23 Apr 2013

Emily Lawrence x Hannah Kim Ford

Credits: Georgina Nyan, find her on Twitter




Here's the final result of Emily and I's MoDA Obsession project. A collection of two outfits, it was an interesting project, we had very different approaches to the project and it was interesting to see how our ideas could come together and create something new - and I have a new found respect towards textile students, there is so much work and craftsmanship in what they are able to create. And on top of that they are also learning a lot of what the Fashion Design students are learning, so all the pattern cutting etc. on top of creating actual textiles! Gosh! 

/Hannah 

22 Apr 2013

MoDA Obession Show!



We ended up having our fashion show at The Cuban in Camden on the 20th of March 2013.
So here's the result of 3 months of hard work from a collaborative project between BA Fashion and BA Fashion and Textile Middlesex University students! Enjoy the show.

Filmed and edited by Danny Kasirye: http://dannykasirye.com

/Hannah

15 Apr 2013

Making Time!

I think this is my favourite stage of the whole process, seeing the idea becoming a reality. When you have spent 2 months researching, designing and developing your ideas, there's something thrilling lifting the idea from 2D and transforming it in to a 3D object. 


I always seem to get surprised that simple designs turn into a pattern cutting challenge. Simple designs, are not simple to create! Especially not when you are going through a phase of loving panels. 




The MoDA project was probably one of the most stressful projects that I have ever worked on.
As I signed up to be a student rep I also had the task of planning a fashion show with the fellow student reps from the other classes, so juggling that and doing the actual project at the same time, proved to be quite the challenge. Especially considering the circumstances of not having a budget for the show, as in there was no funding from the university and it had to be an of campus location. 
Let's just say that it's an experience that I'm not going to forget anytime soon! 

/Hannah

8 Apr 2013

Doodles



Design work for the MoDA Project, showing sketches from both Emily Lawrence and I - as it was a collaborative project. All the artwork is done by Emily as she is a textile student, so she's been developing ideas for prints and weave designs.

/Hannah   

1 Apr 2013

NUWANTED by Jody Ford




Jody from NUWANTED is an aspiring stylist who also loves doing her own photography. At the moment you can follow Jody's journey through her Final Major Project, which she's doing at Aylesbury College - where I also took my BTEC. 

Jody's FMP is portraying her styling and photography through unwanted clothes. She posts cute scanned-in versions of her notes, where she tells you about her inspiration for her styling and shoots. Who knows what her future will bring? Except the fact that she'll be starting UCLAN to study Fashion Promotion with Styling, I'm excited to follow her journey! 

/Hannah


Key Inspiration

When I started this project I started out with looking at the Dutch art movement called De Stijl, from there I moved on to other interior designers and architects, the last thing I was looking at during my research stage was Van Gogh. 

The different post-it notes represents different things, like; silhouette, colour, design details and interesting shapes in general.

/Hannah


29 Mar 2013

MoDA - Stand Work




The MoDA project has finished to an extend, which means I actually have a little bit of spare time to update the blog. To start idea generating, we are encouraged to work on the half stand, with paper or fabric to create silhouettes and shapes. 

These last few months have been crazy busy with the MoDA project, but as a student rep I also had to help plan the fashion show, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge...

I'll keep you posted!

/Hannah

22 Feb 2013

Working In The Studio

Hey, I found a spare moment in the library to update you on my current project: MoDA Obsession. I'm waiting for Phoenix to finish her seminar and after that we're going on a secret mission!

Here are some pictures from the other day, as I'm not working from my laptop I don't have all the pictures on me - so instead of showing what I've been working on, I thought it would be fun to some of the others work! (Hope they wont get upset, as they don't know about it!)

Actually I've worked on this with my partner Emily, we're currently trying to find out how to place a zip into a curve, which is turning out to be easier than we thought, its still not perfected to the standard that Paul (design tutor) wants, but he seemed slightly surprised, as he's be telling me all a long that its not possible. Im determined to prove him wrong!

Here's Erin, she's probably going to hate me for this, she was not keen on me taken her photo! Hence the blurriness of the image. She's been working on her prototype of her design, see below for the sketch of her design. Erin is a little genius when it comes to sewing! She helped pin my collar onto my jacket, so I could sew it - pictures coming up soon! Erin is in my class, so she's studying fashion design as well!


This is Rose, she's always so happy and cheery. Rose is studying Fashion and Textile and she's a pattern cutting master! She literally knows everything! She pattern cut and sewed her own freaking gloves! I'm telling that takes skill!

Rose has been working on these leggings, don't be frightened by the colour combination! It's just a toile  (prototype). But look at all those panels! 

Feel free to share your thoughts on our work! 


/Hannah


21 Feb 2013

The Danes Are in Town!

These two lovely girls have been spending the past three days here in London. Its been great to see some friendly faces from back home (Denmark). Ah I've missed them, 4.5 months without seeing them face to face. 


