2008年11月28日星期五

Feeling **

The whole colour project ends!
I feel a little bit released :)
Throughout the whole course, do really learn a lot and see a lot.
I remember our group went to find Robert to discuss our findings on MJ.
At that time I argued with Robert

Me: "To judge whether a design is good or bad, dun u think it is too subjective?
If I dislike the design or the colour use, but there must be someone like it, rite?"

Robert: "Every design can be discussed in a objective way. It is a matter on how much RESEARCH u've done. For example a designer like to use purple, and you must get to know why he/she used it, may be due to the habit of foreign culture, just like Chinese like to use red. Then u can judge how well that purple is used, by comparing it with the past design...
Whenever u judge something, u should proof it with evidence"

True. I've built a chart in recording the colour used in each MJ collection, which can be found in my written report. I spent almost a whole day to make the charts, it is really time-consuming. However, it is worthly to do so because I could find out the trend of MJ's habit on colour. (From my opinion, MJ is good at using khaki and yellowish colours, and he used a lot) And so my final collection worked out! :)
One interesting thing is that many designers (not only MJ) like to make a few outfits in achromatic scheme. So why? may be simply because achromatic colours are easily used and welcome to all people, what I mean is people have higher "acceptability" on achromatic colours.
Like if u ask you mother(aged 39) to wear pink, most likely she will reject u.

So, what I've learnt from the course...hmm...
the colour history? 60s' like to use artificial colour, drugs and disco music brought psychedelic colours to 70s...
or...the psychological representation of colour? like red presenting courage, excitement...
may be... the terms like analogous, complementary, triadic, achromatic...? of course not only terms, but the relationship of colours and how the match them in a appropriate way. I am sure it be helpful for my future development, though I am just a retail student :p

classwork * "questions" to find the beloved colour

During lecture,
my friend and I had though of some funny questions
to find out the beloved colour of others :)
I just type it out because the paper is full of some related (and unrelated) stuffs :p

Questions:

Cartoons
1. Do you like Hello Kitty?
If yes -> pink and white

2. Do you like Kuromi?
If yes -> purple and black

3. Do you like stitch?
If yes -> blue


Brand
4. Do you like Emily the strange?
If yes -> red and black

5. Do you like Anna Sui?
If yes -> purple and black

6. Are you a fans of Muji?
If yes -> white, grey and brown


Fashion
7. Do you like lolita fashion?
If yes -> pink and white

8. Do you like gothic lolita fashion?
If yes -> black and white


Nature
9. Do you like watching the sky?
If yes -> blue and white

10. Do you like rabbit? If yes -> pink and white

11. Do you think rabbit is cute?
If yes -> pink and white

12. Do you like sunflower?
If yes -> yellow and orange


Music
13. Are you playing in band?
If yes -> black

14. Do you like rock music?
If yes -> black and red

15. Do you like metal music? If yes -> black

16. Are you a fans of rock band?
If yes -> black and red (pattern: tartan)

17. Are you a member of Poly Muso? (haha, thats true!) If yes -> black


Characteristics
18. Do you like to be cool? If yes -> black

19. Do you enjoy simple living style? If yes -> white

20. Are you a Emo?

If yes -> black, white and shocking colours like shocking pink



**About my habit on colour**
When I was young, my favourite colour is blue.
I like blue because Alice, the main character in the book Alice in wonderland.
In the story (Disney version), Alice dressed in blue.
She is my model and fascinated me.
That's why I love blue.
Time goes on,
I started to listen rock music and learn guitar and drum.
They made me fall into black - nearly every outfit is black.
(I choose black outfit because people say they are suit me, I dunno why)
With the Japanese harajiku culture - which promotes colourful outfits and shocking colours
I fell into shocking colours, especially shocking pink.

Conclusion,
colour change when human change.

classwork * predict what colour will your friend dress tmr


This is my friend San.

In day 1,
she dressed shirts and pants in white, grey and black.
From my observation, she like simple dressing style in achromatic scheme.

Therefore my prediction is
she will wear white and grey colour at the top
and dark colour at the bottom which similar as day1.

In day 2,
she dressed shirts and pants in white and grey blue with only her shoes in brown.

