helenastokesbcu2

[helenastokesbcu2]

Lifestyle Reference List

BooHoo Website: https://www.boohoo.com

Charlotte Knowles: https://londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers/charlotte-knowles

https://www.openingceremony.com/en-gb/shopping/woman/clothing

https://www.humblemagazine.com/artfashion/charlotte-knowles

Christian Dior: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/g5139/christian-dior-1940s-photos/

Curvissa website: https://www.curvissa.co.uk

Dazed: https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/47800/1/peta-retiring-anti-fur-campaigns-wed-rather-go-naked-celebrities-ethical-fashion

Ester Manas: https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/ester-manas-all-inclusive-out-now-fashion-for-all-collection/2020031132531

https://www.asos.com/discover/size-charts/women/dresses/

https://estermanas.com/store/peephole-dress-4yxe2

Evans Boutique: https://www.evans.co.uk/en/evuk/category/boutique-new-and-exclusive-7828145/home

The Guardian: http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/02/fashion-is-always-statement-of-some.html

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/oct/08/suffragette-style-movement-embraced-fashion-branding

Hieatt, D. (2014) Do/Purpose 1st edn. Wales: The Do Book Company

House of CB website: https://www.houseofcb.com

Make Do and Mend: https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106365.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31719704

Oh Polly website: https://www.ohpolly.com

Pretty Little Thing website: https://www.prettylittlething.com

Savage X Fenty: https://www.savagex.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/savagexfenty/?hl=en

[helenastokesbcu2]

Conclusion

My intentions at the beginning of this project were to gain an understanding on how lifestyle, social and industrial change impacts fashion; to widen my knowledge of the business side of fashion and to gain experience in working in a group successfully.

Through lectures and my own independent research, I have definitely broadened my knowledge on the how lifestyles and industrial, social and world events influence fashion, specifically gaining and understanding of how the industry has been guided in the past and present, which has given me an insight into the direction it might go in the future.

I am pleased with my contribution to my groups brand in creating the designs as I think that they cater to our customers well and could be successful; it has also allowed me to design for plus-size people, considering the functionality of the garment to support their needs, something which I haven't done before. For improvement in the future I will practise illustrator techniques and technical drawing as I this was a weakness of mine during this module.

I have found that we worked well as a group, despite some members being absent, we managed to pull through together and create a cohesive, considered final brand. I am pleased with our brand and think that our brand pitch went well, with us receiving good feedback.

I feel as though I have successfully achieved my aims for this module and this project has allowed me to prepare for working collaboratively in the future and in my career.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Presentation slides

In our last brand meeting we created slides for our brand pitch, and ran through our pitch ready for our presentation on Thursday.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Curvé Branding

Packaging

Trials:

Final Packaging:

As we are an online store, the packaging will be the first thing our customer sees when receiving a product from our brand, and is part of the customer experience. Because of this our packaging needs to represent our brand qualities.

We wanted our packaging to have a luxury feel, so we have decided to use a recyclable matte black box with our logo printed with a gloss finish. This style looks sleek and sophisticated on instantly conveys the luxury aesthetic of our brand. On the inside of the lid we have put our slogan of 'Stand out. Show out', so it will appear when you first open he box. An illustration of a curvy silhouette is also displayed behind the slogan and all the bottom of the box to celebrate curvy body and empower our customers. The products will be wrapped in tissue paper, sealed with a sticker of our logo, and also come with an inspirational cards, with illustrations of curvy silhouettes and empowering quote on it, that the customers can keep and take around with them.

Place

Website trials:

Final Website: We decided to sell our products directly to customer through our own website. We decided to use a neutral colour palette of black, white and nude for our website as we thought this looked sleek and conveyed the luxury aesthetic our our brand. We have the text used in our logo at the top of the page, with it remaining there even when you start scrolling down. When you first open the website our slogan of 'stand out show out' appears next to fashion images of our most recent collection or special offers. The background of the website is a photography image of stretch marks, which we wanted to include because as a brand, we want to normalise all bodies and normal 'imperfects', and empower our customers.

Promotion

We have decided to promote our brand through social media, specifically instagram. As our target customers are young women aged 18-30, we felt that instagram would be the most effective way of promoting our brand and communicating without our audience. We wanted to convey our brand message and voice through our instagram platform, so, our first posts are our slogan "Stand out, Show out" with images of curvaceous bodies spread across 3 posts, coming together on our feed. This is so when you first look on our page you instantly know what the brand is about. We stuck to a colour scheme of white black and purple to relate to our brand Idetity. On our instagram, we have posted aesthetic mood boards - showcasing images of some of the hobbies and places our customers will be interested in as well as inspirational posters and captions to empower our followers.

