Think It Out Loud

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Literature Review

Books I have looked at the begininng of my Research

Borrelli, L B, 2002. Net Mode Web fashion now. 1st ed. london: Thames & Hudson.

This book analysies the uses of the World Wide Web to fashion. It identifies the sites that are most effective for the established big names. However what particularly interests me is the exploration of how small and new companies are utilising the versatility of this technology to great affect. It is a great visual reference in paper format of what is out there digitally and opens my mind to marketing/exhibiting fashion in a digital format.

Warwick A Cavallaro,D, 2001. Fashioning The Frame. 1st ed. New York: Berg.

This book examines the body in relation to dress. How clothes define who we are and individualise us. It examines how dress reminds us daily of the margins and boundaries we observe for the purpose of self construction. I am interested in this study with relation to what makes us choose to buy the clothes we do. It is relevant to understanding how to promote fashion.

Gianluca Bauzano, 2001. Roberto Capucci: Timeless Creativity. Edition. Skira.

This beautiful book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Roberto Capucci. Creativita al di la del tempo, Venice, February 13 – 27 2001. Visually beautiful it follows Capuccis journey following his desire to be completely independent and free to be experimental. He left the institutionalised structures of the fashion world with the intention of producing just one collection a year. He said he wanted each collection to be like an exhibition, similar to the one man show by an artist. I am fascinated by these links between the fashion designer and the artist and art and fashion and the correlation between the catwalk show and exhibition in a gallery.

Mike Easey, 2008. Fashion Marketing. 3 Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.

Fashion Marketing does what it says on the cover it looks at all the nitty gritty of marketing fashion. The particular interest for me is its discussion of the most effective way to get my message across about a new range. It offers a practical guide to the major decisions about marketing that help you to fulfil creative potential and be financially successful.

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Developing Your Audience

My Current Network Connections:

ArtsMatrix

Graduates from Fashion at Plymouth College Of Art

Fashion Staff of PCA Brigitte Stockton, Lyn Ahern,

Marketing Lecturer PCA Harriet Posner

Businesses
Fiona Williams Beau Boutique
Claire Packer Wet Felting Company
Photographers I have worked with in the past Pierre Mellows, Carly Fowler

Textile Artist Doris Roli-Smith, Sheron King

Jewellery Maker Oenone Cobbold

Identification of A Research Area

Where to start ? Fashion is a vast and dynamic practice which by its very nature is continually questioning itself conceptually and contextually, steeped in historical references, demanding awareness of the present only to almost immediately discard this for the future. As a fashion designer you need to have a creative talent for design and illustration and a technical ability for pattern cutting and construction. Equally importantly you need to be attuned to market considerations and trend predictions. In choosing an area for research I looked to find the weak link in my armoury as a fashion designer.

I have decided to research ways of promoting/ exhibiting my collaborative collection that I hope to take to Alternative Fashion Week in London. I hope that my designs will be selected to go down the catwalk which is the traditional method by which designers get noticed. However, my plan ‘B’ is to use my stand as my exhibition area and bring the collection to life using the medium of film. http://vimeo.com/15530349 My initial concept is to create a film of the garments being worn in everyday situations but not in the environment you would expect the specific dress to be in i.e. A full length evening dress in Tesco Express, a cocktail dress on a quad bike rounding up sheep! Inspired by the recent talks by curators I am considering how the body could be considered as an exhibition space. Whilst the catwalk allows the audience to see the ‘clothes walked’ I see that this method is restrictive for me clothes are about movement and I design with this in mind. I want to the clothes to be shown in ‘action’ not simply ‘walked’ as I feel that this will give a truer identity to the individual pieces and allow for a more emotional message behind the concept of the collection. This research would definately be a step out of my comfort Zone as although I have worked behind the scenes at a number of Catwalk shows and styled photoshoots I have never ventured into filmmaking and this will obviously involve collaboration.

In March this year an article in The Mail Online http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1371349/Trunk-shows-new-black-How-designers-shunning-catwalk-favour-traditional--profitable--private-events.html referenced the trend amongst designers to return to more intimate in-store previews. The Trunk show is where the designer shows in various stores or locations to buyers or selected clients. The term Trunk Show originates from the fact that designers would carry their wares around in a suitcase to sell to retailers. This return to the original marketing method of promoting fashion collections comes as the CEO of Marc Jacobs admits to spending at least 1million dollars on a nine and a half minute catwalk show. (wow!) I believe that the financial implications of putting on a catwalk show bares a huge influence on new designers who are trying to break into the market place. In order to exhibit at a catwalk event of note they would very likely have to get sponsorship which in turn could act to restrict their creativity and ownership of design. I therefore feel that although this research will indulge my personal rationale of creating an exhibition space for the purpose of marketing my collection to a wider audience it will also be of benefit to others in my practice who are trying to promote their designs and so meets the criteria to have an external rational.

