illustrations

1.  Inspirational notice board in the office of 15.  Jacket by Galliano with vintage jewellery,
Roy Peach ii Spring/Summer 2010 29

2. Sketchbook pages by Ruth Davis 3 16.  Vintage jewellery stall in Portobello

­Market 30
3. Sketchbook pages by Ruth Davis 4
17. Store windows 31
4. Screenshot of Cooliris search 7
18.  Punks on the Kings Road (1979) 32
5. Screenshot of Scrapblog 9
19. Harajuku girls in Tokyo (2000) 33
6.  Kinder Aggugini: Image from London Fash-
ion Week, Spring/Summer 2010 11 20.  Women in miniskirts and the Mini motor car
(1966) 34
7. Prada flagship store, New York 12

21. Frida Kahlo and self-portraits 35

8. Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady 14

22.  Grandparents’ wedding photo (1927) 36

9. Mind map of global warming 17

10.  Mind map created using PersonalBrain 23. A scene from Cabaret (1972) 37

software 18
24.  Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino at the
11.  Historically inspired outfit by Vivienne 2001 Oscars 39
Westwood from her 1996 Spring/Summer
25.  Images from The Cutters’ Practical Guide
ready-to-wear collection 23
to Lounges, Reefers, Norfolk, Sporting and
12. Example of a farthingale 24 Patrol Jackets (c.1890) 40

13.  Land workers harvesting the ripened sun- 26. Steve McQueen’s Belstaff jacket 42
flowers, September 1944 26
27.  Jack Nicholson in pea coat—scene from
14.  Vita Sackville-West in breeches (1960) 27 The Last Detail (1975) 43
xii illustrations

28.  Development page for a vintage sailor 44.  Selection of fancy yarns by Flyhoof 87
jacket, by Miriam Sucis 44
45. A jacquard fabric on the loom 89
29.  Sketches from life by Max Gaimster 45
46.  Shima Seiki whole-garment knitting ma-
30.  Kate Moss in Ugg boots (2003) 47 chine (Mach2X153) 92

31.  Flower people’s love-in (1967) 48 47. Circular knitting machine 93

32.  New Romantics in Cagney’s club, off Lon- 48. Lace collar, Irish (c.1880) 94
don Road, Liverpool (1981) 49
49.  Preparatory drawing of a nuthatch by
33.  Madonna on her Blonde Ambition tour Philippa Leith 96
(1990) wearing an outfit designed by Jean
50.  Tajima industrial embroidery machine 97
Paul Gaultier 50
51.  Rebecca Adlington models the new-
34.  Fabrican spray-on dress by Manel
generation Speedo LZR Racer Elite FINA-
­Torres 50
approved 2010 suit 98

35.  Chiffon snowflakes created by Fong Wong 52.  Selection of ribbons and trimmings 99
using laser cutting techniques 51
53.  Premiere Vision September 2010 Seduc-
36.  Adidas by Stella McCartney, London Fash- tion Forum image 103
ion Week, September 2008 52
54.  Jacket by Anne Marie Beretta (1979)
37.  MBTs are continuously pushing ahead the 111
development of their physiological foot-
wear range 54 55.  Outfit by Maison Martin Margiela during the
Autumn/Winter 2010/11 ready-to-wear col-
38.  Trend team meeting at Nelly Rodi 74 lection show 112

39. Freshly shorn wool 82 56.  Model ‘New Look’ of Christian Dior (France,
1947) 114
40.  Embroidered silk garments at a Beijing arts
and crafts market 83 57.  Denver Art Museum, Frederic C. Hamilton
Building 123
41. Cotton plant 84
58. Garment trend information 127
42. Natural polymer fibres 86
59.  Screenshot from Susie Bubble’s Style Bub-
43. Synthetic fibres 87 ble fashion blog 130
illustrations xiii

60.  Pages from Ecostyle, a trend book pub- 75.  Sketchbook page for jewellery ­designs
lished by Promostyl in 1992 133 158

61.  Page from Promostyl trend book in 76. Development sheets by Miriam Sucis 161
2010 134
77. Development sheets by Jeun Ho Tsang 161
62. Nelly Rodi trend books 136
78. Specification sheet 162
63.  Beauty page from a trend book 137
79. Dress by Tonia Bastyan 165
64.  Moodboard by Rene de Lange 140
80. Moodboards 166
65.  South Korean models pose during a per-
formance called ‘VB60’, by Italian-born 81.  TV commercial storyboard for ­shopping
New York–based artist Vanessa Beecroft, mall gala grand opening 167
at a Seoul department store, 26 February
2007 145 82.  Recliner folded from one uncut sheet of
paper. 170
66.  Preparatory drawings by Gavin Fer-
nandes 148 83. Assassin boot 171

67.  Empire Line by Gavin Fernandes (London, 84. Designing on the stand 172
2005) 148
85. Image from Romans Cad 173
68.  Design by Sophie Mansfield, student at the
Fashion Design Studio TAFE NSW Sydney 86. Inktense pencils by Derwent 182
Institute 150
87. Selection of papers 184
69.  Student work for the khadi project at Am-
88. Technical drawing sheet 185
sterdam Fashion Institute 151

70. Design developments by Nicola Morgan 152 89.  Aquafine brushes by Daler Rowney 186

71.  Design developments By Emma Crowther 90.  Kacchi’s sketch for the commercial project
153 shown in Plate 24 187

72.  Design developments By Jessica Mills 91.  London College of Fashion Library 189
154
92.  Tetons and the Snake River, by Ansel
73. Design developments By Jessica Mills 155 Adams 195

74. Illustration by Rob Phillips 157 93.  An image after and before editing 198
xiv illustrations

94.  Iwan Thomas flies the flag for Wales after 110.  Images from Julia Dorff’s ossify proj-
victory in the 400m during the Common- ect 248
wealth Games 204
111.  Design created in OptiTex by Zorana Ko-
95.  A Google search results page for the key- zomara 249
word fashion. 209
112. Design created in OptiTex 250
96. Screenshot of Zotero library 210
113.  Fashion Research Institute virtual runway
97.  Screenshot of Delicious page 210 in OpenSim 252

98. An RSS icon 211 114.  Display of work by Claire Baker 255

99.  Screenshot of Wikipedia page on 115.  Claire Baker’s display at New Designers
­fashion 212 2009 256

100.  Screenshot of Un Nouveau Ideal 217 116.  Still from film by Rene De Lange 257

101.  Online Fashion 100 (2009): Cover of the 117.  Another still from film by Rene De
e-book 220 Lange 258

102.  Screenshot from author’s Twitter page 222 118.  Dior Spring/Summer 2010 haute couture
show 259
103.  Range plan created using Kaledo Style by
Lectra 223 119.  Image from McQueen catwalk show
Spring/Summer 2010 260
104.  Textile designs produced using Speed
Step ProPainter® 224 120.  Presentation sheet created in Kaledo
Style by Lectra 265
105.  Singer sewing machines advertisement
poster 234 121.  Presentation sheet produced in Speed
Step ProPainter 265
106.  Designers of books and magazines use a
grid to help order the elements, text and il- 122.  Design being created in Romans Cad
lustrations throughout a publication 240 software by Lectra 266

107.  A selection of layout designs for presenta- 123.  Research into producing real-time three-
tion sheets 241 dimensional visualizations for online fashion
retail by Peter Hill for the Fashion Digital Stu-
108.  Technical drawing created using Speed dio at London College of Fashion 267
Step Sketch 243
124.  Planogram created in Mockshop 269
109.  Images from Julia Dorff’s graduate port-
folio 248 125.  Virtual store created in Mockshop 270
plates

1.  Inspirational notice board in the office of 15.  The NCS colour circle, Natural Color Sys-
Roy Peach tem®©

2.  Traditional Chinese embroidered baby 16. Munsell colour system

­carrier
17. CIELAB colour space
3.  ‘Six’ illustration of final collection by Fong
Wong 18.  Handwoven fabrics with light-responsive
material by Jenny Shellard, photographed
4.  Collage of inspirational images by Basia under ultraviolet and projected light by
­Szkutnicka Peter Mackertich

5.  How the eye sees colour 19.  The English Bird Garden (textile design by
Philippa Leith).
6.  RGB and CMYK colour
20. Selection of vintage fabrics
7.  Colour wheel
21. Colour trend information
8.  Primary, secondary and tertiary colours
22.  Journal pages inspired by history of cos-
9. Complementary colours tume

10.  Colour interactions: Receding and advanc- 23. Artgrip coloured pencils
ing colours
24.  Commercial project by Kacchi for LUMINE
11.  Lottie Smith’s collage of research and department store and Chocolate
­development for her graduate collection
25.  Charlotte Hodes, ‘Sèvres Silhouette I’
12.  Summer and winter colour palettes
26.  Charlotte Hodes, ‘Bathers: Pool’
13. The four colour groups
27.  Ana Stankovic Fitzgerald’s Picasa Web
14.  Author’s page on myPANTONE album
xvi plates

28.  A pattern, grading and marker by Dan- 30.  Sketches by Ayako Machida
iela Orsulova, created in Gerber Accumark
CAD programmes for design development 31.  Personal work by Ayako Machida

29.  Tiffany Ong’s Entomological Knits at the 32.  Watercolour floral placement graphics de-
Royal College of Art Summer Show in signed to be compatible with standard
2009 screen-printing processes
acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of the friends and colleagues in the fashion industry who have given their time
and expertise to make this book possible. So many people have contributed either directly or indirectly
that I am sure that I will have forgotten someone, so my apologies to them.
As well as all of the contributors who feature in the text I would like to thank the following people, who
provided invaluable technical and background information, support and encouragement and access
to resources: Katherine Baird, Sharon Blackford, Val Buchanan, Mark Clayton, Honora Eskridge and
colleagues at the North Carolina State University College of Textiles, David Foley, Prof Hilary Grainger,
Julia Hall and the team at Berg, Dr. Ellie Herrington, Carmel McNamara, Roy Peach, Laura Scott, Marilyn
Sturgeon, and Felicity Wade. I also thank Terry Weston for sharing her knowledge of textiles and giving
permission to use the definitions from the Anstey Weston Guide to Textile Terms and Definitions.
My husband, Peter, deserves a special mention for being my test reader; he now knows more about
the fashion industry than he ever could have imagined. I thank my children Natalie and Max for their
encouragement and patience and all of my colleagues at London College of Fashion and friends at the
Textile Institute and the Society of Dyers and Colourists.
I have learned a lot in this process, and people have been very generous with their time and advice;
any mistakes, however, are my own.
introduction

purpose of the book death. I have no doubt that his exceptional legacy
will live on and his contribution to the world of
The inspiration for this book comes from many fashion will never be forgotten.
years of working in fashion education. During Several strong themes emerged from the inter-
this time I have often encountered students who views. These are worthy of highlighting here and
struggled with how to conduct visual research bearing in mind as you work your way through the
and how to analyse, interpret and use their re- book. The need for research that extends beyond
search to develop their own ideas. As part of my the boundaries of the catwalk has been high-
doctoral research I observed students using the lighted by most of the contributors along with the
Internet to research fabrics. I came to understand necessity of using a wide range of resources and
that whilst they might feel fairly comfortable with developing your own professional network.
using the Internet, they often lacked basic infor- The big issues affecting the fashion industry
mation-seeking skills. This book is intended to are those of ethical and sustainable development.
provide a guide to the research process for nov- The fashion industry has historically been accused
ice researchers and those who might want to be of exploitation of both people and the environ-
more strategic in their approach. It is focused on ment. The consumer is now more aware of these
fashion, but many of the methods and principles issues, and fashion companies have to respond
apply to many areas of art and design. to their concerns. Ethical and sustainable trading
In the course of researching this book, the practices are going to become more important,
message that came through from many of the so it is vital that all those entering the fashion in-
contributors was that they do not look at fash- dustry have an understanding of what this means
ion for inspiration, that it often comes from other to them in their role or context. This might mean
sources. For this reason some of the contribu- ensuring that the factories you use comply with
tions, references and case studies are from other the current legislation or deciding that you are not
creative fields that have a connection with fashion, going to use materials that are particularly harmful
such as graphic design and photography. to the environment or cannot be recycled.
The interviews took place over a period of two
years between 2008 and 2010. The fast-moving
nature of the fashion industry means that some of who is this book for?
the contributors have moved on from the posts
that they held at the time they were interviewed. The premise of this book is that all those who
We have also sadly lost Alexander McQueen, an work in the fashion industry, regardless of their
outstanding designer who is referred to in some role, need to engage in visual research throughout
of the interviews that were conducted prior to his their career. This is not a book just for designers;
xx visual research methods in fashion

its intention is to inform anyone who is interested overview of chapters

in working in fashion, whether they are planning
to be a buyer, a designer, a journalist or a visual Chapter 1 ‘Strategies for Information Seeking’
merchandiser. You may already be working in the Professional researchers use a range of strat-
fashion industry and taking on a new role, or you egies to find the information they need quickly
might be about to start your first job. This book is and efficiently. They know how to validate it and
intended to help you develop your research skills to catalogue it so that it can easily be retrieved
and apply them in a professional context. Con- when needed. This chapter gives you some key
tributions from professionals working in fashion strategies and skills to make you a more effec-
ensure that the information provided is relevant to tive researcher. It also provides you with some
the current fashion industry. tools to help to develop your creative thinking
skills.

how to use this book Chapter 2 ‘Sources of Inspiration’

In this chapter we explore the range of sources
The first chapter, ‘Strategies for Information Seek- of inspiration that are available to the fashion cre-
ing’, illustrates techniques and methods that can ative and discuss why they are useful, how they
make your research more effective. It is strongly are relevant to a range of roles within the industry
recommended that you read this chapter first to and how the type of visual resources you use may
provide a strong foundation of skills that can be ap- differ according to the market you are working in.
plied throughout the rest of the book. Each chapter It also suggests ideas for exercises and activities
includes an overview of the topic; there are case to do when inspiration fails to come.
studies and interviews with professionals as well as
exercises and projects to develop your skills. Chapter 3 ‘Colour Theory and Practice’
The language of fashion is visual, but it also Colour is at the very heart of the fashion industry;
requires an oral and written vocabulary to help us it drives trends and is the starting point for the de-
to communicate with each other. My experience velopment of new products. An understanding of
as a tutor and researcher has clarified the need for colour—how it works in different media and how
students to understand the distinctive vocabulary we react to it—is vital for anyone working in the
that is integral to the fashion industry. Throughout fashion industry. This chapter covers the theory
the book key terms appear in bold font. These of how we see colour, the reproduction of colour
are explained in the glossary, and sources of writ- and the challenges of specifying and matching
ten and numerical data to support your visual re- colours across product ranges and the supply
search are provided. Each section has references chain.
and suggestions for further research and reading.
There are also links to Web sites that provide more Chapter 4 ‘Textiles and Trimmings’
detailed information. All links were functioning on An understanding of textiles is fundamental to
the date accessed. Updated links and further in- operating within the fashion industry; they are the
formation are available on the companion Web raw materials of the trade. This chapter introduces
site for this book (http://www.juliagaimster.co.uk). you to basic textile terminology, the ways textiles
introduction xxi

are sourced and used, and the ways trade shows nondigital tools and techniques in the research
operate. process. It includes a discussion of different art
materials as well as tips on how to use libraries
Chapter 5 ‘Trends and Forecasting’ and archives. It gives an overview of basic photo-
Without trends there would not be fashion, but graphic techniques and explains the role of image
trend forecasting and interpretation are areas that agencies.
often mystify students and professionals alike.
Where do trends come from? How do they de- Chapter 8 ‘Web- and Technology-based
velop? Who decides what they are going to be? Research Tools’
This chapter explores fashion trends from a range This chapter explores the potential of Web-based
of perspectives using interviews with people who and technological tools for assisting you in the re-
are actively involved in this area of the industry. search process. It covers the use of image data-
The chapter describes different approaches to bases, bibliographic tools, visual search tools and
trend forecasting and also explains how the in- computer-aided design and presentation. It also
formation is used by companies to inform their covers the important issue of copyright: how to
decision-making processes. protect your rights and avoid violating the rights
of others.
Chapter 6 ‘Concept Development, Drawing
and Creativity’ Chapter 9 ‘Visual Research for Presentation’
This chapter illustrates how you can use the inspi- An important part of the fashion industry is the
rational images that you have sourced to further presentation of your ideas, so the final chapter
develop an idea or concept. It explains how to discusses and demonstrates effective ways of
analyse and edit the images you have collected presenting your ideas using both traditional tech-
to build a coherent story that you can present to niques and new technologies. It covers the basics
a client. It introduces some creative projects and of typography and layout design as well as sources
talks about the role of drawing in concept devel- of inspiration for presentation of your work.
opment, including the use of sketchbooks and
visual journals. Glossary
All the key terms used in the book are in the
Chapter 7 ‘Traditional Research Tools glossary.
and Techniques’
Not everyone has on-demand access to the In- Contributors and Useful Contacts
ternet, and not every resource is available online. This section gives contact information for useful
This chapter outlines the importance of traditional sources of further information.
chapter 1

strategies for information seeking

Chapter Overview
Finding the right information quickly and efficiently is a skill, and it requires some forethought
and planning. This is especially important in an age where we are bombarded with information
and visual imagery. In this chapter you will learn some tips and tricks for efficient information
seeking, organization, evaluation and retrieval. These methods will help you to be more efficient
and productive when you are researching a project or just generally gathering information that
may be useful to you in the future.
This chapter includes:
• Primary and secondary research
• Purposes of research
• Case study: Ruth Davis
• Planning your research strategy
• Being prepared
• Interview with Tony Glenville
• Interview with Eric Musgrave
• Creative thinking tools.

primary and secondary Secondary, or desk-based, research uses

research resources already created by other people:
books, films, the Internet, magazines, newspa-
There are fundamentally two types of visual re- pers or other media. When you use secondary
search, primary and secondary, or desk-based research, it is important to acknowledge the
research. Primary research involves going out source of your information by referencing it. This
and engaging with people, places and objects; enables other people to refer to your research,
taking your own photographs or videos; and and it also prevents you from being accused of
making your own sketches, drawings and three- plagiarism. For more on this topic see Chapter
dimensional pieces. Primary research engages all 8. Secondary research especially via the Internet
of the senses: it enables you to touch things, smell enables you to access a lot of information very
them, see them in situ and appreciate their scale quickly and to cross-check facts and figures. The
and the intricacy of detail, finish and structure. disadvantage of secondary research is that you
2 visual research methods in fashion

cannot feel the texture or appreciate the scale of your own understanding of the world and your
the object you are researching. One disadvan- subject. This is a process of collecting, sifting
tage of using the Internet for visual research is and storing information that may be relevant to
that many of the images are low resolution so you in the future. It provides a context for current
that they will download quickly. Some Web sites trends or issues that may affect you or your con-
offer the opportunity to zoom in on an image or sumer. This kind of research is about being up
see a copy at a higher resolution. Some allow to date on current affairs and issues that might
you to download images for your own research; influence fashion, and about gathering incidental
others do not. Always check the terms and con- images that inspire you and may be useful for a
ditions. Images in books tend to be higher resolu- current or future project. This research process
tion but may not be representative of their true is continuous and not necessarily related to a
scale. Something that is 6 × 4 centimetres in a particular project; it gives you an understanding
book may be 6 × 4 metres in reality, or it could of what is going on in the world and the gen-
be 6 × 4 millimetres. Good art books will always eral zeitgeist. This kind of research involves the
give you the original dimensions, but it can still be following:
difficult to imagine what the real thing looks like.
This is why primary research is also necessary. • Reading: newspapers, magazines, books
You cannot truly know a painting from a postcard (fiction and nonfiction)
reproduction. • Checking: the business pages and trade
For most projects or assignments you will magazines
need to conduct both primary and secondary re- • Watching or listening: to the news, current
search. Primary research brings a unique quality affairs and cultural programmes
to your product or design; secondary research • Visiting: the theatre, the cinema, interesting
helps you to understand the context of a prod- new stores, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs,
uct, society, artistic movement or musical genre music festivals/gigs
and extends the boundaries of your primary • Subscribing: to blogs and online newslet-
research. ters, magazines and trade journals relevant
to your subject/role
• Collecting: images, articles, photographs,
purposes of research objects.

There are also different reasons for carrying out A lot of people will carry a sketchbook or vi-
visual research, and the methodologies that you sual journal entirely for this purpose. They note
employ will depend upon the purpose. down titles of books to read, places to visit and
Web sites to look up, and they include articles torn
Background Research out of newspapers or magazines, quick notes to
The first kind of visual research is general back- themselves or sketches of things they have no-
ground research, gathering information to build ticed around them.
strategies for information seeking 3

Case Study: Ruth Davis

Ruth is a textile designer, and for her graduate collection, which was shown at Texprint 2009
(http://www.texprint.org.uk), she created a range called ‘Tin Can Alley’. The collection celebrates the
quintessentially British charm of Scarborough and its market vaults, which are full of obscure, beautiful
treasures. Ruth is passionate about screen-printing, and her designs are developed from her original
paintings. She says, ‘Everything must have a story behind it, even if it only makes sense to me, making
my printed fabrics into a scrapbook of memories. “Tin Can Alley” is a reflection of times gone by, just
some carefree fun fashions and fond memories.’ Her sketchbooks are rich and colourful and packed
with imagery that she finds inspiring.

Sketchbook pages. Courtesy of Ruth Davis. Reproduced with permission.

4 visual research methods in fashion

Sketchbook pages. Courtesy of Ruth Davis. Reproduced with permission.

Project-specific Research planning your research

This is the kind of research you need to do to an- strategy
swer an assignment brief or to produce a piece of
work for a client. This kind of research is focused Many people undertake research without any
and specific to the problem you are trying to solve planning and without a strategy. You may go
or the brief you have been given. You will probably straight to Google, Yahoo or another search
be working to a deadline and will therefore have engine, type in the first word that seems ap-
limited time to carry out your research, develop propriate and follow a series of links until you
your ideas and present your concept or solution. happen upon the information that you needed;
This kind of research involves all of the activities or you may give up in exasperation. Relying on
required for background research, but you will the Internet is not always the easiest or quick-
have definite boundaries to the type of images est way to find the information you are looking
and information you are seeking. Project research for: you could spend several hours looking for an
requires a strategy and some planning if you are image that is easily accessible in the library. You
going to be effective. may also be unaware of specialist databases
strategies for information seeking 5

and search engines that would make your mis- can then plot this information onto a timeline and
sion easier. If you do not know which keywords keep track of your progress. The timeline will also
to use and instead enter generic terms, this will indicate how much time you can afford to spend
throw up a lot of results that are not sufficiently on your initial research.
specific. If you have not previously defined the The research process can continue right
parameters of your research, you will not know through the project; you may need to research
when to stop or which information is really rel- a technique in order to realize your idea, or you
evant. The following steps will help you to avoid may find that a particular process does not give
many of these pitfalls and to develop an effective you the effect you desired so that you have to go
search strategy. back and experiment with a new technique. The
technique itself may inform the direction of the de-
Step 1: Identify Your Search Parameters sign; sometimes accidents can lead to new ideas.
Whether you are using a search engine, a library However, at some point you have to make a deci-
catalogue or even microfiche, you need to de- sion and stick to it; otherwise, you will have fabu-
fine the terms and the boundaries of your search. lous research and experimentation but no finished
This helps you to ensure that you are covering all product to deliver to your client.
of the areas that you need but will not be over- It is easy to get sidetracked and gather lots of
whelmed with so much information that you don’t information that is interesting or around the edges
know where to start. of your topic but not essential to what you need.
If, for example, you are researching the 1960s, You need to make quick decisions about whether
which aspects of the period are important to you: or not a line of investigation is worth following. Is
designers, photographers, interiors, economics? it going to add real value to your project? If not,
Are you interested in the early, mid or late 1960s? discard it, or put it to one side if you think it may
Being able to accurately refine the dates of a be useful later.
search will help you to find relevant information
more easily. Step 3: Identify Your Keywords
If you are searching the Internet, a database or
Step 2: Set a Time Limit a catalogue, the information that you get back
Often the problem is to know when to stop re- will be only as good as the keywords that you
searching and start developing your ideas. To enter or the questions that you ask. If you don’t
help you plan, you need to work out how long know a lot about the topic, you may not enter the
you have to complete your project and create a right keywords and therefore may not get all the
project timeline. It can be useful to work back- information.
wards from the deadline. You need to list all el- Write a list of the keywords you are going to
ements of the activity—research, development, use, then consult a thesaurus to see if there
sourcing of materials, experimenting with finishes, are any synonyms or related terms you could
presenting initial concepts and so on—and work use. Use a professional glossary, dictionary or
out how much time to allow for each. Always try encyclopaedia to see if there are any technical
to build in some time for things to go wrong. You terms you are unaware of that may be useful.
6 visual research methods in fashion

For example, if you are looking for information Step 5: Make a Checklist
about birds, you could also look under ornithol- To ensure that you have covered all the topics,
ogy, wildlife, natural sciences and so on, then keywords and resources, make a checklist and
drill down into specific species. It is always worth tick off each search as you complete it. Many on-
checking to see if different terminologies are line tools enable you to store search information
used in different countries. In fashion there are or the images that you have retrieved automati-
quite a few differences in American and ­English cally, but it can still be useful to have your own
terminology: apparel/clothing, sloper/block physical list. You can create this by hand or using
and so on. a word processing or spreadsheet programme. It
When you use a search engine to search for is very easy to forget what you have and haven’t
documents using a keyword, it will look for in- done; a list speeds things up.
stances of that keyword in the document or title
of the document. When you search for images, Step 6: Use Advanced Options
it will look for the keywords that the person who Most online resources offer options and tools
produced an image has assigned to it. Unfortu- to refine your search by including or exclud-
nately there is no agreed set of keywords for the ing words, formats or dates. This helps you by
classification of images. Image databases usually returning a more focused list of resources that
have some sort of taxonomy that they use, but should be more relevant. You can often use +
if you are using Google images, there is no such or – to include or exclude words from your
thing. So a search for cats should bring back pic- search, and quotation marks to indicate that
tures of cats but may also include images from you are looking for a phrase, ‘British designer’
the musical Cats or a band called Cats or some- for example, not two individual words. Without
one who has the nickname Cats. Generic image the quotation marks the search engine might
search engines may also produce images that bring back results about anything British or any
are out of context: there is often no information designer.
about the source of the image, about who cre- Information on the Internet also comes in lots
ated it where or when or about who owns the of formats: audio, video, documents, charts and
copyright. maps. If you are looking only for images, then
most search engines will allow you to select this
Step 4: Identify Your Resources option. There are some excellent image search
Identify and list the physical and virtual resources tools that can speed up this process, such as
you are going to use. These could include library Cooliris (http://www.cooliris.com).
catalogues, online databases and professional
organizations, museums and art galleries. If you Step 7: Evaluate Your Information
don’t know where to start or whether there are Not all information is good or accurate. It always
any specialist resources relating to your topic, it pays to know something about the source of
may be worth talking to a librarian or someone your information so that you can verify it. This is
from a professional organization who may be able particularly relevant with information that you find
to point you in the right direction. online. Books and journals have usually been
strategies for information seeking 7

Screenshot of Cooliris search. Courtesy of the author. Reproduced with permission of Cooliris.

through a rigorous process in which the publisher means it is an organization, URLs containing .ac.
will have checked out the author’s credentials. An or .edu point to academic sites, and .com indi-
article in an academic journal will have been peer- cates a business. Also, look at the ‘About us’ sec-
reviewed. You can’t always assume that what you tion of the site. It should tell you a bit about who is
read in newspapers is completely neutral. News- behind it. The currency of the information is also
papers are in the business of selling; they may also important. When was the piece written, and has
have a particular political affiliation that may affect anyone written on the topic since? When was the
the emphasis they give to a story. The same ap- site last updated?
plies with the Internet: sites may be sponsored by
political or religious organizations, by companies Step 8: Record and Categorize Your
trying to sell or promote a product, by individuals References
with a particular motivation or even by people who Once you have found your information and
just like to mislead others. So how do you know have decided that it is useful, you need a way
what information to trust? to quickly access or acknowledge the source.
You should always try to check your informa- There is nothing more frustrating than having to
tion with more than one source, a process called repeat a search because you have forgotten to
triangulation. On the Internet there will be clues record where you found something. There are a
to the site’s sponsor in the address of the site lot of tools that will help you with this process;
(otherwise known as the URL). The ending .org they are detailed in Chapter 8. The key is to have
8 visual research methods in fashion

a system and stick to it, whether it is a card index, • Scrapbooks can work in two ways: you can
a computer programme or a set of box files. You stick things in them as you collect them, or
need to decide how to categorize the informa- you can use them to collate imagery into
tion you find—whether to sort your information themes once you have edited it. Creating
by theme, date, title, project, client, artist or de- scrapbooks has become somewhat of an
signer and so on. art form, and you can even upload your im-
If you are using a database-type system, ages and do it online at Scrapblog (http://
you may be able to store and retrieve your in- www.scrapblog.com).
formation in several ways depending upon the • Shoeboxes are sturdy and very useful for
fields or tags that you use. At the very least storing three-dimensional objects. You can
you should record the name of the book or the paint or cover them and add labels.
Web site where you found the image, the name • Expanding wallets are good for collecting
of the artist and the date the image was pro- the research for a specific project. They
duced, if this is available. You may need this usually have tabs and labels, and some
information for lots of reasons: to acknowledge have handles making them easy to carry.
the copyright holder, to retrieve the image again • Photo albums come in a range of sizes and
or to purchase an image to use in a project. If styles from traditional paper to self-adhesive.
the image is in a book, note which library you
borrowed it from. Other useful storage containers include plastic
It is just as important to have a systematic crates, baskets and shoe tidies. You will possibly
way of storing physical items and imagery: you need a combination of some or all of the above.
may be collecting newspaper and magazine cut- Whatever you choose, make sure you label every-
tings, postcards, sweet wrappers, swing tags and thing and are systematic in your storage.
point-of-sale materials. Your collection can grow
quickly and be difficult to organize. Here are some
ideas for organizing your paraphernalia. being prepared
• Plastic wallets are more durable than card- Whether you are conducting primary or second-
board and can easily be labelled with stick- ary research, you should always do some prelimi-
ers. If they are transparent, you will easily be nary preparation. Complete your research plans
able to see what is in them. as already described before setting out on a
• Box files are extremely versatile for storing project-specific mission, and make sure you have
fabric swatches, yarn samples, photos and everything you need with you.
cuttings. You never know when you are going to come
• A filing cabinet is often the best option across something or someone that you want
for a large number of printed documents. to record. Good researchers will always have a
New ones can be expensive so look for a sketchbook or notebook to hand and carry a small
­second-hand office supply store. You will digital camera (or camera phone) so that they can
need hanging files to fit the drawers. capture the unexpected. Your phone may also
strategies for information seeking 9

Screenshot of Scrapblog. Courtesy of the author.

have a voice-recording facility; this can be useful Health and Safety

for making quick reminders when you don’t have Before undertaking any primary research project you
a pen to hand or for carrying out vox pop inter- should always carry out a risk assessment. If you are
views to support your visual research. interviewing people, make sure that you do it in a
When carrying out primary research always safe place and that someone knows where you are.
check that it is OK to sketch or photograph. If you are carrying expensive equipment, it may be
Some museums allow you to take pictures; a good idea to take someone with you. Do not put
some don’t. Those that do often insist that you yourself in situations where you might be in danger.
do not use flash, so make sure you know how
to turn yours off. Most stores will not allow you Ethical Considerations
to take photographs or make sketches of their Depending upon the type of research you are un-
stock; you need to develop a good visual mem- dertaking, you may need to get permission from
ory so you can note things down when you leave the ethics committee of your university or to con-
the store. sider if there are any ethical issues relating to your
10 visual research methods in fashion

research. This is particularly important if you are approach to research. In the following interviews
planning to photograph or draw children or other two practitioners explain how they engage in the
vulnerable groups of people. research process and what skills are required to
Fashion journalism is an area of the indus- work in this sector of the industry.
try that demands a fast, efficient and accurate

Interview with Tony Glenville

Tony is a trend forecaster and fashion journalist. He trained as a designer but then moved into forecast-
ing and journalism. He has worked with many forecasting companies such as IM International, Nigel
French and Design Direction and retailers such as Storehouse and the Conran group. He has worked
as a freelance designer and in fashion education.

What kind of work do you do?

I kind of re-invented myself as a journalist because I felt I’d done enough of full-time forecasting and con-
sultancy but it’s one of those bizarre things that never quite leave you. A lot of my journalistic work was
doing things like the roundup of the trends for the season or helping to plan twelve month’s issues of a
glossy publication with the advertisers, so once a forecaster always a forecaster. I’m forecasting the whole
time, I never stop, and I still work with some freelance clients and that can be anything. I’ve worked at all
sorts of levels. I worked with Woolworths in Germany and I’ve worked with designer labels in New York.

Who have you worked for as a journalist?

The Independent, The Evening Standard and The Express on Sunday. I ultimately went down to Aus-
tralia and became fashion director for Asia Pacific so I’ve worked on Vogue Korea, Vogue Taiwan,
Vogue Japan and Vogue Australia.

What skills have you needed to do your job?

One of the things that students need to learn is to be curious. When they Google a name and it comes
up with 154,000 entries and it’s sixty pages they often don’t go far enough in and they don’t become
curious enough to dig. If you Google Dior and you get 285,000 Google entries you can’t just pick up
the first three entries, so curiosity is important. Sometimes I go to page sixteen, I don’t always go much
further than that but I certainly say that I often cursorily go through the extra pages because that’s
where sometimes the more interesting things are.
You need the ability to use more than one research method. If I’m looking for things I will use the
Internet, online trend pages, reports, people’s blogs, YouTube and Google, all those things. I still think
books are vital and I still buy a lot of books and particularly monographs on less famous people. It re-
ally is the only fast quick way to get some information on them. I’m always telling students to talk to
shop staff at designer shops. Interviewing people is great but so is talking to your friends and asking
somebody else’s opinion. The people whose opinions I really value are people like Sarah Mower (editor,
Style.com) or Suzy Menkes (fashion editor, International Herald Tribune). If I get a chance and I’m really
strategies for information seeking 11

slightly unsure about something I’ll ask those kinds of people. Ask people and use people that know
more than you, or know different things. Nobody knows it all so ask people. It’s back to being curious
but asking people and not being afraid to say, ‘Never heard of them’ or ‘I know the name but I don’t
really know anything about them’.
I think the family tree of an artist is always interesting. Where did they train? Where was their first
job? Everyone’s been talking about Kinder Aggugini at London Fashion Week because of the fact that
he’s waited a long time to launch his own label and he has this amazing pedigree about him. He’d been
at Paul Smith, Calvin Klein and Versace amongst other places; but what’s interesting is he waited until
that right moment. So, it’s not just ‘Oh here’s a new designer’, it’s here’s a new designer but where do
they come from? How did they get there? What culture of education did they come from? Did they
come from the Fashion Institute of Technology culture or did they come from the Central St Martins
culture because they’re very different kinds of fashion education.

Kinder Aggugini: Image from

­London Fashion Week, Spring/­
Summer 2010. Getty Images.
­Reproduced with permission.
12 visual research methods in fashion

Prada flagship store, New York. Architect: Rem Koolhaas. Courtesy of the Office of ­Metropolitan ­Architecture.
­Reproduced with permission.

Research, research, research and research; I think at whichever end of the business you are, know-
ing your business, is important for everyone. When you look at the big labels, the difference between
the purpose of the catwalk show and the purpose of the product that’s put into stores is very different.
When students look at catwalk shows they think that’s the company statement. There are a lot of other
elements for the season. There are the beauty products, there are the new fragrances, there’s the
handbag, which is probably done by the accessories division in conjunction with John [Galliano] and
whatever he might be doing. There’s the Web site, you know Dior now work on how many hits they get
all the time. You’ve got to go beyond one element of a company’s profile.
I think also you need to look at big brands, what they’re doing, who their associates are; Prada
and Rem Koolhaas that is a wonderful partnership. The idea of one of the world’s leading avant-garde
architects and one of the world’s leading avant-garde labels getting together.

How do you decide which information is important?

It’s all important and if it isn’t important today it might be important next week; that’s unfortunately what
makes people like myself into terrible hoarders. We’re also the mad people that sit on trains tearing
bits out of newspapers. There was the most fabulous interview in the Times financial section a little
while ago with François-Henri Pinault from PPR about the future of Gucci and all the companies under
their umbrella, he was talking about green and you suddenly go ‘If this guy with Gucci and all those
subsidiary companies, if he’s looking at green then that’s really interesting’. It wasn’t anywhere other
than the financial page of one paper, in fact one interview, so you tear it out and put in your file under
‘green’, you may not use it the day you pull the piece out of the paper, you hoard and you put stuff
under different categories and you keep things.
strategies for information seeking 13

How do you organize your information?

Mine is always lined up in a set of things, I have a section, which is obituaries, I keep up-to-date obitu-
aries of anyone that’s even remotely interesting. I’ve got an alphabetical filing system A–Z and that
includes everyone from Yves Saint Laurent through to anyone that I can think of that might be stylish.
Then I also have things to do with global, so interesting things to do with India, instant things about
something that literally will be as dead as a dodo by the end of the week.
Also things like accessories, hair and make-up because make-up and hair now is so big. Luxury
and then in luxury the things that students very rarely look at which are branded goods, watches,
sunglasses, belts all those kinds of things. If you run a glossy magazine, at least once a year you have
to do a very big watch shoot because they’re major advertisers in the glossy. You certainly have to do
sunglasses at least once a year. Dolce & Gabbana may not sell very many of the mainline ball gowns
but my God they sell a lot of sunglasses. Students don’t get interested and inspired enough by the
financial side. They don’t understand that it’s really good detective work; it’s great fun.
People don’t just want to read flaky articles in the papers or the magazines. Readers want evidence
and they also want to know why they should spend their money on something. If you’re telling me to buy
this £600 skirt not from a designer label but from a very top-end high street label, why should I buy it?
Also check your facts. It’s the big thing checking your facts. Suzy Menkes is the archetypal example
of someone who understands what gathering information is about. When you read one of Suzy’s re-
views she’s found out what the reference points were for the designer, a special song that was used
while the girls were walking up and down that relates to the collection, somebody who made a fabric;
there’ll always be that extra detail in what she writes, like there is with Sarah Mower. Those are really
outstanding people who have always got that thing that sets them apart from people that write ‘. . .and
there was a lot of red in the collection and I didn’t like it, a lot of longer skirts. . .’ they’ll have gone way
beyond a lot of red and the longer skirt, they’ll have found out why there was a longer skirt or what
particular red it was or discovered what the fabric was that all the red was in. They’d have found out
why it was there.

Project: Six Degrees of Separation

An exercise that I’ve done with students is the clues trail. The one that we had the most fun with is we traced George
Bernard Shaw to Alexander McQueen and the pointers on the way are Pygmalion, My Fair Lady and Givenchy. You
have to get from George Bernard Shaw to Alexander McQueen. So if you do George Bernard Shaw and you do
­Pygmalion, the answer is of course he wrote Pygmalion, Pygmalion was a play which was adapted into My Fair Lady,
My Fair Lady was the musical which was filmed with Audrey Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn was dressed by Givenchy and
Givenchy once had Alexander McQueen as his in-house designer.

—Tony Glenville
For this project you have to find the connections between the Marchesa Casati and John Galliano. Create a visual board to
illustrate your research.
14 visual research methods in fashion

Audrey Hepburn in My
Fair Lady. Popperfoto/Getty
Images. Reproduced with
permission.

Interview with Eric Musgrave

Eric Musgrave was a fashion industry journalist for thirty years. He worked as the deputy editor or edi-
tor for International Textiles, Fashion Weekly, Sportswear International, FHM Magazine and Drapers.

What skills does a journalist need?

The number-one skill a journalist needs is the ability to get on with all sorts of people because people
give you the information you need. If you can speak to everyone from the shop floor worker to the
chairman of a big PLC [public limited company], that is a real skill.
strategies for information seeking 15

The ability to interpret a lot of information and present it in a digestible form for the audience is the
key for any type of journalist, whether it is somebody writing news stories, producing a feature or work-
ing on a fashion desk. News journalists need an ability to write concisely and quickly and get a lot of
facts into a relatively small number of words in a short time.
It is essential that news people have lots of contacts, get on with people, win the trust of people
and are respected and liked. Then people will tell them things that maybe they should not tell them or
would not tell them; that is very important. It can be a difficult job, it is not nice to write critical stories,
you need a hard skin and not everyone has that. It is just a question of personality. Some people have
a romantic idea of being a reporter, but it is a demanding job.
I found plenty who wanted to write about fashion, but it was quite difficult to find people who had
any real knowledge of textiles, fibres, manufacturing clothes and retailing them.

What is the role of the editor?

