Last week our apprentices headed out on a field trip in London to kick start two of their new units they will be starting shortly.
Apprentice Jessica tells us all about the day here!
“On the 19th of July, we were given the opportunity to go on a trip for our new units that we will be starting shortly. They are both called investigating the markets and aspects of design.
Firstly, we set off to Oxford Circus. This is where we were asked to go around well-known shops and look at the different fashion brands and fashion trends that are happening at the moment. I thought this was a really helpful and good experience so that I was able to visually see what garments are trending at the moment and this was a good idea for evidence so that we are able to add all of the images to our sketchbooks and mood boards to help us gain good designs and ideas and to show our development.
The shops that we mainly looked around and found good inspiration from were Topshop, Top man, Miss Selfridge, Bershka, Urban Outfitters etc. We gathered and collected a range of different images for the garments that are trending.
We then went and looked at Liberty Department Store. I thought this was extremely helpful as I had never been in this store before so it was good to gain experience and knowledge with new embellishments and design ideas that were used in this shop. I looked at different brands in there for example: Gucci, Valentino, Kurt Gieger etc. It was good to see the colours, the different designs they used and the target audiences for these. I also loved not only seeing the clothes/ garments but footwear too.
We then made our way to the Anna Sui exhibition. This was at the Fashion & Textile Museum in Bermondsey. I really enjoyed the exhibition as this contained loads of development for design ideas including fashion silhouettes, different subjects from costume and design outfits including Victorian, hippie, rockstar, punk and retro. I loved seeing the mood boards to back up some of the garments. It was really helpful to see the research, images, fabric samples, design ideas and different colours that were included in these as I think this will help all of us for when we get the opportunity to design our own collection.
It was good to see the different styles in garments as this will give us more ideas and help us to research anything that we are interested in and to turn it into our own design by collecting our own images, information and research.
Overall, I think this was a really successful trip and I am really looking forward to these two units as I have had experience in designing a garment and I would love to do another unit like this so I can progress further within this subject.”