Club night event: As we are making evening wear to be worn going out and celebrate coming out of the pandemic, we thought that having a club night launch party event to show off our brands first collection would be perfect. It will take place 101 Nightclub in Birmingham, a dressier nightclub with booths that serves cocktails. We will have Plus-size female staff wearing our garments whilst serving drinks, to show them off to our target market. To promote this event we have created a vibrant, eye-catching poster, that we will make into both leaflets and posters and place around the town centre, near pubs and universities where young people and our target market might be, as well as promoting it our social media.

Pricing

After doing research we found that our packaging can be ethically manufactured as it is 100% recyclable. Each box would cost £2. Once we grow our brand and begin to have more orders we can mass-produce out packaging and the £2 per pack will be reduced to £1.

Our fabrics will cost £10 per metre, from a local business. This combined with the cost of labour will mean the average manufacturing price for one garment will be £25, due to our products being manufactured in the UK.

The cost for our club event and promotion posters will cost £750, our entrance fee tickets will cost £5

For shipping fees we will charge £5.99 for next day delivery and £3.99 for second day delivery to make a profit on our shipping

Considering manufacturing and shipping costs we will be selling our products for £115 each on average , to make around 2.5x profit.

Future of Curvé

Mid-Term

Once our brand grows in exposure, we would like to have brand ambassadors made up of UK based plus-sized, young social media influencers to promote our brand and products on their platforms. By having brand ambassadors we will be able to get our brand name out to a wider audience of young women and attract more customers. We would hope to expand on this, having ambassadors outside of the UK to gain recognition and possibly grow our brand internationally.

After the pandemic we hope to have a number of pop-up stores featuring limited ranges in big cities including Birmingham, London and Manchester, so our customers can have an in-person shopping experience and can see our clothes in person. Hopefully, we will also be able to also attract new customers, who either don't use or haven't seen us on social media. Hopefully we will be able to grow our brand so that we can have permanent in-person stores in the long-term.

Long-Term

Once have grown our brand, and are earning a steady profit we could begin to experiment with alternative, more sustainable ways of production and manufacturing, we could look at having fully, biodegradable packaging, using recycled and ethical materials such as biodegradable sequins. We could also work towards zero waste production, using zero waste pattern cutting strategies and new digital technology like virtual toiles and mock-ups.

As a brand we hope to promote change and our message that you can feel confident and sexy whatever your size or shape. We would like to create campaigns that promote self-love and empower plus-size women.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Our Final designs

For our designs we have been influenced by the WGSN Spring Summer 2022 trend: Adaptable design. We wanted to create adjustable evening wear, to be worn going out and celebrating coming out of the pandemic. We have designed quality garments using luxury feel fabrics, sticking to a more neutral colour palette with some pops of lilac and iridescent fabric sheens. Some of our intentions for our designs were that we wanted them to be figure flattering, comfortable, supportive, and cater to our customers body. I feel as though we have achieved these intentions and created garments that would be successful with our customers and within target market.

Design 1: Corset Dress

Photoshop process:

Final Design: Corset Dress

For our first design I have created a Corset Dress. It features a corset style top with boning for support and an adjustable back so the customer can tailor the waist to fit them. I have included design features that flatter our plus-size customers body and accentuate body parts. I have designed a diagonal cut out across the bust and leg and elongated the corset part of the dress in the middle to create an almost V shape and give the illusion of a slimmer waist. I have added an adjustable shoulder strap so the customer can adjust the bust of the dress. There is a detachable mesh sleeve, to offer coverage and allows the dress to be styled in multiple ways. As we want to celebrate coming out of the pandemic, I have given skirt part of the dress an iridescent fabric sheen to make the design fun and youthful. I have chosen to use nude tones and a more muted lilac/mauve for this dress as these colours can compliment a wide variety of skin tones, appealing to a wide range of customers.

Design 2: Jumpsuit

Photoshop process:

Final Design: Jumpsuit

For our second design I have created a Blazer style Jumpsuit. This garment is a more feminine, sensual take on a traditional suit. Putting the jumpsuit on from the trousers, It has a loose, blazer style shirt with a mesh, corset look waist and adjustable back so the waist can be tightened to our customers body and create a flattering, hourglass silhouette. The jumpsuit is fastened on the right side of the trousers all the way up to the corset style area under the bust. The trousers are slightly cropped and have a slits at the front to look flattering and give the garment more sensual details. The trousers also have a pleather half leg detail which also acts a wrap belt at the waist. I have incorporated this curved half leg detail with a different fabric as it gives of the same flattering effect as a cut out would, without having to show skin. I have added also added adaptable detailing such as the lacing from the knee down, to make the design further relate to our SS22 trend.

Design 3: Co-ord

Photoshop process:

Final design: Co-ord Wrap top and Midi Skirt

For our third design we created a Cross Body Wrap Co-ord, with a a wrap top and ruched skirt. I have designed a wrap style top as I thigh this was extremely inclusive as the customer can tie it themselves to adjust to their own body. It also has a structured underwire element under the bust for support, and flattering cut ours across the shoulders. The skirt of the co-ord is a ruched midi skirt that has a pull tie from the hip to the bottom of the skirt allowing our customers to adjust the skirt length to their preference. To celebrate coming out of the pandemic, I chose to use a print with pops of lilac for this design, but still sticking with our more muted colour palette.