The editor is the hub around which the title, and everything to do with the title, revolves. The editor
must look out at the industry and look in at his or her own team or company. I made it my business
to be very commercially minded and to have an influence over the advertising department as well as
the editorial. I soon learned that unless your publication is the Exchange & Mart, Auto Trader or a jobs-
listing magazine, people will be buying it primarily for the editorial, so the editorial ought to set the tone,
which then the advertising should complement.
There are a number of facets to the editor’s job. It is difficult to say which are more important because
they are all cogs in the same apparatus. You personally can be a great ambassador, have loads of con-
tacts in the business, and be very well respected, but if your team is rubbish, the chances are you will
produce a rubbish magazine. Conversely, you can have a fantastically motivated magazine of happy jour-
nalists, but if you are not leading them and taking the bird’s-eye view of the industry, informing them and
mentoring them on what they should be writing about, you are not going to be effective as you could be.
For me the most important part of a weekly magazine like Drapers is the news; that is why it is
weekly. Without strong news pages, you might as well be a monthly or quarterly. The news team was
always the most important element because they had most paper to fill; the news was why most
people bought the magazine week after week to see what was going on.

What role did images play in the magazines you worked on?

Because we didn’t do any shoots of our own on Drapers you were dependent on getting visual infor-
mation from other people, free pictures. That is another reason for having lots of contacts, so people do
you a favour and get pictures to you early. I would say generally people who are OK at words usually are
not good at visuals. You are very lucky if you find somebody who is good at both. You are lucky if you
can find a journalist who works visually and can see the whole page or two pages that they are doing
rather than just thinking about the words and leaving someone else to think about the illustrations.
There was a period around 2000 when lots of brands and retailers stopped providing press shots.
If you wanted to illustrate something, what could you do? We would go to one of the big shows in
Europe, take twelve or thirteen rolls of film, bring them back, get them processed at a local Snappy
Snaps, get 200 pictures, and half of them weren’t usable! It was a hugely time-consuming, expen-
sive and complicated business. Having our own digital cameras was a compromise as some people
16 visual research methods in fashion

were better with the camera than others. But having a digital camera meant you could take a lot of
photographs of the people you had spoken to. Part of the trade magazine’s role is to act like a local
newspaper for the industry. People like to see themselves, or people they know, and one of Drapers’
best-read pages was the gossip page.
When I started my career in 1980 it was only once in a blue moon that we would have any colour
pictures. We just did not have that facility but now the whole magazine is in colour. I believe rather than
trying to explain what is being worn, or what that stripe looks like, or what shade of brown that colour
is, show them a picture. It is much easier; we are in a visual industry.
The now-defunct International Textiles was different. It was more of a feature-driven, visual maga-
zine with the difficulty of how to represent lots and lots of fabrics. We did it in a very formulaic way.
There was some creativity but it was more like ‘how many bits of fabric can we get on one page so you
can still see them?’ It was a different discipline; there was a template that we worked to.
My other European experience was with Sportswear International, a German-owned magazine
based in Italy, covering the jeans and casual wear market; it was very visual. We did a lot of pictures
of shops. If you are in the retail business you just love looking at shops. Additionally Sportswear Inter-
national used very good photographers and models to create very lavish and creative fashion shoots.
People loved it; it was vital reading.

What advice would you give to students who want to work in journalism?

Young people often come in with a very idealistic view of what journalism is about. They forget it is a
business and they usually have no knowledge or interest in the commercial side of magazine publish-
ing. I was always very happy to speak to my advertisers but I would not compromise my editorial or
write anything I did not believe in. Young people are very creative, artistic and idealistic but they very
rarely give any thought to where the money comes from in magazine publishing.

Project: Analysing a Magazine

Take a magazine that you like, go through it and count how many pages are not editorial and analyse the flat plan (the running
of a magazine). Why do you get thirty pages of advertising at the beginning of a glossy magazine before you get to any sort
of editorial? If you were editing a magazine and had advertisers, how much editorial support would you give them?

creative thinking tools It may be helpful to engage in them before you

start a project as a means of ensuring that you
It is easy to fall into a pattern of working that pro- are thinking laterally and not going for the obvious
duces similar or unsurprising results. Creative solution.
people need to continually expand their minds
and challenge their own thinking and processes. Brainstorming
The following exercises are useful ways of opening Brainstorming is often done in groups, but you
your mind to new ways of considering a problem. can also do it yourself. Write down everything you
strategies for information seeking 17

can think of that is even remotely related to the Mind Mapping

subject you are researching. Think about con- Mind mapping is about creating links between
trasting ideas and themes. At this stage it doesn’t one idea and a related idea. (Mind Map is a trade-
matter how silly you think the idea is. Once you mark of the Buzan Organization.) For example, if
can’t think of any more connections or solutions your theme is workwear, you write the word or
go back to the ideas you have written down. draw something that represents this in the mid-
When you have eliminated any ideas that are il- dle of the page, and then around this you add
legal, immoral or impossible, everything else that a node for each connected idea. So you may
is left may have potential and can be developed think about workwear in different professions like
further. The key to the success of this technique building, policing, medicine and business. Build-
is not to judge any of your initial ideas; however ing might lead you to think about tools or safety
silly or outlandish they may seem, just write them helmets or hobnail boots; medical clothing might
down. For more information on the technique, go make you think about white, blue, masks, latex
to http://www.brainstorming.co.uk. gloves. The aim is to follow every idea, creating

Mind map of global warming. Tony Buzan is the inventor of Mind Maps®. Permission to reproduce granted by The
Buzan Organization, www.buzanworld.com.
18 visual research methods in fashion

Mind map created using PersonalBrain software. Courtesy of the author.

branches until there is nowhere else to go. You software available. Some suggestions are the
can then see if there are any links between the following:
branches and decide which areas to investigate
in more detail. iMindMap http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/prod
You can create mind maps on paper with ucts/imindmap
coloured pens or markers, or there are now soft- FreeMind http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/
ware packages and Web-based tools that can index.php/Main_Page
help you to create them. The leading advocate of PersonalBrain http://www.thebrain.com/
mind mapping is Tony Buzan, and you can find
out more about the process and see some incred- Scamper
ibly inventive maps here: http://www.thinkbuzan. This is a process that was invented by Robert
com/uk/home. Eberle based on the ideas of Alex Osborn, who is
There are many proprietary and free ver- also credited with inventing brainstorming. Scam-
sions of mind mapping and concept mapping per is a process by which you consider modifying
strategies for information seeking 19

your product using a series of different perspec- *M—Modify—increase or reduce in scale,

tives (Creating Minds 2010, Mindtools nd): change shape, modify attributes (e.g.
colour)
*S—Substitute—components, materials, people *P—Put to another use
*C—Combine—mix, combine with other as- *E—Eliminate—remove elements, simplify, re-
semblies or services, integrate duce to core functionality
*A—Adapt—alter, change function, use part of *R—Reverse—turn inside out or upside down,
another element also use of reversal.

Summary
In this chapter you have learned that there are different approaches to research based on whether
you are just trying to expand your general knowledge or are working on a specific project. You
have discovered that effective researchers engage in planning and preparation before they start.
This saves time and ensures that the information they retrieve is relevant and accurate. Once
you have retrieved the information, you need a method for cataloguing and storing it so you can
retrieve it easily. There are many tools that can assist you in finding and cataloguing information;
these are covered in detail in Chapter 8.

Seivewright, S. (2007), Research and Design, Lau-

references and further
sanne: AVA.
reading Wigan, M. (2006), Thinking Visually, Lausanne: AVA.

Creating Minds (2010), ‘SCAMPER’ [Web page]. Avail-

able at: http://creatingminds.org/tools/scamper.
htm (accessed 19 November 2010). websites
Hamilton, P. (2006), Visual Research Methods, London:
SAGE. CoutureLab http://couturelab.com/
MindTools (nd), ‘Scamper Creativity, Scamper Checklist’ International Herald Tribune (global edition of the New
[Web page]. Available at: http://www.mindtools. York Times) http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm (accessed 31 Kinder Aggugini http://www.aggugini.com/
July 2009). Office of Metropolitan Architecture (Rem Koolhaas)
Mitchell, C. (2009), Doing Visual Research, London: http://www.oma.eu
SAGE. PPR http://www.ppr.com
Noble, I., and Bestley, R. (2005), Visual Research: An In- Prada http://www.prada.com
troduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Reiss http://www.reiss.co.uk/
Design, Lausanne: AVA. Showstudio http://www.showstudio.com
Sanoff, H. (1991), Visual Research Methods in Design, ThinkBuzan—Official Mind Mapping Software by Tony
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Buzan http://www.imindmap.com/
chapter 2

sources of inspiration

Chapter Overview
This chapter concentrates on visual research as a means of gaining creative inspiration.
However, this often needs to be followed by further research to inform yourself about the
images or objects that have inspired you. There is often a crossover between inspirational and
informational research, as one will usually inform the other. By undertaking a wide range of visual
research, you will be creating a rich seam of information from which you can develop new ideas
and concepts.
This chapter includes:
• Why do we need sources of inspiration?
• Sources of inspiration
• Interview with Amy de la Haye
• Interview with James Wright, vintage clothing retailer
• Case study: Miriam Sucis
• Case study: Fong Wong
• Interview with Basia Szkutnicka
• Things to do when you lack inspiration.

why do we need sources ways of looking at existing ideas and products.

of inspiration? You also need to find ways in which you can bring
your personal signature to a project or concept.
Fashion is a creative industry that thrives on a In the research for this book, many of the profes-
constant flow of new ideas. The people working sionals believed that nothing is ever completely
in fashion also need to be creative and to inno- new but that you can bring your own perspective,
vate. To do this you need to have a source from personality or technique to deliver a fresh take on
which to feed your creativity. This source comes an existing idea. To do this requires research. To
in the form of visual research. To sit in front of a start with, you at least need to know what has
blank sheet of paper and be creative is virtually been done before and how it was achieved.
impossible. If we do so we soon start to repeat Using visual references to generate ideas is not
our ideas or to dry up completely. The creative the same as copying. It is important to take the
mind needs a constant stream of information that information and to develop and transform it so that
can spark new ideas and help to develop new it becomes your own. It is necessary to draw your
22 visual research methods in fashion

research from a range of resources and to be able sources of inspiration

to talk about them; this is why it is important to also
research the context and background of the prod- The following section lists possible sources of
ucts, artefacts or images you are ­working with. inspiration; they are not intended to be exhaus-
It is useful to look at clothes and to know what tive but to act as starting points and catalysts for
is happening on the catwalk and in the stores, but if your imagination. Some may not be accessible to
fashion and clothing are your only or ­primary ­visual you because of your location, but the truly cre-
resource, you may find yourself merely copying ative person learns to be observant and to find
rather than creating and will soon run out of ideas. inspiration in everything around him or her. Visual
Many creative fashion ideas do not start with cloth- research is about learning to look at the things
ing but instead emerge from social or economic around you, to analyse them and to constantly
trends, from musical movements, from art and ask ‘Why? How? Who? When? Where?’
interior design or architectural design or from tech-
nical advances in materials or processes. Fashion Museums and Art Galleries
creatives need to be aware of what is happening There are more museums and art galleries around
in a wide range of fields ­including the arts, theatre, the world than can possibly be catalogued in
music, cinema, politics, technology, economics, this chapter. You can find a museum for almost
architecture and environmental and social trends. anything from toilet seats to typewriters; a quick
You need to be well read and well connected and search on the Internet will bring up an amazing
also able to appreciate aesthetics and good array of the weird and wonderful as well as the
design. more established museums and galleries. Most
Creative people need to develop a visual major galleries and museums have a Web site,
­vocabulary. This means absorbing and processing and these can be very useful in helping you to
a wide range of cultural and practical information. ­decide whether they are worth a visit. Chapter 7
You need to be able to engage in conversations has more information about getting the most out
with other professionals in your field, and that of your visit.
means knowing about different periods in ­fashion Many museums have specialist collections
history and the influences that created them. It of historical costume and textiles, and these are
also requires an understanding of the basic mate- often used as inspiration for contemporary design
rials of the trade—being able to talk about fabrics, and styling. Designers like Vivienne Westwood are
influential people, current trends and hot issues. extremely talented at taking historical research
If you are a fashion photographer, you need to and reinventing it. The mini crinoline and the ­pirate
know who the creative stylists are, who is doing shirt came directly from historical research. It is
interesting make-up and which magazines are important to note that Westwood does not just
emerging and influential. In marketing you need copy the designs: she reworks them to give them
to be aware of viral trends on the Internet, con- a modern feeling.
sumer demographics and lifestyle trends. Every The biggest challenge when using costume as
role in the fashion industry relies to some extent inspiration is that if you do not develop your ideas
on ­finding and using inspirational materials. sufficiently, you end up with a pastiche of the
sources of inspiration 23

Historically inspired outfit by

­Vivienne Westwood from her 1996
Spring/Summer ready-to-wear
­collection. © Vauthey Pierre/Corbis
Sygma. Reproduced with permission.

original design that looks clichéd and too theatri- to get on a bus. You may, however, want to trans-
cal. Knowing how to combine history with mod- late this shape into something more practicable.
ern trends is a skill that depends upon achieving The knowledgeable consumer will recognize the
the right balance between the two. Learning influence, but the end product will still be fashion-
about the garment and the context in which it was able and practicable.
­created can help you to avoid this and to extract If you are working in a field such as fashion
the essential elements from the garment that you ­curation, knowledge of the product and the
want to use. An outfit inspired by the farthingale ­period is essential. This will enable you to build
might make an exciting catwalk piece but would a narrative around the object and create a more
not be very relevant to a modern woman who has engaging display.
24 visual research methods in fashion

Example of a farthingale. Print of Henry III and Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont. Image from Wikimedia; out of
copyright.

Project: History of Costume Research

Visit a museum or the Web site of a museum with a costume collection (see the list of references) and select a
historical garment that you like. Find out as much as you can about the garment. Who did it belong to, when was
it worn and for what purpose was it worn? Make your own drawings of the garment; if you are researching online,
see if the site allows you to zoom in on the garment and make sketches of the details. Analyse which elements of
sources of inspiration 25

the garment attract you: is it the colour, the silhouette, a detail like a collar or pocket, the print? Take one aspect of
the garment and consider how you could use it in a project. For example if you are a designer or pattern cutter, how
could you develop a modern style based on this garment? If you are an illustrator, are there elements that you could
include in a contemporary illustration? If you are a photographer, what kind of styling or setting does it suggest? If
you are training to be a journalist, write a short article about this piece.

Interview with Amy de la Haye

Amy is reader in material culture and fashion curation at the London College of Fashion. She is an
established author and curator.

What inspires you?

Things inspire me, a love of things and the materiality of things. That does something to me on some
level, it makes me want to explore and I delve into history and theory because it helps me understand
the thing rather than perhaps starting with an idea and trying to fit things into that idea. Often it in-
volves a commission for example I have just written a chapter for the V&A’s couture exhibition Material
Evidence.
I suppose I have a broad knowledge of the period so I am not looking at objects in isolation I am
looking at them with a body of knowledge behind me. The first thing I do is go and look at the objects
then I look at the story of those objects and think what do they tell me? What don’t they tell me? If we
only have one suit is it typical? Because that is what is representing the designer we need to know
did it come from a client in which case there is a sizing issue? If it came from him presumably he felt it
was typical of his work.
It affects how you look at history because if there is only one suit in the V&A the designer becomes
inextricably entwined with that suit but that suit might not be representative of his work.

What are you working on at the moment?

In the past I did a lot of work on the working class looking at ready-to-wear. I did a lot of work on
subculture and then I guess I wanted to redress the balance because a lot of fashion history was
looking at people who are at the edge of subculture or engages with gay history or black history and
the traditional haute couture had become terribly old fashioned. I started looking at that again espe-
cially in London because a lot of people would say that London doesn’t have a couture industry but it
does. I did an exhibition about Catherine Walker’s work at the V&A. It meant I could spend two years
having complete access to her house and understanding how she worked and how her house worked
looking at the spectrum of her outfits and talking to her constantly.
Having done all that I am now working on the women’s land army which is something that I have
been fascinated with for about twenty years and I knew I would do something at some point. I am
looking at how you can access the women’s history through their clothes. They were mass-produced
26 visual research methods in fashion

Land workers harvesting the ripened sunflowers, September 1944. Getty Images Hulton Archive. ­Reproduced
with permission.

so I am looking at all the special issues that come with that, especially in the context of a museum, it is
OK to display a single couture garment but is it OK to display a single mass-produced garment?
When there is only one it gives you an impression that it is rare and precious whereas I think there
should maybe be a stack of them to somehow represent that there were 80,000 women involved. I am
doing an exhibition at Brighton Museum and I am thinking of having either 80,000 land army badges
or little figures on the wall. A number doesn’t mean a lot but visually if you see 80,000 of something
you get an idea of what is involved distribution and all sorts of things.

Where do you start?

I look at the things then look firstly at contemporary material. What the women wrote about themselves
and official publications like the Women’s Land Army Journal. There are lots of biographies. I look at
what was written at the time and then what was written forty years later. There are lots of elderly land
girls who have been engaging with their history but forty years on it is interesting to see what they
choose to write about. Then I bring it all together, about the production and distribution of the clothes
sources of inspiration 27

and how we interpret them in a museum and whether they are worn and also the modern history of
the clothes. I buy them on eBay and see who else is buying them and why they are desirable now. A
lot of it is for re-enactment so they have kind of got multiple histories.

What advice would you give to a student who wanted to engage with
­material culture?

A practice-based student would necessarily have access to things because they are makers and
perhaps they relate to things more than to words. They have got the language to discuss the things in
their own work so I would think they would have the language to discuss an object perhaps more

Vita Sackville-West in breeches (1960). Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

28 visual research methods in fashion

than a history student would. They might have more confidence to describe it they might have a better
knowledge of materials or how to describe the scale. They need to have a love of materiality, a love
of things.
A project I do with postgraduate students is I get them to bring in three shoes each and then split
them into little groups and I say I want you to make an exhibition of these shoes from the perspective
of a shoe museum, from the perspective of working in a local history museum and from the perspec-
tive of working in a design museum. I want you to tell a story so that each of these shoes says some-
thing different, which adds to your story. They come up with some wonderful things. Because it was
for children one student related each shoe to a child-like character like Judy Garland. I know I have
had them thinking about where the shoes were made for instance then we can get into issues about
globalization and how none of these shoes were made in Britain.
You can pick one object, like a pair of the breeches. I am looking at culture and history through this
pair of breeches. You could look at the history of the fabric, you could look at trouser dress for women
in the context a lesbian iconic style of dress (Vita Sackville-West wore them) in terms of women’s
history, wartime history, agricultural history and just look at how one garment can be the central point
form which you can construct all sorts of histories. It is about reflective practice.

Project: History of an Object

Select one thing that feels precious to you and make a history of it. It could be something like a family photograph of your
grandmother or a shoe you bought in the high street. It doesn’t need to be valuable. You can construct a history around it,
and then the next step is to get a group of objects and try to make a story with them.

You can make anything into a story; you can focus for example on the colour red. It is about how we can make magi-
cal stories. You don’t have to be working at the V and A with Balenciaga. You can construct histories around anything
and see the magic in it. (Amy de la Haye)

Objects and Ephemera from. You can of course invent your own history
Not all objects of interest are precious enough to for an object and provide it with a story that can
be found in a museum. Flea markets, second- become your inspiration. Postcards with long-
hand stores and car boot sales can also be a forgotten messages and photographs that have
source of interesting items and ephemera. From found their way from an unwanted family album
bags of old buttons to war relics and ceramics, can be a rich source for an invented narrative.
the range of items you can discover in this manner Who wrote the postcard? Who received it? Where
is endless. Interesting items can also be found in was it sent? What can you find out about the pe-
online auctions and on sites such as eBay. riod and the place?
Things you find in this way may also have an You can also find interesting items such as
interesting history. If you are buying an object from old pottery, ribbons, table linens, embroidered
a local store, the owner may know where it came handkerchiefs, beads and bracelets, pictures and
sources of inspiration 29

Jacket by Galliano with ­vintage

jewellery, Spring/Summer 2010.
AFP/Getty Images. Reproduced with
permission.

stuffed animals, medicine bottles, kitchen utensils, and to find interesting fabrics and trimmings that
medals and badges. An item does not have to be will inspire you. You can find scraps of fabric,
beautiful to be interesting; it could be very gaudy old buttons, lace and table linens in second-
or kitsch or extremely battered or worn. hand stores or search for inspiring ­contemporary
­fabrics and trimmings. Antique textiles from many
Fabric and Trimmings ­different cultures can be found in museums,
Many students start by designing and then look for gallery collections and online collections. They
fabrics and trimmings that suit their design. It can can also be a valuable source of inspiration, as
be more successful to work the other way around they often have interesting meanings or histories
30 visual research methods in fashion

Vintage jewellery stall in Portobello Market. Courtesy of the author.

as well as employing techniques that may no lon- know what direction fashion is moving in. Ob-
ger be in general use. serving shoppers can help you to understand
There are a lot of creative young textile design- what is selling and why. You may come across a
ers whom you could approach to work with you. new fabric, an interesting construction detail or a
Try Web sites like Etsy (http://www.etsy.com) or unique way of visual merchandising. It is also
Eye Candey (http://www.candeystore.com). It important to know what your competitors are
is useful to know something about fabrics as it doing: they may have picked up on a trend you
makes it easier for you to source them. Technical have missed, and you can also see how they are
information about fabrics and sourcing is covered developing their collections across seasons. You
in Chapter 4. can see what is on the sale rail (markdowns) and
analyse why it hasn’t sold. Visual merchandisers
Store Research need to see how other stores are displaying their
Store visits and inspirational shopping are a vital products and how the shop floor is laid out to
part of the working life of the fashion creative. encourage the shopper to purchase. ­Designers
Seeing what is in the stores can help you to and buyers working in the mass market will
sources of inspiration 31

Store windows. Courtesy of Sarah Manning. Reproduced with permission.

often visit designer boutiques and buy samples and they all have a visual element. Companies will
that they then use for inspiration. Direct copying spend a huge amount on architects and design-
of course is illegal and not something you should ers to create aspirational venues and an exciting
engage in. shopping experience. The cutting-edge stores are
Many companies will send their designers on often the flagships of the brand, and where they
inspirational shopping trips around the country or lead, other stores will follow.
internationally so that they can get a wider view Store windows are an essential element in
of retail trends. This is not just about the stock ­attracting the consumer and can be an art form
but also about the shopping experience. What in their own right. You can see interesting store
additional services are your competitors offer- windows from around the world at FashionWin-
ing? What is the customer service like? What is dows (http://www.fashionwindows.com). Or find
the changing room experience? What are the a list of interesting stores to visit at slowretail
point-of-sale materials? All of these elements (http://­s lowretailen.wordpress.com/concept-
contribute to attracting and retaining a customer, stores/).

Project: Store Analysis

Visit a local fashion store and consider the visual impact of the environment. Does the window display look inviting and
inspiring? Is the store layout easy to navigate? How is the stock displayed? How are the products merchandised: in
colour blocks, in outfits? How attractive are the changing rooms? What is the service like? How are the shop assistants
dressed? Who do you think their target customer is? Is this reflected in the people visiting the store? What is on the mark-
down rail? Why do you think those items did not sell at full price: poor hanger appeal, wrong colour and bad fit, not on trend?
Write a short report of your findings.
32 visual research methods in fashion

Street Fashion trends can move around the globe at great

Some fashion trends start on the catwalk and speed. You need to know what is emerging on
work their way down to the street, but just as often the street around you and also in influential cit-
it can work the other way around. Designers will ies like New York, London and Tokyo. There are
visit trendy areas, nightclubs, festivals and youth a lot of Web sites like Street Fashion Worldwide
events to see what styles are emerging. They then (http://street-fashion.net/) and Streetpeeper
take these influences and develop them to fit their (http://streetpeeper.com) which are dedicated
own style and consumer. Punk is an excellent ex- to street fashion. These can help you keep up
ample of a street style that then moved to the cat- to date, but nothing beats getting out there and
walk; it has been a recurring influence ever since it seeing things for yourself. If you live in or close
emerged in the mid 1970s. to a major city, you should find out where the
Sometimes a trend will emerge in one city trendsetters are going and do some people
and then migrate to others, and sometimes watching, take some pictures and do some
it will be very localized. In a connected world interviews.

Punks on the Kings Road (1979). Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.
sources of inspiration 33

Harajuku girls in Tokyo

(2000). AFP/Getty Images.
Reproduced with permission.

Project: Street-style Report

Take a camera into your nearest high street or shopping mall and look for people who you feel have an interesting
dress style. Ask them politely if they would mind having a picture taken and talking to you about their personal style.
Compile a report or create a blog based on your findings. Are you able to identify any links or emerging trends or
influences?
34 visual research methods in fashion

Society, Economics and Politics and the contraceptive pill changed attitudes to
The more informed you are about what is going on sexuality, which were reflected in the fashions of
in the world, the more likely it is that you will sense the period. The big hit of the mid 1960s was the
a trend before it happens or be able to create one miniskirt made popular by Mary Quant and fea-
based on your knowledge of what people are in- tured in many designer collections of the period
terested in or care about. Fashion professionals (Cawthorne 2001).
often talk about the zeitgeist. In fashion terms The world economy also plays a role in fash-
this means knowing exactly what is right for the ion: when there is a recession people think more
mood and feeling of the moment; fashion does carefully about what they buy, and this can create
not happen in isolation from the society that pro- an incredibly competitive retail environment. Con-
duces it. Fashion can be influenced by changes sumers look for fashion brands that have a unique
in the attitudes of society or the political or eco- or extremely good-value product. When times are
nomic climate at that time. In the 1960s, for ex- good, people spend more freely and take more
ample, women in the West gained more freedom, risks.

Women in miniskirts and the Mini motor car (1966). Hulton Getty Picture Collection. Reproduced with permission.
sources of inspiration 35

People and Networking interface; whether this is your business card or

In fashion you will always be working with other your blog, it needs to reflect your style and pro-
people and will need other people to help you real- fessional persona.
ize your ideas. If you are a photographer you need In the digital age networking is much easier
to know good stylists, hair and make-up people than it used to be. There are sites for social and
and models. A buyer needs to maintain good re- professional networking: Facebook (http://www.
lationships with suppliers and trend-­information facebook.com), LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.
companies. Designers need a really wide net- com), IQONS (http://www.iqons.com), Twitter
work of people who can help them to realize their (http://www.twitter.com) and more. These sites
ideas, from pattern cutters and fabric suppliers to make it easy to find and connect with people who
trendsetters and journalists. Everyone in fashion are working in your field. However, maintaining
should have a good address book. In order to professional contacts still requires some work,
network you also need to consider your personal and the best networks are those where the mem-
brand. Fashion is about appearances and selling bers give as much as they take, so if you ask a
your ideas so you need to have a good public professional favour be prepared to reciprocate.

Frida Kahlo and self-portraits. Betteman Corbis. Reproduced with permission.

36 visual research methods in fashion

Grandparents’ wedding photo (1927), from the author’s family album. Courtesy of June Morgan.

Project: Networking

Find out if there is a fashion- or textile-related organization or network in your area and see if it is running any events that
you can attend. If there is nothing near you, think about starting your own network through Facebook or joining an existing
online network like IQONS or LinkedIn.
Start an address book of key contacts and people you meet. Get some business cards printed and always carry them
with you; ask people you meet at events for their card. Always make a note on the back about where you met them, in what
context and what kind of follow-up might be appropriate.

Style Icons who your personal style icons are and analyse what
Many people throughout history have become it is about their style that appeals to you.
style icons and have inspired designers, photog-
raphers and writers: Frida Kahlo, Jackie Onassis Your Personal History
and Princess Diana; fictional characters such as Your own life experiences and those of your family
Dracula, Robinson Crusoe and Scarlet O’Hara; and friends can also be a source of inspiration.
and of course contemporary celebrities like Old family photo albums and memories from your
Madonna, Kate Moss and David Beckham. Consider childhood can be a good starting point, as can
sources of inspiration 37

research into your family tree. Who were your an- Liza Minnelli in Cabaret (1972) and Meryl Streep
cestors, and what did they do? Where did they in Out of Africa (1985) have all created looks and
live? You may find some surprising and interest- iconic styles that continue to be used as inspi-
ing characters you were unaware of. Old albums ration for the catwalk. Jean Paul Gaultier is one
often illustrate how ordinary people interpreted designer who has been widely used in the theatre
fashions, and they also show everyday items, and film industry, with designs featured in Peter
cars, interiors and other details that may not be Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her
evident in formal fashion photographs. Lover (1989) and The Fifth Element (1997), for
which he was nominated for an Oscar. It is not
Film and Theatre just the costumes that can be inspiring but also
There is an exceptionally strong link between fash- the set designs, the landscape and the cinema-
ion and film; characters such as Audrey Hepburn tography. Room with a View (1985), Casanova di
as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Frederico Fellini (1976), Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo

A scene from Cabaret (1972). ABC via Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.
38 visual research methods in fashion

Project: Movie Inspiration Board

Watch one of the preceding films (they should all be available on DVD) or choose one of your favourite films that you find
inspiring. Create an A1 board that visually captures the key elements of the film. Your board should clearly indicate the genre
of the film (thriller, romance, science fiction) as well as the period, colours and location.

and Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge (2001), Blade fits and drapes. It is possible to find interesting vin-
Runner (1982) and many other movies have tage pieces that are not expensive; if you are able
strong visual references that translate into fashion to afford to buy a piece, then you can spend more
through clothes, styling and photographic styles. time inspecting and reinterpreting it. If it is not a
Also look out for contemporary movies that might precious piece, you can even take it apart to study
be influential like Alice in Wonderland (2010) by the construction or to develop a pattern from it.
Tim Burton (http://www.imdb.com/). Universities, libraries and museums are also an
excellent source of information about vintage cloth-
Vintage Clothing and Textiles ing. Some have specialist archives that have origi-
Vintage clothes deserve a close examination as nal patterns and reconstructions of vintage clothing;
a source of inspiration. In recent years there has for example North Carolina State University has a
been a lot of interest in vintage garments, in partic- collection of patterns from the US Civil War period,
ular vintage designer garments, which celebrities and the London College of Fashion has a tailor-
have taken to wearing to red carpet events such ing archive. There is an archive of vintage patterns
as film premieres and awards ceremonies (Julia along with scans of the pattern pieces at the Uni-
Roberts wore vintage Valentino to the Oscars in versity of Rhode Island (http://www.uri.edu/library/
2001, and Penelope Cruz wore vintage Balmain special_collections/COPA/index.php). Find out
at the 2009 Oscars). Vintage garments and ac- what your local university or library has to offer; you
cessories can be an extremely useful source of may be surprised. If there are no archives acces-
inspiration for stylists, photographers, designers sible to you, see if they have some images online.
and visual merchandisers. Vintage accessories also have something to
Vintage pieces often have interesting construc- offer. Look at hats, gloves, handbags and jewel-
tion techniques, drape effects, fabrics, prints, em- lery, and remember that you don’t have to take all
broideries or decorative details. Look for unusual the elements as inspiration: it could be something
fastenings, collars, cuff details or sleeve construc- as simple as a strap detail or a clasp that fires your
tions. You can find vintage garments in specialist imagination.
stores, flea markets and sometimes charity shops. If there are no vintage stores or flea markets near
Look inside the garment at the finishing details, you, try your local museum. Museums often have
and try to work out how it was constructed. Take education departments, and they may offer ses-
a sketchbook with you so you can make quick sions where you can get close to vintage garments
notes of details that interest you. There is nothing even if you cannot handle them. There are also auc-
quite like trying a garment on to understand how it tion houses that specialize in vintage clothing and
sources of inspiration 39

Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino at the 2001 Oscars. Getty ­Images.

Reproduced with permission.

textiles and hold regular sales. Some items will go print, then you may want to incorporate this into a
for very high prices, while others will be more mod- contemporary silhouette; likewise, if it is the silhou-
estly priced, but you don’t have to intend to buy in ette that you are using as inspiration, you may want
order to attend a preview or even the auction itself. to use a contemporary fabric. It is all about balance
When you are using vintage clothes and acces- and reinterpretation, not wholesale copying. There
sories for inspiration, it is important that you don’t are many classic vintage designs that reappear
produce something so derivative that the end result and are reinvented regularly including military dress
looks like a period piece. If you are using a vintage jackets and items of workwear and sportswear.
40 visual research methods in fashion

Images from The Cutters’ Practical Guide to Lounges, Reefers, Norfolk,

Sporting and Patrol Jackets (c.1890), from the London College of Fashion
tailoring archive. Out of copyright.

Interview with James Wright, Vintage Clothing Retailer

James is the owner of the Mint Vintage store in Earlham St Covent Garden. Mint specializes in formu-
lating collections of vintage clothing based on trends.

What is different about Mint?

From the shop in Covent Garden we no longer do anything by weight, we only pick by the piece so we
are able to formulate collections and create a look that has raised the bar on the edited vintage clothes
sources of inspiration 41

shop. It is easier for people to shop because it is all hand picked. We grade six months in advance
so if we want something we have it put to one side by the waste management places we go to. For
example we have just got harem pants in and they have been saved over a six-month period for us
so we can build up stock.
We don’t see ourselves as a vintage shop we see ourselves as a fashion boutique it is almost a
matter of fact that it is vintage. There are also staples. A good 1980s geometric poly-cotton dress or
polyester dress will always sell because it sits well, it drapes well and they have got a little bit of give
in them so they fit. They are as modern as the little black dress, as old as the little black dress; it’s the
same thing, it’s a standard.

Do you sell the pieces as you find them or do you have to alter them?

We make them more commercially viable, hemlines have come up in the last twenty to thirty years,
1970s and 1980s dresses were usually on or slightly below the knee, we bring them above the knee.
That is generally all we do. In the past we have made different varieties of customized clothing. We
would keep a vintage dress as a vintage dress but we tweaked it a little bit, often the collars are wrong
so we would make a strapless dress out of it. We don’t do so much of that anymore, generally because
we don’t buy anything by weight so if something isn’t the right style it doesn’t hit the shop floor or we
don’t buy it. They may need the zip mending and they generally need shortening to make them more
commercial; but that is changing, the discerning customer wants the piece as it was at the time.

What are the iconic pieces that everyone wants?

Everyone has done the pea coat from Gap to G-Star but once you have worn the original; once you
know that is the one that Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson wore, that is the one you want. This is
a real pea coat, everything that you have had on over the last two years is not a pea coat, this is. You
have to pay for that; boys are getting a bit more discerning about those pieces.
There is the Belstaff jacket, it was an English jacket made for riding motorbikes at 100 miles an hour,
the original is synonymous with the biker industry, it is kit, and it is a hardy, fantastically engineered
garment. Boys recognize that that is the case and they want the old one they don’t want the new one.
Boys having the job done, the belt with all the tools you need, your stuff around you.

Are there iconic pieces for women?

There is quite a following of women who like the land army girl look. A lot of women dress like that, in that
late forties, fifties style now. There is a following of that and equally Betty Boop is the same period; they
are not iconic pieces, but they are an iconic look. Also swimsuits are quite iconic and there are iconic
images of women in certain swimsuits through the times, the Bond Girl, Debbie Harry and Madonna.

What is the difference between a vintage piece and an antique?

Antiques used to have be a hundred years old, that was the antique world’s mark of an antique. There
is a lot of talk about it but for me I would say about fifty years. Vintage is less than fifty years old and
antique is more than fifty years old; people would beg to differ on that it is just my opinion. About mid
90s is the most recent thing in the store; if it’s current in a way that fits, it’s sellable.
42 visual research methods in fashion

Steve McQueen’s Belstaff jacket. Courtesy of Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers. Reproduced
with permission.

How do you research for the store?

We watch the catwalks; we know that is our easiest and sure-fire way to see what is coming through,
what direction the fashion industry is going in. Not all the ideas will come to fruition but you can pretty
much guess the trends that will come through. The other side is that the street often pulls out a fashion
that you have got to be on the street to find. The east end of London is great for that. For example the
Barbour jacket came out of nowhere and everyone wants one now. A year ago I had a row of them in
sources of inspiration 43

Jack Nicholson in a pea coat—scene from The Last Detail (1975). Cinemaphoto Corbis. Reproduced with
permission.

the shop and nobody wanted them; they grew to be a fashion and now I can’t get them they have all
been bought up. That fashion came from the street.

Most of the stuff you are selling is Western vintage. Is there a market
for ethnic vintage?

Well there are collectors of it now, things from the Ottoman Empire are very collectable, blankets from
Navajo Indians they were called Hudson Bay blankets. They were white with different primary-coloured
bands running down them red and green.
They were traded for pelts and they measured the pelts on the blanket and they would have been
awarded blankets for the pelts. There are collectables with the ethnic world it just takes someone to
push it forward. I think it has its place, it is just you have to have people with an interest in it, an interest
in that history.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in finding out
more about vintage clothing?

You need to do background research, it builds the bigger picture. Everything gets revamped and reworked
over the years whether it be tailoring or how things are fashioned, a zip, a button or a drawstring comes
from somewhere. The more you know about something the more you can have a relationship with it.
44 visual research methods in fashion

Case Study: Miriam Sucis

Miriam is a designer who has used vintage pieces as inspiration for her work. She collected antique
and vintage pieces whilst backpacking around Europe. One of the pieces she found was a vintage
U.S. sailor’s jacket. Miriam says:

It has such an immense history and character behind it. There is a real sense of who it be-
longed to and where it came from especially once it is turned inside out. At the back there is a
beautifully, considered decorative embroidered panel by possibly the owner or one of his loved
ones and interesting labels. Instead of just reproducing this I used the construction methods for
example use of reinforced panels on the inside or bound seams to guide my design and manu-
facture process. This can be seen through my development to my final garments where I have
reinforced stress points and then topstitched to draw attention and give more catwalk appeal,
as there are also tiny details that can only be noticed upon close inspection.

Development page for a

­vintage sailor jacket, by
­Miriam Sucis. ­Reproduced with
permission.
sources of inspiration 45

Architecture and the Built Environment and architects who work closely with fashion
Architecture and the built environment provide a brands. There is, for example, an established re-
rich source of inspiration, from ancient buildings lationship between Rem Koolhaas and Prada. It is
like the pyramids and the Taj Mahal to iconic con- not just the buildings that can be inspirational but
temporary buildings. Contemporary architects also the urban environment: street furniture, graffiti,
are highly innovative in their use of materials and signage and all of the elements that go to create a
methods of construction as well as considering city can also provide creative starting points.
how their buildings fit into the environment.
There has long been an association between Drawing from Life and Still Life
fashion and architecture. There are fashion design- Whilst many of the inspirational sources in this
ers who trained as architects (Gianfranco Ferre) book will require you to draw to record them,

Sketches from life by Max Gaimster.

46 visual research methods in fashion

drawing can in itself be a source of inspiration. a collection of books that are perhaps unrelated
Many formal art and design programmes include to fashion but inspire you. Look out for bargains
life, figure and still life drawing as part of the cur- in second-hand shops and in the second-hand
riculum. Drawing not only provides you with a tool section on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com).
to express your ideas but also helps to develop Often, libraries will have a clearance where they
your ability to observe and to express yourself offer books that are damaged or no longer in use
through mark making. You do not have to be an for free; these books can be the source of some
artist to gain something through the process of interesting images.
drawing, and not all drawings have to be excep- Although this book is about visual research, it
tional to serve a purpose. Neither do you need is almost impossible to separate the visual from
to have a studio space. Many of the contributors the written or oral. We use words to explain im-
to this book have talked about keeping a visual ages and make sense of them. We can also use
journal or notebook to record their ideas and words as a source of visual inspiration. Novels,
things that they see. If your course does not offer biographies and all kinds of literature including po-
classes in observational drawing, there are many etry require us to engage in some form of visual-
evening classes and private courses available that ization in order to make sense of the text. We can
you could turn to. use our visual responses to text to generate ideas
But you don’t need to go to a class in order to and concepts or to create a visual narrative. How
draw; just pick up a pen, pencil, piece of charcoal often when reading a book do you picture what
or other medium and a piece of paper. You don’t the characters look like or the locations? When
even have to set up a still life; just draw what you you read a poem does it suggest a colour, atmo-
see around you. If you want to practice figure draw- sphere and location?
ing, ask a friend or member of your family to pose Newspapers are good for current affairs and
for you. You can draw on the bus or the tube, in often have fashion news and style pages as well
your garden or the park, in galleries or museums, as financial information about fashion compa-
on the street—in fact anywhere and anytime that nies. There are also specialist trade publications
you see something that inspires, try to draw it. The such as Womenswear Daily (http://www.wwd.
more you draw, the better you will get. com) in the US and Drapers (http://www.draper-
sonline.com) in the UK that have industry gossip
Print Resources and retail information. You can subscribe to these
Libraries are also excellent sources of visual infor- online.
mation, especially art books, and you will find de- Alongside the mainstream fashion titles such
tailed information about using them in Chapter 7. as Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle, there has been
Images in printed material are often of higher qual- an explosion of style-focused magazines over the
ity than images that you might find on the Web. last few years. Titles like Wallpaper, Tank, POP
Libraries will also stock newspapers and some and Purple feature the work of new and influential
periodicals, and college and university libraries will designers, stylists, photographers and journalists.
have lots of specialist material. Consider starting They are often provocative and edgy in a way that
your own library; over time it is possible to build mainstream titles aren’t.
sources of inspiration 47

Project: Text as Visual Inspiration

You can use a book or poem as the starting point for a moodboard. Collect images that relate to the narrative, and
ask yourself how these could be translated into a theme or concept. If the story is a dark thriller, this may suggest a
slightly gothic theme with lots of black and heavy textured fabrics or a dark set for a photo shoot or a shop interior.
On the other hand a romantic novel may suggest something much lighter with flowing fabrics, chiffons and pastel
colours.