My prediction is partial correct as she do wear white top.
Nevertheless, grey blue and brown are closed to achromatic scheme
and which is quite similar to my prediction.

To conclude,
as my friend has her own style in dressing (which is simple and smart),
it is easy for my to predict her outfit colour for the next day.
However, if other boys or girls like to dress in a colorful way
(away from complementary scheme haha),

I think I may not able to do the prediction.

**one more interesting thing is
students in ITC like to wear black :p

2008年11月25日星期二

Written Report

Analysis on the colour using technique of Marc Jacobs
In fashion industry, colour used in each collection is usually affected by:
1. The world’s fashion trend
2. The colour used in some similar brands.
3. Design concepts


Biography, Market status and Competition
Marc Jacobs is a famous American fashion brand which target customers are around 20 to 35 middle age group. There are some similar brands such as Rick Owen and DKNY which styles are also for the market of young American people. Marc Jacobs likes to use his own special colouring technique which is different to those competitors. Marc Jacobs always tries to create his own unique colour palette. He seldom follows the world’s trend and some similar brands colour used for his collection. He has his own preference on colour.
After comparing the colour used on few seasons collection to his competitors. It shows that Marc Jacobs has never affected by his competitors.

Take 2008 Fall/Winter as an example:



Rick Owen used lots of black and grey colour for his collection.
DNKY used more hues with high saturation such as red and purple, apart from black and grey.
Marc Jacobs used pastel colours with low value.

The above colour palette shows Marc Jacobs and other designer brands have their own style and colour preference to create their collections.



Colour used from 2003 S/S to 2009 S/S

Research on colour palette in different seasons between 2003 S/S to 2009 S/S collection shown below:

S/S collections
2003 – Pastel tone, mainly khaki and lime. There are also some pink, lavender, red, black and white. Shimmering effects on few outfits.
2004 – Pastel tone, mainly white, moccasin and grey blue. Secondary colours are pale green and lime. Sliver is appeared on few outfits.
2005 – Artificial colours style with many hues, mainly deep pink, violet, turquoise, navy blue and brilliant red. And less colours are white and Khali. Shimmering effects are added on some pieces.
2006 – Artificial colours, mainly navy blue, olive and grey. Accessory colours are brilliant red, coffee and white. Sliver is used for some details design.
2007 – Natural colours, mainly white and grey accessorized with black, khaki and grey blue. Metallic colours like sliver and gold were appeared from some garments.
2008 – Pastel tone with many hues, mainly black, khaki, lavender and light coral. Accessory colour included brown, red and pale green. Transparent pieces appeared.
2009 – Metallic colours, mainly black, brown, sliver and grey accessorized with yellow and blue. The whole collection covers with shimmering effect.



The most using colour from his collections:
Black, White, Grey, Red, Green, Blue and Brown

High value and low value colours were appeared alternatively in every single two year.
For example, colours in 2005 were in high value, colours in 2006 and 2007 were in low value, while colours in 2008 were in high value.


F/W collections
2003 – Artificial colours in high saturation, mainly orange, purple, dark blue and black. Accessory colours are white and brilliant red.
2004 – Pastel colours with many hues, mainly khaki, light gold, turquoise and deep blue. Accessory colour are red, brown and black.
2005 – Low value main colours such as grey and black accessorized with high saturation colours like violet, royal blue and golden brown yellow.
2006 – Metallic colours, mainly black and grey accessorized with deep red and brown.
2007 – Artificial colours, mainly black and grey, accessorized with deep red and yellow.
2008 – Pastel colours in low value, mainly white and grey. Accessory colours are pale turquoise, pale coral and some metallic colours.



Colours which are appeared most:
Black, White, Grey, Red, Blue and Brown.

High value and low value colours appeared alternatively in every year.
For example, colours in 2005 are in high value, colours in 2006 are in low value, while colours in 2007 are in high value.