Technical drawings:

These are the technical drawings for each of our garments, front and back. To improve them there would need to be adjustments made before being sent off to a manufacturer. The arms of the jumpsuit and the skirt would need to be corrected and drawn straight, as they are drawn as if they were on the model, rather than just the garments. There would also need to be stitching details added.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Designs development

Design 3

For Design 3 we explored different ideas, Adam designed a suit with trousers and blazer, Shona designed a corset top with sleeves and jeans, and I designed a corset top with leather trousers. We decided to further develop the corset top and trouser/jeans ideas because our survey revealed that the go-to night out outfit for our target age range was 'jeans and a nice top'

After getting feedback on our designs in a group tutorial, it was suggested that change corset and jeans designs and create something more innovative as this is quite a simple, popular outfit and can already be purchased on the market. Instead we came up with a new idea of creating a jumpsuit.

I created two jumpsuit options inspired by the other designs we had created to achieve a cohesive collection, and added more innovative and adaptable design features. After showing them to the group we decided to go with the second jumpsuit design I created as it looked more cohesive with the other designs and was a good option for customers who want to be more covered. To take the adaptability of this design even further I could add adaptable details such as pull ties and lacing

I have looked at Charlotte Knowles for inspiration, and could incorporate design elements like this to the legs or arms if the jumpsuit.

Charlotte Knowles 'Bullet Jacket' displayed on her instagram @charlotteknowles

Our 3 Final Design Ideas:

[helenastokesbcu2]

Presentation techniques

In our session on Friday we focused on presentation techniques, as we will be presenting our final brand concept in a brand pitch at the end of the project.

In groups we had to create a presentation on an influential public speaker, researching into them and analysing what makes them successful at public speaking, which we then presented in front of our class. This task was extremely helpful and allowed me to gain inspiration and key tips that I will be able to use in our brand pitch, and in the future when presenting.

My group created a presentation on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez an American politician and public speaker.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Brand Logo

As a group we discussed that we wanted our logo to represent us as a brand. It needs to convey our vision and purpose and brand qualities, of inclusivity and empowerment and have the luxury, feminine aesthetic of our brand.

Samples: Initial design ideas

In one of our group brand development meetings we began creating initial logos, to gather ideas. We experimented with different fonts and layouts. We decided that we wanted to use a calligraphy style font as the curviness of the writing represented the theme of our brand, we also through this style of font looked luxurious and had a softer, feminine qualities, linking with our brand qualities. One of the samples we particularly liked was our second sample created by Mia, with a calligraphy C, and the word curve in strong capitals with serifs in front. we thought that this logo looked luxurious and combined feminine, curvy qualities with the calligraphy C and strong, empowering qualities with the capitals used for 'Curvé'

Trial 2: Suha, on the branding team of our group then further developed our logo. After going to branding workshops she developed a range of logos, inspired by 'blanding'. Blanding is where brands make their logos more 'bland' using sans serif fronts to look more sleek and luxurious. We decided not to go with the blanding approach for our brand as we thought that although it did represent the luxury side of our brand and it did not relate to any of our other brand qualities or convey who we are as a brand.

Trial 3: Giving Suha this feedback, she developed another logo inspired by one of our first logo samples we liked. We thought that this logo looked sleek and sensual, and fit well on packaging and other brand elements. However, after getting feedback, it was said that this logo looked like it was for a brand for older women and didn't look youthful enough. As our target market is young women we decided to create something more fun and youthful.

Development of final logo:

Final logo:

For our final logo we decided to go for a more illustrative style as we though this looked innovative and communicates our brand the best. Our logo features a curvy silhouette line drawing, to celebrate plus-size bodies and represent our target market, empowering them. It is drawn in a more abstract style as we want to empower women of all shapes, and convey the fact that there is no 'perfect body'. We chose to use a more curvaceous calligraphy font as it looks both youthful and luxurious, again, represents curvy silhouettes and brings our whole logo together.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Technical Drawing Workshop

In our session on Tuesday we further practiced our illustrator skills, creating technical drawings in a workshop led by Natalie. We learned the basic steps of technical drawings by creating a tech drawing of a T-shirt. I found this workshop very useful and developed skills that I can take forward and will need in my fashion design career.

Testing Colours:

[helenastokesbcu2]

Design Development 1

Fashion illustration workshop

In our Thursday session we had a Fashion Illustration workshop with Natalie were created design templates. I used model Ashley Graham as a template to create my own plus-size fashion figure to work from when designing.

