Fashion Details : Week 8 - Design Development

In this week's lesson, Ms. Debra taught us on the vital and essential aspects when designing a collection.

In the process of designing, first of all, we have to be very clear of our target market/audience. Thus, it important that we do extensive research on the demographic (age group, gross salary, hobbies etc.) of the people in the region we are targeting. Depending on the season we are designing for the collection, it's good to research on the climate of the targeted region/country as well as the weather and temperature will also indirectly determine the garment people prefer to wear.

In terms of branding, we have to know if we are a luxury, high-end brand or a mid-tier brand etc. The price of the garments has to be reflected in the design, finishing and fabric use for the garments. We have to research and investigate on our competitors(other brands) too, whereby the style, price of their garments and their targeted market is relatively similar to ours.

In terms of inspiration, we have to go deeper into the topic we chose. We cannot just think about the obvious elements of it but the value, spirit behind it and the little intricate details that people do not usually take notice. At such, we can then create a good concept for our collection. Our inspiration will eventually influence the design and color palette of the collection. However, it's also critical that we do trend research on the textile, colors, styling and silhouette. We have to carefully select and incorporate trending elements that suit the theme into our collection so that we can better attract buyers. However, we should not totally follow trends and neglect the distinctive elements in the theme that inspired that collection.

Lastly for in designing, we have to think about the practicality of our design for our targeted consumers. We need to understand how we are going to assemble and construct the garments such that it resemble the design. A good design should sell the whole look whereby people are attracted to buy the whole outfit rather than just individual garments.

I showed some of my design to my group mates. They thought that they could possibly adapt it but not use the whole design as they felt that there could have been more interesting details and there is not enough essence of rebellious in it.