric, which helps the collar to hold its shape and have more structure.

What's on the shoulder, underneath the lining.

Shoulder pads.

The sleeve is made up of two separated patterns.

Flap pocket.

Bodice patterns (Front).

Front dart on main bodice shown from the inside. The darts help create the curves that allow the garments to fit on our bodies.

Have you ever wondered "what's inside" a tailored jacket or - more generally - your garments?? I think it's really fascinating to know how a garment is constructed.

x, Val.