Design Development

Design 1

For my first design I created a cocktail dress as I this is a staple going-out outfit and would be great for our evening-wear collection. Inspired by Charlotte Knowles, I chose to create a corset style dress as it looks very flattering on the silhouette and is a trendy, youthful style. The corset part of the dress will be adjustable so our customers can tailor it to their body. Influenced by our trend adaptable design, I have added a detachable mesh sleeve, so you can style the dress in different ways, and to offer coverage for people who don't feel comfortable showing too much skin. I have included flattering cut outs, designing a diagonal cutout above the bust and on the leg, to accentuate parts of the body and achieve a flattering silhouette. The skirt part of the dress has a sheen to it and could be made out of a polyester satin fabric to give it a more youthful, party style.

I like this design idea and think it would be appealing to our customer, to improve it I could add more adjustable design elements to fit in line with out WGSN trend.

Design 2

For my second design I created a Wrap dress. Taking inspiration from Ester Manas, I thought that this style of dress would be a good idea for our customers as they can wrap it themselves, adjusting and styling it to their own body. I intend on maybe experimenting with a print for this dress, as it could look faltering with this sort of silhouette. I have also included effective cut outs on the shoulder straps to look flattering on our customer.

(Photos of print designs from Pretty Little Thing and Missguided)

(continued) Design 2 development 

After reviewing our survey results and getting feedback in group tutorials, I have changed the wrap stye dress to co-ord with a wrap top and long ruched skirt with adjustable drawstring elements so our customer can alter the length to what they are comfortable with.

I am pleased with this design idea, however, I feel like the straps across the waist could look unflattering, when drawing our final designs I will make the straps at the waist thicker so that the whole waist can be covered. I also feel like this design lacks supportive elements and could risk not being comfortable enough for our customer. After looking at Charlotte Knowles for inspiration, I could maybe add a more structured underwire element under the bust, which could also be where the wrap top starts.

https://www.openingceremony.com/en-gb/shopping/woman/clothing

[helenastokesbcu2]

Logo Design & Illustrator

In our session on Thursday, we had a logo design workshop, led by Will, where we were introduced to illustrator and taught how to create a range of different logo styles, using different illustrator tools. This workshop was very informative, and helped inspire my groups ideas for our own logo.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Brand Meeting 4

Survey

As a group we decided to create a survey, to help understand consumers and gain an understanding on what they want, whats popular now, what people buy and where from.

We targeted our survey to our target market of 18-30 and asked questions including: What is the first place you want to go after lockdown? Will you purchase new clothes for this? What are your favourite brands to buy from? Where do you get fashion influences from? How much would you spend on a dress? And what is your go-to going out outfit?

We felt that getting information on these questions could allow us to gather helpful knowledge that can influence our design ideas to create a product that people would actually want to buy, as well as, help us test if our initial product ideas would be appealing.

We received 66 responses from our survey. We found that 50% of people said that the first place they would go after lockdown would be a club/bar or restaurant/pub which is where our clothing would be worn, and that 50% of people would purchase a new outfit for this. This indicates that there will be a need for our brand from some consumers when coming out of the pandemic.

We found that the most popular brand to buy clothes from in our survey was ASOS, with 23 people stating this as their favourite store, then Zara and Pretty Little Thing with around 8 responses each, then House of CB and Missguided also having multiple mentions in our results. This tells us that our products could be successful as brands with similar designs such as House of Cb and Pretty Little thing are a popular choice for our target market. It also gives us an idea that we could maybe sell our products through larger retailers such as ASOS, as this store was extremely popular in our survey.

We found that most people get their fashion influences from social media and influencers with Instagram and Tiktok being the most popular platforms. This shows us that using social media to promote our brand will be the most effective method.

We found that only 20% of people would typically spend more than £50 on a dress. We initially intended on pricing our garments between £50-150 as they will be a more special, luxury purchase for our target customers. However, we may have to reconsider our pricing if we want them to be more affordable for our target market.

We also found that the most popular go-to going out outfit was ‘jeans and a nice top’ with 50% of people responding this, then a dress and co-ord being the next most popular. This shows us that there is a market for the designs we want to create, and gives us an idea of what garments people will want.

Brand Name

When discussing brand names we picked out some key words from our brand message and vision and purpose that stood out to us. Our first suggestion was 'Sensuell' which means voluptuous in Norwegian, and would be pronounced as the English word 'sensual', having a double meaning. However, we decided not to go with this idea as we thought this name sounded more like an underwear brand. Also, it wouldn't make sense to use a Norwegian word for our brand name and the brand does not have any relation to Norway.

Our Second name idea, and the name we decided to go with was 'Curvé', pronounced "curvay". It was created from the words curve and curvy. As our products are for plus-size women, we though this would be fitting, as this name instantly indicates that we make products for curvier silhouettes.

Design Mood Boards

We created design mood boards for people on the design and branding teams to work from. We felt this was important as it allowed everyone to design independently and come up with their own ideas, but still have them all relate and follow the same theme.

I decided to create a colour scheme board, that we would use for our designs and throughout our branding. We chose to stick to more neutral tones of black and nudes as these colours can compliment a wide variety of skin tones, appealing to a larger amount of customers. We also decided to use these colours for our branding as they are sleek and represent the luxurious theme of our brand. We also decided to use hints of lilac as this colour is quite soft and feminine relating to the sensual, feminine side of our brand, we also though that purple represented luxury and power, relating to the empowering qualities of our vision and purpose.