Analysis
After comparing each season, the following pattern of using colours is found:
1. S/S collections use more hues than F/W collections.
2. Marc Jacobs is using more hues these years.
3. Trend to use multi-coloured cloth.
4. For F/W collections, main colours are usually black and grey.
5. Achromatic colors: black, white and grey must be present in each collection.
6. Simple combination is adopted for each outfit. The number of colour is usually not more than 3.
7. MJ likes to use artificial colors.
8. MJ uses colors of high saturation every season, but the amount decreases in recent seasons.
9. Spring and Fall colors are related. the colors used in Fall collection are usually the colors of spring collection in a lower value ( with shade).
10. There is a trend that MJ tends to use colors in lower values.
11. MJ loves lavender, violet, brilliant red, turquoise and yellowish brown, khaki. They almost appear in every collection. BLACK, WHITE, GREY are the must.
12. A few outfits with metallic or shimmering colours appeared in every collection.
13. Trend to use metallic colours recently.


Prediction on 2009 F/W colour use
With reference to the above analysis, the prediction on 2009 F/W colour use are picked:


According to our analysis,
1. Black, white and grey msut appear in each season, especially F/W
2. MJ loves lavender and yellowish brown
3. Black, white, grey, brown and red appeared most frequently
4. Trend of using metallic colours in MJ's collections
5. F/W usually use less hues
6. Trend of using low value colours in F/W

Therefore, I chose
Black, white, grey, brown, yellowish brown,
lavender and pale pink.

Final Collection * MJ 2009 F/W

Finalized


According to our analysis,
1. Black, white and grey msut appear in each season, especially F/W
2. MJ loves lavender and yellowlish brown
3. Black, white, grey, brown and red appeared most frequently
4. Trend of using metallic colours in MJ's collections
5. F/W usually use less hues
6. Trend of using low value colours in F/W

Therefore, I chose
Black, white, grey, brown, yellowish brown,
lavender and pale pink.




In achromatic scheme


achromatic scheme is easy to use and often appear in designers' collections
so I try to make one

Trial

I tried to use more hues in the trial
however, the whole collection lacks unity
each outfit looks separate
I think I should not use too many hues as I cannot handle well.

Collection sketch


I drew 6 outfits for my collection.
I would like to send out a message of feminine in a elegant and casual way

therefore, in each outfit I try my best to make it "looks" feminine
like adding ruffles, fur, making the one-piece skirt in slim-cut...
knitted fabric and satin are used in some outfits in order to match the concept
one point I would like to highlight is the belt of the 6th outfit
I chose big belt because MJ used it in the collection 2009 S/S
I hope the coming 2009 F/W can be related to the 2009 S/S

Start!

I started to create the collection with only white paper and colour pencil.
as I always make mistakes on free hand colouring
I chose to use photoshop to do it
(ps. I have better skills in using computer haha)

Concept Development

In the very beginning
I really dun know what kind of collection I gotta make
therefore I tried to draw the outfits in different concepts
like school rock revolutionary, Scotland nature , old 60s'...
BUT THEY AIN'T LOOK LIKE MJ'S STYLE!!!
I tried to read MJ's collections once and once
finally my final concept came :) :) :)
I SHOULD DESIGN IT IN A WEARABLE BUT SPECIAL STYLE!
I chose feminine as the main theme

2008年11月24日星期一

classworks * The diving forces of fashion

As my classwork paper is too messy, I typed the points directly.

The driving forces of fashion
1. Past experience
2. Rivals of companions
3. Trend of the entire society
4. Economy of society
5. The need of the consumers
6. Intuition
7. Music
8. Movie


2008年11月21日星期五

classworks * colour history



The history of colour :

1890s: Art Nouveau

Pastel pale pea, beige, and pale grey

1910s: Ballets Russes
Mustards, violets, yellows and blues

1920s: chanel subdued neutrals + Men's Dress Reform Party
Flesh tone stockings, pale beige shoes and red lipstick

1930s: Ginger Roger
Cocoa brown, hyacinth blue, prune, turquoise, mustard yellow and grey

1940s: World war II
Khaki, Olive and drab colour

1950s: Bayer Company + Jacque Faths
Green, turquoise, pale yellow, amethyst, lilac, pink and soft red

1960s: Hippies + drug scene
Psychedelic colours

1970s: Disco fad
Bright red, royal blue, yellow, turquoise and acid green

1980s: Economic boom
Sharp colours

1990s: Street + international safety colour
Black, red and orange