Kate Moss in Ugg boots (2003). Getty

Images. Reproduced with permission.
48 visual research methods in fashion

Flower people’s love-in (1967). Hulton Getty Picture Collection. Reproduced with permission.

Magazines such as Hello, OK and Grazia Each new genre of music that emerges has its
are good for celebrity tracking. In our celebrity- own set of followers with their own particular style,
obsessed culture, what the latest starlet in Hol- which can filter down to mainstream fashion or
lywood or supermodel in London is wearing can up to the catwalks. Trendspotters will often go to
have a huge impact on the mass market. Ugg music festivals and gigs to see what new styles are
boots became extremely popular after celebrities emerging. Pop stars and bands also employ styl-
like Jennifer Aniston and Kate Moss were photo- ists and designers to help them to create a unique
graphed wearing them. look. A good example of this was the collabora-
tion between Madonna and Jean Paul Gaultier
Music and Fashion that produced one of her most iconic looks.
There has always been a synergy between fash- There are cities around the world that have a
ion and popular music. In the 1950s rock and roll history of producing influential popular music—
music was synonymous with teddy boys, brothel Memphis, Nashville, Seattle, New York and Detroit
creepers and quiffs; the late 1960s brought us in the US; Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow in
Woodstock, hippies and flower power; in the the UK—and many of these cities have museums
1970s there were glam rock and punk; and the or venues with archives and Web sites charting
1980s brought the New Romantics. their musical heritage, which are excellent sources
sources of inspiration 49

New Romantics in Cagney’s club, off London Road, Liverpool (1981). Courtesy of Francesco Mellina. Reproduced
with permission.

of inspiration. Music magazines such as the NME, way of thinking about the nature of clothing and
Rolling Stone, The Wire, MOJO and Kerrang are its longevity.
also excellent sources of information about up- Humans have always used the natural world
and-coming bands and festivals. as inspiration; from the earliest cave paintings
right through history, fauna and flora have fea-
Science, Nature and Technology tured heavily in every form of art and craft. It is
An increasing number of designers and creatives also possible to use technology to investigate the
are collaborating with scientists to find new ways structures that create the living things around us
of thinking about clothing and fashion. Scientists including our own bodies. Nature is full of pat-
and designers are working together to develop terns, from snowflakes to microbes, from sea life
exciting new textiles and garments that have the to animal skins: it is a store cupboard of ingenuity
ability to deliver medication and have antibacte- and inspiration.
rial properties. They may incorporate electronics A lot of fashion trends start in unusual areas
and be smart enough to react to changes in the such as space technology and nano science, so it
environment (O’Mahony and Braddock 2002). is worth looking at publications and Web sites that
Manel Torres, for example, has worked to develop deal with these areas. The magazines New Sci-
a fabric that you can spray on from a can (http:// entist (http://www.newscientist.com) and Nature
www.fabricanltd.com); this enables a whole new (http://www.nature.com) are useful starting points.
Madonna on her Blonde Ambition tour (1990) wearing an outfit designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. Neal Preston ­Corbis.
Reproduced with permission.

Fabrican spray-on dress by Manel Torres. Photo: Gene Kiegel (http://www.genekiegel.com). ­Courtesy of Gene Kiegel.
Reproduced with permission.
sources of inspiration 51

Case Study: Fong Wong

Fong Wong is a designer who has successfully brought together influences from nature whilst taking
a technological approach to realizing her designs. She completed her MA in Digital Fashion at London
College of Fashion in 2007. For her MA project she looked at using three-dimensional pattern ge-
ometry for garment creation. This involved the development of new ways of creating patterns using
geometric forms. Using snowflakes as inspiration Fong experimented with traditional techniques and
a range of technologies including laser cutting, sublimation printing and digital printing. She has also
used a mixture of software to illustrate her designs; in her image ‘Six’ which illustrates her collection,
she used Daz Studio (http://www.daz3d.com) to create the figure and Photoshop to edit photographs
of the garments, creating a multimedia collage.

Chiffon snowflakes created by Fong Wong using laser cutting techniques.

52 visual research methods in fashion

Fashion and Sport

Innovations in active sportswear have often crossed over into fashion, and fashions in health and
fitness have led to fashion looks: the leg warmers worn by dancers in the studio found their way
onto the streets in the 1980s, and trainers designed to enhance the performance of sportsmen and
women have become high-fashion items. Fashionable brands have been built around sports per-
sonalities such as the tennis players Fred Perry and Rene Lacoste, and sports brands use fashion
designers to bring cachet to their collections: Stella McCartney and Yohji Yamamoto for Adidas,
and Y-3 and Alexander McQueen for Puma (Salazar 2008). A lot of the textiles that we find in fash-
ionable clothing have crossed over from the active sportswear market where they were designed
to improve performance or increase comfort (Lycra, Gore-Tex). By keeping an eye on develop-
ments in sportswear, you can often find inspiration in the form of new textiles, styles and details.

Adidas by Stella McCartney, London Fashion Week, September 2008. Getty Wireimage.
Reproduced with permission.
sources of inspiration 53

Interview with Basia Szkutnicka

Basia Szkutnicka lectures in womenswear and footwear design in the UK and abroad. She also runs
workshops and lectures on ‘the creative design process’ worldwide (US, Brazil, Japan, Russia, India).
She is also the director of the study abroad programme at London College of Fashion.

What do you teach?

My area is forecasting and looking to the future, it is future design that I am interested in. When I lecture
on inspiration I am interested in subliminal inspiration as well as the obvious iconic and important fashion/
design/art exhibitions that take place in major cities like Paris, New York and London, they remind of
things forgotten and inspire to create new directions and influences. Recently we had the Vionnet exhibi-
tion in Paris, there was an immediate response to this in the spring collections and the spirit of one of the
world’s greatest cutters will continue to flow through for a good few seasons. The Super Heroes exhibi-
tion in New York (2008), prior to that, threw colour and ‘power’ back into the mix, then there is an Yves
Saint Laurent retrospective this summer in Paris (2010) that will revive an interest in glamour and ‘power’
dressing and Margiela this summer in London will excite us to look at design through this unique genius’s
eyes . . . ­Exhibitions are a very important source of inspiration and it is because most people in fashion will
go to New York, Paris and London and will view them. In a way it is forecasting that is creating trends.
In terms of inspiration you can be inspired or ‘depressed’ creatively by world events, political events,
the economy. They can’t be ignored because they are emotional influences, which make creative souls
design in a particular way because it influences your mood and your output.
I think creative people are more sensitive than non-creative people and we don’t even realize some-
times how our output is influenced by what’s going on around us. A creative environment is key to a
creative output.
A global event like the Olympics makes everyone think about fitness—therefore sportswear and
casual wear. We all travel more and we want and need to be comfortable. Footwear as a product area
is currently huge, along with accessories in general and is really going to be led by the whole issue of
‘comfort and ergonomics’.
MBT were amongst the first to redesign and reinvent an orthopaedic shoe last. They created a sports
shoe that ‘trains’ calves and legs, as well as improves posture (inspired by looking at the incredible pos-
ture of the African Masai and how it is achieved), they are a high price product, but holistic as well. They
investigated the Masai people in Africa, how they walk in bare feet on sand and the fact that they have
very good posture. They produced a shoe that mimics all these factors. The sole is shaped like a cradle
and the shoe trains your calf muscles and aligns the body into a particular position. I have two pairs—
and it works! Initially they were not very well publicized so few people knew about them, apart from pro-
fessional sports people and fashion ‘insiders’ like myself. It didn’t take long for this ‘orthopaedic’ craze
to take off . . . and now many large sports shoe and casual footwear brands have produced their own
versions of this concept. There are many ‘pretenders’ who have been ‘inspired’ by MBT’s innovation . . .
however they were one of the first to pioneer a new way of thinking about footwear.
Going back to inspiration—this is an example of a product inspired by a need—comfort. Secondary
was the research carried out to identify how this may be achieved—this is where the Masai come in.
Inspiration is not always visual—it may result from a requirement of the mind, soul and body, which is
emotional and holistic.
54 visual research methods in fashion

MBTs are continuously pushing ahead the development of their physiological footwear range. The progressive
Spring/Summer 2011 collection features fresh colour schemes and breathable materials across the athletic range as well
as an extended sandal option in the casual range. Courtesy of MBT.

MBTs are interesting as they have encountered criticism that the shoes are not as visually pleasing
as their competitors in this field, but the company are working hard to make them more contemporary
(boots and sandals have been added to the range), to fit within a highly competitive sports shoe mar-
ket. I believe that their holistic function is a primary aspect, the challenge is to integrate aesthetics and
fashion into what is essentially a serious ‘beneficial’ product, and to gently educate the consumer.
Form often follows function, the ergonomic and aesthetic need to work in synthesis because to-
day’s consumer is fickle—they seek ‘the ultimate’ in every product field . . .
It’s not only about how things look, it’s how they perform.

How do you help your students to find inspiration?

What I do to inspire them is I limit them. I feel that creativity can evolve from limitation. For example I
show them a slide of clouds and ask them to design a bag ‘inspired’ by the slide, using extreme limita-
tion to produce initial design ideas. The resulting work may be simple or indeed complex . . . depending
on how the designer is interpreting the image in front of them. When I say complex it does not mean
sources of inspiration 55

a lot of detail but translating a non-object-related visual into an object, which, I feel, creates space for
extreme creativity.
I use this exercise a lot in Japan when I lecture there; I show a paper clip and get them to develop
ten versions of a dress based on a paperclip. It is not just the visual idea of a paper clip being one finite
piece of wire bent in a specific way; it is the idea of ‘form following function’, simplicity, never ending,
how things clip into it. You can have a seminar about a paper clip and its functions; it is developing the
ability to extend your thinking and let your imagination take you forward.
I am adamant about pushing people into extending their minds and making them more imaginative.
The students I now have are kids of the Internet age. They have played computer games since the
age of four whereas I read books and created images in my mind. I had black-and-white TV as a child.
I know people of a certain age say this but I really used my imagination because I had to and I liked
doing that and I still do it.
I am trying to get students to unlearn, not just going to the Internet and getting stuff brought to
them. I want to send them out to look for things instead of just being able to Google. Everyone is born
being able to Google now and it is really dull, we all Google the same thing.
It devalues images, students do not look at the space around them they look to the Internet and
they don’t look around them.
Seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, that is my paper clip.
At the end of my three-hour lecture on the creative design process after presenting them with im-
ages to work with, minimalist images, complex images, colour images, ethnic images, all those obvious
things, the final slide is a grey box, a slide of grey. I say ‘now design what you want’ and it is the hardest
thing for them to do because it is just a grey slide; it is saying now look inside yourself to create.

Do you think it is possible to be totally original?

Everything has been done, my first slide always says that there is nothing new but it is the personal
interpretation that makes things new.

How can students start to understand the visual aspects of the fashion
industry?

They need to not just look at visual, they have to develop an awareness that whatever their crazy idea
it needs to end up as a product that will sell. I believe in extreme creativity but I also believe in the com-
mercial because there is no point designing things that won’t sell unless you want to put it in a gallery
and then that is fine art.
They need to look around, visit the stores, do their shop research, look at what people wear, or
carry, and how they look day-to-day. They have to understand their consumer because that is the
person who is going to receive their idea. As well as the creative side there is a business element. They
have to look at the beginning and the end and work towards the middle that is how I like to explain it.
There is no use designing madly if they don’t know whom they are designing for. Then they can go to
the right places to be inspired for the customer.
The way we think about customers, you have to become a customer yourself, take an interest in
shopping yourself. If you look at demographics they do influence things and you have to travel. If you
56 visual research methods in fashion

come to the UK, the UK customer is not the one you find in London, people change when you go out of
the city, suburban southern England, northern England, Scotland, it is all completely different. You have
to understand the broader spectrum it is not just capital-based, it is not just London, Milan, Tokyo. If you
are working fashion it is just going to get harder and harder, you have got to have global awareness.
Fashion students should get a job in retail and work at different market levels. In Primark people
don’t bother trying things on, they shove them in their basket and buy them and they don’t bring them
back if they don’t fit. At the designer level people try things on and walk around and move and some-
times you will see that some of the designers even don’t cut things to fit properly. Working in retail will
teach you about colour and cloth and the sort of colours women go for and men go for.

How do you know what is going to be in fashion?

We are bombarded with information to the point of overload. I disregard things very quickly but that
is based on my own historical knowledge, being forty-three years old I have forty-three years of refer-
ences behind me. I can disregard things I have seen because by this time I have seen a lot of things
before. The repetition in fashion is quite apparent to me.
When I did my first internship with older people they would say this has been around and is coming
back. I would not understand the cycle of fashion because I had not seen it, whereas now I have library
in my head. It is easy to say I have seen that, not interested. I will still stop and look to see how it differs
to the reference I have in my mind but it will happen very quickly.
I change my mind everyday and that is one of the hardest things. When I tell people what I do they
always say what’s in fashion? I hate that question because I know that tomorrow I will answer it com-
pletely differently; it changes day by day. You watch the news and you feel something different and it
changes. Today I can tell you it is lilac and tomorrow it might be orange. It is very hard to define. I really
don’t like to answer that in a specific way.
You have to know who you want to be. You have got to know where you fit but that is not copying.
All these people trying to be like a particular designer; I can spot them a mile off, they are really
boring. What is the point in being inspired by Chalayan or Margiela or Demeulemeester or Dries Van
Noten? It is pointless because what they have in the store now they thought of a year ago anyway, and
it is really old, they are already well ahead.
Definitely research into it when it is on the catwalk but don’t ever use those influences directly to
inspire because that was designed six months ago, it is old.
You need to be aware of what is out there so you are not repeating it but not being influenced by it.
Each season leads to the next so it is interesting to track a designer’s progress so you can see how a
design evolves. I know certain designers’ collections so well I can see where they have used a jacket
that was a bestseller and the evolution of a concept taken on to the next season. That is true design,
you can see movement and change. It is also because as a designer you want to push it forward,
you are a draughtsperson and an engineer not just a person who draws pictures on a page, you are
involved in your work and true designers love their own work.
I have to say that everything I have been talking about is very much in the realm of conceptual
design. This does not necessarily apply if you end up working for Primark. That is a different ballpark
altogether. I am talking about being free to work in conceptual field in an ideal world, utopia. It can be
paired down to mainstream.
sources of inspiration 57

things to do when you lack connected to each other. Do they have common
inspiration features: how many of them wear glasses, have
short hair, like to wear pink? It is amazing to see
Everybody has a time when they worry that they patterns form out of seemingly disconnected infor-
have run out of ideas or don’t know how to de- mation, and these patterns can set off new ideas.
velop the research they have conducted. At these
times there are some simple techniques you can Observe
use to get ‘unstuck’. The one thing you should not Sit in your local park, bus station and shopping
do when you lack inspiration is to sit and stare at mall, and watch the people. What are they wear-
a blank sheet of paper. ing, carrying? Are they trying for a particular style?
Who looks stylish? Who doesn’t, and what is the
Phone a Friend difference? How many people are wearing blue
Show your research to a friend and ask his or her shirts, carrying yellow bags? You will be surprised
opinion about it, what thoughts or ideas does it what you can learn. Make some notes, do some
conjure up for him or her. Your friend may have sketches and take some pictures.
a totally different perspective. If you ask several
friends, you may come up with a whole set of Listen to Some Music
ideas that you can use. We have a strong emotional connection to music,
and we can use this to help us to create images.
Change Your Environment Try drawing what a piece of music looks like to
Many creative people travel extensively because you—what colours and shapes does it suggest?
a change in environment can help them to see What textures does it suggest: hard and brassy
things differently. You don’t need to go to far-flung or soft and gentle? Does it have strong changes
exotic locations. Often we take the place where in tempo or flow methodically? The drawings
we live for granted and don’t bother to explore it. you produce can become the starting point for a
Select an area of your town or city that you have theme or a collection. Try listening to a genre of
never visited, go to a different city, get out in the music you would not normally engage with. If you
countryside or visit the coast, climb a hill or visit a like classical music, try listening to some heavy
stately home. metal; if you like drums and bass, try some jazz.

Create a Map Read a Book

Decide on something that interests you and map Find out which books are on the nonfiction best-
its occurrence in your environment. It might be sellers list. These usually give you an idea about
graffiti, litter, road signs, wildflowers or weeds, su- the issues that are becoming important to people.
permarket trolleys. Photograph and record your Choose a book off the list and read it.
subject and think about what the similarities and
differences are. Get a local map and mark its lo- Stop and Think
cations. Does this form a pattern in itself? Create Sometimes we are working so fast and trying to
a map of the people you know and how they are do so many things that we fail to take time to think.
58 visual research methods in fashion

Set aside an hour or a day and do something re- Write a List

laxing; use the time to think about the things that Write a list of the things that you have always
are important to you. What are your goals, and wanted to do but have never found the time for.
how can you achieve them? Choose something off the list and do it.

Summary
In this chapter we have explored a wide range of sources of inspiration, from the historical to the
contemporary. We have learned that inspiration for fashion comes from disparate fields including
culture, science, politics and economics. As a fashion creative you need to have your finger on the
pulse of popular culture and to use a wide range of resources and techniques. Keeping abreast
of all the new developments in these areas is challenging and requires a strategic approach, a
strong professional network and the ability to filter out what is not relevant to you. You will find
further advice on organizing and managing your information and tools that can help you to do
this in Chapter 8. The next chapter concentrates on the role of colour in fashion.

references and further Cumming, V. (2004), Understanding Fashion History,

reading London: Batsford.
Dubin, T., and Berman, A. E. (2001), Vintage Style, New
Baxter-Wright, E., Clarkson, K., Kennedy, S., and Mul- York: HarperCollins World.
vey, K. (2009), Vintage Fashion: Collecting and Engelmeier, R., and Engelmeier, P. W., eds (1997),
Wearing Designer Classics, London: Carlton. Fashion in Film, translated by E. Martin, edited by
Breward, C. (1995), The Culture of Fashion: A New B. Einzig, New York: Prestel.
History of Fashionable Dress, Manchester: Man- English, B. (2007), A Cultural History of Fashion in the
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Buchli, V., ed. (2002), The Material Culture Reader, Oxford: Berg.
Oxford: Berg. Fox, P. (2000), Star Style : Hollywood Legends as Fash-
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1890 to the 1990’s, London: Hamlyn. Hagen, K., and Giuntini, P., eds (2008), Garb: A Fashion
Clarke, S.E.B., and O’Mahony, M. (2007), Techno and Culture Reader, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pear-
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Cogan, B. (2008), The Encyclopaedia of Punk, New Harris, K. (1999), Collector’s Guide to Vintage Fashions:
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University of Chicago Press. Museum, London: Leicester University Press.
sources of inspiration 59

Kulcher, S., and Miller, D., eds (2005), Clothing as Mate- Marie Claire http://www.marieclaire.co.uk
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Morris, T. (2009), All a Twitter: A Personal and Profes- Purple http://www.purple.fr
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Salazar, L. (2008), Fashion V Sport, London: V&A. American National WWII Museum http://www.national
Schweitzer, M. (2009), When Broadway Was the Run- ww2museum.org/
way: Theater, Fashion, and American Culture, Phil- ARTstor http://www.artstor.org
adelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Bath Costume Museum http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk
Seivewright, S. (2007), Research and Design, Lau- British Library http://www.bl.uk/
sanne: AVA Academia. Commercial Pattern Archive http://www.uri.edu/library/
Shuker, R. (2008), Understanding Popular Music Cul- special_collections/COPA/index.php
ture, 3rd ed., London: Routledge. Country Music Hall of Fame http://www.countrymusi
Smith, P. (2009), Paul Smith: You Can Find Inspiration in challoffame.com
Everything*: *And If You Can’t, Look Again! edited Danny Gregory http://www.dannygregory.com/
by Robert Violette, London: Violette Editions. Fashion-Era http://www.fashion-era.com
Suoh, T., Iwagami, M., Koga, R., and Fukai, A. (2005), Fashion Film Festival http://www.fashioninfilm.com/
Fashion History, Cologne: Taschen. index-2.htm
Udale, J. (2008), Basics Fashion Design: Textiles and Frida Kahlo.com http://www.fridakahlofans.com/
Fashion, Lausanne: AVA. Imperial War Museum http://www.iwm.org.uk
The Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/
Library of Congress http://catalog.loc.gov/
websites Liverpool Museums http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/
Metropolitan Museum, ‘Timeline of Art History’ http://www.
Magazines metmuseum.org/toah/?HomePageLink=toah_l
British Council, ‘Recommended Music Magazines’ Museum of English Rural Life http://www.reading.ac.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-music-publica uk/merl/
tions-music-magazines.htm Museum of Modern Art http://www.moma.org
Drapers http://www.drapersonline.com/ National Gallery London http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Grazia http://www.graziadaily.co.uk Rock and Roll Hall of Fame http://www.rockhall.com/
Hello http://www.hellomagazine.com Smithsonian Museum Costume Collection http://ameri
Kerrang http://www.kerrang.com canhistory.si.edu/collections/costume
60 visual research methods in fashion

Tate Galleries http://www.tate.org.uk Vintage

VADS http://www.vads.ac.uk LAVintage http://www.lavintage.com
V&A Fashion V Sport http://www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/ Vintage Textile http://www.vintagetextile.com/
fashion-v-sport/ Wicked Lady Collectables (vintage patterns) http://www.
Victoria and Albert Museum http://www.vam.ac.uk wickedlady.com/collectables/clothes/patterns.php
chapter 3

colour theory and practice

Chapter Overview
Colour is the first thing that attracts people and is one of if not the most important design
feature of any product. The new iPod is a technological communication tool but its leading
promotional feature is the extensive range of colours! Colour is the biggest, fastest, easiest
way to influence the product and it’s not just textiles it’s everything.
—Janet Best, colour management consultant
Colour is important in driving fashion trends and sales; it is the starting point of every fashion
product and is constantly referenced throughout the product development process. From basic
colour theory to developing colour palettes, this chapter will help you to think creatively about
colour. It discusses how we perceive colour and the meanings that different colours can convey.
You will explore the various systems that are available for defining, communicating and matching
colour to ensure consistency from the initial concept to the end product.
This chapter includes:
• Colour theory
• Case study: Lottie Smith
• Colour psychology, symbolism and meaning
• Interview with Angela Wright, colour psychologist
• Colour systems and colour matching
• Colour management
• Colour forecasting
• Interview with Jane Kellock.

colour theory fashion, such as marketing, visual merchandis-

ing, buying or photography, colour is equally im-
Anyone considering a career in fashion needs to portant. If the colour is wrong, your product will not
understand the basics of colour theory. Fashion sell. If you do not understand colour, you will find it
colours change each season, and you need to get difficult to work with printed media and fabrics. This
the right colours into the store at the right time. If you section gives you an overview of colour theory: how
are not a designer but are working in other areas of we understand colour and how we perceive it.
62 visual research methods in fashion

What Is Colour? mixing all the colours produces white light. This is
In 1665 Sir Isaac Newton discovered that white called additive colour because the more colours
light is composed of a spectrum of colours. The you add, the lighter the effect.
spectrum has seven colours: red, orange, yellow, Subtractive colour—If you are working with
green, blue, indigo and violet. Directing a ray of print on paper, the more colours you mix, the
light at a solid glass prism can illustrate this. The darker the colours appear. This is called subtrac-
prism splits the light beam into the colours of the tive colour because the more colours you mix, the
spectrum, a process known as refraction. Light more light is absorbed.
entering the eye comes into contact with the ret- When you are working on a computer screen,
ina. The retina is formed of rods and cones. The the primary colours are red, green and blue, or
rods distinguish between black and white, whereas RGB; however, a printer uses a different sys-
the cones are able to recognize three colours: red, tem because it is using subtractive colour. The
blue-violet and green. This information is then colours used in colour printing are three prima-
transmitted to the brain, which translates it into the ries, cyan, magenta and yellow, and a fourth
colours that we see (Feisner 2001). colour, black. This four-colour process is known
Objects appear to be different colours because as CMYK. You will often come across these
they absorb different combinations of wave- terms when using computer programmes for
lengths. The colours we see are the wavelengths image editing.
reflected by the object, while the other wave-
lengths are absorbed. So a strawberry will reflect Colour Terminology
red wavelengths and absorb the others. There are some terms that you need to become
People who suffer from colour deficiency lack familiar with in order to understand colour theory
one of the receptors. For example a lack of red and how colours are created. The main terms are
receptors results in red-green colour deficiency. In listed in the following.
extreme cases a lack of all receptors will result in Primary colours—These are the colours that
black-and-white vision. If you are going to be work- cannot be created by mixing other colours. They
ing with colour as an important part of your role, are red, blue and yellow. When all three primaries
you should have a colour vision test as it is possible are mixed in subtractive colour, the result is black,
to have a colour deficiency and not know it. while in additive colour, it is white.
Colours behave differently depending upon a Secondary colours—These are colours created
range of factors including media, light sources by mixing two of the primary colours together.
and other conditions, for example their juxtapo- Mixing blue and yellow creates green, mixing red
sition with other colours and the proportions in and yellow creates orange, and mixing red and
which they are used. There are different ways of blue creates violet.
creating colour depending upon the media that Tertiary colours—These colours lie between
you are working with. the primary and secondary colours and are
Additive colour—When we are working on a ­yellow-orange, orange-red, red-violet, blue-violet,
computer screen, we are working with light, so blue-green and yellow-green.
colour theory and practice 63

The colour wheel—The colour wheel illustrates Value—This indicates how light or dark the
the relationships between primary, secondary, colour is.
complementary and tertiary colours. There are Gamut—This refers to the area of a colour
many different variations on the wheel; for ex- space that a device can accurately reproduce.
ample the colour wheel used for pigments has The range of colours that we can see is far larger
twelve segments, created by mixing two primaries than the range that most devices can reproduce,
to create a secondary colour and a primary with a and the range changes depending upon the de-
secondary colour to create a tertiary. The process vice. For example some colours in RGB cannot
wheel, which is used in printing and photography, be accurately represented in CMYK, and they are
has different primaries (cyan, yellow and magenta) therefore said to be out of gamut. This is why the
and tertiary colours to the pigment wheel. The colours on the screen can differ from the colours
Munsell colour wheel uses five principal colours printed out on paper.
(red, yellow, green, blue and purple), producing a Tint—A tint is achieved by mixing a colour with
wheel with twenty segments. white.
Complementary colours—These are oppo- Shade—A shade is achieved by mixing a
site each other on the colour wheel, for example colour with black.
orange and blue, yellow and violet, or red and Achromatic greys—These greys are achieved
green. Placing complementary colours next to by mixing black and white.
each other creates a dynamic effect. Chromatic greys—These greys have a very low
Analogous colours—These are colours that are saturation of a hue.
adjacent to each other on the colour wheel. Using Grayscale/greyscale—This is a gradation of
analogous colours together creates a harmonious achromatic greys. In computer terminology an
colour palette. image composed only of shades of grey is said
Harmonious colours—These are colours that to be greyscale.
are close to each other on the colour wheel, for Monochromatic—This is a colour scheme
example orange and yellow. based upon the colours from one hue, for exam-
Pigment—This term has different meanings ple a range of blues.
depending upon the context in which it is used. In Tone—A tone is achieved by mixing grey with
biology it refers to the colouring of skin, plants and a colour.
so on. In colour theory it relates to a powder used Colour palette—This is a selection of colours,
to create a colour in paints, inks and so on. for example within a painting or image; or in fash-
Hue—This is the name of the colour, e.g. red, ion terms, colours within a collection or range
green and blue. that have been selected to represent a particular
Intensity, saturation or chroma—This relates to mood or story.
the purity of the hue present in a colour. The more
saturated a colour is, the purer and more brilliant Colour Interactions
it will appear. Neutral colours are less saturated Colours behave in different ways depending upon
than vibrant colours. how you combine them. Albers (1975) produced
64 visual research methods in fashion

the seminal work on colour interaction, and it is creates a more harmonious palette. Some combi-
still a useful reference today. As we have already nations can make one colour appear to recede or
said, putting complementary colours like red and advance. A bright green on a dark background will
green together creates a vibrant effect, whilst using seem to be brighter and closer than the same green
colours that are near each other on the colour wheel on a light background, as illustrated in Plate 10.

Project: Colour Palettes

Create two colour palettes that represent one of the pairs of keywords below. You should create one board for each
keyword.

• Mystery, clarity
• Silence, excitement
• Fresh, decaying
• Arid, moist
• Luxurious, simple

Find an image to represent the keyword, and select a minimum of six colours for your palette. Remember that if you
want a dynamic look, you may want to use contrasting colours, whereas if you want a harmonious look, you may want to use
monochromatic or analogous colours.

Case Study: Lottie Smith

Lottie Smith is a knitwear designer who uses colour to great effect in her work. She received an award
from Selvedge magazine for Excellence in Textile Design. Lottie’s inspiration for her collection came
from a small paper-based exhibition at the V&A called Certain Trees: The Constructed Book, Poem and
Object, 1964–2008. She liked the colours and textures of the paper and the idea of using text. Here,
she explains her process.

I came up with the idea of using collage with textured papers, thick paints, stitch, old poem
books, all based on trees; also appliqué visual pieces from initial knits and found pieces of
fabrics.
The next step I took was to scan my original work in and start to design in Photoshop, mak-
ing them into repetitions, multiples and patterns to get a feel for their translation into knitted and
woven fabrics.
Alongside doing this I started to accumulate images for market and visual research in my
sketchbook in the form of moodboards, also starting to consider colour. A trip to Premiere
Vision in February this year played a strong part in helping me to develop my colour although
colour theory and practice 65

I think mostly I developed it from my own thoughts and choices. I really enjoy putting together
colour and feel it’s something I can do well.
For some inspiration and guidance into the fashion side of things I looked mostly at Orla
Kiely’s Knits (http://www.orlakiely.com), Boden (http://www.boden.co.uk) and Oilily (http://www.
oilily-world.com).
Within some of my samples there are areas of detail, some are so small that only the person
wearing the garment would know they were there, this makes it that little bit more special. Add-
ing details is in the form of buttons or tags made from snippets of French ribbons something that
I strongly enjoy. I tend to use mostly second-hand and old buttons as I feel they give my work
that little extra uniqueness they are not mass-produced (see Plate 11).

colour psychology, symbolism meanings of colours can be very useful for anyone
and meaning working in the design-related industries. The list
given here is by no means exhaustive, and if you
The emotional factor is the most important are working on a project where the meaning at-
point in your colour research; it is a language tached to a colour is important, it would be worth
with which you can talk to the consumer. You doing some more extensive research. For ex-
can move people with the usage of colour, and ample you would probably not want to produce a
get your message across. Red for example is white wedding dress in a culture where the colour
always synonymous with romance and femi- is associated with death and mourning.
ninity but can also mean danger. You need to
Colour Symbolism
understand the power of colour.
Red stands for danger, heat, passion, romance,
importance (red carpet, red letter day) and anger
—Richard Sardouk, trend forecaster
(seeing red). In China it is considered to bring
The meanings we attach to different colours good luck and fortune, and in the Hindu religion it
are socially constructed; this means that across symbolizes joy and creativity.
different cultures and societies the same colour White is associated with simplicity, purity and
can have a variety of meanings and symbolic rep- innocence. In the West it is almost universally the
resentations. Some meanings are shared; others colour of wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and
differ according to the culture and beliefs of dif- chastity; however, in some other cultures it is the
ferent countries. We will look at some of the most colour of mourning (China, parts of Africa). It is
common symbolic meanings that we attach to also the universal symbol for surrender (white flag).
colours and discuss whether or not colour can Black is the colour of sophistication, mystery
also affect our behaviour or our physiology. We all and power. It is the colour of mourning in the
see colour used symbolically in our everyday lives West. Generally considered to be slimming, black
and barely stop to think about it: red for ‘stop’, is never out of fashion. Historically black was often
green for ‘go’, white for weddings and so on. associated with negativity, tragedy and bad luck
However, understanding the symbolic and cultural (black cats, black Friday).
66 visual research methods in fashion

Blue is considered to have a calming effect. In Warm and Cool Colours

Mexico it is the colour of mourning, and in Greece Colours are also often described as being ei-
it is used to ward off the evil eye. Blue is also re- ther warm or cool. It is possible that these as-
lated to depression (feeling blue) and to sexual in- sociations are closely connected to nature and
nuendo (blue jokes). Pale blues are associated in our environment. For example colours such as
the West with baby boys. red, orange and yellow that are closely related
Green is associated with nature, trees and with sunshine and fire are considered to be warm
grass. It is also the universal symbol for safety colours. Greys, whites and violets are indicative
(green traffic lights). It represents the colour of of the winter landscape and are considered to be
resurrection and is considered to be relaxing cool colours. These associations appear to be
(green rooms in theatres). It recently has been universal across most cultures (http://www.sen
associated with issues relating to ecology and sationalcolor.com).
the environment (the Green Party, the recycling
symbol). Colour Psychology
Purple is the colour of royalty in the West. It Many people argue that colours can affect the
also has strong associations with creativity, and in way we feel, making us calmer or more excited,
Japan purple indicates power and wealth. affecting our appetites and our mood. As we have
Orange is another happy colour. It is also an already stated, the meanings of colours vary ac-
autumnal colour and in the West is often associ- cording to our culture, and therefore it is possible
ated with Halloween. It is believed to stimulate the that our psychological responses to colours
appetite and to be a social colour. are also culturally situated. If we expect a certain
Yellow is considered to be a cheerful colour, colour to calm us down, perhaps that is the effect
signifying happiness, hope (yellow ribbons) and that it will have. It is generally accepted that people
well-being, but it also has negative connota- feel happier when the sun shines and less happy
tions of cowardice (yellow belly). In nature when when the skies are grey and foreboding, but is this
combined with black, yellow is a warning colour the impact of the colours around us or a physi-
(wasps). ological response to the temperature? Clearly
Pink is associated with little girls (specifically nature uses colour to send out signals: bright
pale pastel pinks); it is also associated with ro- flowers attract insects, whilst yellow and black are
mance and femininity. Bright pinks are said to signs of danger and food is rarely blue. People
be stimulating, whilst pale pinks are considered have different responses to colours; not everyone
to have a calming effect. In some cultures pink is likes the same colours or even the same colour
also associated with the gay or homosexual com- combinations.
munity (pink pound). Some studies have shown that exposure to a
Grey/gray is associated with intellect, conser- particular colour can create a physical response; for
vatism and authority. As a neutral colour it is also example there is evidence that a certain shade of
a fashion staple, particularly in men’s business pink can have the effect of suppressing the desire
suits. It can also be associated with pessimism for food (Schauss 1981) and have a calming effect.
(grey day, grey skies). It was also found that being exposed to the colour
colour theory and practice 67

red before taking a test can have a negative effect red and mistakes and failure, perhaps because red
on your performance. This is thought to result from is traditionally used for marking errors on essays
the strong association we have between the colour and schoolwork (University of Rochester 2007).

Interview with Angela Wright, Colour Psychologist

Angela Wright is a colour psychologist and the author of The Beginner’s Guide to Colour Psychology.
She studied Freudian psychotherapy before moving into the world of colour that had always fasci-
nated her.

You identify four personality types that relate to four different colour
palettes; what are the personality types?

Basically the personality types are internally or externally motivated. Jung calls them introverts and
extroverts.
The type ones are fairly light visually and quite delicate; they cover a lot of ground but they don’t
dig. They can be very clever but they really hate getting bogged down in academic debate. They’re
very practical, they like to get things done, they communicate magically, and they’re just brilliant. They
lift spirits, they’re fun.
The type two personality has that same delicacy but it’s all very contained, they’re cool, calm, col-
lected. They prefer to stay behind the scenes. They’re wonderfully supportive and nurturing and they
have this ability to very gently cut through all the hot air and emotion and sum up a situation in one line
so they get things moving as well.
The second extrovert is the type three, again externally motivated but their energy is much more
intense. They want to save the world. They’re very caring but they’re action-orientated so they’ll do
something about it. They’ll go in to fight for the underdog, they’ll protest.
The type four is again internally motivated but their energy is very intense and they’re charismatic.
Everybody aspires to be that person but they’re not. They’re very few and far between and they’re
usually to be found at the top because they have a great gift for delegation, for seeing the bigger pic-
ture and they don’t go off down sentimental diversionary paths, they keep their eye on their objectives.
Examples of that type would be somebody like Margaret Thatcher and, of course, each of these four
types has a potential for negative perceptions as well.
The type one can often be perceived as air-headed and frivolous; the type two can be seen as aloof,
rather unfriendly. The type three can be seen as tedious and bossy and a pain in the bottom, and the
type four can be seen as very cold and uncaring. They’re not uncaring they’re just not sentimental.
Those are the four types.

Is there such a thing as an attractive colour?

There is no such thing as a universally attractive colour, there’s no such thing as a good colour any-
more than there’s any such thing as a universally attractive person. There are universally attractive
colour combinations. If you are on any kind of a design project you decide at the outset, which is the
68 visual research methods in fashion

most appropriate colour group to capture and express characteristics of the project. That can apply
to anything everything has a personality. So which colours will best capture the personality that you’re
trying to communicate?
For example, if you were trying to communicate a message of exuberance and being outgoing and
fun then you would go for bright, lively colours—hot pinks, yellows.

How would you describe your colour groups?

The group one colours are mainly chintz. They’re very clear, quite bright. The hue is yellow-based so
the hues have got yellow, the value is relatively high, in other words there’s not much black in them, the
chroma is not that high, it’s kind of mid.
With the group two colours the hue contains blue so it’s cool, the value is mid (not very light, not very
dark) and the chroma is relatively low. These colours are very understated, subtle.
The group three colours again have yellow contained in the basic hue so they’re warm, the value
can be high or low, you can get light colours and dark colours but they’re not clear, they’ve always got
a bit of black in them even if they’re quite light so it sort of takes the edge off them.
Then the four colours are either very light, very dark or very intense. The hues are blue, the value is
one extreme or the other (very high or very low) and the chroma is high (see Plate 13).

Tell me about your company Colour Affects, what do you do?

I opened Colour Affects purely with the objective of testing my theories empirically. It’s not my job to tell
people what colours to use, it’s my job to give them the information, to tell them what will happen if they
use these colours and what will happen if they use those colours. It’s all written. I give them a written
rationale and I will give recommendations along the lines of if this is what you want to communicate
then these are the colours that will communicate that.

You carried out some research into your theories: what did you discover?

We discovered that there were mathematical correlations within the groups that don’t exist between
colours in different groups, which suggests that objective colour harmony is scientific reality.
If you want to harmonize properly, the wheel isn’t going to do it unless you’ve harmonized the wheel
in the first place. You need four wheels.
The other great thing I discovered was that each individual has a kind of affinity with one of the
colour groups and you can sort of see that, in their physical colouring as well. We are part of the grand
design as well. If you’re looking at a colour scheme that is in ‘your’ colour group/family you are likely to
say, ‘Oh wow, those are my kind of colours’. If you see a colour scheme that’s been harmonized in line
with the Colour Affects system you’re likely to say, ‘Oh wow, look at those colours, they’re great’. It’s a
different reaction but they’re both positive. So there are universally attractive colour combinations but
one colour by itself, just the same as one musical note, isn’t really going to do much. Each colour does
have its universal properties and in that sense colour psychology is universal.

How would you go about creating a colour palette?