I also included fabrics with sheen, shimmer and iridescent qualities as we want our garments be worn for partying and going out, when celebrating life after the pandemic. I felt that these fabric finishes fit well with this.

The branding team also created design boards for our website and social media planning, following the same colour scheme and similar aesthetic to our designs, ensuring that all design elements of our brand are cohesive.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Brand Meeting 3

Disscussing WGSN trends

As part of our brand development, we will be creating a range of final designs in line with a WGSN SS22 trend. In our third group meeting we discussed and looked further into the trends, deciding what would be best for our brand and the products we intend on creating.

We first decided to look at the trend 'Twilight Tropics' This trend explores evening wear and clothes for special occasions, following a glamorous, opulent aesthetic. High-shine and metallic fabrics will be designed in easy-to-wear silhouettes, including slips, sarongs and wrap around shirting, with indulgent trims and tropical prints. I felt that this trend could fit well with our theme, as it focuses around evening wear and occasion clothing, which is the type of clothing we intend on creating. As we plan on creating clothing with a luxury aesthetic, the opulent themes of this trend, including the indulgent fabrics and glamorous design elements relate to our design intentions well. Although the metallic fabrics, trims and tropical colours and prints of this trend weren't favoured by members of the group I think we could take inspiration from these design elements, as we intend on creating evening wear for going out, post-pandemic, a time to celebrate and have fun. Therefore, I feel that using sheen fabrics and experimenting with prints, maybe in more muted colours, could make our designs exciting and would be appropriate for the theme. Although we wouldn't focus on the 'tropical' side of this trend I feel that some design elements and luxury feel of this trend fit well with our design intentions and can influence us when designing.

Another trend we looked at as a group is 'Adaptable Design'. This trend is about inclusive design, incorporating adaptable qualities across silhouettes. Designs will include adjustable features such as drawstrings, straps, lacing, open-ended sips, alongside material manipulation including stretch and shirred fabrics. Garments will be versatile and can be reversed and styled in multiple ways. We thought that this trend could fit well with our theme as we want our designs to be inclusive and cater to a range plus-size women, with different body shapes. By using adaptable features such as stretch materials, ruching and wrap style silhouettes, as well as adjustable details such as straps and drawstrings in our designs, they will be able to adapt to our customers body (styling the garments to fit in a way that is comfortable and best for them) and appeal and fit to a wide range of body shapes.

As a group we decided to focus on this trend, 'Adaptable Design' for our products, as it works well with the theme of our brand, takes our customers into consideration and allows us to be as inclusive as possible. However, we will also take inspiration from the glamorous, night-life aesthetics of the 'Twilight Tropics' trend, as this fits well with the evening wear garments we will be creating for coming out of the pandemic, as well as luxury themes of our brand.

Designer Research

As I am going to be on the design team in my group, I decided to do some further research into some of the designers featured in our chosen trend, to inspire my own designs.

Ester Manas

Ester Manas is an inclusive fashion designer who follows a 'one size fits all' concept in her designs

Manas commented in an interview with Fashion United that "My main goal is to get away from the homogeneous approach to bodies; to produce a garment that evolves with a woman's body, a garment that grows with it."

https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/ester-manas-all-inclusive-out-now-fashion-for-all-collection/2020031132531

Her collections feature garments that are sold in one size and fit women from EU sizes 34-50 (UK sizes 6-18). Her adaptable designs allow the garments to have a long-lasting lifespan as they will be able to evolve with the customer, as their body changes. Her collections offer sustainable garments, with no size variations, overproduction or wasted stock.

Ester Manas uses material manipulation in her designs, with them usually featuring stretchy or ribbed materials and oversized silhouettes that can be constricted with adjustable elements such as drawstrings at the waist and hips or under the chest, as well as expandable double gatherings.

Below is the 'Peephole Dress' sold in one size, it features stretch ribbed material with expandable gatherings, flattering cut outs and a wrap around tie waist.

Charlotte Knowles

Charlotte Knowles is a new London-based fashion designer who creates clothing inspired by feminine codes of dressing and the construction of a new empowered wardrobe. She is a 'woman designing for women' creating designs that that experiment a unique approach to sensuality through her corsetry and underwear influenced aesthetic. She aims to deconstruct ideas of what constitutes and 'sexy', experimenting with different ways of concealing and revealing the body. Her garments include bustiers underlaid with bra-style detailing, wrap style tops and dresses with intricate cut outs and lacing and strap detailing.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Lifestyle Influences and Impacts on Fashion

In our critical thinking lectures we explored how lifestyle, industrial & social changes and world events have impacted fashion and textiles, throughout the years, and how they influence and will continue to impact fashion now.

