Designing with Flowers

I've never been the best at drawing. My fashion design strengths much lie in the manipulation of fabric; creating shapes and forms by draping, as opposed to communicating my ideas through brushstrokes and pen marks. However, as I'm headed to pursue onto a fashion design degree come September, drawing is something I'm having to come to grips with, and to really just get over it.

I love using organic lines and flowing forms in my fashion design experiments. Towards the end of my previous project - titled 'Drape' which I based around flowers - it occurred to me to use the actual form of flowers to inform my fashion designs, their own natural shapes illustrating the way in which the fabric would be draped.

What I wore to London Fashion Weekend

Victorian frills, turtle and roll necks, this Winter I've really been getting into the high neckline trend. I recently discovered this lightweight crepe high frill neck dress in the ASOS sale and it was one I just could not resist! The loose fit allows the polyester to hang softly over the body, gently creating small folds which stem from the subtle gathering just under the neckline. The frill neckline is soft, gently complementing the small puffed sleeves. These are secured at the wrist with a cuff, keping a smart and flattering style.

I teamed this with my long sleeveless jacket from the brand Mela Loves London sold at Dorothy Perkins. I wanted something to wear over the top of the dress with a bit of print, yet with not too much colour that would clash with its tobacco tone, and this grey grid print seemed the perfect combo!

You can see what I got up to at London Fashion Weekend here.

How are you embracing the high neckline trend?

Dress - ASOS Petite

Sleeveless Jacket - Dorothy Perkins

Boots - Topshop

London Fashion Weekend and Holly Fulton SS16

Yesterday, I joined the excited hustle and bustle of fashion flyers over at the Satchi Gallery for London Fashion Weekend. The event celebrates the end of the prestigious London Fashion Week, exhibiting high-end designer stands to shop, industry talks, makeup experiences and runway collections fresh from LFW's catwalk shows.

Beautiful floral embroidered suede jackets would go perfectly with skinny jeans and over the knee boots.

Mesmerizing prints and glorious lace detailing.

Cute sheer cropped shirts are a lovely transition into summer-wear. I love the quirky floral print subtly adorning these.

Fun and abstract printed sweaters with such intriguing textures.

Luxurious fur coats and guillets in so many wonderful colours

Fun and vibrant floral prints brighten up any dark winter day!

Who didn't love trying on all of the sunglasses at sunglasses hut though?

Maybelline were sporting LFWend with stocks of makeup and a photobooth too!

Being great admirers of her beautiful craftsmanship and the chic feminine silhouettes which she chooses to create, we opted to see Holly Fulton's runway show.

Swirls of ruffles and geometric floral prints began for a collection of eccentricity. Abstract shapes further accompanied, primarily inspired by British Surrealist Art. The collection was greatly influenced by the 70s, featuring embroidered denim jackets and wide leg jeans with popping bursts of colour. Skater skirts, pencil dresses and sleeves with flared cuffs were another massive feature in the collection, elegantly placing delicacy in the feminine silhouette.

You can find the showcased designers here

Up to Date: Foundation Year

Since settling into an entirely new world at uni, I've been a little AWOL on the blog lately. In September, I moved to Epsom, Surrey, where I am studying an art & design foundation diploma at UCA. Having never lived anywhere other than my tiny seaside hometime, of course it took a little getting used to. Trains run every 15 minutes! Can you believe it?!

Although the foundation year is not compulsory, a lot of fashion design degree level courses do not like to accept many applicants straight from A-level, allowing you to build your portfolio of work before interviews for BA courses. Prior to applying for the foundation course, I didn't fully understand why the extra year of further education was seen as so necessary. However, after visiting a few open days, I realised that the foundation year really builds and improves your creative skills, allowing you to really gain the confidence you need in your work.

The course begins with five rotation weeks, where you have the opportunity to experience each art and design pathway - Fashion/Textiles, Fashion Promotion, Graphics, Fine Art and 3D. Even if you know before starting the course which pathway you wish to succeed in, the rotation weeks are a fun way to explore new mediums, and the skills you learn from each of the weeks are transferable to every pathway too. Upon completing the rotation, you then begin your chosen pathway, in which you'll stay for the rest of the year.

Are you thinking of doing the art and design foundation year? Take a look at what I've been up to so far this year.

Creating fashion collages was a great way to 'loosen up after A level', generating surrealist pieces that challenged the norm.

A draping project inspired by the forms of flowers

A project using white non-dressmaking materials only, inspired by coral and shells

Print designs inspired by music

From the Fashion Promotion week, advertising Emma Watson's He for She feminist campaign

Collection: Hanae Mori SS16

Maintaining the signature theme of Hanae Mori's brand, Elegance, the butterfly fluttered its way into becoming the main source of inspiration for Yu Amatsu's SS16 collection. Traditionally, the butterfly icon represents transformation as it undergoes the process of emerging from the cocoon, its whole life changing as the former caterpillar discovers such grace in the hands of its beautiful wings. Perhaps that's the message behind Amatsu's work as his delicate, luxurious and simply glorious creations transform its wearer into feeling so stunning and spectacular.