To me a palette is a group of colours within which every colour has a role to play and they all work to-
gether, synergistically, to underpin the message of the season for instance. So if someone says to me
colour theory and practice 69

‘This season, OK we need bright, lively colours’. I would go to the Morninglight palette and recommend
a group of colours from that. We’ve renamed the colour groups in terms of light so they’re Morninglight,
Dreamlight, Firelight and Starlight.
I would have a headline palette of the one that society is expressing and needs right now, then I
would have three sub-palettes and I would never in a million years take a colour from one of the sub-
palettes and put it with a colour from the head palette. You’ve got to keep them separate then every-
body understands them, gets it.
What defines whether a colour is stimulating or calming is not the wavelength. People think red,
yellow and orange are stimulating and blue, green and purple are calming. Not so. It’s the intensity.
So a very intense blue will stimulate the mind where a lovely, warm, soft, light blue will calm the mind.
Equally, going over to the red, a very strong red will stimulate physically, but a tint of red, which is pink,
soothes physically. But the red wavelength is all about the physical and the blue wavelength is all about
the mental. The yellow wavelength is all about the emotions and the ego and self-confidence and the
green provides the essential balance, it’s in the centre of the spectrum so it requires no great effort
to look at it but green is very reassuring and it provides the balance between the mind, the body and
the emotions. Of course, when the world around us is green we instinctively know we’re not going to
starve; we’re very reassured by it. For instance, I always recommend it round the cash desk in retailing
because it reduces buyer’s remorse while you’re queuing to pay.
I suppose if you were to ask me what’s the basis of my colour theories I would have to say nature,
that’s where I went first to look. Colour is nature’s signalling system so we know when the world is grey
and white and a bit colourless generally we do instinctively hibernate. The colours in our environment
have a very profound physical and psychological and emotional effect on us and colour is energy. It’s
electromagnetic energy. It’s the same as microwaves and X-rays and we don’t mess with them.

colour systems and colour colour information. A range of systems are avail-
matching able for use across different media and product
groups. Some of the most popular systems are
There are thousands of different names for colours outlined here.
and no exact science for this naming; paint com-
panies, cosmetic companies or even car manu- PANTONE®
facturers have developed many names that we One of the best-known colour classification sys-
use to describe colours. Using a name to describe tems in fashion and graphics, the PANTONE color
a colour is not accurate, and this causes issues system was developed by Lawrence Herbert in
when communicating. In fashion you may be 1963 (see Plate 14). The PANTONE MATCHING
producing a collection with a number of different SYSTEM® is a book of standardized colour in a
manufacturers and you need the items to match. fan format. The colours are specified by a num-
Asking them to produce the garment in navy blue ber; for example PANTONE 100 is a yellow, and
will result in a mess of mismatched colour. The PANTONE 253 is a purple. Pantone has different
same principles apply to printed media. To ensure systems for digital technology, fashion and tex-
that we achieve the colours we want, classifica- tiles, paint and so on. The system for fashion and
tion systems are used to accurately convey the textiles includes 1,925 colours that are available
70 visual research methods in fashion

in paper or cotton format. Pantone also produces colours have no hue and are given nuance nota-
a biannual trend forecasting tool called the Pan- tions followed by -N, meaning neutral. The pure
tone View Color Planner. Some specialist textile grey scale is a scale from white, which is 0300-N,
design programmes contain a PANTONE colour to black, which is 9000-N.
atlas within the system, allowing easy specifica- The NCS notation system describes both the
tion of colours. The Pantone Web site has a lot amount of whiteness or nuance that a colour has
of information about colour theory and trends. and the degree of resemblance a colour has to
You can join myPANTONE and download a very two of the elementary chromatic colours. There-
useful tool for creating and saving your own Pan- fore the notation 1050-Y90R indicates a colour
tone palettes that you can then use in your design that has 10 per cent blackness and the maximum
software. There is also a Pantone application for chromatic value of 50 per cent—the remaining 40
the iPhone and many other useful resources. By per cent indicates the whiteness but is not shown
using PANTONE colour codes you can ensure in the notation. Y90R indicates a yellow with 90
that your products will be the colour that you per cent redness. The benefits of the system are
specified. For more information visit http://www. that sequences of colours can be made that bal-
pantone.com. ance exactly within a hue or between a number
of hues, making this system unique and providing
The Natural Colour System the designer with complete control of the specifi-
NCS—Natural Colour System®© is a logi- cation process.
cal colour notation system which builds on
how the human being sees colour. A notation Munsell
represents a specific colour percept and de- The Munsell system is a perceptual system (based
scribes the colour visually, it is not depending on how we see light), and it defines colour in terms
on limitations caused by pigments, light rays of hue, value and chroma (intensity of the colour).
or nerve signals that have given rise to this The system is modelled on a globe around which
perception. (http://www.ncscolour.com) a band of hues runs at the equator. Plate 16 il-
lustrates how the system works. The ten hues
In the NCS system there are six elementary (red, yellow-red, yellow, green-yellow, green, blue-
colours that are perceived by humans as being green, blue, purple-blue, purple and red-purple)
‘pure’; for example the elementary red is a pure are arranged at equal distances around the cen-
red with no yellow or blue. The four chromatic el­ tral axis, and the points on the axis are numbered.
ementary colours are yellow (Y), red (R), blue (B) and Primary yellow is represented as 5Y, while a yellow
green (G), and the two nonchromatic elementary that was closer to green would be represented as
colours are white (W) and black (S) (see Plate 15). 2.5GY, and a yellow that was closer to red would
NCS colour notations are based on how much be represented as 7.5YR. The axis of the orb,
a given colour seems to resemble two or more represented by a pole, represents a range of grey
of these six elementary colours. Colours are de- values from black (south) to white (north) and is
scribed using a notation system that indicates divided into a gradient numbered 1–9 (1 being the
their hue, chromatic value and nuance. Pure grey darkest and 9 the lightest). N is used as a notation
colour theory and practice 71

for the grey value; for example 1N is white and 9N blue-yellow. Each axis has a positive and nega-
is black (the system was later expanded to run tive value. On the a-axis, positive values indicate
from 0 for white to 10 for black). the amount of red, whilst negative values indicate
The chroma is shown running from the centre of the amount of green. On the b-axis positive values
each hue outward, from neutral colours at the cen- indicate the amount of yellow, and negative values
tre to stronger colours at the outer edge. For each indicate the amount of blue. The zero point on both
hue, however, the chroma is not uniform. Hues axes indicates a neutral grey. This system is used
reach full chroma at different points on the axis. extensively in desktop colour as, unlike RGB and
For example reds, blues and purples have higher CMYK, it is device independent (see Plate 17).
average chroma values at full saturation. The sys-
tem uses the following notation: the hue is repre- Hexadecimal
sented by a word or initial (e.g. Green or G), the This is a system developed specifically for use
values by the number on the value scale (e.g. 6/), with computers and Web design in particular. In
and the chroma by the numbers 1–10 (the higher RGB, colours are expressed numerically from 0
the number, the more intense the colour). So a to 255, with a set of three numbers indicating
bright red could be represented as 5R 6/10. In the values of each colour. Thus, in RGB white is
this, 5R indicates that the hue is red, 6 indicates a 255,255,255, and cyan is 0,255,255 (indicating a
mid-light value, and 10 indicates a high chroma, or zero value for red). The hexadecimal system uses
intense colour. For further information visit X-Rite’s 00–FF instead of 0–255. In hexadecimal black is
site (http://www.xrite.com/top_munsell.aspx). 00,00,00 and white is FF,FF,FF. These codes are
recognized by all browsers. When creating a Web
Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage page you will sometimes need to type in the hex
The Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage code for the colour you want to use. There are
(CIE, or International Commission on Illumination), plenty of resources on the Web where you can
founded in 1913, is an international organiza- see the colours and their associated codes and
tion that sets the standards for lighting and has convert colours from RGB to hexadecimal.
a technical committee that deals with colour. Like There are many other colour systems that can-
the Munsell system the CIE system relates to our not be discussed in depth in this publication. You
perception of colour and is device independent, will find links to more information about colour
based on standard sources of light. CIELAB is systems along with interactive models on the
a colour system used by the CIE and is an op- companion Web site.
ponent colour system based on the fact that a
colour cannot, for example, be both red and
green as these are opposites. It has similarities to colour management
the Munsell system in that there is a central verti-
cal axis that represents the value, numbered from As we have discussed in the section on colour
0 (white) to 100 (black). systems, there are differences between the
There are two colour axes: the a-axis rep- colours produced on the screen and the colours
resents red-green, and the b-axis represents produced by a printer. Managing the process of
72 visual research methods in fashion

matching colours has become an issue for manu- a consistent output. The downside to this is that
facturers of all types of products. Accurate colour if you send the file to another printer, the colours
representation is a particular challenge when cus- may not be consistent. This is not very useful if
tomers may be buying a product from a computer you are working remotely or collaboratively, as
screen or a catalogue. is often the case in fashion. Device-­independent
calibration uses a colour system that is indepen-
The biggest reason for customer returns from dent of the device (e.g. the CIELAB system). In
the Internet and catalogue selling is because this process the software builds profiles that can
the colour is not the colour they thought it be used to remotely communicate colour accu-
was; because the print colour in the catalogue rately. This is extremely useful when you are work-
or represented on the screen is not a good ing in a global environment (Kodak n.d.).
representation of the colour of the garment. The whole of the colour management process
in textile manufacturing is becoming more auto-
—Janet Best, colour consultant
mated, with textile-design software that enables
It is not only matching the colours between dif- you to simulate a screen print and create the
ferent media that can be an issue. Getting con- colour recipes; these can then be sent to the dye
sistent colour results from digital printing can be a house. Most dye houses today have computer-
problem even when you are using the same printer, operated dye kitchens that accurately measure
inks and cloth, as can predicting the outcome of the dyeing ingredients and produce consistent re-
a screen print when you are working with a digital sults. The outputs can then be measured using a
programme. This is as much an issue for photog- spectrophotometer (a device for measuring the
raphers as it is for textile designers. As more com- wavelengths of light) to check that samples meet
panies depend upon digital prints for sampling, it the suppliers’ specifications.
has become more important to be able to accu- There are many systems on the market for
rately represent colour throughout the design and colour management including the following.
production process. Technological advances have
made accurate colour management easier, and AVA http://www.avacadcam.com/en/index.php
many products are now available to enable this. Colour Matters http://www.colourmatters.com/
There are two types of colour management: Datacolor http://www.datacolor.com/
device-dependent calibration, where you are Lectra www.Lectra.com
aiming to get a consistent result between say X-Rite http://www.xrite.com/home.aspx
a computer monitor and a printer, and device-
independent calibration, where you are trying
to get consistent results regardless of the device Dye Labs and Standards
being used. In device-dependent calibration the In the garment-manufacturing side of the indus-
usual method is to calibrate the display with try, colour matching is extremely important. The
the printer. Colorimeters are devices that can colour technologist will work with a dye house
be used to calibrate computer monitors; the to get the best possible match to the colour
­monitor can be calibrated with the printer to ensure required and to come up with a recipe that
colour theory and practice 73

ensures that the colour is consistent across the Colour samples are usually assessed in a
range. Color Solutions International in Charlotte, light box using a controlled light source, and the
North Carolina (http://www.colorsolutionsinter type of source can be changed to emulate day-
national.com), is one such company. They pro- light, fluorescent light or incandescent light.
vide a service for developing colour standards. It is important to view colours in different lighting
A standard is a physical piece of the colour, on conditions because a colour can change quite
a standard cotton inside a card, and in the card significantly under different light sources. If you
are all the parameters including light sources, look at a colour for too long, you can strain your
the formula it took to make the sample and the eyes so it is a good idea to take a break some-
electronic information, the spectral data. These times and rest your eyes, or go out and look into
standards are sent to the factories by retailers the distance. It is best to start by looking at the
to ensure that the end product that arrives in lightest colours first and to work up to the darker
the store is the correct colour. This is espe- colours. Everyone sees colour slightly differently,
cially important when various elements of the which is why it is good to be tested to see if you
range are being developed in different factories have any deficiencies.
or even different countries. Issues that need to
be taken into consideration when developing a
dye recipe are whether it is from a sustainable colour forecasting
source, whether the dyes are available globally,
whether it is colour fast and whether there is Fashion trends start with colour, and each season
any metamerism (where two colour swatches the colours that are considered to be in fashion
match when viewed under one light source but change. Getting the right colours into your col-
not another). lection or store is central to ensuring the success
The advantage of spectral data is that colour of your business. Colour trends are evident right
can be accurately communicated online, and across all the fashion-related industries, from
manufacturers can start to develop the dyes bathing suits and beauty products to wearable
whilst they are waiting for the physical standard electronics, jewellery, accessories and interiors.
to arrive. The standards are very accurate. One Even car manufacturers and paint companies
system that is used to read colour and produce use trend information to decide upon their colour
accurate data is Delta Ecmc. Color Solutions palettes or options for a particular season. Yarn
International produces standards that have a manufacturers have to make colour decisions well
variable of less than point five (0.5) Delta Ecmc. ahead of the retail season for which the products
This level of accuracy ensures that variables in are intended, and this makes it crucial that they
production are minimized. Dyeing and matching make the right colour choices.
colour is a very skilled job, and some companies As well as being subject to changing trends,
employ specialists to work on this area. They colour is also subject to seasonal differences. For
work with the designers to ensure that the de- example pastel and bright colours appear more
signer’s vision is the colour that actually makes it often in the spring and summer, and rich, earthy
into the store. colours appear more often in the autumn and
74 visual research methods in fashion

winter. Some colours are considered to be basics There are many different companies that create
or classics because they are easy to wear, prac- colour forecasts. These can be generic or specific
tical and never really go out of fashion; colours to particular products or markets. Fashion trade
such as black, grey, brown, navy and beige shows will also produce colour palettes. Premiere
are often described as basic, classic or staple Vision (PV) in Paris is one of the best-known trade
colours. fairs for fashion fabrics. In September 2009 PV
Other colours are considered to be fashion was showing fabric collections for Autumn/Win-
colours because they are representative of a par- ter 2010/11. Each season it selects a palette of
ticular season or are more likely to be short-lived colours, and the exhibitors at PV present collec-
in terms of fashion trends. They may be in the tions in line with this guide. As most of the major
store for a few weeks or a season. They may be fashion retailers will visit this show for inspira-
used for whole outfits or just as highlights for a tion and to buy fabrics, it may well be that fash-
basic palette. They may also change dramatically ion colours are to a certain extent a self-fulfilling
or subtly from one season to the next. Sometimes prophecy. However, the reality is more complex.
they will appear at the top end of the market and The colour palettes that these companies present
then filter down to the high street. are based on the research of professionals who

Trend team meeting at Nelly Rodi. Courtesy of Nelly Rodi. Reproduced with permission.
colour theory and practice 75

are working in the global market and are aware of for the specific market or product group, and this
trends as they emerge. The palettes shown at PV is where designers, buyers or marketers have
are the result of collaborations between fashion to understand their particular brand, client and
designers, weavers and spinners. They participate product. They will also use sales information from
in colour conferences and meetings to decide on previous seasons and local information to adjust
the palettes for a season and will cross-reference a palette to meet their needs. This may include
their information with each other. This cross- ensuring that the bestselling colours from the pre-
referencing is important in confirming a colour vious season follow on, adding in a staple colour
trend (http://www.premierevision.fr). that is one of their continuing bestsellers or drop-
Companies using these trend predictions will ping a colour that has not traditionally performed
also cross-reference the information from several well for their product. Depending upon their loca-
sources to ensure that there is a consensus of opin- tion they may need to adjust the palette to take
ion. The information also needs to be interpreted account of local weather or lighting conditions.

Project: Analysing a Colour Palette

Using an online or printed trend publication, select a colour trend palette and analyse it. How many colours does it contain?
Which season is it intended for? Which market or markets is it being promoted for? How is the palette composed? Break it
down into staple or basic colours and fashion colours. How would you describe the palette: is it harmonious? Does it consist
mostly of pastels, brights or dark colours? How intense are the colours? How pure are they? Compare the palette with pre-
dictions for the previous and following seasons if these are available. Are any of the colours constant, or have some evolved
and have others disappeared? Has the intensity of the colours changed? Are they predicting a completely different palette?
If the palette is for the current season, are the predictions reflected in the stores?

Interview with Jane Kellock

At the time of this interview Jane worked at the trend company WGSN (http://www.wgsn.com) as
senior trend consultant. She is now a freelance consultant. Here, she talks about how WGSN develops
its colour palettes.

How far ahead do you work?

We publish two years ahead and then it kind of evolves, we’re quite lucky because of the medium that
we use because we’re on the Internet. We publish these trends and then we can publish updates. They
evolve and change according to the teams and the direction they want to take them in. For instance
one of the trends we had for 2010 was called ‘outrageous’; we published that a year ago and then
womenswear have just published their version of it. They all take it and they’ll mould it into what they
think is relevant for their particular market.
76 visual research methods in fashion

How do you go about developing a colour palette?

If you start at the beginning, we work with colour consultants who work with the different colour and
textile groups around the world. There are colour and textile groups around the world who are made up
of experts in their particular industry who come together and share their ideas about where they think
colour’s going. That happens in America, Europe and Asia so we get information from those people
and we use that as a starting point for our colour information. Obviously, we look at what’s sold in the
past, what colours we’ve predicted in the past, what’s happened on the catwalk, just everything that’s
happening with colour and product. Then we’ll get together as a team and talk about what colours are
inspiring us, what colours we love personally and things that we’ve seen that are inspiring us. It may be
books, films, exhibitions, a piece of colour from a photograph we’ve taken while we’ve been travelling,
a piece of fabric that we’ve found. We get all of this information together and then we say OK, what do
we feel is the important colour for the forthcoming season?
People put palettes together in different ways. Some people put them together in groups of colours
that work well together, some put them in colour levels, some put them in tones. Colour levels would
generally be things like brights, pales, neutral.

Who uses your colour predictions?

We are talking to quite a large group of people from a variety of different industries, people that maybe
want to know what car colours are important to people, that want to know what fashion colours are
important. The very first thing that we publish is a big generic palette and then that filters through. It’s
used as a starting point for the different directories in the same way that the trends are. The womens-
wear team will then take that colour palette and they’ll probably change it slightly because they’ll add
in maybe purple or they’ll brighten the pink up or kidswear might take the black out so it’s used as a
starting point and it’s deliberately generic.

And how many colours would normally be in that palette?

Anything from forty to fifty and we try to make it as easy to understand as possible. We publish it in two
ways, in groups so there are tones and then the different levels as well. It’s like a matrix.
We also publish what we call colour usage, it is not particularly designed for any market it’s just
groups of colour, things that we think look nice together and which colours we feel really strongly for.
The majority of the people that read our Web site are designers and they don’t want to read masses
of text. You have to be able to explain it quite simply and succinctly whilst inspiring with the words
but not giving them masses of text because they’re visual people. With the colour research if you just
said elemental, faded, earthy, dense, tinted, colour-washed and electric you could actually more or
less get an idea of what the colour palette is just from those words without having to read all the text
underneath.

And are there colours that are there every single season, like black
and white?

Black and white and possibly navy but we don’t have those rules. Some retailers have specific rules, I
don’t know why but they always sell a particular colour. We know that people will put their bestselling
colour theory and practice 77

colour in and they’ll add in whatever they want. A lot of the information that we get is out there but
people don’t have time to gather it together or to understand what it means. We take all of that stuff
and put it together in understandable chunks of information, with an opinion about why you should
do this and what it means to your particular business. The opinion’s definitely important; people have
trusted our opinion over time. We don’t say ‘You must do it like this!’ but we say ‘What about this?’ or
‘Try this’ or ‘Put this with this’ or ‘See what you think’.

Project: Colour Photo File

Take your camera and start to create a photo file that represents a particular colour or palette of colours. For example if you
choose the colour red, you might photograph sale signs, red dresses, traffic lights and warning signs, gemstones, London
buses, street furniture. If you decide on a colour palette, it might be based on pastels, brights or complementary or analogous
colours. Use these images to start to create a colour database that you can use for reference for future projects.

Summary
In this chapter you have discovered how we see and interpret colour and that not everyone sees
colours in the same way. Colours can have meanings that vary according to different societies
and cultures, and they can also affect us physiologically. To communicate colour we require a
system for accurately defining and specifying colour so that we can manage how it is reproduced.
Colour that is created using light is different to colour that is printed, and this difference creates
challenges for managing colour across the design and product development process. Colour
forecasting and colour management are key roles within the fashion industry because colour is
the most important factor in driving fashion and creating sales. Everyone working in the fashion
industry regardless of their role needs to have a basic understanding of colour theory.

references and further com/hub/The-Psychology-of-Color (accessed 16

July 2008).
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Butts, K. (nd), ‘Color Measurement Methods for Textile
Adobe (2000), ‘Color Models: CIELAB’ [Web page], Fabrics’ [Web page], Techexchange.com. Avail-
Adobe Technical Guides. Available at: http://dba. able at: http://www.techexchange.com/thelibrary/
med.sc.edu/price/irf/Adobe_tg/models/cielab. color_measurement_methods.html (accessed 15
html (accessed 27 November 2009). July 2008).
Albers, J. (1975), Interaction of Colour, rev. ed., New Douma, M., curator (nd), ‘Simultaneous Contrast’ [Web
Haven, CT: Yale University Press. page], Colour, Vision and Art. Available at: http://
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page], HubPages. Available at: http://hubpages. cessed 14 April 2009).
78 visual research methods in fashion

Douma, M., curator (nd), ‘What Is Color?’ [Web page], www.ncscolour.com/en/lm/colour-knowledge/

Colour, Vision and Art. Available at: http://www. ncs-colour-academy/open-courses/.
webexhibits.org/colorart/color.html (accessed 14 Ormiston, R., and Robinson, M. (2007), Colour Source
April 2009). Book, London: Flame Tree.
Eiseman, L. (2006), Color—Messages and Meanings: A Parramon, J. (1989), Colour Theory (Artists Library),
PANTONE Color Resource, Gloucester, MA: Hand New York: Watson-Guptill.
Books Press Psychologist World.com (nd), ‘Color Perception’ [Web
Feisner, E. A. (2001), Colour: How to Use Colour in Art page]. Available at: http://www.psychologistworld.
and Design, London: Laurence King. com/perception/color.php (accessed 7 April 2009).
Gage, J. (2000), Colour and Meaning: Art, Science RSC-NE Scotland (2005), ‘Colour: An Introduction’
and Symbolism, new ed., London: Thames & [Web page]. Available at: http://www.rsc-ne-scot
Hudson. land.ac.uk/eolympics/telford/egypt/Colour%20
Goethe, J. W. von (1840/1970), Theory of Colours, Theory/index.html (accessed 15 July 2008).
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Gordon, Susu (2001), ‘Color Management and RIP 2D Design Notes, Palomar College. Available at:
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(accessed 15 July 2008). the Suppression of Human Aggression; Research
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sections/Workflow_and_Technical_Support/Ba uary 2011).
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Mather, G. (2006), Foundations of Perception, Hove, com/tc/color/index.aspx?id=cielab (accessed 12 Jan­
UK: Psychology Press. uary 2011
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colour theory and practice 79

Wright, A. (1998), The Beginner’s Guide to Colour Psy- COLOURlovers :: Color Trends + Palettes http://www.
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page], Colour Affects. Available at: http://www. DeGraeve.com, ‘Color Palette Generator’ http://www.
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15 July 2008). wheel/
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Colour Experience http://colour-experience.org/ http://www.wheel-color.com/
chapter 4

textiles and trimmings

Chapter Overview
Textiles are fundamental to the fashion industry. Regardless of your role in fashion, you will need
to understand some of the basic properties of textiles and be able to talk about them. As a
journalist you may need to describe an outfit and the fabric from which it is made. As a designer
you need to understand which fabrics are suitable for the garment you are making. Textiles are
very complex, and this chapter is intended as an introduction to the subject. The best way to
learn about textiles is to handle them and to observe how they are used in practice.
The study of fabrics can be broken down into key areas: the fibres and yarns from which they
are made, their structures, their properties and the finishing that has been applied to them. This
combination of fibre, yarn, structure and finishing gives a fabric its unique qualities. The type
of fabric you choose needs to match the intended end use. If you want to make a warm winter
coat, you might decide to use a heavy wool, whereas for a cool summer dress, you may choose
a lightweight cotton or silk.
This chapter includes:
• Natural fibres
• Manufactured (man-made) fibres
• Fabric structures
• Interview with Jenny Shellard
• Finishing, dyeing and printing
• Case study: Philippa Leith
• Embroidery
• Smart and techno textiles
• Trimmings
• Sourcing textiles and trimmings
• Interview with Kim Kight
• Interview with Philippa Watkins.
It also provides an overview of the basic properties of textiles and directs you to resources
for further study. How much you need to know about textiles and their production will depend
upon your role in the industry.
82 visual research methods in fashion

natural fibres Wool

Wool comes in different qualities. The coarser
There are two main types of fibres, natural and qualities are used for items such as carpets,
manufactured (man-made). Natural fibres can be whilst the finer qualities such as merino are
subdivided into animal, plant and mineral. used for clothing. Wool is extremely versatile and
has many useful properties. It is water repellent
Animal Fibres and flame resistant; it is relatively durable and
Fibres that come from animals include wool from can easily be mixed with other fibres; and it has
sheep, silk from silkworms and hair fibres such a natural crimp, which makes it easier to spin
as mohair, cashmere, camel, alpaca and llama. and creates bulky yarns that are good insulators,
They are also called protein fibres. Wool and hair making it a natural choice for winter garments.
fibres contain the protein keratin, which is also It is easy to dye and can absorb moisture with-
found in human hair. These fibres have good out feeling wet. Lanolin (the oil removed from the
­absorbency and are flame resistant, ­burning wool) is used in the manufacture of soaps and
very slowly. cosmetics.

Freshly shorn wool. Courtesy of Toronto Rob on Flickr. Reproduced with permission.
textiles and trimmings 83

Negative aspects are that because of the na- which produces smoother, lighter fabrics. Woollen
ture of the fibre (the fibres are covered in overlap- fabrics are generally used for items such as blan-
ping scales which snag on each other), wool has kets and coats. Worsted fabrics are used for cloth-
a tendency to shrink. This property of wool is used ing such as suits; fine versions can be cool and are
to positive effect in the creation of felt. Wool is not used for active sportswear because they breathe.
as strong as cotton or linen.
There are two ways of processing wool into yarns Hair Fibres
and fabrics: the woollen system, which produces Hair fibres are expensive luxury fibres be-
heavier, hairier fabrics, and the worsted system, cause they are in short supply and are difficult

Embroidered silk garments at a Beijing arts and crafts market. Courtesy of the author.
84 visual research methods in fashion

to produce. The most common hair fibres • Cashmere comes from the Kashmir goat.
include: It is quite difficult to produce and therefore
fairly expensive. It is often mixed with wool
• Alpaca, which is from the alpaca, a mem- and other fibres to make it more affordable.
ber of the camel family from South America. • Vicuna is the finest and most expensive tex-
This is a fine, soft, durable fibre that has a tile fibre. It comes from the vicuna, which is a
good lustre. member of the camel family found in the Andes.
• Mohair is from the angora goat. It has a (Elsasser 2010, http://www.fabrics.net)
good lustre.
• Angora comes from the angora rabbit and Silk
is often used in knitwear. It is very soft but Silk comes from the cocoon of the silkworm,
has a tendency to shed hairs. which is unravelled to create one long filament.
• Camel comes from the camel and is often Cultivated silk has longer fibres than natural silk;
combined with wool. Because it is extremely natural silk has shorter fibres because the moths
warm it is often used for winter coats. break the cocoons as they hatch. Silk is extremely

Cotton plant. Photo by USDA photographer. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
textiles and trimmings 85

strong, lightweight, versatile and absorbent. Flax

Heavy silks are warm, and lightweight silks are Flax is used to make linen. It is very strong and
cool, making this fibre very versatile. It is easy to durable, making it an ideal choice for household
dye and has a lustrous, luxurious feel. It is used textiles such as sheets and tablecloths. Linen
to make a wide range of products including lin- is renowned for its tendency to crease. It has
gerie, dresses, scarves and household textiles. a natural lustrous finish and is stronger than
Silk is the only natural continuous-filament fibre. cotton. Linen is comfortable to wear in humid
Production is labour-intensive, and therefore it is conditions because it has excellent wicking
expensive. properties.

Plant Fibres Hemp

Fibres that come from plants include cotton, linen, Hemp comes from the stem of the cannabis plant;
jute and hemp. Fibres from plants or vegetables the best-quality hemp fabrics have similar proper-
are also referred to as cellulosic fibres. Cellu- ties to linen. It also creases easily.
losic fibres can come from different parts of the
plant including the seed, e.g. cotton; the stem Jute
(also known as bast fibres), e.g. flax (linen), jute, Jute is a fairly coarse fibre and is usually used for
hemp and ramie; the fruit of the plant, e.g. coir; or products such as sacks and most recently reus-
the leaf, e.g. sisal (Textile Resource Guide, http:// able shopping bags.
cltad-web.arts.ac.uk/trog).
Ramie
Cotton Ramie is also similar to linen in look and feel; it
Cotton is a versatile fibre; it is strong and very is extremely strong and resistant to bacteria and
cool and absorbs moisture. It is used to make a mould but more difficult to spin. It is often mixed
large range of clothing including jeans, shirts and with other fibres.
T-shirts. It is also used for bedding, table linens
and other household uses. The finest qualities are Coir and Sisal
Sea Island and Egyptian cotton. Cotton is often These are strong, coarse fibres that are most
mercerized to make it stronger and more lus- often used for ropes and mats.
trous. It is often mixed with polyester to improve
its resistance to creasing. Cotton is also flam-
mable. Cotton is the world’s most popular fibre, Mineral Fibres
but there are many environmental issues associ- Asbestos is an example of a mineral fibre. It is
ated with growing it. This has led to an increase in nonflammable and was often used for its heat-
the popularity of organic cotton, the production of resistant properties; however, it has been found
which does not use toxic pesticides and synthetic to be carcinogenic so it is no longer in gen-
fertilizers or genetically engineered seed. eral use.
86 visual research methods in fashion

manufactured (man-made) fibres The ‘Natural Polymer Fibres’ figure shows the main
natural polymer fibres that are currently used in the
Manufactured fibres do not occur naturally but clothing and textile industry.
are created from animal, plant and mineral ma-
terials, which undergo physical and/or chemical Synthetic Sources
change through a production process in which Synthetic polymer fibres are derived from by-
liquids are extruded to form fibres. Manufactured products of petroleum and coal. Common syn-
(man-made) fibres are produced as continuous thetic fibres include the following.
filaments, which are sometimes cut into short
lengths (staple fibres) for processing, depending
Nylon
on the type of yarn being made. There are three
Also known as polyamide, nylon was the first syn-
main groups of man-made fibres: natural poly-
thetic fibre and is used extensively in hosiery and
mers, synthetic polymers and other nonfibrous
lingerie. Nylon is strong and lightweight. Care needs
sources such as metal and glass.
to be taken when ironing as it melts at high tem-
peratures. It is nonabsorbent and dries quickly.
Natural Sources
Manufactured fibres from natural sources use
Polyester
substances that occur in nature but are altered
This fibre is often used in blends with other fibres
during the manufacturing process. These are
such as wool and cotton. Polyester is very strong
known as natural polymer fibres which should
and is often used for sewing thread and also for
not be confused with natural fibres, because they
filling pillows and duvets. It is used in a very wide
are man-made. Some natural polymer fibres are
range of clothing.
often referred to as regenerated fibres. Viscose
is a good example: it is created from wood pulp.
Other fibres created from cellulose include cupro, Acrylic
modal, lyocell and triacetate. It is also possible Acrylic fibres handle like wool and are often used
to use proteins like soy and milk to create fibres. in knitwear, either alone or blended with wool.

Natural Polymer Fibres

Regenerated Cellulose Regenerated Natural

Alginate
Cellulose Ester Protein Rubber

Viscose Lyocell Cupro Bamboo Modal Triacetate Acetate Milk Soy LATEX
Natural polymer fibres. From Textile Resource Guide (http://cltad-web.arts.ac.uk/trog). Courtesy of Terry Weston. Reproduced
with permission.
 Synthetic Polymer Fibres

Polyvinyl Synthetic
Polyamide Aramid Polyester Olefin Polyurethane
Derivatives Polyisoprene

TREVIRA
DACRON
Nylon Meta-aramid Para-aramid TERGAL Polyethylene Polypropylene Acrylic Modacrylic Chlorofibres Fluorofibres Elastane Elastodiene

CORDURA NOMEX KEVLAR COURTELLE TEFLON LYCRA

ANTRON DRALON P.V.C. DORLASTAN
DOLAN

Synthetic fibres. From Textile Resource Guide (http://cltad-web.arts.ac.uk/trog). Courtesy of Terry Weston. Reproduced
with permission.

Selection of fancy yarns by Flyhoof (http://flyhoof.blogspot.com/). Courtesy

of Flyhoof. Reproduced with permission.
88 visual research methods in fashion

Acrylic is quick drying, has good colour fastness yarn. A two- or three-ply yarn is stronger than a
and retains its shape. The downside is that it can single-ply yarn. There are also fancy yarns, which
pill easily. are called effect yarns in Europe and novelty
yarns in the US. Examples include boucle, loop,

Polyurethane Group slub and chenille yarns (Elsasser 2010, Udale

These fibres include elastane, a generic name for 2008).

a fibre that has excellent elastic properties. Lycra

is the trademark for the elastane fibre originally
created by Dupont. fabric structures
There are several different ways of creat-
Fibre Blends
ing a fabric: weaving, knitting, felting, lace
By blending different fibres together, it is pos-
making and so on. The way in which a fab-
sible to create fabrics that take advantage of the
ric is constructed affects the way it behaves.
different properties of the fibres in the blend. It is
Knitted and woven fabrics have very different
also a way of reducing costs when using a very
characteristics.
expensive fibre. For example, a blend of cash-
mere and wool will be cheaper than pure cash-
Weaving
mere. Adding elastane to cotton adds stretch,
Weaving is done on a loom; yarns are passed over
a technique that is often used in the production
and under each other to create different patterns.
of jeans to make them fit better and feel more
The yarns that run across the fabric are called the
comfortable.
weft, and the yarns that run along the length of
the fabric are called the warp. By passing the weft
Yarns yarns under and over the warp yarns in different
To create a fabric you need a yarn. Natural combinations, various effects and textures can be
fibres other than silk are called staple fibres; created.
they come in short lengths that need to be Some common weaving techniques include
spun together to create a yarn. Synthetic fibres plain weave, where the warp and weft are
are produced as a continuous filament; silk is woven in an over-and-under pattern, creating
also a continuous filament. Filament yarns can a fabric where the warp and weft are equally
be monofilament or multifilament. Multifila- ­visible on the surface. Satin weave is created
ment yarns may contain many filaments, which by ­arranging the threads so that as much warp
are then twisted to create the yarn. Spinning lies on the surface as possible, giving a very
twists the fibres together, adding strength to smooth, ­lustrous finish, and a jacquard weave
the yarn. is achieved by raising and lowering individual
For weaving, yarns need to be tightly spun, warp yarns rather than groups of yarns, which
whereas for knitting, yarns are looser. Several allows for the production of larger-scale geomet-
yarns can be twisted together to create a ply rics and floral patterns.
textiles and trimmings 89

A jacquard fabric on the loom.

Courtesy of the author.

Interview with Jenny Shellard

Jenny originally trained as a jeweller but now teaches and practices as a weaver using experimental
approaches to working with light.

How do you go about doing research for your work?

If I think about visual research, there are for me various aspects relevant to my practice. There is the
direct approach, applicable to many weavers, which might centre on numerous technical and practical
aspects such as factors relating to construction. Then there are features of visual research that are very
closely connected to those technical processes such as colour, tone, texture, pattern, proportion etc.
Looking at the way I research colour for example; I might find a combination taken from nature or the
90 visual research methods in fashion

environment or it might be a development of these. I often translate ideas into collage initially. I have a
drawer full of coloured paper—I have collected masses and masses over the years—and what I do is
to sort it into little packets or groups of related hues, shades and tints. I use them as colour reference
for yarn wraps—a standard ‘weavers thing’. Wraps are just coloured threads wound in groups around
a piece of card, indicating colour combination and proportion, a process which is fairly conventional,
specific and process-linked. In addition, there is a more open-ended visual research process where I
might be drawn to a particular aesthetic. I have for some time been interested in qualities of light and
shadow. My work has centred on illusionary effects, using weave structures to create a sense of illumi-
nation, depth and three dimensions on the woven surface. My research broadened at one stage into
experiments in mark making on paper to simulate the actual sensation of light, subsequently leading to
simple animations and large-scale collages. I might well engage in a range of experiments that may or
may not feed into my textile pieces. I suppose what I am saying is that an open-ended investigation is
as important to me as immediate applicable research.

How would you describe your style?

I suppose I think of a person’s ‘style’ as their aesthetic DNA, or maybe a personal signature that takes
a while to evolve. I don’t think it is something that students necessarily arrive with or even if they do, it
will not be fully developed. It may be gestating—influenced by many things around them—a transient
stimulus that is maybe in fashion. Style is something like your handwriting or the way that you dress;
in some way conscious and in some way beyond your direct control like your physical gestures and
mannerisms. For me, I think my own style has pared down somehow over time into something quite
minimal—it has deliberately moved away from decorative.
I think that few students when they enrol on an art and design course have that sense of who they
are, that visual identity. Developing their own aesthetic involves getting them to engage in drawing and
all the associated processes. That engagement is actually a pathway to finding their aesthetic identity.
If you access it from deep within you it reflects all of you; your cultural background, your childhood
experience, the things you have been exposed to, it’s deeply personal. Whereas if you just visit the
high street or your favourite designer your influence is less likely to come from that well of personal
experience.
Going back to one of my own early experiences, I did a lot of travelling in South America and was
hugely influenced by things I saw, which had a feeling of belonging to a period, a certain culture and for
me is still a very poignant memory. I think I have long since moved away from that direct influence yet
I feel it is still there because that experience was very powerful and I would not be working in textiles
had it not been for that range of encounters.

How much technical knowledge do you need?

I originally trained as a jeweller so I had to pick up the technical side of weaving on the run as it were
because I was doing an MA in constructed textiles and all the students on the MA already knew how to
prepare a warp and thread a loom and all that. I just had to do it; I learned in an unorthodox way I sup-
pose. Most skilled weavers would look at me in horror. I do not get too hung up about technique but
obviously you have to be in control of your equipment and your tools in order to realize your ideas.
textiles and trimmings 91

With weaving you do certainly need to have technical understanding because otherwise you will try
to do things that are just impossible and that can be very frustrating and can put you off in the early
stages. For example, if you put yarns on a warp that just don’t work as a warp it will fail. Nevertheless,
stumbling upon a technical accident in weaving can also lead to new and exciting ideas.

How important is drawing?

I interpret drawing in its widest sense. I love drawing; for me it is not about producing a drawing in the
academic sense. I was in art college when drawing was seen as essential and was actually taught as
a discipline but I think now I see it is something much broader. It might involve electronic means or a
wide range of media and approaches. A lot of students are put off by the fact that they can’t draw in
a specific way, which I suppose is most commonly a photographic or realistic representation. I very
much encourage them to think away from that, to think more broadly about mark making and drawing
expressively, about drawing to create a feeling of something rather than trying to replicate it—which
may sometimes seem a bit pointless when you can do it perfectly with a camera. So then it becomes
a process of abstraction, which in a way is what textile design amounts to, that combined with great
ideas, good design decisions and effective realization.

Has technology had an impact on your practice?

Generally technology has had some good and some not-so-good repercussions. Of course a digital
camera is such a fantastic tool but the downside is that it can be a too-easy shortcut. You can take a
photo with a digital camera and in a few stages convert it to a really beautiful textile. I believe that while
students are learning it is really important to extend that process of manipulation and exploration of pos-
sibilities rather than just concentration on end product. It’s the process that becomes really important
particularly while you are learning to evaluate and push ideas. I still feel the process is important for me
since in my research I am not always thinking in terms of an end product as the ‘be all and end all’.
Sometimes the process is interesting and unpredictable in itself—and can take you to unknown places.

How do you encourage students to experiment?

A colleague I am working with has just done an introductory session with students where she worked with
them in large groups, thirty students, with continuous rolls of lining paper stretched around the tables.
She had the students working literally elbow-to-elbow observing and drawing natural forms. They had
plants, dried flowers, branches, twigs in the middle of the table and they worked on a communal drawing.
It was certainly great for breaking down all those preconceptions about whether they could draw.
The end result was dynamic, making use of strong and very direct media such as charcoal and
Conte. The image they created as a group was just so full of energy. I have done other things such
as building up a drawing by making a single repetitive mark—I suppose the obvious one is pointillism
using dots—but I get them to develop their own particular mark like a signature and to use that mark
repeatedly to build up outlines, shapes and tones. That is a slow organic way of arriving at an image. It
gets them away from the fear of ‘this is not the right line’ or ‘the shapes look funny’ or ‘the proportions
are wrong’. It is much more organic. Collage too is a great one for boosting confidence and it applies
quite perfectly when developing an idea for print.
92 visual research methods in fashion

How do you use colour in your work?

I confess to having spent the last six or seven years working almost monochromatically; colour often
coming in, but in small amounts. I would not say that colour has formerly been a strong part of what
I’ve done but having said that; it is certainly now changing. In fact my current project is very much about
colour and light, projecting colour onto elements of handwoven fabric. It is quite a systematic piece of
research. I have a knowledge of colour theory but more recently I’ve become interested in more subjec-
tive aspects of colour. You see a colour in its particular surrounding yet when the projected light gradually
changes the colour of a small fragment, the adjacent colour appears to completely alter (see Plate 18).

What advice would you give to students?

Just do it, put yourself into your work. There are an awful lot of things that come up in your head as barri-
ers like ‘I am not very good at drawing’ or ‘I don’t do faces well’—or whatever the thing is that comes up
as a negative. You have just got to do it because drawing is one thing that you can really learn and improve
by doing. Students often believe that you either are or are not good at drawing but the fact is, it is one
aspect of art and design that can be dramatically improved with practice—and this is well evidenced.