As we aim to create a successful fashion brand, we need to understand the changes and influences that could affect the fashion industry; and therefore our brand, currently and in the future. In order to predict what will happen to the fashion industry in the future, we first need to understand what has impacted and directed them in the past.

The key elements that contribute to the change of fashion and textiles are, industry & technology changes, world events and social change, all contributing to the direction in which the fashion and textile industry develops.

1870-1900's - Industrial and social change

During this time period industrial and social change began to influence fashion. The Industrial Revolution caused a growth of the fashion industry, which enabled the Suffragettes to use fashion as a form of branding to help promote their cause. In the early days of photography, the Suffragettes used the meaning of colour as a way of communication. In 1908, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, a member of the Suffragette society, devised the scheme of wearing purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope - an early form of fashion branding. Influenced by this, department stores Liberty and Selfridges began selling ranges of tricolour ribbon for hats, belts, rosettes and badges, as well as coloured garments, underwear and accessories.

Fig 1: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/oct/08/suffragette-style-movement-embraced-fashion-branding

Fig 2: http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2009/02/fashion-is-always-statement-of-some.html

1940's - World events

The Second World War had a heavy influential impact on fashion. In the 1940's, Utility Clothing schemes were introduced. They aimed to save costs and the limited fabric and materials available by using economical designs that eliminated laborious technical details - for example, reducing cuffs, pockets and colours.

As buying new clothes was rationed in Britain, in 1943, the 'Make Do and Mend' strategy was issued by the British Ministry of Information. It urged people to repair and reuse their own existing clothing and materials, by providing useful tips and design ideas for housewives. Some of these tips included unpicking old jumpers and re-kintting them into stylish alternatives, turning their husbands old suits into women's garments and recycling sacks and unused materials into baby blankets.

The 'Make Do and Mend' Pamphlet (1943)

Fig 1: https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106365.html

Below is an example of women's skirt suit made from a mens pin stripe suit, and a children's cloak made from an old blanket.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31719704Social

1947 - Christian Dior

In contrast to the utilitarian approach on fashion adopted in the war, a "New Look" exploded in Paris in 1947, lead by fashion designer Christian Dior. His mission was to create clothing that empowered women through fashion. His clothing emphasised femininity, using rounded shoulders and tight waists with bodices and padding that accentuated the hips and bust, to achieve a feminine silhouette. This style of design was seen as a celebration of coming out of the war, and was carried through into the 1960's.

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/g5139/christian-dior-1940s-photos/

1990's - Social change

Fashion can be a great tool for raising awareness and social change. with the rise of media coverage and supermodels as icons in the 90's, campaigns began using supermodels to promote change.

"I'd rather go naked than wear fur"

Anti-fur campaigns by PETA featured supermodels and icons of the 90's, including Pamela Anderson, Naomi Campbell, Sheryl Lee and Kim Basinger. PETA's campaigns are iconic political statements, and were an alternative from the animal rights group's usual disruptive protests, to glamorous photoshoots spread across the media to raise awareness and fight for change.

PETA's anti-fur campaigns were a catalyst for the rejection of using fur in fashion. Dan Mathews, the Senior Vice President of PETA, commented in a victorious statement that “Nearly every top designer has shed fur, California has banned it, Queen Elizabeth II has renounced it, Macy's is closing its fur salons, and now, the largest fur auction house in North America has filed for bankruptcy.”

Fig 1: Supermodel PETA anti-fur campaign (1994)

Fig 2: Kim Basinger PETA anti fur campaign (1994)

https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/47800/1/peta-retiring-anti-fur-campaigns-wed-rather-go-naked-celebrities-ethical-fashion

Today and the Future

Currently, in 2021, we are in the Coronavirus pandemic, a world event that has changed to way we have lived since it began spreading in late 2019. Due to global lockdowns and isolation, the fashion industry has been widely effected and has changed rapidly.

We have seen a rise in digital fashion and online businesses, with many online businesses such as BooHoo and ASOS having a surge in success during this time, and the collapse of brands such as Topshop who rely on in-person stores. Digital technology advancements have also broke out into the fashion industry with virtual clothing and digital runway shows being developed.

How will current events effect our brand: As the fashion industry moves into a more Digital world we should consider how to sell, produce and promote our brand. As a result of the pandemic people have got used to shopping online. Will there even be a need for in-person shops anymore? With the continuing rise of social media and social media influencers, having brand ambassadors has become a popular form of promtion as people look to them for influence - they will see something they wear, and will want to quickly purchase it online. When creating our own brand we need to analyse these growing changes to the fashion industry and take them into consideration, as...

“Fashion is a fast-changing concept... Fashion is part of who we are, the way we live, and the times in which we exist.” - Fashionary Team (2018)

[helenastokesbcu2]

Brand Meeting 2

In our second brand meeting, my group worked on defining our vision, purpose and mission. We also did our own task, where we listed some qualities and characteristics of our brand to understand who we are as a brand. Also, we created a customer profile to understand who we are designing for. Below, I have typed out and extended on some of the things we discussed, on our shared PowerPoint.