Crisp, sheer fabrics take the form of the butterfly's wings through peplum waists, pointed shoulder and dramatic collar structures. These oversized features appear to lengthen the silhouette, emphasizing the sophisticated feminine figure by cinching the waist and protruding the shoulders and hips. Graceful movements of the butterfly in flight is emphasized through the soft movement of the delicate, sheer fabric.

Those swift fabric manipulations are then echoed through the use of heavier fabrics, enforcing more drama and further interest to them. Layered ruffles elegantly imitate the flutter of the butterfly's wings, whilst climatic dip hems add a slight theatrical tone.

Repetitive prints are formed through the motif of the butterfly, as collages of the symbol are created, depicting a chaotic scene of butterflies. Scalloped hems highlight the intricacy of the butterfly's detailed wings whilst oversized tops and long mid-calf length skirts are the key styles of the collection.

The bright, bold colours connoted with the butterfly were left to showcase until the end of the collection. Dazzling pinks harmonize with softer complexions as they portray the great beauty of a butterfly's detailed wings. Petal-like shapes also appear in the print, exhibiting the equal beauty of the butterfly's floral habitat.

McQueen: A Play Inspired by the Life of Alexander McQueen

Fashion genius, Alexander McQueen, contributed abundance to the industry's identity. Creating masterpieces, he bewildered us with his formations, stunned us with his distinctive collections, and most of all, captivated us by the sincere wonder and amazement of the mind behind these true works of art.

Image from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/11617617/McQueen-St-James-Theatre-insufferable-navel-gazing.html

If you truly believe that any fashion designer is neither worthy nor important enough for such an honour of having the basis of a show stationed on their own life, then I challenge you to watch this magnificent play. Award winning actor Stephen Wight takes you through a lone night where the designer is struggling for inspiration for his up and coming collection. After the surprise of finding girl, Dahlia - fantastically played by actress Carly Bawden - stealing a dress, ideas strike and you're taken through a whirlwind of an adventure of the mystical thoughts within Lee Alexander McQueen's mind.
As the audience, you begin to feel sympathy for Lee as he meets with ghost from the past, Isabella Blow. The pair discuss the heated topic of their common denominator (besides them both leading outstandingly predominant roles in the fashion industry) of depression, conversing from the wonder Blow felt when she found, furthermore bought, all of Alexander McQueen's MA collection, to the suicidal depression that troubled and haunted them both. As the couple are wrapped in consultation, you witness the speciality of their relationship and just how much Blow's death may have had on McQueen's own depressional state.
Dancers coated in dream-like costumes twirled around the stage, a vivid representation of McQueen's mental state, yet the clear explanation for the inspiration behind all of his designs: his own madness. Choreographed by Christopher Marney, haunting faces and eerie movements threaten to tear down the great empire that McQueen has built around him and called his own

Collection: Givenchy SS16 (womanswear)

A fully monochromatic runway show with complete refusal of even a pigment of colour can easily look underdone or a little plain or just simply too monotonous. It can feel boring and dull with not even an ounce of colour to brighten the collection. But not Givenchy's SS16 runway show. If anyone could pull it off, it would be Givenchy. And creative director Riccardo Tisci definitely made sure of that one.

Whilst prints took the form of beautiful lace and stunning embellishments, and white, silver, grey and black appeared to be the continuing favoured tones, it became apparent that a bride and groom were the sole inspiration for Tisci's work this season.

Straight through the seventies timehop, Gucci ensures us that the bardot top is securely here to stay as models strutted the run way in bandeau styles finished with gathering, enhancing the hourglass feminine silhouette from the shoulders.

Thick, cross over straps make the crop top all the more interesting, whilst the silky satin sash which appears to shape the garment emphasizes the femininity of a bride on her wedding day. Doubled with a knee length tube skirt, again the feminine figure is punctuated, although this time by the cinched in waist which is created.

Effortlessly chic and sophisticated, black and white garments were often paired together, the divergent tones creating drama due to their strong contrast. Trims of lace create delicate hems and edges, stealing the attention from otherwise plain attires, preventing the looks from appearing too monotonous.

The most glamorous of the collection appeared in beautifully embellished gowns. From ombre 20s' style feathers and fringing to classy dramatic and oversized fur, the models appeared to have stepped right out of Holywood and onto the runway. Sophisticated, slender shapes allow the flamboyant enhancements to take centre stage, dramatising the embellishments.