Shima Seiki whole-garment knitting machine (Mach2X153). Courtesy of Shima Seiki. Reproduced with permission.
textiles and trimmings 93

Circular knitting machine. Courtesy

of the author.

Knitting to create a single jersey or on double-bed ma-

Knitting is a process by which a yarn is formed chines that produce double jersey including
into loops that are linked together using needles. ribs. Knitwear can be fully fashioned, where
This can be done by hand or on an industrial scale some of the shaping is done in the knitting pro-
by knitting machines. There are two types of knit- cess, or straight pieces of fabric can be cut and
ting, warp and weft. In warp knitting the loops sewn. Circular knitting machines create tubes
run vertically, and in weft knitting they run hori- of fabric that can then be cut and made into
zontally. Weft-knitted fabric is used for T-shirts and garments. There are also specialist machines
jumpers. Warp-knitted fabric is used for swimwear for hosiery and full-garment machines such as
and underwear. the Shima Seiki, which produces a seamless
There are different kinds of knitting machines. garment.
Flat beds produce flat pieces of knitted fabric. Knitted fabrics are more elastic than woven
These can be knitted on a single-bed machine fabrics; they are generally used for sweaters,
94 visual research methods in fashion

Lace collar, Irish (c.1880). Given by Mrs. Leonora F. M. Preston. Britain Loves Wikipedia Project (http://www.britainloves
wikipedia.org/) at the Victoria and Albert Museum (http://www.vam.ac.uk/). Photograph: Valerie McGlinchey. This file is ­licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales.

sportswear and hosiery. They can be produced fabrics are used to create rugs and carpets, and
in a wide range of designs using colours to cre- there are also laces and nets in which the yarns
ate patterns (Fair Isle, intarsia) or using stitch are twisted or knitted to achieve an open effect in
variations to create textures (cable stitch, tuck all or some areas.
stitch, lace etc.).
Crochet is similar to knitting in that it cre-
ates loops, but it uses only one needle or cro- finishing, dyeing and printing
chet hook. By pulling loops through each other
in various combinations, it is possible to cre- Once a fabric is created, it can be further en-
ate extremely complex designs that look like hanced and finished in a number of ways. It can
lace or thicker textures that resemble knitted be dyed or printed to add colour, or it can be
fabrics. embellished with embroidery or cut with a laser.
The performance and feel of the fabric can be
Nonwovens changed by washing, adding a coating, brush-
There are several types of fabric structure that ing it and so on. The type of finish will depend
are neither knitted nor woven; these are usually upon how the fabric is to be used, and the ap-
called nonwovens. They include felt, which is cre- pearance, handle and performance can all be
ated by applying heat, water and pressure to wool improved.
fibres (needle felting achieves a similar effect, but
the fibres are meshed together using fine-barbed Dyeing
needles). Bonded-fibre fabrics and bonded fab- Dyeing is a process used to add colour to a fabric
rics are created using heat or adhesives. Tufted by soaking it in a dye solution. It can be used to
textiles and trimmings 95

dye the fabric a solid colour or to add a pattern block or by transfer printing. It can also be done
using specialist techniques such as tie-dyeing digitally using inkjet printing. In screen printing the
and batik. Dyes can be natural or synthetic. The designer is limited to a certain number of colours
latter were invented in 1857 when William Henry based upon the number of screens to be used. In
Perkin discovered a purple dye called Perkin’s digital printing you can use thousands of colours,
mauve. Most industrial processes use synthetic but the process is still fairly expensive. The fab-
dyes, but traditional dyeing techniques are still rics need to be prepared to accept the dyes; once
in use, especially in small craft-based busi- printed, the fabric then needs to be steamed to
nesses and eco-based companies, and in de- fix the colour or to be cured with heat if pigments
veloping countries where they still use traditional have been used. Digital printing gives the designer
techniques. a lot of flexibility.
The type of fabric to be dyed dictates the There are now online services that will print
type of dye that is used; cellulosic fibres work small lengths of fabric for you using digital print-
with direct, reactive, vat and sulphur dyes. ing, including Spoonflower (http://www.spoon
Wool and polyamides work with acid, premet- flower.com) and Fabric on Demand (http://www.
allized or some reactive dyes. Acrylic works with fabricondemand.com). If you are planning to use
basic and some disperse dyes, and polyester one of these services, it may be helpful to read
works with disperse dyes. The dye needs to be the blog article ‘My Big Digital Fabric Printing Ex-
colour fast, so that it will not fade in light, wash periment’ (http://www.trueup.net/?p=5364), which
out or rub off (http://www.sdc.org.uk/museum/ gives comparative results from four of the most
mus.htm). popular online services and gives advice on the
different types of dyes and on preparing your
Printing digital files. There is also an excellent beginners’
Printing is a process where colour is applied onto guide to digital printing at http://vector.tutsplus.
a fabric to create a pattern. This can be done in com/tutorials/tools-tips/a-beginners-guide-to-
a variety of ways including using a screen or a digital-textile-printing/#more-3189.

Case Study: Philippa Leith

Philippa designs exquisite textiles inspired by nature, colour and texture. Her graduate collection was
based upon British birdlife and won a Selvedge Award at New Designers in 2009. Philippa conducted
extensive research into birdlife, fauna and flora using books, magazines and the Internet as well as vis-
iting nature reserves and bird gardens and drawing a wide variety of birds, flowers and insects. Along-
side the drawing she also started to collect vintage items and ephemera such as cigarette cards of
flowers and birds, stamps and postcards, and these were introduced into her work. In addition to the
visual research, Philippa also conducted extensive market research into trends; she found the blogs of
other designers, design journals and craft magazines particularly helpful. Philippa uses screen-printing
and laser cutting in the realization of her work.
96 visual research methods in fashion

Preparatory drawing of a nut-

hatch by Philippa Leith. Courtesy
of Philippa Leith. Reproduced with
permission.

embroidery effects can also be achieved by embroidering

onto a base material that then dissolves, leav-
Embroidery can be done by hand or machine. ing an intricate weblike fabric. Complex designs
There is a huge variety of stitches and ef- can now be reproduced using specialist software
fects that can be created. In addition to adding and computerized machines. These are available
stitches onto the surface of the fabric, threads in domestic and industrial versions. Other ways
can be removed to create drawn-thread work, of embroidering and manipulating fabric include
and areas of the fabric can be cut away to create smocking, quilting, pleating, patchwork and
effects such as broderie Anglais. Interesting appliqué.
textiles and trimmings 97

Tajima industrial embroidery machine. Courtesy of AJS Embroidery. Reproduced with permission.

smart and techno textiles environmental changes, such as thermochro-

mic fabrics that change colour in response to
Some of the most exciting recent innovations a change in temperature. Thermoplastics are
in fashion have come about through develop- textiles that can change through the applica-
ments in textile technology: breathable fabrics tion of heat to create pleats, crinkles or three-
like Gore-Tex have revolutionized sportswear, dimensional forms. There are textiles that use
and the LZR ­swimsuit recently developed by microencapsulation to release products such
Speedo uses technology developed by NASA to as medicines, moisturizers or insect repellents
create a high-performance professional swimsuit (Clarke 2006).
(http://www.speedousa.com/shop/index.jsp? Technological innovations in textiles do not just
categoryId=3691708). add functionality but can also have interesting
Smart textiles can have specific func- aesthetic functions. Designers like Hussein Cha-
tions built into them so that they respond to layan have gone further and have incorporated
98 visual research methods in fashion

Rebecca Adlington models the new-generation Speedo LZR Racer Elite FINA-approved 2010 suit. Courtesy of
Speedo. Reproduced with permission.

Project: Textile Dictionary

This exercise will help you to recognize and understand fabrics. As you find interesting fabrics collate them in a book by
cutting a small swatch and then adding as much information about the fabric as possible. What fibre is it? How was it con-
structed? Which end products is it suitable for? Where did you find it? Was it from a retailer or wholesaler? How much does
it cost per metre? Your fabric dictionary can grow into a source of inspiration as well as information.

­technology into garments to create silhouettes that wrong trimmings can ruin an otherwise wonder-
change shape (see his Spring 2007 collection). ful garment. An expensive wool jacket can be let
down by cheap plastic buttons. Trimmings can be
trimmings used to change the look and feel of a garment and
are an easy way to add value through embellish-
Trimmings are often forgotten until you come to ment. They can also be a source of inspiration,
put the buttonholes on the jacket and then dis- ­suggesting a particular look or mood. Chunky
cover you don’t have any suitable buttons. The metal zips, for example, suggest functional
textiles and trimmings 99

Selection of ribbons and trimmings. Courtesy of VV Rouleaux.com.

­Reproduced with permission.

Project: Trimmings Collection

Find out where your local haberdashery store is and visit it. If there isn’t a local store, search online under haberdashery,
trimmings or notions. Start a collection of trimmings and fabric swatches: gather as much information as you can about
their source and composition and label them accordingly. If you add a few samples every month, you will soon have a good
inspirational collection. Vintage trimmings can also be inspirational, and you can find many suppliers of these online on sites
like Etsy (http://www.etsy.com).

workwear, whereas pretty floral ribbon will create a clothing can be an excellent source of inspiration
softer, more romantic mood. for trimmings. It is often attention to the detail, even
Keep an eye out for interesting ribbons and down to the swing tag and the care label, that will
braids, buttons, zip pulls and so on. Vintage set a garment apart and make it more appealing
100 visual research methods in fashion

to the consumer. You can start a trimmings collec- source them. These include the Textile Institute
tion by gathering anything that takes your fancy (http://www.texi.org) and the Society of Dyers and
and filing it in a box file or clear plastic stacking Colourists (http://www.sdc.org.uk).
storage boxes. It is a good idea to attach a label or
tag with the supplier information and price. Specialist Services
If you are dealing in large quantities, it is pos- There may be times when you want to use a
sible to get trimmings made to your own design. special technique and do not have the right
You can also approach craftspeople to make equipment to do it. There are many suppliers
small runs of unique designs like ceramic buttons of specialist services to the fashion industry in-
or interesting zip pulls. cluding pleaters, embroiderers, quilters, laundry
services and so on. The trade press and Inter-
net directories are the best places to find these
sourcing textiles and services.
trimmings
Fabric Libraries and Collections
Finding interesting textiles can be challenging,
Your university or one near to you may have a tex-
­especially if you are not part of a major company.
tile collection or library that you can use for infor-
If you are just looking for fabrics for inspiration,
mation about suppliers and for inspiration. Some
you can visit your local stores, vintage stores
companies and museums also have collections. It
and markets. If you want fabrics for production,
is worth doing a Web search to see what is avail-
this can be more complicated. Most major textile
able in your area. There are of course collections
mills ­require a minimum order of a design, and
available via the Web, but the downside of these
this can be quite substantial. You may be able to
is that you cannot handle the fabrics. There is an
buy sample lengths, depending upon how much
extensive list of textile collections on the Web at
fabric you need and how flexible the supplier is.
http://isthmia.osu.edu/teg/hist787/textiles.htm.
Trimmings can also be difficult to find in the
Often at trade shows you will find companies
quantities you require. You may find what you want
that specialize in selling old swatch books from
in a haberdashery store, but you will be paying retail
textile mills. These are very popular as sources of
prices. Trimmings in retail stores may not be what
inspiration.
you need as they are not necessarily in line with the
latest trends. It is worth using the Internet to find
cheaper options. If you go to a wholesaler there is Business-to-Business Web Sites
likely to be a minimum order, but the price per piece There are many business directories on the In-
will be cheaper. There are many specialist suppliers ternet where you can also find fabric suppliers,
to the trade. You can find these in business direc- although these will mostly be supplying large
tories on the Web or in trade publications. quantities, and they may require you to register or
pay a subscription. Useful resources include Ap-
Societies and Trade Associations parel Search (http://www.apparelsearch.com/),
There are many professional associations that can Fibre2fashion (http://www.fibre2fashion.com) and
help you find out more about fabrics and how to Global Textiles (http://www.globaltex tiles.com).
textiles and trimmings 101

Blogs and Hobby Sites (http://www.true-up.com); it is dedicated to fab-

There are many blogs and Web sites that are dedi- rics, particularly mid-century vintage fabrics, but
cated to fabrics, and a lot of companies supply the also contains lots of useful information about fab-
craft market. You may find something here that is ric properties and discussions around copyright.
useful to you and be able to buy in small quanti- You can also find designs by small producers and
ties. One such blog is True Up run by Kim Kight vintage supplies on sites like eBay and Etsy.

Interview with Kim Kight

Kim Kight runs the textile blog True Up, and she has a particular interest in vintage textiles.

How did you get interested in fabrics?

I started sewing about ten years ago and quickly found myself more interested in accumulating beauti-
ful prints than actually making things out of them. I still sew as much as I can though!

Why did you start your blog?

Several reasons, first because I had the idea for a blog devoted solely to fabric with an emphasis on keep-
ing track of new releases. I realized no one was doing anything like it and that it had some commercial po-
tential. I also wanted to force myself to learn more about different fabric types and about pattern design.

What is the aim of the blog?

In addition to the reasons for starting the blog, I’ve also come to realize there are so many parallels
between fabric and music; today’s fabric designers are my rock stars yet there are not many central-
ized outlets for their work to be discussed and celebrated.

You say that you collect mid-century fabrics, why these in particular?

I am a big fan of quirky 1940s–1960s novelty cottons. The florals and geometrics are so inventive and
charming too, both in motif and colour. Here’s one of my favourites: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
kmel/2853637511/in/set-72157600001071245/. And the names print in this one just kills me: http://
www.flickr.com/photos/kmel/25810780/in/set-587667/.

How do you go about doing the research for your blog?

It’s a combination of Web surfing, reader tips, press releases, and consulting my ridiculously large col-
lection of textile and pattern books.

Are there any good Web sites that you would recommend to students
who wanted to find out more about fabrics?

There are some general reference sites, like http://www.Fabrics.net that I consult on a regular basis.
Here are a few of my favourite blogs that discuss different fabrics on a regular basis:
102 visual research methods in fashion

The Textile Blog by John Hopper http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/

oliver + s blog http://oliverands.com/blog/
Sawyer-Brook Distinctive Fabrics http://sewingblog.sawyerbrook.com/

What advice would you give to students who want to start designing
their own fabrics—how do you go about it?

I love the book Digital Textile Design by Melanie Bowles and Ceri Isaac; its lessons are applicable to
printing methods other than digital. My friend Lizzy House is about to release an e-book on approach-
ing quilting cotton manufacturers.

I noted a long debate about copyright and use of vintage and licensed de-
signs on your site, is it possible to simplify this?

Since writing those posts I have never heard anything to contradict the first-sale doctrine (http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) in regard to items made from fabric, even fabrics with trade-
marked logos and characters. According to that Wikipedia page even such designer–customer ‘con-
tracts’ might not hold up.

When you are using a vintage design as inspiration how do you ensure
that you are not breaching copyright law?

I don’t know about Britain, but for the US, I trust this chart: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/resources/
publicdomain.cfm. Basically anything published before 1977 without a copyright notice is in the public
domain, which I assume would include all fabrics with no identifying information on the selvedge. But
you don’t always have enough of the fabric to know whether it had identifying information.
In general, to be in the clear, one must create original work. Of course you can always sample
colours, or re-interpret the motifs or ideas in your own style (see Plate 20).

Trade Shows Trade shows can be daunting for the inex-

If you are in business and looking to buy large perienced buyer, so it is a good idea to find out
quantities of fabrics or trimmings, then trade as much information as possible before you go.
shows are usually a good option. At these shows Try to talk to someone in the industry who has
you will be able to see the latest designs and to ­visited the show, and get the catalogue or visit
compare products from a large number of com- the Web site in advance to plan which suppliers
panies. In fashion and textiles the shows work you want to visit and find out if you need to make
ahead of the selling season. Textile shows like an ­appointment. If you are visiting as a student,
Premiere Vision will be one year ahead, and gar- then you need to find out if the trade show you
ment shows work six months ahead. So in au- want to visit admits students and check how to
tumn 2009 Premiere Vision was showing designs book. You may have to do this through a tutor
for Autumn/Winter 2010 whilst the London, Paris at your college. You will find an extensive list of
and New York fashion weeks were showing de- textile-related trade shows at http://tradefairs.
signs for Spring/Summer 2010. fibre2­fashion.com.
textiles and trimmings 103

Premiere Vision September 2010 Seduction Forum image. Courtesy of Premiere Vision. Reproduced with permission.

Interview with Philippa Watkins

Philippa Watkins is a textile journalist and tutor at the Royal College of Art; in the following interview she
gives advice on what students need to know about textiles and how to source them. Philippa started
as a textile designer. She studied weaving at Winchester College and then went to the Royal College
of Art. Philippa has had a long career in textiles and forecasting. She has worked for Deryck Healey
International (a fashion and textile forecasting consultancy), Laura Ashley, Principles and WGSN. She
currently teaches at the Royal College of Art and is a freelance journalist writing about textiles.

What do you think students need to know about textiles?

You have really got to have knowledge of fibres and understand what fibres do and fabric composition;
how a fabric is composed in terms of fibre and structure is important.
It is quite a task and the only way that fashion students can do it is to look in the shops and see what
fabrics go into garments and how they drape. Of course there are libraries and they can look things up on-
line. There are various Web sites that will give you definitions, but there is no substitute to feeling fabric.
They have got to have a clear idea about what impression a fabric makes. Colour is the first thing
you notice when you go into a store, then print or pattern and how it is coordinated. The finish on the
fabric is also a vital part of the process, you can have the same fabric finished in several ways and it
will look and feel different.
104 visual research methods in fashion

The Italians do a lot of innovative finishes and a lot of experiments to see how a fabric will look,
drape and feel to the skin.
They should at least begin to understand fabric definitions and extend their vocabulary. What, for
instance, is a drill or a poplin. These can be found on Web sites and directories.
Then there are all the brand names of the different fibres. How many people know that Lycra is
actually a brand name—not the generic? Students should understand that there are other stretch
elastane (the generic) fibres other than Lycra—Lycra is just the brand name. There is quite a lot to take
in but they do need to learn that.
For garment makers and retailers testing fabric is an important process. M&S (Marks and Spencer) are
very strong on testing, while some companies are not. I personally feel that fabric has declined in quality
since sourcing offshore; buyers and young designers really do not understand about quality of materials and
it shows. The problem is that the lowest common denominator is what everyone is going for, usually it is the
fabric people and the garment maker that get squeezed and that is why the fabric is not such good quality.

Do you think the Internet has made a difference to how students learn
about fabrics?

The problem with the Web is you can’t touch anything and it is vital to touch.
I give lectures to fashion students on sourcing and I would like to do more workshops emphasizing
the importance of quality, what the fibre is and what the fibre does.
It is more difficult to give detail online than in actual fabric—people have been working on how to
get fabrics shown adequately online for years. You can see how fabrics are constructed if they are
properly photographed, you can guess at how it is going to feel, but I don’t think there is any substitute
for actually feeling it.
The other problem online is colour matching. WGSN do matching with Pantone colours, so you re-
ally need to have your own set of Pantone colours because your screen colours may be very different.
No two screens seem to be the same.

How can students find interesting fabrics?

Sourcing is something that they will also have to learn, find shops where you can buy offcuts and
­remaindered fabrics while you are a student. But if going into business, going to trade shows and get-
ting to know the mills and converters.
A mill manufactures the fabric either weaving, knitting, printing or finishing, which mostly you find
through trade fairs and agents. A converter is somebody who sources and commissions fabrics from
different mills, which are then presented as their own range. Someone like silk company Henry Bertrand
for example.
For a small designer who cannot give a large order, sourcing fabric in small quantities is always a
problem. From most manufacturers you can get swatch samples and sample lengths, but only if you
are a regular customer, or you pay for the length up front. The cost of fabric changes according to the
amount you order, so for small quantities you have to pay a higher price. But there are people who will
deal in smaller quantities, such as converters and companies who acquire offcuts and ends of lines.
These are not so much converters as fabric stockists.
textiles and trimmings 105

If you want your own designs produced, it will cost a lot, but having a greater volume of the fabric
will swallow the costs. At Laura Ashley when I was buying fabric, the agents always remembered
me because I was buying sometimes 200,000 metres per design, which is a huge amount. In those
days we were doing 150,000–200,000 metres of one design over four or five colourways. Nowadays
a big order is between 10,000 and 20,000 metres. Agents work on a commission basis on what they
sell—and they never forget a big order. Agents might represent ten mills. Sometimes agents will have
remaindered stock that they will sell to students.

How do trade fairs work?

They will only have sampling at the fairs. Visitors have to be accredited before they can order from
them. As a student you can’t just walk onto a stand and order fabric.
As a journalist, at the trade fairs, I visit companies in different sectors I know that readers will want to
know about, because they are forward-looking trendsetters, innovative, or particularly good at fabric
in a certain sector. However I have learnt that through experience. As a newcomer it is hard. Before
going to any trade show a student designer really needs to do their homework. They can become fa-
miliar with names through magazines. Premiere Vision does put companies in their different categories
in the catalogue, which helps. The trendboards is another way of getting to understand the trends
and who does what. But as a designer you will have no idea of whether the companies are innovative
or not unless you go to the fairs.
Some companies won’t see you without an appointment. One way of doing it is to go through agents.
Agents are not usually very happy to see students, but on the other hand the more forward-looking agents
will understand that students are likely to be their future customers. The list of agents in the PV catalogue is
extremely useful, and a good reference point to start with. But you still have to sort them out; you can only
do that through trial and error unless you get information from someone who knows. If a graduate is going
to work in a company, the company itself will have their own database of fabric sources they use, all the
major companies have sourcing departments for fabric sourcing.

There is a lot of interest in the environmental impact of the fashion

­industry. Is this something students need to think about when sourcing
fabrics?

People are slowly becoming aware of environmental needs in the production of fabrics. And it is be-
coming increasingly vital that people investigate how fabrics are made. There is a lot of work going on,
for instance in the chemistry of production, with dyers looking at low-impact dyes. Every single fibre is
being looked at for its sustainability and, as you know, cotton growing is high on the nonsustainable
side. The growing of cotton is one of the thorniest problems. There are changes being made in systems
of growing cotton, but it still has a long way to go. Organically grown cotton is increasing, but it generally
has a lower yield, but demand for organic cotton has grown. Linen and ramie are being promoted a lot
more, because they are more environmentally sustainable.
Bamboo is also being promoted. But it is important to note that the bamboo fibre mostly in the mar-
ket now is actually a viscose. Bamboo fibre can be done in two ways: as a soft viscose fibre, derived
from cellulose in exactly the same way as ordinary viscose, which means it is reconstituted though a
106 visual research methods in fashion

very intense chemical process. But bamboo can also be processed like linen, which means it is a bast
fibre taken from the stalk.
Austrian fibre company Lenzing processes and produces cellulosic fibres, viscose and lyocell
(Tencel), which it promotes as being processed in an environmentally sustainable way.

Where do you start with fabric forecasting?

We would start two years ahead of the retail season thinking about the colours. Seasonal colours are
based on what went before and sometimes it is just feeling around something that may be happening—
such as a particular film or exhibition (such as the Rothko exhibition, or Anish Kapoor and now the Van
Gogh), which may be influential. Forecasters generally get together; we have something here called the
British Textile Colour Group (BTCG), and form their ideas. That gets put forward to something called
­InterColour, formed from consultants all over the world, which give people in the business the opportunity
to discuss ideas with each other. It starts with the fibre with the colour card and it goes to the spinners
first, then on to the weavers and printers etc. Then the trade fairs put forward their colour trends for the
season, usually put together by a consultation group.

Does everyone show around that colour card?

More or less, though some companies will have their own ideas. But it should to be in line with the
thinking to some extent. It is to the company’s advantage to have ideas similar to what is going on in
the rest of the industry.
The knitwear yarns show Pitti Filati in Florence, for instance, is a good place to start with colour. This
is an important event, though because we are losing spinners in Europe, the fair is becoming smaller.
There are the fabric trade shows in Milan in Italy, in Munich in Germany and Lille and Paris in France.
Then there are those in the Far East—Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Project: Fabric Trend Report

Visit the Premiere Vision Web site, and watch the video for the current season and read the press releases. See what other
Web sites have to say about the fabrics on show at Premiere Vision. How are they described? What are the fabric trends in
terms of colour, texture and finishes? Write up your own fabric trend report for the season.

Summary
In this chapter we have covered some of the basic textile terminology that you may come across
when you are working in the fashion industry. We have discussed why it is important to understand
the basics of textile technology regardless of the role that you are going to have in fashion. The
chapter also discussed the different ways of sourcing fabrics and trimmings as a student and
when you move into working in the industry. Textiles are fascinating and complex, and if you
want to find out more about them and have a deeper understanding of textile technology, the
books and Web sites referenced in this section will help you to achieve this.
textiles and trimmings 107

references and further reading org/teknicolour/teknol_textile_dyeing/teknol_­

textile_dyeing_1.htm (accessed 10 November
2009).
Anstey, H., and Weston, T. (1997), The Anstey Weston
Udale, J. (2008), Basics Fashion Design: Textiles and
Guide to Textile Terms, London: Weston.
Fashion, Lausanne: AVA.
Bowles, M. (2009), Digital Textile Design, London:
University of Alberta California (2003), ‘Smart Textiles:
­Laurence King.
Smart Technology’ [Web page]. Available at: http://
Clarke, S.E.B. (2006), Techno Textiles 2, rev. ed., Lon-
www.ualberta.ca/~jag3/smart_textiles/Page_5.
don: Thames & Hudson.
html (accessed 11 November 2009).
Cole, D. (2008), Textiles Now, London: Laurence King.
Vectortuts+ (2009), ‘A Beginners Guide to Digital Tex-
Collier, B. J. (2001), Understanding Textiles, 6th ed.,
tile Printing’ [Web page]. Available at: http://
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/a-begin
Elsasser, V. H. (2010), Textiles: Concepts and Principles,
ners-guide-to-digital-textile-printing/#more-3189
3rd ed., New York: Fairchild.
(accessed 3 January 2010).
Fabrics.net (nd), ‘Manufactured or Man Made Fibers’
[Web page]. Available at: http://www.fabrics.net/
manufact.asp (accessed 10 November 2009).
Hibbert, R. (2001), Textile Innovation: Traditional, Mod- websites
ern and Smart Textiles, London: Line.
Kight, K. (2009), ‘My Big Digital Fabric Printing Experi- AJS Embroidery http://www.ajs-embroidery.co.uk/
ment’, True Up [blog]. Available at: http://www. The Colour Experience http://www.colour-experience.org
trueup.net/?p=5364 (accessed 2 January 2010). eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk
Ohio State University (nd), ‘Textile and Costume Col- Fabrics.net http://www.fabrics.net
lections on the Internet’ [Web page]. Available at: FiberSource: The Manufactured Fiber Industry http://
http://isthmia.osu.edu/teg/hist787/textiles.htm www.fibersource.com/
(accessed 2 January 2010). Henry Bertrand Silks http://www.henrybertrand.co.uk
Organic Trade Association (2009), ‘Organic Cotton Intercolour http://www.intercolor.nu/welcome.html
Facts’ [Web page]. Available at: http://www.ota. Pitti Filati http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/fiere/filati/
com/organic/mt/organic_cotton.html (accessed Premiere Vision Paris Le Salon http://www.premierevi
23 January 2010). sion.fr/?page=01&lang=en
Society of Dyers and Colourists (nd), ‘Textile Dyeing, Shima Seiki http://www.shimaseiki.com
Introduction’ [Web page], The Colour Experience. Textile Resource Guide http://cltad-web.arts.ac.uk/trog
Available at: http://www.colour-experience. VV Rouleaux Ribbons http://www.vvrouleaux.com
chapter 5

trends and forecasting

Chapter Overview
The fashion industry is driven by trends in colour, textiles, silhouette and styling. Being able to
identify and forecast these trends is a skill that anyone working within the fashion industry has to
acquire. In this chapter we discuss the source of trends, the work of trend-prediction companies
and the role of trade shows in shaping the trends that reach the high street. The chapter contains
interviews and case studies with people whose job is to identify and predict trends and suggests
strategies to help you to identify emerging trends. The impact of globalization in the fashion
industry and the increased fragmentation of the market are also explored.
This chapter includes:
• What are fashion trends?
• Where do trends come from?
• Interview with David Wolfe
• Is fashion forecasting an art or a science?
• Interview with Martin Raymond of the Future Laboratory
• Trend forecasting companies and services
• Interview with Fiona Jenvey
• Other sources of trend information
• Interview with Kim Mannino of Promostyl
• Case study: Nelly Rodi
• Strategies for analysing trend information
• Communicating trends.

what are fashion trends? consumer. Trend forecasters gather information

from a myriad of sources including the Internet,
Trends develop from wider issues in society. These blogs, social networking sites, newspapers and
are often called macro trends and relate to how television, film, the theatre and cultural events.
people are thinking about issues, changing or They look at which books are selling and becom-
adapting their lifestyles and engaging with wider ing influential, patterns of consumer behaviour
social, political or economic concerns. At this level and celebrity lifestyles. Amongst all of this informa-
trends are not specific to a particular product or tion they look for commonalities that may be the
110 visual research methods in fashion

underpinnings of a new trend. They then look for information need to be very clear about who their
evidence to support their feelings about the trend consumer is and which trends their consumer is
and think about how it translates into fashion. likely to adopt.
This information is particularly important in the
fast-moving youth market where trends move
where do trends come from? so quickly that it is easy to miss them. To keep
abreast of youth trends, a lot of prediction agen-
It used to be widely accepted that fashions cies send out scouts to festivals, nightclubs and
started on the catwalks and amongst consumers music events in order to report back on what the
who had a high social and economic status and most influential trendsetters are wearing, doing
that these trends then found their way down to and talking about.
the high street and the mass market. When the Some trends develop over a period of time
trend became widely accepted, the trend innova- and last for a long time. Others develop, take
tors moved on to another trend; this is known as hold and disappear very quickly; these are some-
trickle-down theory (Simmel 1957). Trends can times referred to as fads. Some trends are global,
also start on the street and among lower social whereas others are localized.
economic groups and subcultures. These trends Celebrities are also influential trendsetters. The
are spotted and used by designers for inspiration fashion press watch what the celebrities are wear-
and so find their way onto the catwalks and then ing and report on it extensively in magazines such
into the upper classes of society (trickle-up the- as OK, Hello and Grazia. These trends are quickly
ory). Some styles develop in one or more sections picked up by the manufacturers and translated
of society and then cross over into others (trickle- into styles for the mass market. Influential figures
across theory) (King 1963). There may be many include Sienna Miller, Kate Moss and Madonna.
fashion trends at any one time, and they may vary Kate and Madonna have both ventured into pro-
according to social group or geographic location. ducing their own ranges: Kate for Topshop and
The advent of the Internet has meant that fash- Madonna for H&M. The online retailer ASOS
ion trends can spread more quickly as people can (http://www.asos.com) has built a very success-
access trend information more rapidly and eas- ful business around interpreting celebrity trends
ily, seeing what is happening on the catwalks and and making them quickly available at affordable
what celebrities and trendsetters are wearing. prices through the Internet.
There is an argument that the market is now so It is possible to identify trends from previous de-
fragmented that the old model where what hap- cades that have re-emerged; for example at the
pened on the catwalk influenced the high street time of writing this book there is a lot of talk about
and what happened on the street inspired design- structured and padded shoulders making a resur-
ers has been replaced by ‘niche markets, where gence. This look was last popular in the 1980s.
the consumer’s aspiration is brand led and lifestyle However, previous trends never emerge as an exact
driven’ (McKelvey and Munslow 2008: 1). This copy; there must always be some accommodation
makes the job of forecasting trends more complex for the contemporary consumer since otherwise it
and means that companies that are using trend looks too retro and will not be accepted.
trends and forecasting 111

Jacket by Anne Marie Beretta (1979).

Courtesy of the Woolmark Company.
­Reproduced with permission.

You will sometimes come across books and Technological advances and easy access to
magazines talking about a swing in fashion. This trend information have disrupted the traditional
refers to an extreme change, for example from the flow of trend information to the point that a trend
miniskirt to a maxi dress, from a tailored look to un- will sometimes die before it has had time to de-
structured styles or from a very sophisticated look to velop. People also travel more, so trends have
a peasant style. These shifts are driven by a desire become more global; this is particularly notice-
for novelty and change. Sometimes the changes able in the luxury market, where brands have
happen very quickly, but other times the change will become popular and recognized throughout the
happen over an extended period (Brannon 2005). world.
112 visual research methods in fashion

Outfit by Maison Martin Margiela

during the Autumn/Winter 2010/11
­ready-to-wear collection show on
March 5, 2010, in Paris. AFP Getty.
­Reproduced with permission.

One of the current issues that trend forecasters affect not only fashion companies but also indus-
need to be aware of is consumer demographics. try and society as a whole. One thing is certain:
The age of the world’s population is increasing, you need to understand your consumers in order
and the number of younger consumers is de- to understand which trends they might be willing
creasing. There is a growing awareness that older to adopt. A good design team will be able to in-
people are becoming more fashion conscious troduce their customers to new trends and ideas
and may provide new markets. Changes in de- whilst still enabling them to recognize and relate
mographics are the sort of large-scale trends that to their product.
trends and forecasting 113

Project: Trend Tracking

Identify a key trend from the catwalk collections and trade show reports for the current season. Research previous seasons to
see whether the trend is new or has developed. How long do you think this trend will last, and which product groups do you
think it is relevant to? Who do you think are the consumers who will buy into this trend? Follow the trend to see if it transfers
from the catwalk into mainstream fashion: how has it evolved to meet the needs of the consumer?

Interview with David Wolfe

David Wolfe has worked in trend forecasting from the earliest days of forecasting agencies, and he has
identified a major shift in the way that trends now work.

What is your current role?

My role at Doneger Group is senior trend forecaster; I joined the group twenty years ago to develop
an in-house trend forecasting business. Up to that point the company had always bought in the trend
information. Mr Abbey Doneger the owner of the group decided that the smart thing to do was to stop
paying for the information and bring it in house, to own a trend business within the company that could
service our clients and also offer a service that could be sold to the market. I had the advantage of
inventing and defining a trend business for the third time in my career. My first trend job was as creative
director at a company called IM International in London. That company started in 1967 and we started
forecasting trends in 1969. I was there for ten years and then I started my own company in London
called TFS (The Fashion Service) I had that company for ten years before returning to the States and
coming here to Doneger.

When did trend forecasting start as a business?

Literally November 1969, I created the very first trend forecast. It was a logical development because of
the timing, before that time trends did not need to be forecast because of the way trends were created
before trending, as we know it in the 1970s. Before that, it was really just about the changing influences
of colour, fabric and silhouette and designers gave very esoteric names to their collections. (Like Dior’s
famous ‘Corelle’ collection, French for ‘flower-shaped’ which become known globally as ‘The New
Look’). As fashion speeded up in the 1960s and 1970s, designers like Kenzo began to create trends
that were head-to-toe ‘stories’ (pirate or Indian or retro periods). These fashion dramas then became
known as trends and they are what most of the industry is still trying to work with now; that definition
of trends has outlived its usefulness.
Fashion is always a reflection of the society that we are living in and society now is so fragmented
and fractured and tribalized that it is impossible to either forecast or manipulate the fashion main-
stream; which is what you have to do really to make those types of trends still work. Trends still work
but in very small market sectors and there isn’t as much cross-pollination any longer. However design-
ers and manufacturers haven’t awakened to that fact. A terrific designer like Alexander McQueen may
114 visual research methods in fashion

Model ‘New Look’ of Christian Dior (France, 1947). Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

create a look in his collection, dramatize it and send it down the runway, thus inspiring other designers
all over the world to adopt that look/trend and put their own interpretation on it for subsequent sea-
sons. That does not happen anymore or so rarely that there is not a true trickle-down system in place
anymore.
What Alexander McQueen does is right for the person who is interested in him and nobody else.

Is that the influence of media and the Internet?

Absolutely, I think that we are living in the democratization-of-fashion era. It is destroying the old sys-
tems. The new system is challenging and interesting and certainly vital but it is breaking down all the
methods that had propped up the entire global fashion industry, all those companies and processes.
trends and forecasting 115

How does the industry need to change?

The new system is much more like social networking; it is more personalized and it takes more detailed
psychological study of your potential customers.
There is still a role for the trend forecasters but they have had to learn to speak a new language.
Trend forecasters are talking a dead language, as dead as Latin. When you create colour palettes that
are essentially the same year after year and give them tricky new names every year that nobody pays
attention to, there is something wrong.
I think the perpetuation of so-called trendy fashion is a big fat lie, which is killing the industry.

What advice would you give to a student who wants to enter the world
of fashion forecasting?

Pay more attention to what is going on in the world and less attention to what is going on, on the
runway. Students have to study history, not just fashion history and become aware of how progress
happens: social, economic and artistic. Studying the past is the only way they can do that. They should
read the great literary classics; one of the most illuminating authors who shows how society and fash-
ion go hand in hand is Jane Austen. They should read anything by Jane Austen.
The main challenge is to figure out where fashion fits into life.
The problem is that the system used to work and was responsible for creating this monster. One of
the major problems is that people who look at fashion seem to be blind to reality. There is this buzz-
word: ‘fast’ fashion, it isn’t the fact that it is fast, the fact is that those are the only stores that have any
merchandise that is different than every store. It is differentiation that is more important than speedily
knocking off Stella McCartney.
The presentation I am working on at the moment is about recognizing the fact that there is so much
money to be made by understanding the variety of consumers who respond to fashion, to their own
definition of fashion. Today in America, women over fifty control nineteen trillion dollars of the economy
and they are virtually ignored as fashion consumers.
The fashion world is the real world. It is the same problem the entertainment industry has; even
though it is booming, it is too narrow. There is a film out now called It’s Complicated and the movie
marketers are very concerned as to whether or not it is possible to make a movie with older movie
stars. It is a huge success here. The audience I saw it with was essentially old and loving it. I hope
it teaches Hollywood a lesson that there are different audiences. Fashion needs to learn that same
lesson.
We are all living longer. I am about to be sixty-nine and a working forecaster at an age when I would
have been put out to pasture twenty years ago.
I don’t think we have leadership in the industry but also our society needs lots of different kinds of
fashion and we are still trying to act as if there is one important fashion message for everyone; it is not
true.

What do you think about the influence of bloggers?

I think it is insanity because fashion bloggers often seem to know nothing about fashion as an
industry, a craft or even an art form. One of the problems is that everyone wears clothes and if you
wear clothes you think you are an expert. The fall and decline of the fashion education system in the
116 visual research methods in fashion

world has a lot to do with accepting people who have no training, no taste or judgement as arbiters
of fashion.

Did the industry need a shake-up?

I think the fashion industry was dying on the vine. It is vital, it is interesting and it is changing because
the world is changing so dramatically. Unfortunately fashion this century has got so much attention and
it has changed so dramatically over the last fifty years that design change has burned out. Everything
it is possible to change has been changed, again and again. The only real changes going forward are
technological changes in techno textiles, new technical ways of communicating about fashion, distrib-
uting and manufacturing it and inventorying it.
What is causing consternation in the fashion industry is how to maximize profit in a set-up where
individuals are creating their own personal trends.

How can the industry change?

The industry has to come to grips with the fact that everybody can’t be an empire. We need small
businesses to fulfil small changeable needs. Every young person I talk to expects to become the next
Ralph Lauren or a Louis Vuitton. That is wrong. Fashion is a craft for one thing and there are a lot of
people interested in fashion who are not interested in the craft or construction or the artistry of creating
fashion; they are in it for the money.
They all have the expectation that they must manufacture thousands and that also is wrong for
everybody. There is room in fashion for small businesses to thrive and not grow and become public-
traded empires.
The same thing happened in the movie industry when the first generation of creative studio owners
like Sam Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer got booted out by the accountants that homogenized the prod-
uct and made it bland. People in America are waking up; the buzzword at the moment is differentiate.
They are all looking for ways to differentiate from their competitors but because it is all so huge they
can’t find a way.

What is your vision for the next five years?

I think five years is too short to see a big change; we will see the continuing death rattle of the
current system malfunctioning all over the place. In maybe ten years from now the dust will have
settled and we will have a two-tier fashion industry. A small sector of creative artistic fashion with
a capital F that will not be run by giant fashion conglomerates in the same way that in music we
have opera and opera lovers who support it and it doesn’t influence the rest of the music world.
Then we have pop music. What I think fashion will turn out to be is a lot of big manufacturers with
very specific identities creating apparel and accessories for very segmented social and economic
demographic groups.

Is this going to be a global phenomenon?