Competitors

Some of our competitors and brands that focus on Plus-size women’s clothing, are online stores Curvissa and Evans boutique. They both sell sizes 14-32 and do design with plus-size bodies in mind, including flattering design features and silhouettes. However, I would say they cater to more middle-aged women as when browsing their website, I found that the garments didn’t feel young, fun or trendy. Our target customers will follow instagram influencers such as Molly-Mae Hague and Kylie Jenner, and will want to wear clothing similar to theirs however, there aren't many options for trendy, youthful, plus-size garments, or Plus-size focused brands that create designs for young women. This further indicates that there is a gap in the market for our brand.

[helenastokesbcu2]

What makes a Brand?

In this post I have looked at the key elements that contribute to creating a successful brand. In my brand group, we created a report on Savage X Fenty analysing their key elements, as this brand closely relates to the brand we intend on making. Here, I have further researched into Savage X Fenty, evaluating our findings and looking into what makes them successful as a brand, to influence our ideas when creating our own brand.

Every successful brands relies on these key elements:

Vision and Purpose

Brand identity

Customer

Price

Product

Place

Promotion

Packaging

1. Vision and Purpose

At the heart of every successful brand is their vision and purpose. The vision and purpose gives a brand meaning, narrative and context. It provides a business with guiding principles and values for the development and delivery of their brand and the products they produce. A businesses vision and purpose can be serious, life changing or 'just a bit of fun', however, I think that the most important brands make you feel something and promote change.

In order to create a successful brand, your vision and purpose needs to be authentic, and remain at the centre of everything you do. The brand needs to live by its values, considering them when producing products, communicating with customers and in the way they treat their employees.

Savage X Fenty, created by Rihanna, promotes inclusivity. They accept everyone, creating products for all body types, skin colours, genders and ages. Their aim is to empower their customers and make them feel confident and fearless in their own skin.

2. Brand Identity

Brand identity is what makes your brand recognisable to the customer, it can control how your brand is perceived. A brand identity is made up of the brand name, logo, slogans and tone of voice, as well as visual identity, colour palette, typography and graphics. These elements form style guides which you should apply across your entire brand.

Savage X Fenty primarily stick to a colour palette of black, white and their signature pink-lilac colour, which makes them instantly recognisable. They use sleek fonts and text, and incorporate their X logo, in many elements of their branding. They keep the same layout for their logo, however, sometimes change the colour variations depending on the collections they have released.

They have a quote displayed on their website stating “Savage X means making your own rules and expressing you mood, character and style for you- not someone else”. The tone of voice used throughout their brand is empowering, and enforces their brand qualities of making their customers feel fearless and  confidence.

3. Customer

The most important part of a brand is their customer, as these are the people that make them successful. In order to create a successful brand you need to understand your customer. You can create a lasting brand loyalty, by understanding the past, current and future needs of your customer. 

Savage X Fenty has a great relationship with their customers, which could be a cause for their success. Promoting inclusivity, they offer products for a wide range of body types, offering sizes from XS-3XL and bra sizes 30A-46E. They do not discriminate and feature models with a range of different body types and skin colours, encouraging body positivity and normalising different body types. They also interact with their customers through their social media accounts and include photographs of their customers wearing their garments on their website when they tag #SAVAGEXFENTY in their post.

4. Price

Pricing is an important part of a brand. When creating your pricing, economical factors such as manufacturing costs; packaging cost; shipping costs; marketing costs; taxes; store overheads and staff payment need to be considered.

There a 3 main methods of product trading:

Wholesale - You produce a product and sell it to another retailer

Wholesaler - You buy a product produced by somebody else and sell it

Direct to customer - You produce a product and sell it directly to your customer

Brands often use pricing psychology strategies to influence customers to spend more money. These can include 3 for 2 deals and charging 99p instead of £1. These sorts of offers make people think they are receiving great deals, when in reality they are not saving as much as they think.

Savage X Fenty primarily sell their products directly to customer on their online store, however, limited collections of their brand are sold through wholesalers, including ASOS and Amazon. By having their collections available on other websites, especially popular brands such as ASOS and Amazon, their collections and name reaches a wider audience which increases their popularity.

5. Product

There are many influences you need to consider when creating a product. Your vision and purpose and customer should be the most important factors when creating your product. You need to select the right product for you customer by questioning if it is relevant or timely? Does it respond to your customers needs? Is your product desirable?

Savage X Fenty products are designed with their customers in mind, creating garments in silhouettes and colours that flatter and compliment a range of body types and skin tones, appealing to a wide range of customers, which relates back to their vision and purpose of inclusivity.

6. Place

When creating a brand you need to consider where want the customer to interact with it. This could be in person, digitally or online. You should consider where you want your brand and products to be seen and sold, as well as thinking about the customer experience.