So this week I've been juggling uni (which as included prep for fitting, fitting, fashion show planning and a Generic Fashion lesson) and showing Mia and Julie around London. Monday we trotted around the shops and had a takeaway from Itsu and spend the evening chatting away in their hotel room. Tuesday, they spend the day site-seeing all the touristy places, in the afternoon we met up in Camden Town, had a meal at The Windmill (if you want good pies... GO!) on Savile Row and came back to Colindale so they could see where I live. Yesterday (Wednesday), Julie and Mia did some more shopping and checked out the theatre  show prices, which turned out to be too pricy. We met at Oxford Circus and walked around Soho and China Town, walked to Picadilly and jumped on the tube to Knightsbridge to see Harrods, checking out the designer accessories section to see wether or not they stocked a Michael Kors watch that Julie wanted. Then back to Picadilly to pick up some food we could eat at the hotel. Some more catching up - and they showed all the things that they had bought - lots and lots of Primark! 

Today at 9am they'll be on their way out of London and heading back to Copenhagen. 
Thanks for a good few days!

/Hannnah

PS. I'll be updating you guys on the projects ASAP. 

5 Feb 2013

Illustrations



It's been 3 weeks since I did my last post! Slacker... But this MoDA Obsessions project is driving me to the ground, hence the lack of posting, because the massive pile of work that I've needed to do. 'Obsessive' amounts of research and 50 designs with fronts and backs, plus the they needed to be coloured, presented with thumbnail images of where our inspiration cames from. Gluing and sticking is time consuming! And you feel my exhaustion? On top of that as a student rep, I'm also currently planning a fashion show with my fellow student reps. Planning a fashion show with no funding seems to be a bit of a challenge. 
Oh no, us students love to work for free for other companies (when we're doing internships), but do they want to work for free for the students? I don't think so! 
We haven't given up yet, surprisingly we are looking at the whole situation fairly positively - so that's good news. 

Back to the drawings. We've been doing extra sessions, now that the second years are on a placement, the tutors have found some spare time. And to be fair we've been complaining about not having illustration lessons, so kudos to them for listening to us (that's almost a miracle) . We've been doing different exercises - and to be quite frank, I'm WAY out of my comfort zone! It's okay, you're allowed to laugh at my drawings, I wont take any offense, beside I have excepted the fact that it's just not one of my talents. 
I know, I know, I could just practice, because practice makes perfect, but to be honest I'm just not that bothered. Once again, you might think I'm a slacker! 

Hope you're all well. I feel better now that I've handed in my work for an assessment. I was in the library yesterday from 12:00 am till 2:00 am this morning. Got to bed at 3:00 am and had four hours sleep... 
Commitment! Although you might sake your head at me, you haven't met the super heroes of the library; Rose, Phoenix, Mars and Erin - these girls stayed all night, they stayed right up till the hand-in at 9am this morning! Plus Phoenix then sat in the atrium with me and the other student reps and had a 2 hour long meeting! She deserve a medal and an applause! 


/Hannah

18 Jan 2013

Shirt & Silhouette


Photos taken by Jasmine Wickens. All rights reserved. 

These photos were taken by Jasmine from my class, these photos were taken for a look book that we had to create. I'll show you the full look book, when its finished.

Designed and created with my own to hands! 

/Hannah

15 Jan 2013

Better Late Than Never

I wanted to show you the dress some time before, but then I thought I didn't want to reveal it before Julie had actually worn it to her party, which was in late December. And well now it's mid-January. 
So here's the dress on Julie, doesn't she look beautiful? Well she always does regardless of what she wears! 

She wrote a lovely thing on Facbook: 
"Tak til min dejlige og talentfulde veninde Hannah fordi hun havde tiden og lysten til at sy denne fantastiske kjole til min galla." 
Need a translation? 
"Thank you to my lovely and talented friend Hannah because she had the time and will to sew this fantastic dress for my gala." 
Well there's no guarantee that you'll believe the translation if you're not Danish, for all you know I could be thinking very highly of myself ;) 
You could always ask Julie if you're in doubt. 

These are not actual images from her night, she took these afterwards, because she claims, that there are no decent photos of her from that night, well who believes that? 

/Hannah

11 Jan 2013

The Joys of Being A Student










My new brief:


The Museum oDomestic Design & Architecture is a treasure trove of visual inspiration developed from a number of eclectic collections acquired by Middlesex University between the late 1960s and the 1990s.
The collections include wallpapers, textiles, designs, books, catalogues and magazines from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. They are a great resource for any designer looking for inspiration.

Books
There is an extensive collection of books on a range of subjects including architecture, design, fine art, town planning, textile design, cookery, natural history and household management.
Many are interesting for their design, illustration and typography as well as their contents.

Designs
MoDA has around 40,000 original designs on paper.  Most of the designs are for wallpapers and textiles. They were created by the Silver Studio, which sold them to manufacturers around the country, between 1880 and the early1960s.
These designs are in a variety of media, including pencil, inks, charcoal, pastels and gouaches.

Ephemera
Designers who worked for the Silver Studio acquired lots of material for visual reference.  The collections of the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (MoDA) include everything from cigarette cards, postcards and newspaper cuttings to an important collection of Japanese katagami stencils.
Designers used these items to help them create designs which showed awareness of key fashion trends, while retaining mass market appeal.