Yes globalization of fashion is a given; the Internet is truly turning us into a global community. It is good
and bad but it is not as interesting and truly diverse as it used to be.
trends and forecasting 117

is fashion forecasting an art to interiors. Everything we consume can be af-

or a science? fected by broader trends in the market. Good
fashion forecasters use their instincts to pick up
The majority of experts interviewed for this chap- on trends and then engage in research to con-
ter believe that fashion forecasting is a mixture firm that those instincts are right. The contribu-
of art and science, that you have to be able to tors to this book often described the ability to
analyse the information available but also develop spot trends as based on experience and the abil-
your own instincts. Fashion forecasting used to ity to draw upon a wide range of references and
be a very specific job, and indeed many people contacts.
are still paid specifically to perform this function.
However, trendspotting and interpretation have Forecasting is watching, observing, using the
now become a ubiquitous part of being in the Internet, being in places, from fashion shows
fashion industry. to cocktail bars, art galleries to music con-
The key to using trend information is to be certs. I even spend some of my time in Paris
able to analyse it and decide how it relates to just sitting in cafes people watching, observ-
your market and consumer. Trends are not just ing how they are dressed. Then these obser-
used by fashion designers; they are used by vations start to generate ideas.
anyone involved in the development of prod-
ucts, from cars to chocolates, from white goods —Richard Sardouk, trend forecaster

Interview with Martin Raymond of the Future Laboratory

The Future Laboratory was established in November 2001. It is recognized for its innovative approach
to forecasting, using ethnographic research tools and a creative, qualitative outlook to help brands,
retailers, designers and marketing and consumer research departments gain better insights into mar-
ket directions and the future products or brands consumers may need. It also offers lifestyle analysis,
brand development and consumer network building. The Future Laboratory (http://www.thefuturelab-
oratory.com) aims to provide inspirational, thought-provoking presentations which will ignite, invigorate
and provoke debate. Dr Martin Raymond is the cofounder and futures director at the Future Labora-
tory. He is the editor and chief of LS:N Global, the Future Laboratory’s online consumer insight and
innovation network, and is author of two books, The Tomorrow People: Future Consumers and How
to Read Them Today (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003), and The Trend Forecaster’s Handbook
(Laurence King, 2010). A fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, he is also a regular contributor on
trends and business to the BBC.

How does the Future Laboratory work?

The Future Laboratory is a company broken into three divisions, Future Poll, LS:N Global, and The
Future Laboratory proper. Future Poll is an information-based research arm that provides clients
118 visual research methods in fashion

­ p-to-the-minute insights on consumer change via online, face-to-face and field-based surveys and
u
interviews. LS:N Global, our online global lifestyle network takes this quant-based data, and digs deep
into it to offer members and clients a richer, more insightful snapshot of how consumer behaviour
globally has an impact on key shifts in the culture in ways that affect the kind of brands, products and
services they use, or how designers create these product for them. The Future Laboratory uses these
insights, and the knowledge accrued from doing so to work with clients to make their brands more
strategic, future-faced and consumer friendly.
The reason we have the three divisions is that the process of trend forecasting and consumer
insight very much imitates this process. We call this process ‘cultural triangulation’. It is a three-
pronged approach that underpins much of our work. Simply put it, good forecasting is all about
interrogation (Future Poll), observation (LS:N Global) and strategic intuition (the Future Laboratory).
By interrogation we mean using a range of techniques and methodologies—from online polling, to
interviews, to desk research, to expert panel discussions and interviews to reveal as much as there
can be revealed about a new or emerging change in the culture. But because people sometimes don’t
know what they are doing, or indeed the new context in which they are doing it, we use ethnographic,
videographic and field research techniques to watch them doing what they are doing so that we can
match their answers with their activities and see if the two add up—which in most cases they don’t.
People have official ways of describing what they do—activities that conform to what people expect
them to do, but when they do something, how they do it can be radically different: and it is in this dif-
ference that the good forecaster can see the new and emerging gap or change taking place that will
suggest bigger trends.
Finally, comes intuition, or rather strategic intuition where the forecaster, based on all research,
insights and previous knowledge gained, uses their powers of reasoning, deduction and inference
to make strategic conclusions about what they are seeing, and what they know, and what they have
been taught to make, what is described as a cognitive leap to draw a bigger conclusion from what it
is they are seeing. This is what good prediction is really about: more a science than art, but using the
art of science to more readily and intelligently inform you how the future will change if certain factors,
or key changes are already taking place. Simply put, if it rains upstream, all things being equal, and all
possibilities taken into account, there will be a flood downstream. . .
To ensure that we are taking on board all opinions, expert and average ones, we use household
panels across the UK and Europe (interrogated via Future Poll), expert panels called Futures 100
panels who are made up of experts, academics, authors, scientists, technologists, architects, design-
ers, lifestyle creatives (all interviewed by LS:N Global’s insight team), and the collective but strategic
intuitions of the Future Laboratory’s core team of analysts to pull the whole process together in a way
that makes it credible, intelligible and risk friendly to clients.
At all levels, and across fourteen industries or sectors—from beauty, to fashion, to automotive,
to technology and alcohol—we are working with people who are looking all the time at tasting,
reading, and engaging with culture, especially culture that is at the edge of things as opposed to
mainstream: in short we are trying to determine what is new and next rather than what is normal and
mainstream.
trends and forecasting 119

So how do you map and define trends and how they affect people?

We create a thing called a trend cartogram. Cartograms are diagrammatic techniques used by car-
tographers or mapmakers to capture complex geographic data in a very simplified, illustrative but
strategically revealing way. A trend cartogram is a more abstract, less formal and prescribed version
of the geographer’s cartogram and it calls on the forecaster to create a map that visually and texturally
represents the trend in a way that:

• Identifies the innovators of the trend (the who)

• Name of the trend (the what)
• Assesses the current impact of the trend with society (the where)
• Reveals the drivers or influences underpinning it (the why)
• The consequences of this impact in the short and medium term based on our experts’ com-
ments and findings (the when).

For students, this is a very good way to map trends, because it allows them to ‘see’ a trend de-
veloping visually and factually, and this is a very good way indeed to notice that most consumer shifts
actually come with very clear, specific and visually powerful signature, or aesthetic.
Finally you will need to identify and articulate what these changes will mean to the society and
culture we live in over the long term. You can, if you wish, further simply these headings into five titles
or phrases as follows:

• Trend innovators
• Trend drivers
• Trend impact
• Trend consequences
• Trend futures.

Once you have these headings in place, you now need to rearrange all evidence on your board or
wall to sit beneath them, and to do so as comprehensively as you can. But again, be aware of where
and how you place things! If for instance, you are assembling material on that section marked innova-
tors, and notice that some of your innovators look alike in terms of how they dress, or the technology
they carry about with them (which can happen when you are categorizing a fashion or lifestyle trend)
looks similar, then cluster these together.
Make sure too, as you work across the board from left to right, that you form these clusters under all
categories, and that you make sure you distinguish clusters beneath each heading in a way that allows
any onlooker to see that a shape, or visual cluster that is present under drivers say, or trend impact,
has a matching or look-alike cluster under another heading.
To further validate your trend, and to improve its overall visual and textural lustre, you should
break each heading up into three or more sectors or disciplines (e.g. fashion, furniture, retail
120 visual research methods in fashion

i­nteriors, materials and finishes) to show that this is a trend that can be found in more than one
industry.
This editing, selection and categorization process is also referred to as trend framing. Framing
a trend is about imposing a more logical, visual and texturally coherent framework around all the
data you have so far collected. At this point, you should now be able to define the key character-
istics of the trend—it’s about ‘austerity,’ a ‘new sense of sobriety,’ of ‘demanding less but better
products’ etc—and to give it a name. The New Sobriety, or the New Seriousness, or the New
Austerity.
Within the section where you name the innovators of the trend, you should also include a brief
synopsis of what the trend is in terms of its essential characteristics—i.e. that is a trend about a new
sense of sobriety, of consumers becoming more considered and measured in their purchasing habits
etc. . . .
This process is a more rational and explicable version of the process that intuitive forecasters use
without even knowing they are using it.
Intuitive forecasting—a lot of people scoff at a forecaster like Lee Edeelkort for example because
she is intuitive but in fact when you look at the scientific methods and motivations behind each intui-
tive forecasting strategy it is quite a powerful process; essentially it is about using the sum total of a
forecaster’s abilities—their tacit knowledge streams (which is difficult to explain, because it is some-
thing you ‘know’), their explicit knowledge streams (provable and transferable knowledge) and what
the French refer to as their coup d’oeil (the ability to sum something up at a glance on your experience
over time of a particular subject or area) and the author Malcolm Gladwell calls thin slicing to reach
what seems to be a lightning decision that seems not to have any logical justification or explanation
attached.
Collaborative networks—Another kind of forecasting to consider is network forecasting, or collab-
orative network forecasting. Collaborative networks are increasingly the networks of choice of a new
generation of forecaster who sees the Internet and the potentials and opportunities it offers in terms of
connectivity, as the sensible way to tap into new and emerging trends on a global basis.
In a collaborative network, information, knowledge and insight flows across the network as well as
up, down and along it. It is therefore a network built on relationships, collaborations and more intimate
and personal interactions between all network members—managers and members alike.
This collaborative way of tapping into the culture is a much better way of understanding consum-
ers than carrying out focus groups, as many forecasting organizations increasingly do. Focus groups
presuppose that there is something that you want to focus on. But what if the issue you are focusing
on, isn’t the issue that that you should be focusing on?
Good collaborative networks should also contain people from different backgrounds, disciplines,
races and social outlooks (a strong heterophilous network in other words) so that the material they
are delivering will reflect this and make your network richer and deeper and more reflective of culture
as a consequence. Vanilla networks, as in ones that contain the same kind of people usually deliver
vanilla—as in bland—findings and insights.
To ensure that your network functions as a collaborative network (as opposed to a hierarchical one),
it is important to recruit members who in turn have a large following within their own network. This is
known as testing the ‘fitness’ of a network. You can judge their suitability or fitness by examining the
trends and forecasting 121

content of their Web site, blog, and home page etc., and by doing the same with a cross-section of
their ‘friends’.
You can have as many hubs (people whom you trust and can work with reliably) as you like on your
network, and those hubs in turn can have as many members as they in turn wish, but it is important
that you share all views and insights gathered with your hubs on a regular basis. These hubs in turn
will make sure that all relevant information passed on, is in turn sent on to members within their own
network or cluster. While hierarchical network members are usually paid in credits, or money, collab-
orative networkers are usually paid in knowledge and insight—in other words they will help you, if you
continue to help them.
This is known as ‘network reciprocity’. And the best networks thrive and flourish when the
majority of its members—especially those who are deemed to be the hubs within the network—
exchange ideas and correspondences on a regular basis. As the instigator, you will be expected
to be the most active and live member or hub on your collaborative network. Indeed, in many
ways you will be expected to steer it, and to make sure that it is fulfilling its original purpose
and role.
Scenario planning is another technique used by forecasters. To do it, you need to follow nine steps
or stages. In turn, these stages can be broken down into two distinct categories; steps or stages that
roughly involve a process of ‘breathing in,’ where information is gathered, and the primary thesis or
question under scrutiny determined and articulated, and ‘breathing out,’ exercises or processes where
the inputs are synthesized, and transformed into a number of scenarios that are then tested against
the original question or thesis.
Once this is done, you will find yourself with a set of key scenarios that are most likely to contain all
of the elements that will impact on the overall success of your product launch, or if you are attempting
to test the impact of a trend, all issues that will affect how people accept, or reject it.
To reach this point, it is important to keep an open mind at all nine stages of the planning process:
as with strategic intuition, scenario planning requires you to be imaginative, creative and collaborative in
your approach to asking questions and to seeking out answers. As the French scenario planner, Profes-
sor Michel Godet puts it, scenario planning, ‘is an art, an intellectual art that requires a poet’s imagination,
knowledge, common sense and a healthy dose of nonconformity . . .’ At each stage then, you must be
curious, challenging, comprehensive, but also lateral, and determined to ‘think the unthinkable’. But be-
fore you do this, it is important to consider upfront, what it is you are trying to answer in the first place!
These techniques used individually, or combined offer businesses more credible ways to carry out
consumer forecasting. But I think brands, business and services are generally suspicious because they
see it as mysterious—other. Forecasters are not transparent with the techniques they use (or in some
cases can’t actually explain them) so more traditional businesses tend to shy away from them, using
more provable marketing measures and metrics to do their work. Which is wrong—market research
can tell you what consumers know, not what they don’t know: so as Henry Ford once famously put
it, if I asked consumers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. In other words they
couldn’t have said a car because they had no idea what a car was, or indeed what could make it travel
so fast—the internal combustion engine. So we need to be aware of this when we are forecasting:
and this is why we insist that brands use our three-pronged approach, so that all possibilities, even the
improbable ones, are taken into account.
122 visual research methods in fashion

Retail is now driven by the bottom as opposed to the top of the market and for trend forecasting
the great problem we now have is that the official six trends a year issued by PV or by the International
Colour Association or by Peclers or Trend Union no longer apply to a store that is temporary, mobile,
about the bespoke one-off. Fashion, like many industries, is just failing to keep up with the changes
bubbling up around them. The Internet is allowing the customer to sidestep the catwalk, and access
trends, or those who are influencing them, in more transparent and intimate ways. Consider how long
it took designers to recognize that bloggers were becoming more important than magazine editors?
In essence fashion is a reactive medium, and because of this, as a forecasting company, we tend to
place it low on our priority; in terms of an industry we look to for ideas. Fashion for us, is where we
look to when trends have trickled down from the world of design, interiors, product making, packaging,
social and cultural shifts—then we look at how fashion is responding. As an industry, or a sector where
change is noted first—furniture design, product design, textile design, interiors, etc. have become the
ones to look to.

What advice would you give to students who want to get into
forecasting?

Three things, observation, intuition and interrogation, they have to have those three strengths to suc-
ceed. They have to be able to observe and train themselves to observe the world around them, and to
interrogate it in a credible, curious, comprehensive and in-depth way. Each student has to build up a
backlog of knowledge, and lifestyle connections in a way that helps them become more intuitive and
lateral about the world. This isn’t about being an effective Googler—this is information after all, not
insight—but about experiencing the world, via all five of your senses.
It is important to work with your five senses not one sense. And the Internet? A good tool for sec-
ondary research, but remember this, once it is online and catalogued, it is pretty much dead data. As a
forecaster you need to be live, always on, and always experience new people, ideas and cultural shifts.
This can’t be done by remote. So look around you and see what is happening, so you can see and
understand things differently. And when you interrogate things, ask yourself the following questions:
what’s new, what’s next, who is instigating these changes, why, with whom, and how will it affect the
rest of us. Forecasters need to be open: if you are prejudiced, or believed that forecasting is about
making pronouncements then you will soon fail to see what is new and next, because it is usually in
the areas we have no interest in—science, technology, biotech, stem cell, informatics where the truly
life-changing trends are bubbling up.
There are also a lot forecasting companies like the Future Laboratory, PSFK, Trendwatch.com, the
Futures Company, Peclers etc., with free online networks or sites you can monitor or indeed join to
improve your skills and knowledge of the world. But your own trend notebooks are of vital importance,
having them, updating them, using them whenever, and wherever you notice something, new, next,
anomalous. The more you catalogue things, the more you get a feeling for what a trend is, and the more
you get these feelings, the more you understand forecasting itself—and once you lay these things—
these ideas, images, words, fragments—out and examine them, the more you will make strategic and
intuitive connections between them. And this is where the journey of a good forecaster begins. Spot-
ting patterns, cultural shifts, spotting them, but then naming, framing and interpreting them.
trends and forecasting 123

Denver Art Museum, Frederic C. Hamilton Building. Architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind; lead ­architect: Daniel Libe-
skind. Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

Project: Starting a Trend File

Start to collect articles from newspapers, magazines and blogs that interest you. They could be about world events, finance,
new designers and so on. After two to three months of collecting information, start to edit and categorize it. Do you see any
patterns emerging? Are there any issues that are being widely talked about? Do you think any of these issues might affect
the consumer or the fashion industry?

trend forecasting companies one trend service to help them to make sense
and services of the information available. These services em-
ploy networks of people whose job is to gather
So much information is available today and information. Having a global network means
key trends can develop from so many different they are able to cross-reference information and
sources that most companies will employ at least to cover a far greater range of information than
124 visual research methods in fashion

an individual could. It can be more economic for and if society is not ready for a trend, consumers
a company to use these services than to send will reject it.
their own team out to do the research. Trend predictions are not there to be copied
Fashion companies use trend forecasters be- wholesale. Companies that do so often find that
cause it saves them time and money and helps they have made a mistake because the trend has
them to avoid making costly mistakes by pro- not been adapted to suit their consumer. It is the
ducing the wrong products at the wrong time. If job of the designers and buyers within a com-
the manufacturer creates the wrong product, the pany to analyse the trends and assess their suit-
company will not make a profit and may go out of ability for their market. A very young trend with
business. The lead time for creating products can lots of bright colours and graphics may well suit a
be up to two years, and this is the normal time company producing club wear or casual sports-
frame within which forecasters work; however, wear for the youth market, and it may be able to
the advent of fast fashion has meant a reduc- use the trend whilst making minor adaptations. A
tion in the time frame for manufacturing. Some company that makes tailored clothing for the older
companies such as Zara and Mango are able to market may decide that this trend is not relevant
respond to demand and bring in new lines very to its consumer, or it may adapt small elements
quickly; they can get a product from sketch to the from the trend, a highlight colour for accessories,
shop floor in as little as ten days. This has ac- for example.
celerated the rate at which trends develop and As well as producing generic trend reports,
become tired (Brannon 2005). These companies most trend companies also engage in customized
use the latest technology to monitor what is sell- work for individual clients, in the form of consumer
ing in their stores and adjust their manufacturing research or marketing and communications,
accordingly. product development and brand strategy. Some
There are arguments about whether fashion of the key trend forecast companies include Carlin
trends are self-fulfilling. Some think that because International, Design Intelligence, Future Labora-
everyone buys into the trend services and uses tory, Infomat, Mudpie, Nelly Rodi, Peclers, Pro-
the trends they predict, the trends then become mostyl, Stylesight, Trendstop, Trend Union and
a reality. The major trade shows are attended WGSN. The Web addresses for these companies
by the main players in the fashion industry, and are listed at the end of this chapter.
here they are exposed to the colour boards and Mudpie is a UK-based trend company that
trendboards that have been previously agreed produces trend books and online information for
on by other influencers in the industry, which has womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, prints
the effect of emphasizing the predicted trend and patterns (http://www.mpdclick.com, http://
(Diane 2004). There is probably a certain ele- www.mudpie.co.uk). Fiona Jenvey, the CEO, set
ment of truth to this, but the trend influencers are up the company and explains how they identify
themselves gathering information from society, and interpret trends.
trends and forecasting 125

Interview with Fiona Jenvey

What was the inspiration for starting Mudpie? Did you identify a
particular gap in the market?

I never intended to start a business, and would describe myself as an accidental entrepreneur. You
could say that my inspiration was finding myself a job. I was made redundant in 1992 at the age of
twenty-two when the private label supplier I worked for went into administration. My motivation was
paying my mortgage and I started off freelancing for all the high street retailers I had worked with
previously as a designer for a supplier. Mudpie started as a design consultancy, the way I worked in
the early days was to put my client in direct contact with the manufacturer on the understanding that I
would continue to work on trends, colours, concepts and final artwork for the retailer.

How would you describe the methodology that you use to identify which
trends are going to be important?

Every trend forecaster has their own way of working. My own interests extend far beyond fashion and
these are what I use for the basis of trend research. I am a firm believer in the predictive benefits of
politics and economics and other drivers of social change as an accurate forecaster of future trends.
At Mudpie we have a trends team; each person has an area, which reflects their personal interests.
These include art, architecture, politics, economics, media, entertainment, technology and social sci-
ences. Our trends team look at these areas and we aggregate both the popular and emerging themes.
We know our trends are very accurate; my role is to ensure that our predicted trends meet market
maturation at the same time as the selling season we have forecast it for. Often it is not a case of an
inaccurately predicted trend; it is that the timing is inaccurate. These methods prove themselves time
and time again in our published trends which look just as good in the current selling season as they did
twenty-eight months beforehand when we created them.

Why does the fashion industry need trend forecasters?

The fashion industry needs forecasters more than it thinks it does; other product-related industries
look much longer range. Automotive design, interiors and architecture as well as consumer hardlines
design for a decade rather than a season, or in the case of architecture the design often represents the
attitudes of an entire generation. One of the problems with the retail environment today is the fixation
with the runway rather than own design. Runway and celebrity inspiration is fine for a fun fast-fashion
line, however it should not replace consumer insight or become a way of shortcutting creativity. Look-
ing at the consumer allows the brand, retailer and designer to understand the bigger picture. Currently
the profits of almost every high street retailer depend on a rework of the same runway collections, cre-
ating a dangerous precedent where ubiquitous poor-quality product can only be differentiated by price.
I firmly believe in the words of Alan Kay, the pioneering computer scientist ‘The best way to predict the
future is to invent it’. Brands, retailers and designers should use trend information as a tool for creating
an original desirable product, which represents the values of the brand—this is something that Top-
shop Unique does very well, and could be done by other creative retailers in a very commercial way.
126 visual research methods in fashion

Who uses your information and how do they use it? For example are they
all fashion clients?

We created our information with the fashion industry in mind, which has made it popular with a broad
range of industries; our trend services sell to car manufacturers, financial institutions, mobile phone brands
and pharmaceutical companies as well as a broad range of fashion brands and retailers. Today every
product is a fashion product and therefore influenced by fashion trends. Currently there is a trend for
longevity and classic as a reaction to both considered consumption and sustainability (buy better less
often)—this translates in fashion to vintage, design re-issues or ‘vintage-inspired,’ and the same is true
for cars, architecture, and interiors—look at the re-design of the Fiat 500 for example. The Fiat 500 will not
last forever, nevertheless it represents classic and is an accessible statement of vintage brand values.

Has the fashion forecasting process changed in recent years?

The process itself has not really changed, but the way that we locate the information comes much
more via online than from print, although most of the real inspiration comes from online versions of
printed publications. Online has also created infinite sources of information which has made the job
both easier because of the ease of locating information and harder since a greater mass of intelligence
needs to be developed into meaningful trend information.

How do you think trend forecasting will evolve in the future?

I think the big changes will occur in the delivery of the information. There is something interesting
developing between the virtual worlds of Second Life, Science Sim and augmented reality. Aug-
mented reality will give us a means of creating a ‘trend environment,’ this opens up new possibilities
for presenting information, which is neither purely, online or in print. AR could be used for something
as simple as understanding the application of the trend, for example a merchandiser could test how a
range could look in an augmented reality store environment. We could see how the consumer reacts to
a trend—how would our trend for AW 11/12 ‘the New Equilibrium’ feel to the consumer. I can certainly
see an augmented reality trend presentation happening in the future.

How do you analyse the accuracy of your predictions?

We publish ‘forecast right on track,’ a report within our site Mpdclick which looks at how accurate our
forecasts are in the current selling season. Any trend company can point to random areas of accuracy.
If we predict three trends all three need to be right. In summer 2009 we presented our ‘forecast right
on track’ to a well-known London financial institution and they were shocked at the accuracy of the
information which we had worked on three years earlier, especially as it accurately predicted the reces-
sion, which even the Economist admitted in print that it failed to foresee.

How does Mudpie differ from other trend agencies? What is your unique
selling point?

Because of the way we do our research we are very forward thinking. This not only applies to our
trends but also to the DNA of our business. We are a very collaborative in a traditional industry, which
is often shrouded in secrecy. Innovation for us is not about the latest technology, but about how that
trends and forecasting 127

Garment trend information. ­

Courtesy of Mudpie. Reproduced
with permission.

technology delivers our information. For example we pioneered a live trend seminar with our participa-
tion in the world’s first ‘virtual’ trend conference in Science Sim in December 2009.
Mudpie has a very successful design consultancy which works with brands, retailers and suppliers,
delivering trends, colours and day-to-day design requirements this might include the creative reposi-
tioning of the entire brand or something as simple as a range of graphic T-shirts. The trend is important
and so is the final application. This is not easily understood by other online services but because of our
background I believe that Mudpie is the only trend company who understands how designers, brands
and retailers need to work with trends.

What advice would you give to a student who wants to learn how
to identify and interpret trends?

I would suggest developing a wide range of interests. The world of trends is an ever-expanding universe
of ideas, which are shared in an ever-expanding way. It is easy to think that every answer is available
128 visual research methods in fashion

via online blogs but often the most directional information comes from a printed newspaper in a very
random way or an unexpected encounter with the creative arts. Everything available to us is just in-
formation, we can all read it and see it however it must be interpreted in a meaningful way and this
involves a detailed process of gathering and distilling the information into a single common denomina-
tor, which defines the season. For A/W 11/12 we have called this ‘the New Equilibrium’ which marks
the end of consumer decadence and the start of stable growth where the whole cycle of production
and consumption becomes the responsibility of every consumer retailer and brand. This breaks down
into three trends, Synergy, Primal and Innovate (see Plate 21).

Project: Trend Analysis

Select a brand and track the styles across two to three seasons. You can do this by using their advertising, by looking at
features in magazines and Web sites and by visiting the stores. Can you recognize any trends or pieces that have followed
through more than one season? How have the colours and fabrics changed? Have they changed drastically or gradually?
Look at the trend information for each season: how does it relate to the company’s product for that period?

other sources of trend are caught out by the unexpected; a particularly

information warm winter or hot summer can drastically affect
the sales of seasonal items. The weather is one
Fashion companies buy information from more thing it is particularly difficult to predict with any
than one source so they can cross-reference and certainty.
make sure they are picking the right trends to The ideal situation for any retailer is not to have
adapt. They also carry out their own in-house re- any stock left at the end of the season. Any sum-
search looking at trends on the catwalk and what mer stock that is left when the autumn collections
celebrities are wearing; they look at fashion maga- start to come in has to be marked down (sold at
zines, Web sites and blogs. a reduced profit or in extreme cases at a loss).
The more accurately retailers can predict what the
Sales Data and Market Research consumer is going to want, the more money they
Many companies also use their sales information will make. This is why they pay so much attention
from previous seasons. If a style has been par- to trends.
ticularly successful, they will repeat it, perhaps in Companies also conduct or commission mar-
a different fabric or colour or with another minor ket research into their consumers in order to
modification. Sales information also enables them understand what is driving their purchasing deci-
to predict how many coats or skirts they normally sions and how they shop. This kind of qualitative
sell in a particular season, and this helps with plan- research is as important as the quantitative re-
ning their ranges. Of course sometimes retailers search that tells the retailers how much they are
trends and forecasting 129

selling. Understanding the consumer can help re- trends can be based on colour, silhouette, fab-
tailers to provide the range of products and shop- rics, styling details or accessories; even hair and
ping experience that their target customers want. make-up are influential. Retailers know that their
Technology has also had an impact here: innova- customers now have easy access to catwalk in-
tions such as loyalty cards have helped retailers formation in real time via the Internet and increas-
to target specific consumer groups with special ingly via their mobile phones.
offers and promotions that relate to products The catwalk collections are also featured in
they know they are interested in. In an environ- the style sheets of newspapers and magazines.
ment where the average consumer is bombarded Many Web sites and printed publications such as
with advertising and choice, targeted and relevant Collezioni feature and analyse the catwalk collec-
marketing is very important. tions. Collections from the catwalk often need to
be adapted or watered down to be acceptable
New Media, Blogging and the Internet to the consumer. Designers often use the catwalk
The impact of the Internet has meant that there as the showcase for their more extreme ideas in
are new ways of communicating trends and new order to get press coverage, knowing that the less
ways for people to influence and communicate extreme pieces are the ones that will actually sell
what is happening in fashion. The rise of the when the buyers visit the showroom.
fashion blogger is one trend that has had a huge Catwalk trends are less useful if you are aim-
impact on the industry. Fashion bloggers provide ing to be a trend leader rather than a trend fol-
a new route for up-and-coming designers and lower. Knowing what other designers are doing is,
brands to communicate with potential consum- of course, useful, but you should not be copying
ers. These bloggers can have many thousands of them. By the time their ideas hit the catwalk, de-
readers who log in for daily updates and interact signers are usually already researching and think-
with the blog by leaving comments and giving ing about their next collection.
feedback on the products and features.
The flow of information on the Internet is much Newspapers
faster than through traditional methods such as Newspaper style pages are also very use-
print magazines. The latter are still influential, and ful sources of information; the writers for these
there has in fact been a surge in new niche and pages are very influential and well connected and
avant-garde fashion titles in recent years. However, will often spot an emerging new talent. News-
most of the major print magazines now have an papers such as the International Herald Tribune,
online presence that enables them to engage with the Guardian, the Times and the New York Times
their readers and react quickly to emerging trends. all have influential style pages and an online ver-
sion (their Web addresses are at the end of this
Catwalks chapter).
Trends from the catwalk are an important source
of information for fashion retailers. Their design Trend and Specialist Magazines
teams look for trends emerging from the catwalk You will also find specialist trend publications
that may be relevant to their customers. These such as Viewpoint (Netherlands) and Collezioni
130 visual research methods in fashion

Screenshot from Susie Bubble’s Style Bubble fashion blog. Courtesy of Susie Bubble. Reproduced with permission.

(Italy) very useful. The former covers macro trends is available is R. D. Franks (http://www.rdfranks.
and gives a lot of background information about co.uk) or mode ... information (http://www.mode
why the trend is relevant and where it is emerging. info.com).
Other useful magazines include Textile View (Neth-
erlands), Zoom on Fashion Trends (Italy), Best100 Trend Books
(South Korea), L Officiel 1000 Models—Menswear Whilst there are a lot of online trend services avail-
(France) and Collezioni Uomo (Italy). You will also able, physical trend books are still needed, as
find specialist magazines for areas such as denim, these enable designers and buyers to feel fabric
footwear, accessories, knitwear, sportswear and swatches. Some designers prefer to have some-
childrenswear. A good starting point to see what thing physical in front of them, and these books
trends and forecasting 131

often contain colour swatches, trimmings and so or can be more general, covering inspiration,
on. Trend companies such as Nelly Rodi, Peclers shapes and details. They often have illustrations
and Trend Union produce trend books. Trend of key pieces as well as moodboards and colour
books can be specific to colour, yarn or fabrics palettes.

Interview with Kim Mannino of Promostyl

Kim is the director of Promostyl UK, a subsidiary of Promostyl based in Paris. Kim studied clothing
at the London College of Fashion; she then worked with designers like Katherine Hamnett, Richard
James and Margaret Howell. Here, she describes how Promostyl develops its colour trends.

What does Promostyl do?

Promostyl UK opened in 1984 but the Paris Company started in 1966. It has a very long pedigree and
is probably one of the leading trend agencies in terms of longevity. Promostyl invented the trend book as
it is today. We have some fabulous people that work for us and have been with us since the beginning.
There are at least forty employees plus many freelancers. We have offices in Tokyo, New York and the
UK and agents all over the world in pretty much every country. We are a global company and the trend
books that I sell in London are the same trend books we sell in Rio, Sydney, New York and Montreal.
We produce forty colours per season within four stories or themes. We start by looking at the big
picture. What is influencing fashion and design? We don’t just work with the fashion industry; we work
with product developers, car companies, mobile phone manufacturers etc. When I started the bulk of
what we did was clothing about 90 per cent but now is probably now more like 60 per cent and for the
other 40 per cent we are working very much outside of clothing.
Every season we do the influence conference at Premiere Vision. It is an absolutely beautiful presen-
tation; it is car design, art galleries, new hotel openings, and new bands. There is very little clothing. We
will organize the presentation in the same four themes and forty colours that are in our books.
If you look at things like interiors once upon a time fashion led the way and trends in fashion would
trickle through to interiors a couple of years later. Now they are almost neck and neck, or are interiors
leading the way? We look at architecture, car design, theatre, film, music, youth, culture and sport. Ob-
viously we do look at design and some catwalk but it’s not the main place where we start. Trends are
also about evolution. When a colour appears on the high street it has actually been around amongst
the trendsetters and cutting-edge people for quite a while. Then it starts hitting the high street. We look
at trends as waves, sometimes you get a big one and other times it is just a ripple.
When we sell the colour book, which is purely colour, it is for everyone, menswear, womenswear,
junior, interiors, and beauty and product developers. The companies that buy those books might run
with two themes for their market and another company might take the other two themes. The clients
have to interpret the information for their own market and customer. I feel very strongly that we are a
tool for inspiration.
Some people will choose not to look at trends at all and go by their own gut feelings and intuition, which
is another way of design evolving. However, people that work in the commercial world and certainly those
who produce for mass-market retail are moving so fast they need extra help in gleaning the inspiration.
132 visual research methods in fashion

It is very healthy that people look at trend information from everywhere not just one company and
it would be very normal that somebody would buy trend information from us and also from three or
four other companies for the same season. This way they are getting an overview of how the trend
companies see the next season and what are the big trends. When we do a series of forty colours we
would say that these are the top colours for womenswear and they may be the same top colours as
Peclers. It is about looking at each market and then at the different levels within each market the high
and the low end. When you move on to product development, mobile phones or car design again you
are looking at all different levels of the market. For the teen market you are looking at what phones
are they carrying and what colours are they going to be wanting. We try to map out where we feel the
influences come from, and then translate those influences into colour and shape.

How does the forecasting process work?

We work in two ways, trend books which are the off-the-shelf information and we also do special
contracts which would be bespoke information. The creative teams for the trend books also work on
the bespoke contracts so they would travel to the client in Tokyo for example. They are travelling a
great deal and they are also hearing about what that company feels is strong and important. We are
out in the marketplace working and can feed back that information. We also have agents who are all
involved in the fashion business in other ways as well as selling trend information. We all feed back
what we have seen, what is happening in London. The people who work in trends use a lot of their
own intuition. They are creative people who can see things and know what is going to be important.
There are also practical people who are good at putting things together but are not the ones who are
going to spot the trend. The creative teams that put the information together are incredibly observant
and very intuitive.
The people that we hire are illustrators and colour specialists and designers at all levels. We do
menswear, womenswear, junior, sportswear, lingerie, childrenswear and baby. We don’t quite go into
specifications but we do a lot of working drawings, clean drawings. At the front of the women’s trend
book you would see the colour harmonies and themes coming through, a lot of prints and fabrics as
well as illustrated silhouettes. The back of the book has more detailed drawings. The colour pages are
very much the inspiration but if you want to take it through in more detail the information is there.
I would say there has been an evolution in colour. Twenty years ago colour would come in and
colour would go out. You would have a spring season and red would be in and the very next season it
would be out. Now colours evolve and we have a team of people just looking at colour.

Is forecasting an art or a science?

I think forecasting is a bit of art and science, maybe more art than science. One of our strengths is
that we look at the consumer. When we decide on the four themes we will do some mapping as to
which consumer is likely to go towards which trend. It is not just about colour it is also about design
and lifestyle. We never did the ABC thing but we have moved away from labelling the consumer and
have a map of the trends.
How we create the map depends on the trend. For example the eco trend is very interesting.
There is a lot of eco and green stuff going on at the moment but we first talked about eco in 1992,
we had a book called Ecostyle. We have had our finger on the pulse of eco for a very long time.
trends and forecasting 133

Pages from Ecostyle, a trend book published by Promostyl in 1992. Source: London College of Fashion ­Archive.
Reproduced with permission.

Then you do wonder is the current trend all about the planet? Or is it just retailers looking to make
more money?
If the consumers are not ready for it they won’t buy it. Sometimes when I have seen customers they
might be working on colour info for Summer 2009 and they have heard that I have got the summer
2010 colours. They might say, ‘Oh no let us see the summer 2010 colours and use those.’ But they are
so far ahead that they might buy those colours, reproduce them and hang them on the rails and they
won’t sell because the consumer is not ready for them. It looks too odd, too off the wall, it will be just
that wrong green and it just won’t sell. You have to be very clever to try and get ahead of everybody
and use very forward information.
I am still quite proud to work for Promostyl after all these years because I do think they produce
some absolutely beautiful and very commercial inspiration information.

What advice would you give to students?

It is one thing having your finger on the pulse and knowing what is the newest and latest but you also
have to ask yourself is my consumer, the people you are aiming at, ready for it?
134 visual research methods in fashion

Page from Promostyl trend book in

2010. ­Reproduced with permission.

Don’t just look at one trend book look at ten and as you look across you will start seeing a similarity.
This means that all those intuitive people in all those companies are tuning in on a colour or texture. If
you have a good idea seven other people around the world will have the same idea. People working in
trend offices go on intuition and they follow colour and they watch colour.
Trade shows are important; our creative teams go not just to fashion trade fairs but also to furniture,
leather, shoes and sports fairs. It is about the bigger picture; if you go to buy an item of clothing it is
not just about what it is going to look like on you. It is about who you are your interests, lifestyle and
surroundings. That is going to have an effect on what you choose to buy and how you choose to wear
it. I tend to go to exhibitions that are not about clothing, somewhere like 100% Design or Top Drawer
because you can walk through and see what is going on, what is new and fresh.
trends and forecasting 135

Of course at the top end there are very creative people who are creating things that are new and
fresh and different. These people won’t bother looking at trend information and worrying about colour
forecasting because they just create. You are always going to have trendsetters; people who follow
fashion and the antifashion lot who don’t want anything to do with it.

Case Study: Nelly Rodi

The following case study is based on an interview with Catherine Tetu, consulting director at Nelly
Rodi.
Nelly Rodi founded her agency in 1985; she wanted to create a link between Paris and Tokyo, and
in order to create a dialogue between Asia and Europe she founded a subsidiary in Japan in 1986.
Nelly Rodi is now in twenty-three countries including the US and Asia. Nelly Rodi has two main fields of
work: the company publishes twelve trend books per year (six per season) and does a lot of consulting
around specific projects for groups of brands in fashion, beauty and lifestyle.
There are thirty-five employees within Nelly Rodi, and they also work with fifty loyal freelancers
depending on the project issues. That means that around eighty people are working on Nelly Rodi
projects, and the number of consulting missions can be up to 120 per year. The split is about 80 per
cent creatives and 20 per cent marketing. This balance is important because the creative and market-
ing experts work interactively on projects to provide clients with the rationale and references behind
the creative stories.
Marketing Style is the trademarked name for the work method that is unique to Nelly Rodi. It reflects
their systematic approach to working with both marketers and stylists. The marketing element covers
quantitative information and qualitative information coming directly from the consumer.
Nelly Rodi normally works two years ahead and has clients from every level of the market, from
discount to luxury for men and women. For specialist clients in the textile market, they work three years
ahead. The consulting is around three main areas:

• T
 he first is how the consumer is going to be thinking in the future and what the main trend
influences are. They undertake qualitative studies using expert sociologists, and twice a year
they hold a major brainstorming session to analyse the market information. A lot of clients
are currently interested in the mature woman because they are developing cosmetic brands
for that market. Nelly Rodi can also provide broader long-term information about how the
world is changing and what issues are going to be important beyond the medium and short
term.
• The second area is studies on specific subjects such as sustainability and the relationship be-
tween luxury and fashion.
• The third area is bespoke consulting for brands. They produce what they call a brand book, and
they analyse the brand DNA, brand values and positioning. They advise brands on how to be
unique, more creative and right for their target market. This can be for a completely new brand
136 visual research methods in fashion

Nelly Rodi trend

books. ­Courtesy of Nelly Rodi.
­Reproduced with permission.

or an existing one that wants to launch a new product or needs advice on price positioning or
on rationalizing their assortment or perhaps on how to diversify and move from fashion into
lifestyle.