Effects of pandemic

Due to the pandemic, and global lockdowns being enforced, many businesses focus when considering Place has been shifted. Online stores have grew in success and popularity during the pandemic, due to people having to stay at home. There has been in decline in the success of in person based stores such as Topshop and Primark, as they do not have good, active online platforms, and rely on their in person stores.

At the beginning of this year we saw the collapse of Topshop; a brand that was successful before the pandemic, shutting down their stores, resulting in many workers loosing their jobs. They now sell their Topshop collection through online wholesaler ASOS.

Savage X Fenty sell their products through their online store, making it easily accessible to their customers; however before the pandemic, they opened a number of pop-up stores featuring exclusive releases, allowing their customers to have the option of enjoying an in person shopping experience too.

7. Promotion

To successfully promote you brand you need to cover all elements of promotion strategies including, PR, events, marketing and advertising and digital marketing.

As we move into a more digital based era, one of the most popular ways of promotion at the moment is through social media. Platforms such as Instagram, Depop and TikTok have made it easier than ever to gain attention and start a business. Due to this, social media is flooded with brands all competing for this attention, therefore, to be successful, you need to think of unique ways of standing out.

Savage X Fenty promote their brand successfully on social media with their Instagram account having amassed over 4 million followers. This is due to them being inspirational and promoting body positivity, displaying a range of models with different body types varying in sizes, skin colours and physical abilities on their feed. They also have many inspirational brand ambassadors, including social media influencers who represent different groups of people promoting their products on the @savagexfenty instagram and their own platforms.

8. Packaging

Packaging is an important factor to consider when creating a brand, as this is the first thing a customer will see when receiving a product. It also contributes to the customer experience. Packaging often encourages value perception to the customer. For example if you packaging is cheap and unconsidered, this will make the customer assume this about the product and brand.

You should also consider environmental factors when creating you packaging, do you want your packaging to be sustainable or recyclable? As well as deciding where you want it to be manufactured.

Savage X Fenty conveys their brand identity through their packaging, using ‘packaging families’ that have their signature lilac colour, and display their logo on the boxes and tags- this makes the packaging instantly recognisable and grows their brand recognition. Their packaging is also sustainable as it is made out of cardboard and tissue paper and can be recycled.

[helenastokesbcu2]

Brand Development 1

In this project we will be working in small groups to develop a brand, in line with a SS22 trend, that we will then present in a business pitch for a fashion company. In our first brand development meeting on teams, my group brainstormed and discussed the type of brand and products we would want to create, and who for. After much discussion, we decided that we wanted to create a brand for plus-size young women, selling attainable evening wear with a luxury aesthetic, that empowered them to feel confident and sexy in clothing that fits and looks flattering. We chose to create a brand like this, as we felt there was a space for it in the market. This is due to there not being many good clothing options for plus size young women, who want to wear trendy, dressier, ‘going-out’ style clothing. Evening wear companies such as House of CB and Oh polly only go up to sizes 14/16 and Plus size ranges from brands such as Pretty little thing and BooHoo, sometimes don’t cater to plus size women well with products being poorly made, not fitting or looking unflattering. With our brand we intend on considering our customer and creating products that are well made, look flattering and can cater to a wide range of plus-size ladies, allowing them to feel confident in their bodies.

House of CB

House of CB is a high end high street brand who sell women’s evening wear. They sell affordable luxury clothing with dresses averaging around £129. This brand is similar to our brand concept as they sell sensual, trendy evening wear, however they only produce clothing that goes up to a size ‘Large+’ which translates to size 14-16.

Oh Polly

Oh Polly are an online womenswear store who also sell evening-wear clothing with a similar aesthetic we intend on creating. Their clothing is more affordable with a dress costing on average, around £59. However, they do not offer plus-size clothing with their sizing only goes up to size 14; and their garments are produced with slimmer bodies in mind, not offering much support or considering a curvy figure.

Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing

BooHoo and Pretty Little Thing are both online, fast fashion companies who sell womenswear clothing. They both have plus-size ranges. Pretty Little thing has a ‘PLT Plus’ range that produces sizes 16-30, and BooHoo has a ‘Plus-size & Curve’ section on their website featuring garments from sizes 16-28.

Pretty Little thing offer stylish, trendy plus size clothing options for young women, however the garments are often poorly made, and don’t always have design features, such as supportive elements and flattering silhouettes, that actually cater to a plus size women’s body.

BooHoo also have a plus size range, however when browsing through it on their website, I felt that the options available weren’t very stylish, trendy or flattering for young women. They also have issues with garments often being poorly made, sometimes being see-through, or lacking flattering design feautures.

After analysing some of our competitors and brands similar to our brand concept, I feel that there is definitely a gap in the market for our brand as we intend on creating quality garments with a luxury aesthetic in plus-sizes, something that House of CB and Oh Polly doesn’t offer. We also intend on creating garments with plus size bodies in mind, using supportive and flattering design features, that are trendy and fashionable for young women, something that PLT and BooHoo sometimes fail on.