Magazines & Journals
MoDA has an extensive collection of magazines, journals, brochures and retail catalogues, relating to all aspects of home furnishing and home buying.  This includes household management, cookery, DIY, homecrafts and gardening.
We also have material relating to the growth of interwar suburbia, including publicity material produced by estate agents and property developers.

Textiles
Most of the textiles in MoDA’s collections were designed for British homes between about 1880 and the 1960s.  Many were produced for well-known manufacturers such as Liberty & Co and Sandersons. We have examples of both printed and woven furnishing fabrics and some examples of dress fabrics.

Wallpapers
MoDA holds one of the country’s finest collections of mass market wallpapers, dating from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.  Some are part of the Silver Studio collection, while others originated from Crown Wallpapers.

We also have a small selection of wallpapers by well-known designers such as Edward Bawden, John Aldridge, Lucienne Day and others.

We want you to get obsessed with the MoDA collections!

You will go on an initial exploration visit to the MoDA museum to have a look at the collections. Find something that inspires you!. It could be a children’s book cover, a fragment of 1920’s wallpaper, a kitsch 1950’s housewives magazine, a faded postcard of a lost resort, an art nouveau woven textile, or a delicately graphic Japanese katagami stencil.

Once you have your starting point, you will become obsessed!. Find out everything you can about it, who made it/ designed it, what is it made of, who is it for, how was it used, when was it made, what is it’s social context…you will become the world’s foremost expert on this starting point!. It is vital that you arrange to visit the museum independently at any other time to further your research.

Your research output should be purely visual, providing information relating to your chosen obsession, from books, films & exhibitions. We would prefer to see your own documentation in the form of photographs, collages, drawings, paintings, stand work, hand work etc…(Images printed from the internet must be of a high quality in pixel size and print). Contemporary fashion images are not recommended, relevant historical fashion images may be used.

You may include some analytical notes, but these must be kept to a minimum, we are fashion designers, we must express ourselves visually!.

Turn your obsessive research to clothing by developing it into details within garments (i.e., pockets, collars, cuffs, fastenings, trims etc…) Visit boutiques, vintage & department stores, turn garments inside out, draw/sketch and photograph the details you see. Buy second hand clothes and manipulate them on the stand. Collect fabric samples that relates to your research in terms of theme, weight, colour and fibre.

From your research and development of clothing details you must design and produce 10 of your own DETAIL samples, which must be made perfectly in fabric and used when you begin your design development work.

Design minimum of 80 outfits, front and back, in colour. Make sure you consider the 10 detail samples! One of these outfits you will have to make and it needs to consist of 2 garments, top and bottom. Think about Silhouette, Proportion, Scale, Detail Placement, Trims, Construction techniques, Texture…

COLLABORATION


No fashion designer works in isolation! As a professional fashion designer you will always been working with others on your collections, this will apply to the design, development and making stages, the whole process from inspiration to runway is a series of collaborations.

Once the research and design development process of your collection is reaching completion, you will be grouped with one or more of your design colleagues either from Fashion Textiles or Fashion Design to begin designing your final collection and making an outfit for your fashion show.

Your final outfit will consist of 2 garments, top and bottom, and will be finished and presented to a professional standard.

OUTCOMES – Per Pair


HAND IN WEEK 23:
  • 1 Research Sketchbook
  • 10 fabric samples
  • 10 samples of details
  • 80 design developments in colour, front and back
And the following in Portfolio Format in this order:
  • 2 presentation pages
  • Line-up of final collection
  • 6 illustrations with
  • Working drawings and fabric swatches
FASHION SHOW TBC
  • Fully finished outfit presented to a high standard with appropriate styling.

Therefor I have been living in the library for the past 2 days and I'm now on my third, posting this from the library, needed a little break from the books!
 ALL initial research must be completed for Monday! Hence my absence on the blog! 

The final images for the Shirt and Silhouette project will be up soon! 

/Hannah


8 Jan 2013

Behind The Scene








 (Photos taken by me)

Here are some behind the scene shoots for the photo shoot we were doing for the Shirt and Silhouette project. We were asked to come together as a class/group to create this look book to showcase our shirts. We decided that we wanted an outside location rather than using a studio, but we still wanted something neutral, so it didn't overpower the white shirts. 
An underground carpark was suggested and we just fell in love with these concrete walls! 

Stick around to see the final result. 

/Hannah

1 Jan 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I spend New Years Eve in London with my parents, brother and auntie, standing on Westminster bridge - waiting four hours for the final count down and the explosive fireworks. It was amazing! The atmosphere was great and music was played, although next year could they please get a DJ that doesn't ruin songs and some proper speakers?

I was absoluetly blown away with the amount of people that were there - and getting of the bridge was a bit patience game. Thank God for the fact that they had closed most of the roads of in Central, so the massive crowd could freely move around. Several tube stations were closed, so we ended up walking from Westminster to King's Cross in the rain, had a quick break at MacDonald's to get some food and we finally got home at 5:30 am. 

Was it worth it? Yeah.... 

/Hannah