For all of Nelly Rodi’s consulting projects, creative experts and marketing experts work together.
On the beauty side of the business, they work on product innovation in the ingredients and formulas,
packing and communication. On the fashion side, they can also provide a complete package that in-
cludes the colour range, fabric selection and precise sketches and patterns. They will also accompany
buyers on sourcing tours and work with them on prototypes for their collection. They can also advise
on merchandising; for example they can provide a calendar of which key pieces need to be in store at
which point in the season. The balance of the business has changed, and in the current climate more
clients are requiring a bespoke service because they want to be unique.
Nelly Rodi has a Web site and provides its clients with newsletters and reports, but their main
product is not Internet-based. They focus on producing books using their own photo shoots rather
trends and forecasting 137

Beauty page from a trend

book. Courtesy of Nelly Rodi.
­Reproduced with permission.

than stock images because their clients require something unique and very creative. They pro-
duce two kinds of books. One is a conceptual book that is very visual, intended to open the mind
and be inspirational; it is not focused on product. The other books are aimed at ready-to-wear
products for specific markets. Clients use the books to develop colour ranges and for fabric sourc-
ing and use the sketches as a starting point for a look. Clients from all levels of the market will use
the books in different ways for a long-term view or just to be reassured that they are going in the
right direction.
Catherine says that Nelly Rodi is looking for people who:
See things fresh, travel a lot, see everything, read the newspapers and are curious. You have to
develop your own universe and have a very strong influence so when you come to us and say
‘here’s my book, this is what I can do’ we can say ‘OK we did not see that anywhere else.’
138 visual research methods in fashion

Trade Shows strategies for analysing trend

Trade shows are an extremely good early indi- information
cator of trends. In the fashion industry there is a
chain of supply that starts with fibres and yarns As we have illustrated in this chapter, a great
and ends with garments, and at each level there number of sources of information about trends
are trade shows where buyers can see emerging are available to you, so how do you start to make
trends and order product. Producers of fibres and sense of them? First of all, you need to identify who
yarns have to work very far ahead of the selling the key companies are that deal with your area.
season as the textile and knitwear manufactur- Some trend companies have reputations for being
ers need time to produce the fabrics that they will strong in particular areas such as childrenswear
sell to the garment designers, and the garment or graphics. Talk to other people in your market to
designers then have to produce the clothes for a find out which are the key trade shows; if you are
given season. working in the youth market, Bread and Butter is
Many of these trade shows in turn employ highly influential but less relevant if you are at the
forecasters to help their exhibitors to produce more formal tailored end of the business.
products that are on trend for the season. One Ensure that you read as well as look; you can
of the biggest and most influential fairs is Pre- find good information about the fashion industry
miere Vision—usually shortened to PV. This in the financial and business pages of the press.
show for fashion textiles happens twice a year If there are key sites that you visit regularly, see
in Paris, and a large number of designers and if they have an RSS feed or a newsletter and
brands visit the show to see the trend infor- sign up. This way you will be alerted to new in-
mation and view and order the fabrics for their formation. Join relevant social networking groups
collections. The PV show in September 2009 on sites such as LinkedIn or IQONS. These are
showed trends for the following Autumn/Winter ­professionally focused sites where people network
2010, while the show in spring 2010 showed and discuss what is happening in the industry.
trends for Spring/Summer 2011. The textile See if any of the influential people in your mar-
producers work a year ahead of the selling sea- ket are on Twitter and sign up to follow their up-
son because the garment designers have to dates. Find out who is blogging on your subject
work six months ahead. This gives them time to and add them to your blogroll. Use Web tools
produce the sample garments and show them such as Evernote, Zotero or Delicious to clip and
to the retail buyers during the relevant fashion save things of interest. Create a filing system and
weeks and at trade shows such as Prêt-a- a set of categories, keywords or tags to help you
Porter and Pure. retrieve information quickly. Online image storage
Other key trade shows include MAGIC in Las sites such as Picasa and Flickr can help you to
Vegas, Interstoff in Frankfurt, Pitti Filati in Flor- organize your own images. You can find more in-
ence and Bread and Butter in Berlin. You can find formation about these technologies in Chapter 8.
a ­database of key fashion trade shows at http:// Once you have collected a body of information
www.apparelsearch.com/trade_show.htm. for the season or project you are working on, lay it
trends and forecasting 139

all out or pull it together on screen and do a quick trend ideas to either other members of your team,
scan to see if you can spot any common themes. your boss, your sales team or your customer. It
Pull this information to one side, and then see if is important to have strong, clear visual informa-
there are any isolated images or topics that are not tion that conveys your trend; this is often done
repeated but grab your interest for some reason. in the form of moodboards, conceptboards or
Take these themes and do a quick assessment of trendboards. These are a collection of images,
how relevant they are to your product or market. fabrics, trimmings and other visual elements that
If you cannot see a link or relevance, put them on highlight the key aspects of the trend. They may
one side. Take the remaining themes and do some be specific to the colours, textures, silhouettes or
more background research. Where have they details within a trend, or they may give a broader
come from? What are the drivers for the theme? picture of the key elements that have created the
How can you adapt the theme to your product, trend.
market and consumer? If the theme is relevant, These boards need to be backed up with
this should be fairly easy. If you have problems good succinct written information to help the
visualizing how it might work, think again about audience to make sense of them. This may
whether it is something you should run with or talk take the form of keywords or brief descrip-
to some colleagues and get their opinions. tions that explain the visuals. You can find ex-
Remove any images or references that detract amples of these boards on fashion forecasting
from the theme, and isolate the core elements: Web sites, at trade shows and within compa-
colours, shapes, textures and details. You can then nies; they are often used at trend meetings and
start to create some moodboards. You may need to presentations.
do further research to fill in some gaps in your infor- The key to creating a good board is to ensure
mation. Once you have gathered all of your visual in- that everything you include is adding to the mes-
formation, think about the keywords and stories that sage. If your season is Spring/Summer, do not
explain your trend. You should be able to clearly ar- include a wintery-looking image even if the dress
ticulate why the trend is important to your product. in it has the right shape and colour. Think carefully
All of the professional forecasters interviewed about what the story is that you want to sell, and
for this book stressed that forecasting is a mix- be ready to back it up with solid information about
ture of art and science, information and instinct. why the trend is important to your company/
Sometimes you may feel very strongly about a client.
trend and not know why; over time you learn to Selling your ideas to your client or your boss
take risks and to trust your instincts. means that you need to have confidence in the
idea. The more background research you have
communicating trends done to support your instincts, the easier it will
be to convince people to buy into your ideas. For
Whatever your role in the industry it is possible further information about presentation techniques
that you will at some point have to communicate see Chapter 9.
140 visual research methods in fashion

Moodboard by Rene De Lange. Courtesy of Rene De Lange. Reproduced with permission.

Summary
In this chapter we have discovered that the nature of trend forecasting in the fashion industry
is changing. This is due to the impact of technology and the increasing fragmentation of the
consumer base. We have learned that there are big trends in society that are reflected in fashion,
that the needs of the consumer are changing and becoming more diverse and that in order to meet
these needs the forecaster needs to help businesses to interpret trend information for their market.
Trend forecasting is a mixture of scientific research and intuition; a good forecaster is plugged into
a strong network of innovators and trendsetters and uses all the research tools available.
trends and forecasting 141

references and further reading Newspapers

Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk
International Herald Tribune http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
Brannon, E. L. (2005), Fashion Forecasting, 2nd ed.,
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
New York: Fairchild.
The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk
Diane, T., and Cassidy, T. (2004), Colour Forecasting,
Oxford: Blackwell.
Gerval, O. (2008), Fashion: Concept to Catwalk, Lon- Forecasting Companies
don: A. & C. Black. Carlin http://www.carlin-groupe.com/en/index.html
King, C. W. (1963), ‘Fashion Adoption: A Rebuttal to the Coolhunter http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/
Trickle Down Theory,’ in Stephen A. Greyser (ed.), Design Intelligence http://www.designintelligence.com.au/
Toward Scientific Marketing, Chicago: American Doneger Group http://www.doneger.com/web
Marketing Association. Future Laboratory http://www.thefuturelaboratory.com
McKelvey, K., and Munslow, J. (2008), Fashion Fore- Infomat http://www.infomat.com/
casting, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. mode...information http://www.modeinfo.com
Mower, S. (2007), Stylist: The Interpreters of Fashion, Mudpie http://www.mudpie.co.uk
New York: Style.com in association with Rizzoli. Nelly Rodi http://www.nellyrodi.com
Nara, Y. (1999), View on Colour: The Colour Forecasting Peclers http://www.peclersparis.com/
Book, Paris: Mode Information. Promostyl http://www.promostyl.com
Raymond, M. (2003), The Tomorrow People: Future Stylesight http://www.stylesight.com/
Consumers and How to Read Them, London: Trendstop http://www.trendstop.com
Prentice Hall/Financial Times. Trend Union http://www.trendunion.com
Simmel, G. (1957), ‘Fashion,’ Journal of Sociology, 62, WGSN http://www.wgsn.com
reprinted from International Quarterly, 10 (1904):
130–155.
Exhibitions
Tungate, M. (2008), Fashion Brands: Branding Style from
100% Design http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk/
Armani to Zara, 2nd ed., London: Kogan Page.
Top Drawer http://www.topdrawer.co.uk/

websites Stores
H&M http://www.hm.com
Studio Daniel Libeskind http://www.daniel-libeskind.com Topshop http://www.topshop.com
chapter 6

concept development, drawing

and creativity

Chapter Overview
In this chapter you will be introduced to techniques for analysing and understanding the world
around you and the imagery you encounter in your everyday life. Designers and practitioners
will explain the concepts behind their work, and you will learn about different approaches to
developing those concepts through two- and three-dimensional experimentation.
This chapter includes:
• Seeing and analysing
• Case study: Dr Shlomo Lee Abrahmov
• Concept development
• Case study: Gavin Fernandes, Empire Line project
• Creative projects
• Case study: Nicola Morgan
• Case study: Emma Crowther
• Case study: Jessica Mills
• Drawing
• Interview with Lynne Perrella
• Development sheets
• Case study: Tonia Bastyan, designer
• Moodboards and conceptboards
• Three-dimensional development
• Interview with Paul Jackson
• Case study: rapid prototyping
• Applying your concepts and understanding your consumer
• Interview with Kirsten Ludwig
• Ethical and environmental issues
• Case study: Kathleen Fasanella.
144 visual research methods in fashion

seeing and analysing Analysis starts with really seeing an image, not
just accepting it but also trying to understand it
Once you have gathered your visual inspiration, and uncover the deeper messages and meanings
you need to work with it to develop your ideas and within it. This is called visual literacy: the abil-
to transform your raw research into a defined con- ity to read and understand imagery in whatever
cept. Analysing your imagery and defining your media we encounter, whether photographs, ad-
concept is the first stage in this process. Your vertisements, movies, theatre or performance. By
concept will be developed through a process of understanding and interpreting the images and
mapping connections, analysing similarities and objects that surround you, you can start to under-
contradictions in the material you have gathered stand where your own work fits, in which part of
and reflecting upon how the material needs to be the cultural landscape it sits and how your poten-
adapted to meet the needs of the project or cli- tial audience/consumer will view your work.
ent. Then you may start to engage in a process of To fully utilize your research, you need to un-
experimentation and manipulation in either two or derstand the context of the imagery you are
three dimensions. using. Learning to read imagery as well as create
This process of conceptual development is not it is a skill that can be developed. In the follow-
easy to map. All practitioners have their own per- ing interview Dr Shlomo Lee Abrahmov describes
sonal way of engaging with and understanding the a framework that he has developed to help his
material they are working with. It often means edit- photography and design students to read images.
ing and rejecting information, realizing that further This framework is also relevant to fashion stu-
information is required and sometimes rejecting the dents and designers working in other disciplines
initial approach to the problem and starting again. (see Abrahmov 2008).

Case Study: Dr Shlomo Lee Abrahmov

Dr Abrahmov is a lecturer in design and instructional systems technologies at Holon Institute of Tech-
nology in Israel. Shlomo feels that visual literacy is important because ‘the competencies of visual
literacy are the ones that enable us to see the messages, the stances and personal expression that
are in visual culture.’ He teaches his students how to read and interpret images using three levels. He
describes them as follows:

The first level is the factual level. The main attribute of this level is that is objective; it is the factual
aspects of what you see.
The second level is the interpretive level this level is subjective; we can make our own as-
sumptions, they are personal and we have different interpretations depending on the culture we
come from.
The third level is the conceptual level, this has two attributes, abstraction and universal mean-
ing or we could also call it ‘deep meaning.’ Once I get to the conceptual level I can apply it to a
situation that is removed from the particular situation that I am working in. The conceptual level
is the motivation of the creator, his intention.
concept development, drawing and creativity 145

South Korean models pose during a performance called ‘VB60’, by Italian-born New York–based artist Vanessa
Beecroft, at a Seoul department store, 26 February 2007. Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

We have a different way of looking at the image if as the viewer we go from the factual and
interpretive to the conceptual. The informed practitioner goes from the conceptual to the inter-
pretive to the factual; all contemporary photography is created in this way. The idea is that when
you start creating something you have to have a meta-issue, perhaps alienation in contempo-
rary society in the UK or the gender gap. Then I have to think about it in another way; I go to
the interpretive level. I call this visual strategy. Then the factual level is the realization of formal
considerations.

This framework can be applied to all areas of design practice. Shlomo argues that design is about
more than finding practical solutions, that it has to be connected to the wider culture. He says that:

High-calibre practitioners always start talking about conceptual levels before they talk about
practice. They always talk about the ideas, big ideas that influence them and what is the scope
of their thinking and then they will go down and talk about practice.
146 visual research methods in fashion

He gives his students images from contemporary photographers to analyse and also allows them
to choose at least one of their own. As a good starting point he suggests looking at the work of Van-
essa Beecroft (http://www.vanessabeecroft.com). Her images are interesting because she deals with
issues of gender and fashion.
You can find out more about his approach and see some examples on his Web site (http://www.hit.
ac.il/visualliteracy/engdefault.html). The following form is intended as a guide to help you think about
the three levels and apply them to different categories such as colour.

Project: Three Levels of Meaning—Analysing a Photograph

Select one of the photographers in the image analysis form and choose an image that engages you. Complete the analysis
form. Think about the factual level of the image. What is your interpretation of the image? What is the concept that underpins
the image? What is the intention of its creator? What is your personal response to the image?

Table 1 Image Categories Analysis Form

Portrait and Beyond
1. Select a portrait (or a figure) from the artists below or from any contemporary portrait.
Vanessa Beecroft Adi Nes Katy Grannan
Philip-Lorca diCorcia Meirav Heiman Nan Goldin
Rineke Dijkstra
2. Analyse the portrait according to the following template.
Title Paste image here
Photographer
Date
Framing and perspective
Quality of light
Composition, depth of field, focal points
Colour
Figure–background relationship
Relationships between figure and object
Representation of the referent
Title
Context: what is known about the photograph
Personal impressions from the photograph (what
feelings or associations do you get from it?)
Why did you choose this photograph?
Courtesy of Dr Abrahmov. Reproduced with permission.
concept development, drawing and creativity 147

concept development The tensions created by bringing together two

apparently unrelated ideas can produce exciting
Using image analysis is one way of understand- results, as can the use of opposing or contrasting
ing the intention of the artist, photographer or de- elements: extremely large with extremely small,
signer. The analysis enables us to understand the something hard juxtaposed with something soft
concepts that underpin the image and the mes- or fragile, vintage mixed with contemporary. This
sage that the artist is trying to convey. To produce approach works across many fields of design, in-
a strong, innovative piece of work, it is important cluding graphics, fashion, photography and archi-
to have something to say, to have a concept. It tecture. A good illustration of this approach is the
is possible to gather hundreds of images in the work of Gavin Fernandes. Although he describes
course of your research, but if they do not tell a himself as a fashion photographer, his work also
story or convey a message, they will not be very addresses serious social issues and draws upon
useful to you. You may have a strong idea or social history and culture. Gavin uses authentic
concept at the beginning of your research pro- objects and carries out in-depth research that in-
cess, but often it will first begin to form as you forms his work and makes the end product very
uncover new ideas, facts and connections. Using powerful. He will consult specialists in the subject
the brainstorming and mind mapping techniques area to make sure he gets the details right; this
outlined in Chapter 1 can help you to think later- gives his work an authenticity that makes it believ-
ally about your subject and to make connections able as well as fantasy. Here, he describes how he
between topics that are not immediately obvious. developed a project that he calls Empire Line.

Case Study: Gavin Fernandes, Empire Line Project

This story sat in my mind for a long time, for a period of years before I outputted the story. When the
project title ( Triumph of the Middle Classes) came around as part of the MA programme I was studying
I adapted the idea I had in my subconscious and developed the narrative Empire Line.
It was seeing images of women in the nineteenth century and their hairstyles with the centre part-
ing, to me it could either be Victorian or Indian. The idea stemmed from that. I started researching into
the dress codes and how these women came to India in that period. What they wore was so specific
and they took it with them. They did not adapt to the climate, they had to stick to the dress code and
they came across the indigenous women in India. I wondered how these class structures could work
with each other? Something that would never really happen I can make happen, by using these two
identities together and making a comment about the Empire and India how the two overlapped. The
Empire lasted for quite a long period and some women were born into the culture. They were British
but then maybe one or two wanted to break the restrictions of British Victorian identity? At that time,
looking at the way the Indian women wore jewellery and had tattoos, wore toe rings and bare midriffs
and bare backs must have been shocking to them, it would have been like punk.
What I do with my work is I fashion direct. I have objects that I had to go out and buy, I was quite
specific about certain nose rings and styling that would make that image, the lace and silk neck pieces
Preparatory drawings by Gavin Fernandes. Courtesy of Gavin Fernandes. Reproduced with permission.

Empire Line (London, 2005).

Photography: Gavin Fernandes;
­styling: Victoria Cumming and
Gavin Fernandes. Courtesy of
Gavin ­Fernandes. Reproduced with
permission.
concept development, drawing and creativity 149

are originals. I work with a stylist an ex-student; she brought in key specific garments and items. I
worked with another student who was from India and she told me about the dress codes of the Brah-
mani women and the untouchable women and the classes and we worked with her specific guidance.
Then I had this idea in my head that I had these textural ideas on how to overlay these things.
These are two disparate elements that work well together. It perplexes the viewer because it looks
real and there is a symbiosis of vision, but then there is something not right about it. That is the whole
thing about my work it subverts different cultures and class. Since 1997 when I started looking at im-
ages of Skin Girls my work has been a journey of looking at culture and gender and historical, political
and religious themes.

Akira Isogawa, Lisa Ho and Nikki Zimmerman.

creative projects
Nicholas describes the course as:
This section is based upon interviews with tu-
tors and students at leading design colleges. Very direct, it’s very straight to the point. After
The tutors were interviewed about the projects a student does three years they literally can
and techniques they used to help their students go out and do everything from the beginning
develop their creative skills, and the projects to the end to create a label, which includes
are examples of the kind of activity they set for design it, packing it, selling it, branding it,
their students. The students talk about projects marketing it, doing their own print designs,
they have completed and the concepts behind printing their fabric, doing CAD design, pre-
them. sentations, artwork and the business side,
it’s got everything and it’s very tight. It’s very
Nicholas Huxley tight.
Nicholas is the head of the Fashion Design Studio
TAFE NSW Sydney Institute. The studio’s focus is All of Nicholas’s students undertake work
on design innovation, and it has produced some experience as part of the course, and they
of the best-known designers in Australia including also have to learn about using professional

Project: Contradictory Elements

Choose an active sport like rock climbing, abseiling or parachuting, an activity that uses clothing that has lots of detail like
harnessing and clips and is very functional. Adapt your research to produce a modern garment; your garment must also
incorporate a beautiful, old fabric, something highly beaded or embellished. The idea is that the two elements are contradic-
tory, and the challenge is to make them work together.
150 visual research methods in fashion

Design by Sophie Mansfield, student

at the Fashion Design Studio TAFE
NSW Sydney Institute. Courtesy of the
Fashion Design Studio. Reproduced
with permission.

services such as dye houses to complete their Leslie states that the philosophy of the school
projects. is to:

Leslie Holden Integrate the learning as much as we can

Leslie is head of Fashion and Design at the Am- across three departments so that they learn
sterdam Fashion Institute; the institute has three more from each other. The management un-
departments that cover the whole fashion cycle derstand the creativity so they understand the
including management, branding and design. discourse between management and design
concept development, drawing and creativity 151

Project: Creating an Heirloom

Khadi means a cloth that is handspun and handwoven. Gandhi used the fabric for the uniforms of the non-cooperation
movement, and because of this the fabric has a very strong political and cultural significance in India. From its humble begin-
nings as a rural workers’ cloth, khadi has now become a fashion fabric in high demand (http://www.indiaprofile.com).
Investigate the background and philosophy of khadi fabric, Gandhi and the non-cooperation movement. Consider other
cultures in which textiles and dress have been used symbolically or where they are utilized to capture and recreate a narra-
tive or history. Use your research as inspiration to develop a product that is so precious you will never want to throw it away,
something that could be kept and passed down to later generations of your family. This is a project that requires time for
reflection as well as production of your final piece.

Student work for the khadi project at Amsterdam Fashion Institute. Photography: Ineke Vijn. ­Reproduced
with permission.
152 visual research methods in fashion

and the designers understand more of the down, to spend an afternoon just looking round
management as well so they come out being the shops or looking in antique shops or muse-
more rounded. ums or whatever.’ This emphasis on speed has,
he feels, led to a lack of understanding of the pro-
Leslie feels that the impact of technology has cess that goes into creating something beautiful.
created an environment where everything is fast The following project is based on one that was set
and easy and that sometimes it is necessary to for his students after a visit to Mumbai where he
‘take time to really look at the detail, to really slow was introduced to khadi fabric.

Case Study: Nicola Morgan

Nicola won the fashion innovation award at Graduate Fashion Week in London and the Best Collection
award at the Mittelmoda Fashion Awards in July 2009. In her project Nicola wanted to comment on the
wastefulness of society by designing products evolved from objects such as flat pack furniture that are
frequently discarded and replaced. Her designs are intended to have a sustainable life cycle because
the pieces can be rearranged, enabling the end user to update the garment. She created a method of
joining two pieces of fabric without creating a permanent seam and then developed a series of shapes
for garments by repositioning interlocking shapes.

Design developments. Courtesy of Nicola Morgan.

concept development, drawing and creativity 153

Case Study: Emma Crowther

Emma’s inspiration comes from equestrian sports. Emma noted that unlike in other sports, advances
had not been made in equestrian clothing that might enhance the performance of the rider. This was
probably due to traditions associated with riding. Emma took aspects of sports clothing such as mo-
torcycling and cycle wear. She combined this inspiration with elements of traditional country clothing,
developing a range she calls Equesport. Her designs bring added elements of safety, style and perfor-
mance to clothing for the equestrian rider.

Design developments. Courtesy of

Emma Crowther.
154 visual research methods in fashion

Case Study: Jessica Mills

A process of drawing drives Jessica’s designs; she draws elements that help her discover the silhou-
ettes, clothing details and mood that she wants. Her silhouettes are born of a desire to capture cloth-
ing in movement. She set out to capture, and solidify, the silhouettes she has observed from functional
human activity. Her mood comes from observation of people; she used a number of muses from the
street, films and stories. She looks at real clothing, usually created for function, examining details such
as pockets and collars. Through extensive drawing she creates her own adaptation of the elements.
Her project brings together influences from fishermen and fishing, the images of August Sanders
and Vanessa Beecroft, mythology, Insomnia (a Norwegian film), and lead female characters from films
such as Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves and Bruno Dumont’s Flanders. Through extensive drawing
she managed to weave all these influences together. She describes research as ‘intensively feeding
myself with things that inspire me through drawing.’

Design developments. Courtesy

of Jessica Mills.
concept development, drawing and creativity 155

Design developments. Courtesy of

Jessica Mills.

drawing you to develop the narrative for your work. Every-

one has their own techniques and approaches
Drawing is an important part of the conceptual to drawing, materials they like to work with and
development process. Drawing enables you to methods they feel comfortable with. Drawing is
visually test out ideas, explore alternatives and a very personal activity, and there is no right or
imagine possible solutions. Drawings can be wrong way to do it, but it should fulfil the pur-
purely creative, exploring the aesthetic aspects pose for which you are drawing. In terms of con-
of a problem or design, or they can engage with ceptual development the purpose of drawing is
technical elements and construction details. to solve a problem. The nature of that problem
Your developmental drawings help you to vi- may vary. It could be to create a layout for a Web
sualize your ideas and to test out which ideas page, to develop components for an accessory
are worth pursuing in more depth. They can help or to design a garment. Developmental drawings
156 visual research methods in fashion

can be sketchy or incredibly detailed depending It represents a person’s identity and even-
upon their purpose and who has to understand tually develops a confident style that can be
them. They can be purely personal or intended called ‘your own.’
for a third party who needs them in order to re- On a personal level, when you draw and
alize another stage in the project. For example when confidence is developed in drawing it
a technical drawing that a designer gives to a can become a very emotional and passion-
pattern cutter for the production of a prototype ate practice. You feel the page, the line, the
garment needs to be more detailed than an ini- curve or ridge, you draw from your heart, you
tial sketch in which the designer is testing out love what you do, and at the same time start to
an idea. criticize, dissect and develop what you put on
the page, understanding what you see in the
An Essay on Drawing: Rob Phillips lines you have drawn.
Rob Phillips is the creative director for the School It’s a great catalyst for creation . . . When
of Fashion Design and Technology at the London something becomes emotional and passion-
College of Fashion. In the following essay he ex- ate it keeps you engaged and keeps you fresh,
plains why he is passionate about drawing. something you can feed directly into your ca-
reer as a designer and something that makes
My main interest in fashion, and my life, is you very different, special and stronger.
drawing and illustration or you could say fash- Drawing and illustration also says a lot
ion image making. about the moment, documenting the real but
Going to the core of what begins a process can equally, if not more so, engage fantasy.
that generates ideas develops skills and acts Drawing and illustration depicts time, culture,
as a communication tool is fundamentally life, politics, and feelings and is a visual record
drawing and subsequently forms of illustration of a personal outlook on the past, the present
and beyond. Drawing within fashion design and the future.
is one of the most visceral abilities. It’s the Though I’m all for technology on a cre-
most instant way of communicating an idea, ative level, hand-rendered skills still hold a
no matter how crude a sketch is. Drawing is lot of personality that technology just cannot
a beginning to virtually all creative communi- imitate.
cation. But drawing and illustration are skills Drawing means you don’t fully rely on tech-
I see being used less and less within the stu- nology, though technology can support and
dent body and being less important than the enhance what you draw or illustrate. There is
use of technology. But a hand-rendered two- nothing better than when you learn about all
dimensional output can affect the creative the different ways in which to draw or create
mind in so many ways. an image on a page. The process you use can
Practice makes perfect—but practice also inspire a lot of what you do beyond it. The way
makes personal. Developing a two-dimen- you collage, decoupage, use texture, colour,
sional narrative for design inspires a world of view proportions, interpret finishing, all can
opportunities in one’s imagination and encour- have been born from drawing and illustrating.
ages personality within it. And when you don’t have a computer to hand,
concept development, drawing and creativity 157

that instantaneous thought can be recorded in They are more valuable than the fast-paced
a simple sketch. It’s an ideas generator and fashion world seems to think.
skill instigator. Drawing and illustration is inclusive, it’s not
When I draw clothes, when I illustrate, I am elitist in any way and you don’t need much
thinking of proportion and fit and how I can cut money to do it.
this into a three-dimensional shape. My draw- When you look at how much you can do,
ing skills have directly influenced my cutting what you can develop through picking up a
abilities and my take on fashion as a whole. pencil and putting it to paper, it’s without ques-
When learning about drawing and illustra- tion that a simple skill can go such a long way.
tion, when you research artists, you see not
only beauty, or style, you see history, you see
composition, aesthetic, techniques and multi-
media, you see them and you learn from them.
They can directly or indirectly teach you much
more than you initially realize.
One of the most important factors for me
is drawing and illustration goes beyond lan-
guage. It’s a universal yet very individual com-
munication tool in the fashion industry and
more. It is a basic common language we all
understand. When language has been a bar-
rier, a simple drawing can outline so much.
A drawing, or illustration tells me more
about my students’ vision than words can, the
style, the person they envisage wearing the
clothes and so on . . .
My main point is, Start sustaining creative
crafts such as drawing, and more. Start per-
petuating historically valuable skills, hand-
rendered skills and techniques and you will
sustain a more bespoke, more personal, and
more paced, less wasteful industry. You will
reform an industry to be more considered on a
multifaceted plane.
When skills are leant and developed they
are rewarded with interest, request and re-
spect. They command reaction. It’s that what
we need right now in fashion. A more tradi-
tional though modernized approach to what
could be deemed, the usage of the dying arts. Illustration by Rob Phillips. Reproduced with permission.
158 visual research methods in fashion

Using a Sketchbook is a place where you record things you see, imag-
The sketchbook is an essential tool for many ine things that do not yet exist and explore alter-
creative people. It is used to record ideas and native ideas. A quick glance through some of the
develop connections between pieces of informa- sketchbook pages in this book will clearly show
tion. There is no right or wrong way to develop that creating a sketchbook is a highly personal
a sketchbook and no rules as to what should or process. Some artists use their sketchbooks to
should not be in it. It is a tool to help your think- create extremely detailed drawings, whilst others
ing; a colleague once described drawing to me produce little more than a few lines of notation.
as ‘thinking with her pencil’ (the pencil could be a What is important is that the sketchbook is
pen, a paintbrush or a collage). The sketchbook meaningful to you. You will find that many people

Sketchbook pages for jewellery

designs. Courtesy of the author.
concept development, drawing and creativity 159

annotate their sketchbooks, some to the point worked up in more detail on a development sheet
where they are more like reflective journals or dia- or a technical drawing.
ries; all of these approaches are legitimate. You
should never throw a sketchbook away as you Visual Journals
never know when the information in it will become These are very similar to sketchbooks, but they
useful. The type and size of sketchbook that you are more like a visual diary. They often contain col-
use is again a personal decision. lage and text as well as sketches and can reflect
By trying out and evaluating ideas in the the artist’s mood or experiences. A good start-
sketchbook, you can begin to make decisions ing point is to look at visual journals created by
about which solutions are likely to work and which other artists. There are some excellent examples
will not. These can then be expanded upon and at http://www.1001journals.com/.

Interview with Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella is a mixed-media artist, author and workshop instructor. She has written five books on
mixed media, collage, art journals and artist studios, and she contributes frequent articles to paper arts
magazines and publications. Her art interests include collage, assemblage, art journals and one-of-a-
kind books. She gives creativity workshops throughout the US and abroad. For more information and
inspiration, please visit http://www.LKPerrella.com.

What role do visual journals play in your practice?

I was a self-employed illustrator and graphic designer, creating corporate communications, advertising
and promotion, and identity programs for over thirty years. I was searching for ‘the next thing’ in my
own artwork, and wanted to free myself from doing art ‘to assignment.’ One day, I picked up a blank
bound book and started working in a random, open-ended way, and found the work quite addictive.
I realized that working without thinking about ‘outcome’ or having anyone else’s approval was vital to
discovering the next phase of my creativity. The work in the book just flowed, and the process was
restorative and revealing. All these years later, I can see clearly that working in visual journals gave me
the permission to move away from doing art that was ‘product-driven’ to work that is more personal
and challenging. I recommend visual journaling to anyone who is ready to make discoveries, and find
out ‘what is next.’

Is their function different to that of a sketchbook and if so how?

As a Capricorn, I tend to be literal. With that in mind, when I think of a ‘sketchbook’ I think of a book full
of drawings. My art journal has lots of visual ‘compost’; without any of the visual purity of my sketch-
books. In my art journal, I can include anything that comes to hand . . . collage, fabric swatches, bits of
raffia, chunks of cardboard, cuttings of felt, a length of ribbon, buttons, paint chips, coins, newspaper
clippings, etc. I like books that telescope out, and don’t close neatly. My art journals have a ‘no rules’
feeling about them—while my sketchbooks look rather becalmed by comparison. I tend to work in my
sketchbooks when I am away from home (in airports, coffee shops, waiting rooms) while I always work
in my journals in my studio.
160 visual research methods in fashion

How do you think visual journals could be useful to fashion students?

When I started art school to study fashion illustration we were encouraged to keep a ‘swipe file’ of
clippings. The purpose of the file was to collect a visual archive of poses, when a live model was not
available. I guess I took the mission to ‘collect’ visual material to the MAX, since I began collecting any
image that I found fascinating, interesting, compelling, or curious. Soon, I had a landfill of clippings! All
these years later, I still maintain a clip file of images that inspire me and it is as vital to my creativity as
my huge visual library of books. In the current-day fashion world, there are iconic examples of design-
ers and fashion visionaries who keep visual journals . . . Two of my favourites are Anna Piaggi (creative
consultant for Italian Vogue) and Christian Lacroix (noted fashion designer and couturier). I also think
the infamous visual journals of Peter Beard (nature and fashion photographer) are pertinent to any
fashion student who is interested in seeing how visual journals prompt the freewheeling expression of
ideas; and encourage the act of notating, brainstorming, and dredging fresh concepts.

Where do you find the inspiration for your journals, do you have
particular topics that you revisit?

I find inspiration all around me, and I also like to attend exhibits, galleries, museums and performances.
I love doing research on a new topic and learning how cultural influences overlap. For instance, I be-
came very interested in the Ballets Russes, and as I studied it further, I became immersed in costume
and set designs, as well as graphics created for the Ballets, as well as the well-known artists of the
era (Matisse, Picasso, Jean Cocteau, etc.) plus the traditional folk arts that inspired them. Topics
that continually fascinate me . . . Commedia del Arte, paper theatres, Russian folk arts and theatri-
cal costumes, icons and ceremonial figures from all cultures, and unusual puppets/marionettes and
articulated figures.

What advice would you give to a student who wanted to get involved in
journaling?

I think ‘permission’ and ‘willingness’ are the most important components when starting a visual journal.
I think anyone who keeps a visual journal just for their own enjoyment and exploration will have a won-
derfully rich and revealing journey. Apart from the work that students do ‘for assignment’ or for their
portfolios, a visual journal can be a ‘free space’ to work through ideas, brainstorm new approaches,
express doubts and hesitations, and (best of all) spend time with themselves in an unguarded and ex-
pressive way. Just buy a blank spiral-bound inexpensive sketchbook, and get started (see Plate 22)!

development sheets finishing details or embroidery details—whatever

is relevant to the project. By working up your ideas
Development sheets are usually more detailed in this way, you can further refine your design or
versions of ideas that may have been created concept before deciding upon the final solution.
in your sketchbook; they can include technical A mistake students often make is to go into
details, samples of fabric, photographs of three- creating their final piece, whether this is a gar-
dimensional experimentations, stitch samples, ment, a Web site or an illustration, without
concept development, drawing and creativity 161

Development sheets. Courtesy of Miriam Sucis.

Development sheets. Courtesy of Jeun Ho Tsang.

162 visual research methods in fashion

planning out and testing the details. Using the ex- Getting the idea from the initial sketch into a
ample of a garment, you could not send a speci- format that can be produced for the consumer is
fication sheet to a factory without telling them called product development. This process can in-
what size the buttons are, what colour thread to volve a whole new set of constraints: price, func-
use for a topstitch detail, where a pocket should tionality and even consumer legislation can have
be positioned or what lining fabric to use. All of an impact on the final product. At this level the
these details need to be considered. If something designer has to consider more than the aesthetic
is essential to the overall aesthetic of the design, and conceptual aspects of the design. Applied
it needs to be tested in a sample. This part of design means that whether the product is a pho-
the development process may require further re- tograph, a Web site, an accessory or a garment, it
search into what finishes or technical processes has to have a function and there has to be an end
are available. It is often tempting to think that the consumer for whom the product is appropriate.
research is complete when you have decided All these aspects of the process require research:
upon a solution, design or approach. In reality the research into the consumers and their lifestyles,
research continues all the way through the devel- the materials used and their qualities, and the pro-
opment process. cesses needed to manufacture the product.

Specification sheet. Courtesy of Lectra. Reproduced with permission.

concept development, drawing and creativity 163

Case Study: Tonia Bastyan, Designer

Tonia Bastyan is a fashion designer who uses vintage clothing, textiles and accessories as inspiration
for her work. This case study illustrates her working process.

Background

After a period working as a manager for Karen Millen, Tonia did her degree in fashion and textiles at
Ravensbourne College of Art and Communication where she specialized in knitwear. Tonia soon be-
came known as one half of the successful 1990s duo Press and Bastyan. After Press and Bastyan,
Tonia worked as the senior designer at Whistles before deciding she wanted to be independent again.
When starting her company in 2006, Tonia was able to draw on the wealth of experience and contacts
that she had gained over the past fifteen years, as well as go back to her roots and work in a far more
creatively challenging and artistically rewarding way.

Inspiration

Tonia describes her range as very vintage-inspired, feminine, classic pieces, which she hopes will be-
come collectors’ pieces. She designs not so much as a collection but more as individual pieces that
you would want to treasure, that could be family heirlooms. Many of the pieces that have inspired her
were passed down from her grandmother, pieces from the 1920s and 1930s, lots of textiles, pieces of
organdie and printed georgette.
Tonia collects vintage textiles and clothing going back as far as the Edwardian and Victorian eras.
She will buy a 1920s print for example and convert this into an embroidery design, perhaps mixed in
with some beading and appliqué. She scours second-hand shops and uses archives and specialist
sales to buy her inspirational pieces. A key source is a vintage design library in America that buys up
archives from factories that have gone out of business. She will buy a license to use a design as inspi-
ration. This can cost between £150 and £400 per design. She sometimes uses the Internet to look at
vintage clothing sites but prefers to use books and visual things that she can use as a reference. She
likes to have books and things in front of her that she can pick up and feel.
She does not directly copy a design but updates it and makes it more modern; it takes on her own
handwriting. A lot of the pieces she creates have a vintage shape as well as the decoration. However,
she considers herself to be more of a textile designer than a fashion designer. She is not driven by
trends but designs clothes that people think are beautiful and not dated. She does, however, adapt
her styles to fit contemporary women; people’s body shapes have changed, she notes, and a lot of
vintage clothing would not fit many modern women. Tonia’s inspiration comes entirely from vintage
pieces. She says that she is ‘obsessed with it. I have always loved vintage clothing and bought vintage
clothing and that really for me is my starting point.’

Design Process

When she starts to design for a new season, Tonia looks at the things she has collected over the previous
few months and starts to work a collection around it—for example some old pieces of lace and trimmings
164 visual research methods in fashion

and some prints she has bought and a couple of vintage pieces that she might have. She will work her col-
lection from this grouping of inspirational materials. Her pieces are mostly daywear or eveningwear, and she
never designs trousers or tailored pieces. She uses cottons and silks mostly, as these are the fabrics that are
available in India where she produces most of her collection. Even though vintage is her main source of in-
spiration, Tonia says that she never runs out of ideas. She will develop some designs from one season to the
next, and there are some signature pieces like her tulle dresses that her customers always seem to want.
Once Tonia has the inspiration for her collection, she will create moodboards and then start working
out the placements for her embroideries. She will send out packages to India to have samples of the
embroideries created, and once the swatches come back and she can see that the embroidery works,
she will work up a series of designs for that embroidery. Sometimes she will know where she wants to
place the embroidery, and sometimes she has a shape for the garment in mind first.
When the collection is ready, she will either send a design package to India or preferably will travel to
the factory to work on the range with the pattern cutters and embroidery designer. This close relation-
ship with the factory is vital. She says that she could work electronically, but they don’t always grasp
the detail, and in the end it can save a lot of time and money to go there. Samples are expensive to
produce, and you want to get them right the first time.
The design packages that Tonia produces include a sketch with measurements, information about
the cloth to be used, the number of samples that are to be produced and the colours to be used. The
factory that Tonia works with also produces the lab dips for the colours that she wants, and often the
garments are piece-dyed to give them an authentic vintage effect.
In working out her collection and how many pieces to produce, Tonia works closely with her
selling agent. The agent has a close relationship with the buyers and knows what pieces they
are looking for. Tonia says that it is important that each piece in the range has an individual value
and that pieces do not compete with each other and don’t sell against each other. When you first
start you do not always get the balance of the collection right; this is something you learn through
experience.
The final pieces are photographed, and a selling book is produced. Tonia works closely with a pho-
tographer who understands her style and is able to interpret this into the promotional images.

Advice for Students

Tonia’s advice for students is:

Be sure about what you do well and stick to it; find your strength within design whether it is
shape, pattern cutting or beautiful textile design. Focus on an area and make it yours. Get as
much experience outside of college as you can. I was lucky not to get into college the first time
around because I worked for a designer for a year and that gave me insight into the retail side. I
saw things from a different commercial perspective and it gave me confidence.
concept development, drawing and creativity 165

Dress by Tonia Bastyan. Photography: Walter White (http://www.walterwhite.co.uk).

Reproduced with permission.

Project: Re-working a Vintage Piece

Not all vintage pieces are valuable, and it is possible to find reasonably priced pieces that you can take apart and reconstruct.
Take your piece apart and, working on a dress stand, model it into something else. For example a dress can become a blouse.
You can take a surface detail and play with the placement on a modern shape. For one of her designs Tonia bought a lot of
cream lace and used it in a dress. Each dress was individual because the pieces of lace were unique.
166 visual research methods in fashion

moodboards and intended to convey a sense of mystery and a win-

conceptboards tery feeling, you would not expect the moodboard
to contain bright, summery images. Likewise, if
Moodboards or conceptboards are visual tools for the mood you are trying to convey is fun and light-
communicating a concept. They can contain im- hearted, you would not expect the images to be
ages, fabric swatches, colour swatches and other dark and the colours sombre. It can be tempt-
objects that help to visually encapsulate the atmo- ing to fill a moodboard with too much informa-
sphere and mood you are trying to convey in your tion. Usually one or two really relevant images are
project. They are a kind of visual summary of the better than half a dozen that are not quite right.
key points of your design or solution. The boards You should try to generate your own images for
are used to illustrate inspiration, colour palettes, your moodboards so that they are unique; how-
fabric directions, silhouettes and textures. ever, this is not always possible. If you are using
The key to a successful moodboard is that all found images, select them with care and ensure
the elements should be carefully selected to rein- that you have the appropriate permissions to use
force the message you are trying to convey. If you them.

Moodboards. Courtesy of Lectra. Reproduced with permission.

concept development, drawing and creativity 167

TV commercial storyboard for shopping mall gala grand opening. Courtesy of Greg High (http://greghigh.com/).
Reproduced with permission.

storyboards a computer application to produce a final version.