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Learning Style Test

Question

I often take reasonable risks if I feel it is justified

I tend to solve problems using a step by step approach and avoid any fanciful ideas

I have a reputation of having a no-nonsense direct style

I often find that actions based on feelings are as sound as those on careful thoughts and analysis

The key factor in judging a proposed idea or solution is whether or not it works in practice

When I hear about a new idea or approach I like to start working out how to apply it in practice

I like to follow a self disciplined approach, establish clear processes and logical thinking patterns

I take pride in doing a methodical job

I get on best with logical, analytical people and less with spontaneous irrational people

I take care over the interpretation of data and avoid jumping to conclusions

I like to reach a decision after considering my alternatives

I am attracted more to new unusual ideas than to practical ones

I dislike situations that cannot fit into a coherent pattern

I like to relate my actions to general principles

In meetings I have a reputation for going straight to the point, no matter what others feel

I prefer to have as many sources of information as possible, the more the better

Flippant people who cannot take things seriously usually irritate me

I prefer to respond to events spontaneously, rather than plan things out in advance

I dislike having to present my conclusions under time pressure or rigid deadlines, when I could have spent more time thinking about the problem

I usually judge other people's ideas on their practical merits

I often get irritated by people who want to rush headlong into things

The present is much more important than thinking about the past or future

I think that decisions based on the analysis of the information are sounder than those based on intuition

In meetings I enjoy contributing ideas to the group

On balance I tend to talk more than I should and I need to develop my listening skills

In meetings I get very impatient with people who loose sight of the objective

I enjoy communicating my ideas and opinions to others

People in meetings should be realistic, keep to the point and avoid in indulging in fanciful ideas

I like to consider many alternatives before making up my mind

Considering the way my colleagues react in meetings I believe I am more objective and unemotional

In meetings I am more likely to keep in the background than to take the lead and do most of the talking

I prefer to do the listening than talking

Most times I believe the end justifies the mean

Reaching the group's objectives should take precedence over individual feelings and objections

I do whatever seems necessary to get the job done

I quickly get bored with methodical, detailed work

I am keen on exploring the basic principles and theories underpinning events

I like meetings to be run on methodical lines, sticking to the agreed agenda

I steer clear of subjective or ambiguous topics

http://brainmac.co.uk/learnstyle.htm

I enjoy the drama and excitement of a crisis

Activist	Preference
Reflector	Preference
Theorist	Preference
Pragmatist	Preference

My Life Mind Map

Monday, 14 November 2011

What is Practice Led Research?

"Practice-based research is like an elephant – a large, complex thing, with many different

and intriguing parts, textures, structures, and movements"

Practice led research is a developing methodology, it allows for the researcher to be a participant in their research. Research approaches now can be much more pro-active, involving practitioners researching through creative ‘action’, and ‘reflecting in and on action’ (Schon, 1983).

The tendancy is to think that all creative work is research but this is not the case. To make it practice led research it is important to distinguish between creative work that a practitioner undertakes to help to answer a question that is structured towards their personal goals, or undertaken to develop content for a creative project; and creative work that is intentional. Creative practice that is deliberate in its intention, that is accessible and creative as well as being structured towards producing new knowledge that is of benefit to others can be regarded as practice led research. Just because an artwork is new it doesn't make it original or ground-breaking in terms of knowledge production.

The acknowledgement of practice based research as a valid and important method has come about through the review of methodologies of MPhil and pHd studies through which key characteristics are recognised as being associated with practice led research. The research comes out of concerns from the researchers own practice but those same concerns can also be deemed as a concern in the wider professional context. Therefore there exists both a personal rational and an external rational for the research.

The emphasis of practice led research is on the creation of data rather than the collection of data. The intention is to move knowledge ‘from the unknown to the known'. The problem that is a recurrent theme in practice led research is the lack of a common vocabulary with which to convey the research methodologies.
"...Why has the art world been unable to articulate any kind of useful paradigm for what it is doing now?" (Eno, 1996, pp. 258_259) alludes to this in a speech at the UK Turner prize ceremony. The language that explains findings through practice needs to become more unified to allow society to recognise the soundness and validitity of the knowledge discovered in this way and to comprehend its significance and be able to place it in context to society and culture and validate it as academically important.

"Although Practice -led researchers frequently both produce and draw on concrete observations and measurements, the starting point is usually an idea; and the attitude is more often a concern with how humans construct the world through ideas, images, narratives and philosophies, than a generalisable 'truth', or understandings of cause and effect." Jen Webb.2008 http://www.writingnetwork.edu.au/content/brief-notes-practice-led-research-0 An example of practice led research which epitomises this notion is

Dr Jessica Bugg, Academic Co-ordinator, Director of Programmes (Performance)
2007, PhD, University of the Arts London.
'Interface: concept and context as strategies for innovative fashion design and communication', An Analysis from the perspective of the Conceptual Fashion Design Practitioner. In which she uses her practice of Fashion design to analyse how concept and context affect innovation of design and the ability to enable communication through design.