Shop Report*

Shop Report/.

Introduction;

Throughout this assignment I will compare and discuss some major high street brands such as Top shop, Urban Outfitters and Asos, out lining the main similarities and differences between them such as prices, aimed market and current trends. I will go to these three stores in two different place, Newcastle and Middlesbrough and compare.

Background/

Topshop is a British clothes retailer with stores in over 20 countries and online operations in some of its markets. Topshop's sales primarily come from women's clothing and fashion accessories. It is part of the Arcadia Group, which owns a number of other retail outlets including Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge.

Urban Outfitters is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates six retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, Leifsdottir, a luxury brand for Anthropologie.

Urban Outfitters originated as "The Free People's Store" in 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focusing on "funky" fashion and household products. Shortly thereafter the owner and now Chairman, Richard Hayne, changed the name to Urban Outfitters. The product line has evolved from vintage, bohemian, retro, hipster, ironically humorous, kitschy apparel and furniture to include luxury brands and several designer collaborations.

ASOS is the UK's largest online-only fashion and beauty store. Primarily aimed at 16-34 year old men and women, it offers over 35,000 own- label and branded fashion goods. Sales for the financial year ending 31 March 2010 were £223 million.

ASOS's headquarters are located in Camden Town, an area in North London, within a building known as Greater London House. Its main fulfillment centre is in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The company has seen significant growth and now has 8.3 million unique visitors a month.

Compare/.

After thoroughly researching these three brands I have found that there are several similarities between the brands, one of which being they all tend to sell a wide range of clothing that all have similar style, these styles change each year depending on what the current fashion trend is, or in some cases, setting fashion trends.

I have also found that all three brands tend to use similar fabrics, for example I recently looked at a pair of shorts that were from Top shop, they were high waisted and made from linen, I then looked onto Asos and Urban outfitters and they had similar style shorts with that same fabric. All three brands are very competitive and use the same trends.

Another similarity being price points,  I recently visited all three stores and found that the main price range is very similar, depending on how much your willing to spend, each company also have ranges of clothing that is generally more expensive, these mainly include limited editions. When I visited the stores I picked similar garments and discovered that they all priced at £45-£50. For example, I picked up a chiffon dress in Top shop that was priced at £48, I went into Urban out fitters and seen a similar style dress priced at £52 and in Asos priced at £46.

 The main difference between them is urban outfitters sells a wide variety of makes, not distinctively having their own brand, whereas topshop and asos essentially sell their own brand.

As for the overall ‘shopping experience’ whilst at these stores, I felt that they all had ongoing similarities such as the way they try to entice customers into the store with the subtle lighting and way they present the garments.

Evaluation/.

In conclusion, after researching these three major high street brands I have concluded that they are all similar in prices and fashion, with the main difference being urban outfitters which sells a wide variety of brands rather than creating their own brand image using a trademark.

Louis Vuitton Fall 2009*

I chose this collection by Louis Vuitton because he was heavily influenced by the 80's. i love the prints and the bright bold colours he has used throughout this collection. I think this collection has influenced me to use daring colours.

Personal Statement Draft For PPD*

Personal statement/.

Fashion is creative, always changing and a form of art. I find fashion a very exciting subject and I have enjoyed being able to investigate areas of the subject throughout my Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. To me, I use fashion to express myself and to also show my personality and individuality. I mostly like the 1960’s style because it’s the time when women were more free-thinking to wear what they wanted. The 1960’s featured a number of diverse trends. It was the decade that broke many fashion traditions.

I enjoy experimenting with fashion, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and working out why it doesn’t work and what I can improve on. I have recently had some fashion disasters, but I have learnt from my mistakes and have adapted to develop my own sense of style.

Studying fashion at college has opened my eyes to the workings of fashion and design. Looking at fabrics and understanding colours and textures and concepts was something I found I enjoyed after time. I am now able to transfer this knowledge to actual designs.

There are many designers that I admire, and my liking changes with each seasons new collections. I find such designers as Christian Dior, Yohji Yamamoto and Alexander McQueen highly inspiring and contemporary.

I also love the illustration side of things, I love to draw and to use mixed media techniques to create my illustrations, and I like to use minimal line work to create different thickness of lines to give my figures depth. I also like to experiment with ink and bleach. My inspiration for my drawings comes from such artists as Nadia Flower. I really like her illustrations as they are very individual, she uses mixed media techniques to create her work, and she also does them digitally. I also like Katherine Asher, I like the bright bold colours she’s uses to create her work and the different tones and shades she creates by using ink.

I would consider myself to be a very good natured, and easy listening person who can get along with most people. Im a very sociable person, I like to be out and about meeting new people and networking. I make sure to carry a camera with me at all times so I can constantly be looking for new trends to snap and collect together for a street style sketchbook I have. I like to keep myself busy reading a lot of fashion magazines to keep up to date with what’s going on in the fashion industry. When I’m, not doing college work I like to work on my own designs and illustrations, which I put up on a blog I’m currently working on. In, my spare time I regularly travel to London to visit exhibitions and galleries such as the Tate, London fashion week and so on, seeing other designers/artists work really inspires me with my own projects and pushes me to exceed at university.

I was interested in Art and Design since childhood. I first of all studied at Cleveland college Of Art And Design studying ceramics and textiles. With time I realized I was most passionate about Fashion and succeeding in building a career in fashion has become my lifetime ambition. I found that being actively involved in art helps develop my imagination and creativity.

I was employed by super dry, Next and also by Morrison’s Supermarket. By working in retail I have gained confidence which is important in our every day life, I am also a good team player as you always have to work as a team. I pay attention to the smallest detail because everything I do has to be just right because I thrive in my work.

Photoshoot*

Here are images from my photo-shoot that recently took place. My dress was inspired by my theme '       Hippies'. Here are some of the finished photos that have been edited. I really like these images as I think they look really quirky and edgy. I think the photo-shoot was a success as it turned out just how I planned it to be.

I think her hair looks really edgy and fits in well with my hippie theme

Creating my paper Bag Trousers*

I first if all cut out all the pattern onto my fabric. 

I started of with sewing all the darts in into the back.

Here is what the dart looked like after it had been pressed.

I then sewed the pleats in followed by attacthing the legs together. I then added pockets .

Here, I pressed all seams.

   This is what the garment looks like before I attached the facing onto it,

Nadia Flower*

Fragile, delicate, yet graphic and strong – these are the elements that define Nadia's quite beautiful illustration work. Combining hand-drawn and computer-based imagery, Nadia works happily across a variety of visual mediums, from fine art painting to fashion and textile, as well as pure illustration for the editorial and advertising markets. Based in New Zealand, Nadia has produced work for clients around the world, and has also appeared in group exhibitions and book publications in Australia ,Tokyo, and the US.

CLIENT LIST

• Fornarina (IT)
• Nylon magazine
• Lily Allen / BBC (UK)
• Glamour magazine (UK, Gemany)
• Diet coke
• Marie Claire (UK)
• ASOS.COM (UK)
• GHD hair straighteners

I love how unique and individual Nadia’s illustrations are. I love the techniques she uses to create her work and also the mixed media methods. I really like how she has layered her illustrations and used different tones and textures. I would love to create work that looked like this!

C.A.D *

Here are flat drawings for the evening dresses we designed for Ann Mao. I have so far completed four pages on adobe which is two designs. I have two more to create on illustrator ( front and back).

I have also got my spec sheets to create, and also a c.a.d  essay and file to produce so I am feeling stressed. At the moment I am finding it hard to even think about other projects or even going out!. But overall I feel my flats do look really good and i am prid of what I have managed to produce!.