Thumbnails are also a good way of working out
Storyboards are used most often in advertising, ideas for layouts and presentations.
animation and film. They are a way of quickly
mapping out the scenes to be created and their
sequencing. They often include details about the three-dimensional
lighting, the set or the action. They are usually a development
set of thumbnails or small rectangular boxes con-
taining a sketch of the visual for that part of the Some problems require three-dimensional ex-
film or animation. They are a way of planning the ploration in order to find a solution. If you are
project and organizing the idea into a narrative experimenting with silhouette, it is very difficult
that can be followed to realize the actual produc- to represent and test your ideas purely through
tion. Storyboards are usually produced manually drawing. The same is true of textural effects: you
in the first instance because by nature they are will probably need to get a piece of the fabric and
quick and sketchy. They might then be taken into manipulate it or cut a shape and test it out. Some
168 visual research methods in fashion

designers do not draw at all, preferring to work flexible and can be manipulated in lots of ways.
directly with fabric or paper. Paul Jackson is a paper artist who has worked
Paper is an excellent medium for testing out with fashion students for many years, helping
ideas for silhouette and texture. It is cheap and them to explore and develop their ideas in paper.

Interview with Paul Jackson

Where do you get your inspiration?

It depends on the project. If it’s personal work, I’m drawing on a long history, on experience accumu-
lated over thirty years. If it’s a commercial project, it’s what the client needs. Because I’ve been folding
since I was a boy, I know pretty much what I’m doing. Working out how to join pieces together can be
trial and error and sometimes just good luck. A lot of the models are not made from one piece, though
I hope they look like they were made that way.

Do you draw? Keep a sketchbook?

A model often starts as sketch and I draw when making models. I do a lot of drawing when I am work-
ing on a new subject. It is often helpful to have an image in front of me throughout the making process.
Drawing helps me to understand something better, so I can make a better model of it.

How do you think working in paper can benefit fashion students?

It’s 100 per cent hands-on. By putting a fold here and moving it over there, you can quickly gener-
ate ideas for surfaces and forms. It’s a way to draw without a pencil. It frees the mind to just try
things. Paper is usually very inexpensive, so you can be less tentative, more wild and loose with your
ideas.
If you start with paper, it often doesn’t fold the same way as fabric. You have to interpret folded
paper into your chosen fabric—you can’t just copy it. Often, a student will develop an idea in a work-
shop in paper, but interpreting it in fabric will change it and move it in another direction. This inability to
copy from paper into fabric means that a student will inevitably create original work.

Can you suggest an exercise that they can do to get them started
on working with paper?

Look at origami books and Web sites. Look at the drawings and step-by-step instructions. You don’t
need to fold a model to the end. Folding up to—say—Step 3 may give you a simple folded shape
that can be fantastic to develop as a bag, or whatever. You can change a folding sequence to create
your own shapes. Don’t just copy the instructions. You don’t need to be an expert folder to design
well with folds; a simple folded shape with a cut to put your head through and then the addition of
stitching here and there will quickly create a form very different from the origami step from which it
was derived.
concept development, drawing and creativity 169

You can use upturned origami boxes to make hats. There are many interesting boxy shapes to fold
and you can stitch them and cut away layers to make them wearable. You can do a lot with accordion
pleats, knife pleats and box pleats. You can turn an abstract step shape upside down or sideways,
then copy it or make a mirror image and stitch it to the original to begin a repeat surface. You can lay
vertical pleats across horizontal pleats, playing acrobatic games where even a simple knife pleat can
be twisted, mirrored, flipped or inverted. From a simple technical idea, you can develop huge numbers
of surfaces and forms.
When I teach, I don’t just teach folding. I also teach about incising into the body of the fabric or
cutting in from the edge. When you fold, you make something smaller, but if you cut into a surface you
open it. So, folding and cutting can be regarded as opposites, which reduce and expand a surface. I
teach the students to use cutting and folding together.

Have you ever experimented with different media or combining paper

with different media?

For myself, I am happy to work only with paper, in its many varieties. But when I teach, I’m
not a purist. I largely let students do what they want, so they can develop their own voice and
style, even if it conflicts with my own. For example, students can add buttons and fabric to a
piece of folding if that is what it needs. I am all for that if it helps to create a good piece of work.
Sometimes, a student thinks that by going to an art shop and buying an expensive sheet of
handmade paper from Tibet, they will make a beautiful piece of work . . . but often it doesn’t
happen like that.

Why is your approach successful?

Students respond because with folding, the result is immediate. You don’t need to spend a lot
of time to get a reward. You’re not battling to learn to use technology, or a machine, in order to
produce something worthwhile. You can work magic with your fingers and you have direct con-
tact with the material. Using only your hands—your body—to make something with the minimum
intervention of tools is kind of therapy. I call it ‘low tech, no tech.’ You can generate lots of ideas
very quickly. It’s a good idea to use a digital camera to record what you make, because you won’t
have time to realize all the ideas as final pieces. The unmade pieces can be used as references for
later pieces.
Folding gives you control of the material because when you manipulate the fabric, it is very obvious
what is happening. You can understand it. It is not mysterious. Folding with your hands is an antidote
to technology.

What is the best paper to use?

Pattern-cutting paper is good if you are creating something large. Alternatively, if you don’t have the
space, just use basic A4 copier paper. Tyvek is a good, inexpensive alternative to paper. It’s plastic,
but it folds like paper and is very difficult to tear. It can also be stitched and dyed.
170 visual research methods in fashion

Recliner folded from one uncut sheet of paper. Height: 25 cm. Courtesy of Paul Jackson. Reproduced with
permission.

Project: Origami

Find a book on origami in your local bookstore or library, or visit one of the Internet sites listed in the references. Try a few
basic folds and create some simple shapes. Take the shape that you have created and think about how it might be used
within a garment as a silhouette, a pocket, a pleat or a shoulder or hem detail.

There are other ways of exploring ideas a three-dimensional printer. These enable de-
in three dimensions, both manual and com­ signers to quickly construct a three-dimensional
puter aided. One of the latest developments model of an extremely complex shape. This
is rapid prototyping using three-dimensional could be buckle, a jewellery component or even
computer-aided design (CAD) packages and the sole of a shoe.
concept development, drawing and creativity 171

Case Study: Rapid Prototyping

Prior2Lever and the London College of Fashion collaborated on the development of the Assassin football
boot. The motivation for this project was the potential offered by new and emerging direct manufacturing
techniques arising from rapid prototyping technologies. These technologies enable functional parts to be
produced directly from a three-dimensional CAD model without the need for tools or moulds, utilizing an
additive layer-by-layer build process, in this case laser sintering of Polyamide 12. The sole unit of the foot-
ball boot is created in three-dimensional CAD, using a foot scan as the starting point; the podiatrist di-
rects the designer in the development of the CAD model. The sole unit is then manufactured digitally and
assembled into a boot using traditional techniques to close the leather upper onto the sintered sole.

Assassin boot. Courtesy of Prior2Lever. Reproduced with permission.

It is also possible to develop your ideas di- Draping or modelling can be a quick way of
rectly in the materials that you intend to use or a developing new shapes and silhouettes or intri-
cheaper alternative. In terms of garment design, cate details such as pleats, folds and drapes.
this is often done on a dress or form and is called You can photograph your experiments to capture
modelling or draping. It is possible to achieve ideas that can then be developed further into pat-
shapes and effects using this process that would terns. After a garment is created on the stand, it
be extremely difficult or impossible to realize is usually transferred to a two-dimensional pattern
through drawing or traditional two-dimensional so that it can be checked for accuracy, seam al-
pattern-cutting techniques. lowances can be added and it can be cut in the
172 visual research methods in fashion

actual fabric. Most creative designers use some dimensional computer design package such as
form of draping or modelling in their work. Romans Cad (http://www.lectra.com/en/foot
Handbag designers also work three-dimen- wear/solutions/3d_design.html). Other useful
sionally. For solid shapes they often use card- three-dimensional software includes Rhino (http://
board to create forms called maquettes. Shoes www.rhino3d.com/), Autodesk 3ds Max (http://
can also be designed using three-dimensional usa.autodesk.com) or Blender, which is free open-
processes, using either real lasts (shoe forms) source software (http://www.blender.org/), and
made of wood or plastic or virtual lasts on a three- Google SketchUp (http://sketchup.google.com).

Designing on the stand. Courtesy of Rene De Lange.

concept development, drawing and creativity 173

Image from Romans Cad. Courtesy of Lectra. Reproduced with permission

applying your concepts and your wonderful research will have been in vain. So
understanding your consumer a big part of developing your concept is to under-
stand your consumer. You will often find that com-
You may have developed an extremely exciting panies will produce visual profiles or pen portraits
and innovative concept, but it needs to fit both the of their consumer in order to help all of the parties
product you are creating and the consumer for in the design development process to understand
whom it is intended. You may have an extremely whom they are trying to communicate with.
clever idea, but if your intended consumer does A visual consumer profile should tell a story
not understand it, it will not work. This is equally about the lifestyle of your target customers: how
true for the designer end of the market and for old they are, where they shop, what kinds of expe-
discount brands, for highly creative publications riences and brands are important to them, where
and for mass-market media. Successful brands they are in their life cycle (single, married, retired,
and designers enjoy a strong relationship with with or without children), what kind of profession
their consumers and engage in conversations they might work in (corporate, creative, charitable
with them. They are selling an aspiration or a life- work), where they live, how they spend their leisure
style as well as their product. If you do not get the time, what they eat and so on. The more you know
conversation with your consumer right, if you do about your consumers, the more confident you
not tell them a story that they want to hear, then all can be that your product is appropriate to them.
174 visual research methods in fashion

Interview with Kirsten Ludwig

Kirsten works as a creative director at Martin and Osa, a division of American Eagle Outfitters. Her
background is in visual communications, and she has worked in the industry for companies such Louis
in Boston, Ron Herman and Fred Segel, style365.com and Polo Ralph Lauren.

Who are Martin and Osa’s target customer?

Martin and Osa Johnson were travellers in the 1920s and 1930s and had an amazing love of life and
each other. The inspiration was really the travels of Martin and Osa Johnson. I think what they thought
of with this brand was their joie de vive their love of life and it is inspiring to this demographic. You are
at an age where you are very comfortable with yourself and not necessarily chasing after a lifestyle so
it is a refreshing and inspiring brand.

How do you define creative direction and brand positioning?

Brand positioning is creating what the vision, personality and feeling of that brand is; creative direction is
creating that vision and executing all of those creative elements within that brand filter. Carrying through
that vision, making sure all is relevant, with the right look and feel and personality of the brand. It could be
events or online. Relevance is the key point the key to all of it. There is a lot of information that gets thrown
at you and it’s really understanding what information is relevant for that particular brand and what isn’t.
There are a lot of aspects in the industry that are instinct. You either get it or you don’t, it is also
a lot of learning and being a sponge and what to filter out and what to keep. To understand a brand
you must learn how to really immerse yourself in that brand and understand the customer, what they
hear, watch, think and see. You must continue to move forward and evolve the brand, as someone will
always be on your toes and if you are a stagnant brand you will be left behind. You should continue to
interpret new things, new ideas, new mediums that come along.

What skills do you need for your role?

The thing about fashion retail is that it is very quick you have to be very nimble. There are constant
changes that are exciting and also chaotic and stressful, but that is part of the fun. That’s why we
love it. There are new ideas and we brainstorm for everything about a season. We will say what
is summer about? We will look at the line and get inspiration from that. We will try to think about
where our customers’ mindset will be and develop a very aspirational conceptual story around that.
Where are we going to do our photo shoot? What is the in-store experience going to feel like? What
does your advertising at that time feel like? And we do a series of brainstorms leading up to that.
Additionally you have immediate changes, business changes, that you have to react to, have ideas,
and be quick.

What research do you carry out for your job?

Paul Smith said ‘you can find inspiration is in everything’ and I absolutely believe that. I think it is about
being aware on an ongoing basis. It is about travelling. It is about seeing and watching everything and
concept development, drawing and creativity 175

everywhere you go that could be walking down your neighbourhood street or travelling to Europe or
Tokyo. It is about technology, new media, and the Web. I could give you a list of 100 sites right now I
have bookmarked and refer to but when you publish the book they will be obsolete and there will be
100 new sites to reference.
The great thing about technology is that we can be doing, watching, reading and seeing
what exactly what our customer is doing. There is no longer that divide. It is no longer about an
age demographic or geographic divide, because of technology we can see and watch and be
everywhere.
The Internet is an amazing source even just for imagery to use for concepts and that type of thing
but also for information for what is next. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Coolhunter there are a lot
of trend sites that are great, check in and see what is going on.

What do you think the role of technology will be in the future?

I think it is going to grow in ways that we cannot even imagine. If you think about how much more
content and new technology there is now and it has only been ten years how it is going to go forward
will be amazing.
Do you have to know about technology? You have to if you want to be in the game. You have to
be aware of TV and magazines you don’t necessarily have to know the back end of things and how
to do all the different technical elements but you do have to know about it to be a part of it you can’t
deny it as a medium, it is so influential—that it would almost be like walking down the street covering
your eyes.
By authentic I mean doing it because you believe in it and it is a real way to express the brand
as opposed to do it because it is a cool medium and we are going to have to use it. It has to make
sense a brand that has an older customer base and isn’t necessarily online or using mobile phones, it
would not make any sense for them to do a text message campaign; likewise it does not make much
sense to have a thirty-second commercial spot anymore for the young customer, unless there is true
entertainment in the content, as there is Tivo and the customer is in control. You have to be smart
and create a thirty-second spot your audience is going to love and watch it or be smart and move
beyond it.
As more mediums come along you have to look at it as an opportunity and constantly be innovative
and constantly thinking about what is next or you are going to be passed up.

What was your best idea?

At American Eagle we said we are going to think beyond the thirty-second spot and we created an
original content series called ‘it’s a mall world.’ It was a series of twelve five-minute episodes set in a
mall; one of the stores was an American Eagle Outfitters. Instead of buying a thirty-second advertise-
ment we took that money and created this content with some up-and-coming Hollywood stars and
then ran it on MTV. We created MySpace and Facebook pages for all the characters to make it really
authentic and our customers loved it.
176 visual research methods in fashion

Project: Brand Identity and Trend Presentation

What so many people do in presentations is throw every trend up on the wall. In order to stand out and differentiate a
brand and develop a personality you have got to pick and choose what is right for that brand. You can’t be everything
to everybody it is about editing and understanding your brand.

—Kirsten Ludwig
Take a brand and look at how they present themselves, online and offline. Collate images and words that represent the brand
and trends that you think are relevant to the brand. Stick everything up on a wall. Now edit your collection. If the image or
word doesn’t fit with the brand identity, remove it. Create a presentation showing the key trends that you think are relevant
to your chosen brand; write a short rationale for your decisions.

ethical and environmental issues the product. The fashion industry has often been
subject to severe criticism because of the poor
When developing a product you should always working conditions and low wages of workers
be aware of the impact that your ideas will have or the environmental impact of the production of
upon the environment and the people producing clothing and accessories.

Case Study: Kathleen Fasanella

Kathleen Fasanella runs a blog called Fashion-Incubator: lessons from the sustainable factory floor
(http://www.fashion-incubator.com/). She says that one of the problems is that designers do not follow
the correct and sustainable way of building their businesses. They overproduce and then try to sell the
product rather than creating one sample and selling from this. She says, ‘It is extremely wasteful. We used
to do things differently, . . . we weren’t concerned about sustainability [but] we were a lot less wasteful.’
The consequence of this overproduction is that a lot of product ends up in the off-price market. An
oversupply in this market then means that products that would traditionally sell in those markets are
shipped to developing countries such as Africa and India. As a consequence small producers in these
countries go out of business because they cannot compete with the imported goods.
Kathleen promotes small, holistic and organic growth in the companies she works with. This ap-
proach means that there is no need to take on board-external investors, to spend money on market-
ing to create a demand for your product or to go offshore so you can keep your profit margins. Being
sustainable actually means that you can spend less, and therefore waste less, and grow your business
without exploiting people or the environment. To find out more you can join the forum on Kathleen’s
blog or read her book (Fasanella 1998). Kathleen also recommends reading the books by Agins (2000)
and Thomas (2007) to get a broader understanding of sustainability issues in the fashion industry. The
Centre for Sustainable Fashion at London College of Fashion is also a useful resource (http://www.
fashion.arts.ac.uk/csf.htm).
concept development, drawing and creativity 177

Summary
In this chapter we have explored how to move from gathering information to creating a concept
and developing ideas into a product. This is achieved through a continual process of analysis,
investigation and experimentation. We have discovered the best ideas are based upon strong
concepts that communicate directly with the intended consumer. We have explored the need
to engage in image analysis and to understand what other artists and designers are trying to
communicate. By connecting our work to broader cultural and social issues, we can create
stronger narratives and be more creative. By engaging in extensive experimentation through
drawing or three-dimensional exploration of our ideas, we can validate our ideas, select those that
are most likely to be successful and reject those that do not meet our criteria. Whilst developing
our concepts we also need to consider the ethical and environmental impact of the products we
will ultimately be producing. To be successful the fashion industry also needs to be sustainable.

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websites TAFE NSW Sydney Institute http://www.sit.nsw.edu.au
Ten-minute Drawing Techniques http://tenminutedraw
Amsterdam Fashion Institute http://www.international. ing.blogspot.com/
hva.nl/degree-programmes/school-of-design-
chapter 7

traditional research tools and techniques

Chapter Overview
In the digital age it is easy to overlook traditional tools, techniques and sources of information.
This chapter explores a variety of traditional materials and techniques that can be used for
visual research. It also considers traditional ways of recording information such as sketching
and painting and explores a range of artist’s materials, explaining their qualities and applications
for research. You will also discover how to get the most out of a research visit to a library, art
gallery or museum.
Photography is an essential aid to the visual researcher, and in this chapter you will also find
advice on how to take and produce a good photograph and how to source images using image
agencies.
This chapter includes:
• Art materials and suppliers
• Case study: Kacchi
• Using libraries and archives
• Case study: North Carolina State University College of Textiles
• Museums and art galleries
• Case study: Charlotte Hodes
• Photography
• Interview with David Moy
• Using image agencies
• Case study: Getty Images.

art materials and suppliers extensive information about their products along
with tips and techniques for using them. These
This section suggests art materials that are useful sites are a good starting point if you want to find
for visual research. It is not an exhaustive list of all out more about a particular medium.
the materials that are available but concentrates
on those that are easily portable and therefore Buying Art Supplies
useful for non–desk-based research. The Web The price of art supplies can vary enormously and
sites of suppliers of artist’s materials often contain for a student can be a big investment, so it is wise
180 visual research methods in fashion

to do some research. A general rule when pur- have to remember that to get white, you need
chasing art materials is that the quality is usually to leave these areas without paint or add an
reflected in the price, so try to buy the best quality opaque medium like gouache later. You can get
that you can afford. Look out for special offers and many effects with watercolours by using them
ends of lines, and shop around for the best deals; with pastels, by adding salt or by wetting the
you can easily compare prices on the Internet, but paper first and letting the colours bleed into
don’t forget to factor in the delivery costs. each other. There are plenty of books on water-
Your university may have a shop selling sup- colour techniques that will give you more ideas.
plies, or you may have a good local art shop. At An important thing to remember is that water-
the end of this section we give a list of a few of the colour requires a heavy paper; otherwise your
suppliers that you can access online; there are, work will wrinkle up.
however, many others, and you should check to It is possible to get sketchpads of watercolour
see if there are others not listed here that deliver paper for when you are on the move or to make
to your area. your own by cutting up some sheets and binding
them. If you are working indoors or planning to
Paints create a finished piece, it is preferable to stretch
Watercolour, gouache and acrylic paints are the paper on a board to keep it flat whilst you are
useful for research, as they dry quickly, making working. If you are not very good at stretching
them easy to use outdoors. A small palette of paper using the traditional method of gummed
watercolours in a box or tin is useful for sketch- tape, you can buy a board created specially
ing when you are on the move. You can usually for the purpose (http://www.art­supplies.co.uk /
use the lid to mix your colours. Some sets come item-perfect-paper-stretcher.htm).
with a water bottle, but it is easier to use a water Acrylic paints are very versatile and can be
brush. A water brush has a plastic barrel for the mixed with water to make them work like wa-
handle that you can fill with water. To clean the tercolours, or they can be used straight from
brush between colours, you just squeeze some the tube. Mixed with other media they can cre-
water through and brush on a scrap piece of ate transparent or pearly effects. They dry very
paper until it runs clean. You don’t need to quickly, but adding other media can extend the
keep changing the water, so the colours stay drying time, which is sometimes useful.
cleaner. The brushes come in a range of sizes, Gouache is an opaque form of watercolour
although they are not really suitable for doing and is useful when you want flat areas of colour; it
large areas. If you are using watercolours, you is fast drying and has a matt finish.

Project: Stretching Paper

To stretch paper the traditional way, you need a wooden board slightly larger than the paper you want to stretch, preferably
something water resistant like plywood. It needs to be approximately 1/2" (1.3 cm) thick. Your local wood store may have
traditional research tools and techniques 181

some offcuts, or if you want to spend a bit more money, you can buy the Grafix Incredible Art Board (http://www.grafixarts.
com/incredible_art.htm). You also need gummed brown paper tape which should be available from stationers; you need one
about 3" wide.

1. Cut four strips of gummed paper about 6" longer than the dimensions of your paper.
2. Soak your paper. Put it in a large bowl or bathtub, and fill it with about 4" of water. It is important that the paper is
thoroughly wet but not soggy. Winsor and Newton recommend soaking the paper for the following times depending
on the weight of the paper: 90 lb for 3 minutes, 140 lb for 8 minutes, 300 lb for 20 minutes.
3. Lay your paper flat on the board, leaving a margin, and use a wet sponge to remove any air pockets.
4. Wet your tape and apply it so it overlaps the edge of the paper; smooth it down with your sponge. Tape down around
all four sides.
5. Lay your board flat and let the paper dry.
6. You create your painting whilst the paper is still attached to the board and cut it off with a scalpel or craft knife when
you have finished.
7. Remove the tape and reuse the board. (http://www.watercolourpainting.com)

Pencils and Coloured Pencils like a 4H will create a fine line that may be useful for
The great thing about pencils for research work technical drawing. A pencil sharpener with a built-in
is that they are easy to carry around and you can container for the shavings is a useful tool.
get an interesting range of effects and colours
by using cross-hatching and shading. There are Pens and Inks
many different types of coloured pencils on the Brush pens, fountain pens, art pens, gel pens
market; you may need to experiment with differ- and roller balls are all very useful for sketching
ent types to find your own personal preference. or working in a visual journal. Pen is a very im-
Coloured pencils are good for representing tex- mediate medium: you usually can’t erase it, but
ture and of course require no water unless you opt you may find you work more freely with a pen pre-
for a water-soluble variety. The latter can give you cisely because it can’t be rubbed out. You can
richer colours and can be used effectively with ink draw with all sorts of pens, from technical pens
or pencil. Inktense by Derwent are coloured pen- to old-fashioned dip pens and a bottle of ink. If
cils that give an intense colour. Coloured pencils you want to use inks with watercolour and other
can be used with ordinary pencils to create details media, you may want to ensure that they are wa-
and outlines. terproof; otherwise, they may run when you apply
Mechanical pencils can be useful if you don’t the other media. Inks come in many colours and
want to carry a sharpener around with you. Lead give intense colour.
pencils are graded according to their hardness: a
9H pencil is very hard and a 9B is very soft. HB pen- Markers
cils are in the middle of the range. A soft pencil like Markers are available in a range of different tips
a 3B will create a darker line, and a very hard pencil designed either for filling large areas, for general
182 visual research methods in fashion

Inktense pencils. Courtesy of Derwent. Reproduced with permission.

work or for fine lines. They are best used with need a fixative or to be covered with tissue paper
marker paper but work well on any paper with a to protect your work. They blend easily and can
smooth, glossy finish. Well-known brands include be combined with other media such as pen and
Pantone and Magic Markers, but there are many watercolour to create different effects. Oil pastels
others available. The downside of markers is that give more intense colour than chalks.
you don’t always know when they are going to run
out part way through a drawing. They are good for Charcoal
getting a strong, vibrant colour, are quick and easy Charcoal is often used for quick sketching. It comes
to use and don’t make a mess, but they can’t be in sticks and pencils in varying sizes and degrees
erased if you make a mistake. of softness. Charcoal lends itself to larger-scale
expressive drawing rather than small, intricate de-
Pastels and Chalks tailing. It is easily erased but also easy to smudge
You can use chalk or oil pastels to quickly achieve and so requires fixing. You can buy aerosol fixative
colour. Chalk pastels smudge easily and may designed for use with charcoal and pastels.
traditional research tools and techniques 183

Rubbers and Erasers with pen, pencil and ink; textured paper works
A selection of different erasers can be useful for well with pastels (Harrison 2005).
correcting mistakes and lifting out colour. A plastic There is an infinite variety of coloured, novelty
rubber and a putty rubber are useful additions to and handmade papers available from art shops
your art box. and specialist suppliers. If you are feeling really
adventurous, you can even buy kits to make your
Paper own. As with all other elements of visual research,
Many people develop a preference for the kind of experimentation is the key to innovation and
paper they like to use for their research. Here, we success.
list a few useful kinds of paper and some of the If you want your work to last and not fade, it is
key terms that you may come across when select- best to use acid-free paper. Most good-quality
ing paper. The main characteristics of paper that papers will be acid free, and this is usually in-
you need to consider are how heavy it is, whether dicated on the cover if you are buying a pad of
it is rough or smooth, how absorbent it is, how paper. Otherwise, check with the supplier.
opaque or translucent it is and which medium
you intend to use it with. Layout Paper
You do not need to spend a fortune to get a Layout paper is good for quick pen and pencil
good result, and often working with expensive work and is partially transparent, which is useful
paper can be inhibiting, as you may be more when you are using a template or want to draw
concerned about wasting it or making a mistake. over something.
Generally, for research purposes you do not need
very expensive paper unless you are working with
Tracing Paper
watercolour, in which case a heavier-weight paper
Tracing paper is more transparent than layout
around 140 lb (300 gsm) is preferable.
paper but more resistant to colour. Both layout
You can buy paper by the sheet, by the ream
and tracing paper work well with pencil and pen.
(500 sheets), by the quire (25 sheets) or in books
and pads. Paper comes in different weights and
surfaces. There are two systems for defining the Marker Pads
weight, pounds per ream or grams per square This paper has been especially formulated to work
meter (gsm). Weights vary from 74 lb/150 gsm to with marker pens and will give a good result.
400 lb/850 gsm.
The most usual surface finishes are cold- Sketchbooks
pressed, hot-pressed and rough. Rough paper Sketchbooks come in a variety of sizes, formats
has a coarse texture as its name suggests, whilst and different qualities of paper. It is useful to have
hot-pressed paper is smoother and finer and a couple of different sizes: a small A5 or A6 book
cold-pressed paper is in between. Cold-pressed that is easy to carry around in a bag or pocket and
paper is a popular choice for using with water- slip out when inspiration strikes and a bigger one
colour, whilst hot-pressed paper performs well for working in the studio. You can also make your
184 visual research methods in fashion

Selection of papers. Courtesy of the

author.

own sketchbooks; it is actually quite easy and presentation board samples and examples of
means you can use a selection of different types technical drawings. The body of the book has
of paper. You can also bind loose sheets to make faint outlines of a figure printed on the pages,
up a sketchbook. A good publication to look at for making it easy to sketch out ideas without worry-
ideas for making your own sketchbooks is Making ing about proportions (http://fashionary.org).
Books by Hand (McCarthy 1997).
Fashionary is a sketchbook that has been Brushes
created specifically for fashion designers; its in- Brushes are categorized according to their shape
ventor, Penter Yip, designed it as a tailor-made and the materials they are made from. They can
sketchbook for fashion designers. The informa- be synthetic or made from animal hair such as
tion section contains a brand index, body mea- sable. Sable brushes are more suitable for water-
surements, basic patterns, typography and colour, whilst nylon-filament brushes work better
traditional research tools and techniques 185

Technical drawing sheet. Courtesy of

Fashionary. Reproduced with permission.

with acrylics. You will often find that art shops will creating washes. Always clean your brushes after
sell starter packs for acrylic or watercolours. These use, and never leave them standing in water. If you
are usually fairly reasonably priced and a good op- look after them, they will last a long time.
tion for beginners. Once you have a feel for the There are many other media that you can use;
kind of brushes you like to work with, you can in- experimenting with something you have not used
vest in some more expensive makes. It is useful before can lead to interesting results. An illustrator
to have a range of round and flat brushes in sizes who has a unique approach to the use of media in
from very small (no. 2) for detail to large (no. 26) for her work is Kacchi.
186 visual research methods in fashion

Aquafine brushes by Daler Rowney. Courtesy of Daler Rowney. Reproduced with permission.

Case Study: Kacchi

Kacchi uses clay dolls to create settings that she then photographs in both illustrated and real-life situ-
ations. Many of her works are inspired by Hula and Hawaiian culture and also the people she sees on
the street. Kacchi’s work has appeared in various magazines and advertising campaigns, and it has
been featured in Paul Smith’s window displays throughout Tokyo.
Kacchi creates the clay dolls and the background and then photographs them. When she is work-
ing on a display or installation assignment for a store window, an event or an exhibition, she creates
a three-dimensional installation with dolls and a background based on the commissioned theme. To
make the dolls she creates the torso, then adds wires to the face, hands and feet and attaches them
to the torso using water to blend the separate body parts. When the pieces dry, she uses sandpaper
to smooth the surface and colours them with acrylic paint.
Kacchi is self-taught, and her technique was arrived at through a process of trial and error. The
piece shown here was to be used during Golden Week (a Japanese holiday week in May) for a depart-
ment store. The client was a design company called Chocolate. Kacchi feels that the piece ‘expresses
the pleasures and happiness of spending a holiday with the ones you love’. You can see more of her
work at http://www.kacchiworld.com/.
traditional research tools and techniques 187

Kacchi’s sketch for the commercial

project shown in Plate 24. Courtesy
of Kacchi. Reproduced with permission.

using libraries and archives to online resources you would not have general
access to, like subscription databases.
Although the Internet is a useful and very acces- The first thing you need to know about a library
sible resource, it is important to remember that it is which cataloguing system it uses. In the US
does not provide you with all the information and many libraries use the Library of Congress cat-
inspiration you will need to engage in visual re- aloguing system, whereas in the UK the Dewey
search. Libraries and archives are good sources Decimal system is popular. The cataloguing sys-
of visual imagery and can give you access to a tem helps you to locate the books or other materi-
rich source of material you will not find online or als on the shelves. It is useful to get to know the
188 visual research methods in fashion

coding or numbering system for the parts of the Your library may offer induction sessions or train-
library you use most often. ing in information seeking; if this is offered to you,
There are different kinds of libraries: those that then take it up. Every library has different areas of
lend books, videos, music and DVDs and those specialism and offers a slightly different service.
that provide them for reference only. Some librar- Getting to know your university library will make
ies require special membership or a recommen- life much easier for you when you start to work on
dation from your tutor for you to be able to gain a project or assignment.
access, and others are open to the general public.
Many universities and colleges have arrangements Getting the Most Out of a Library Visit
to enable students to use or borrow from each Being well prepared will help you to get the most
other’s libraries. Check with your librarian to find out of your visit. You may want to make sure that
out which libraries in your area you have access you have the following:
to, and be prepared to travel; the best information
may not be in your own university library. • A notebook or sketchbook and pens and
Most libraries now have their catalogues on- pencils
line, so you can search them to see if they have • Change for the photocopier or your photo-
the material you want before you go to the li- copy card
brary. You can sometimes reserve a book online • Your library card
or get a notification when it is due back, manage • Your laptop or a memory stick
your loans and renewals or even save the bib- • A list of keywords for searching in the
liographic data for books that you want to read catalogue
or borrow. Your library may also offer a system • A bag with you to carry the books away if
of interlibrary loans where they will order a book you are borrowing them
from another library for you if they do not stock it. • Possibly your own earphones, if you intend
There may be a limit to the number of these re- to view a video and they are not provided.
quests you can make or an associated cost. Most
catalogues in university libraries will also tell you To protect their stock most libraries do not
which online journals and databases the library allow food and drink. If you are preparing for a long
subscribes to as well as listing the physical stock study period, eat first or find out where the nearest
that the library holds. Access to these databases cafeteria is and take some money with you.
may be limited to on-campus computers, or your Don’t be tempted to borrow too many books
library may subscribe to a system that allows you at once. You may just feel overwhelmed or run out
to access certain databases off campus using a of time to use them before you have to renew or
password. return them. Remember to always write down the
Librarians are extremely knowledgeable when source of any material you intend to use in your
it comes to finding information, and they are there work; this includes images as well as text. It is
to help you, so if you can’t find anything or can’t good practice to cite the source of your inspiration
understand the catalogue, don’t be afraid to ask. in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism
traditional research tools and techniques 189

London College of Fashion

Library. Photographer: David Hardy.
Reproduced with permission.

(copying the work of another or presenting some- the usual loan period and others for short loan or
one else’s idea as your own). This will also help reference only.
you to find the information again if you need to
check something. Photocopying
If the catalogue says a book is in and you can’t Always check that you are within the copyright li-
find it, check the oversize shelves or ask the li- cence if you are photocopying from a book (see
brarian. When borrowing materials be careful to Chapter 5 for more information about copyright).
check the loan period; some copies may be for If in doubt consult the librarian.
190 visual research methods in fashion

Case study: North Carolina State University College of Textiles

Background

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) College of Textiles houses the Burlington Textiles Library, a
branch library of the NCSU Libraries. The library is unique in the US for both the breadth and depth of
its collections, and it ranks as a world-class textiles information centre.
The NCSU Libraries as a whole own more than 4.3 million volumes and subscribe to approximately
62,000 print and electronic serial subscriptions (51,000 of them electronic), 500 bibliographic data-
bases, 400,000 electronic books and a growing array of electronic full-text and image collections. The
libraries are widely recognized for innovation and effective use of digital library technologies within the
academic library community.
The Textiles Library’s collections are a combination of online books, journals, conference proceed-
ings, databases and a print collection of more than 40,000 volumes, with nearly 90 current periodical
subscriptions and over 1,500 historical titles in all. The collection emphasizes the following subject
areas: textile engineering, polymer chemistry, medical textiles, apparel management, fashion design
and textile economics.
Included in the wealth of textiles information is a collection on the history of costume. The collec-
tion helps students to understand what people wore in a certain culture or period and why. The books
fall into two main categories: one is cultural history; the other is construction of clothing. These books
show, for example, patterns for men’s clothing from the Civil War. There are also various designer
biographies, art history coffee table books and oversize books in this collection. Scott Warren, associ-
ate director of the library from 2004 to 2008, described it this way: ‘These books are rife with images
and they are often a better resolution than the images you can get from the Internet. You also get the
context of where the image comes from and where the clothing came from.’
Honora Eskridge, the director of the Textiles Library, works with faculty to ensure that the library
is fully utilized as a teaching resource. Textiles librarians provide instruction for students on effective
research methods and use of library materials. This is achieved through close collaboration with faculty
to integrate appropriate assignments into courses and curricula. Librarians guest-lecture in classes or
utilize a growing number of online tutorials they have created to provide instruction. For example, Scott
Warren and Lisa Parrillo Chapman, a faculty member who teaches computer-aided design for textiles,
worked closely together to ensure that their students got the maximum benefit from the library.
Lisa says that:

Building a relationship with the library is extremely useful for helping students to engage with
visual research. Having the librarian come into the classroom helps students to understand the
importance of research and that ideas don’t just spring out of your head.
The librarians help the students to understand how the library is organized and point out the
two or three areas they are most likely to want to use. They are also able to help them find a lot
of images that are not available online.

The NCSU Libraries’ online catalogue is powered by Endeca software, which allows for powerful
searching of library collections. Like most college and university libraries in the US, the NCSU Libraries
use the Library of Congress classification system. This means that call numbers are consistent from
traditional research tools and techniques 191

library to library. For example, if you go into Philadelphia University, you should be able to walk into
their library and go to the section on clothing history or clothing manufacture (call number ranges in the
GTs); if that library collects in that area, one would be able to find them. The NCSU Libraries also has
consortial arrangements with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. The
combined holdings of the three libraries amount to about 15 million volumes, making this consortium
the biggest concentration of materials in the US after Greater Boston. There is a common interface, so
students can search all three collections with one tool.

Databases

The arts databases give the students affordable access to images and help them to understand the
context to the images. The NCSU Libraries have purchased the Artstore and Amica (Art Museum Im-
ages from Cartographic Associates) databases, both of which are quite common in design libraries.
These databases have very high-resolution images that students can organize into folders and print
out for educational use. The images also have information about who made them, when and in what
period. The NCSU Libraries also provide online access to dissertations and master’s theses.

Alternative Media

In addition to traditional library materials, the Textiles Library’s Special Collections Room houses the
William H. Harriss Collection of Modern Fabrics, which contains approximately 4,000 fabric swatches.
The collection is not searchable electronically, but there is a card catalogue allowing one to search by
patterns, weave, fabric type and so on. Each fabric sample is about one foot square. You can see what
the fabric looks like and how it drapes.
There are also about 400 videos and DVDs in the Textile Library and about 10,000 of them in the
D. H. Hill Library, including a strong Bollywood collection. A digital media lab provides equipment
and assistance for converting all types of media into digital format and includes a plotter for printing
poster-sized documents.

museums and art galleries is a much better idea to focus your visit on a
particular collection or even one piece. Drawing
When visiting a museum or art gallery, it is a is important because it will help you to focus on
good idea to carry out a bit of secondary re- what it is about an object or image that interests
search first. Find out what is in the collection, you. Seeing an object or picture at close range
what the opening times are and what the policy enables you to appreciate the detail, to consider
is on photography and drawing. A small fold-up how it was made and why. Always note down as
stool can be a good idea unless you are good much information as possible about the piece;
at drawing standing up or enjoy sitting on the you may need it later to do some follow-up re-
floor. A lot of students make the mistake of try- search on the artist or the period in which it was
ing to see everything in a museum or gallery. It produced.
192 visual research methods in fashion

Many museums and galleries have an educa- eye on what is happening, not just in your own
tion department and will run special events such city or country but around the world as well. A big
as interviews with artists and designers or may exhibition in one of the major fashion centres like
offer the opportunity to talk to a curator or view New York or Paris will be seen by a lot of people
pieces that are not on display. Most major muse- who work in the industry and can influence what
ums and galleries will also have information about they are designing. Museums and galleries usually
their collections and upcoming exhibitions online. publish their exhibition schedules well in advance,
Major exhibitions can often influence what is hap- so they are also a good source for possible trend
pening in fashion, so it is a good idea to keep an influences.

Case Study: Charlotte Hodes

An artist who often uses museum pieces as inspiration for her work is Charlotte Hodes. Charlotte is a
senior research fellow at London College of Fashion, and she was an associate artist at the Wallace
Collection from 2005 to 2007 (http://www.wallacecollection.org). She used the collection as a source
for new papercuts and ceramics. Two examples of her work are illustrated in Plate 25 and Plate 26.
She describes them as follows:

The papercuts juxtapose both a contemporary figure, drawn from myself, alongside historical
images.
In ‘Sèvres Silhouette I’, the figure is posed on a domestic ‘kitchen-type’ pot shape. She is
draped in a patterned cloth. The pattern is sourced from a pattern on the Sèvres Vase ‘à col-
onnes cannelées’, 1768 in the Wallace Collection.
The historical figures in ‘Bathers: Pool’ are repeated as if forming a pattern across the paper-
cut. It is sourced from a drawing that I made in the Wallace Collection of a mid French miniature
gouache painting ‘Women Bathing’ attributed to Jacques Charlier.

Archives its Los Angeles campus. Companies may also

Some libraries also have special collections called keep archives of their products, and these may be
archives; these may contain unique historical doc- available for viewing on special request. In Paris
uments and resources, some of which can be very there is the Yves St Laurent Institute for fashion re-
rare and unpublished. Articles in archives are usu- search (http://www.ysl-hautecouture.com), which
ally being preserved as an historical record and as is dedicated to the designer’s work.
such may require special arrangements for view-
ing. The London College of Fashion (http://www.
fashion.arts.ac.uk) has a tailoring archive; Hong photography
Kong Polytechnic University (www.polyu.edu.hk)
has a fashion archive and fabric library; and the Photography is an established tool for conducting
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising research. For many years the only way to know
(http://fidm.edu/) has a permanent collection of how your image would turn out was to wait for
over 12,000 costumes in its study collection at the film to be developed. Digital photography has
traditional research tools and techniques 193

completely changed the way that both amateur to print them, which we are doing less of, pre-
and professional photographers work. It is now ferring to store and share photographs digitally.
quick and easy to take a photograph, and there Whether you use digital or analogue photography,
is little or no cost attached to taking and storing a little bit of basic knowledge as to how a camera
them. The only additional cost is when we decide works will help you to get better results.

Interview with David Moy

David Moy is the production director and colour management specialist at theprintspace (http://www.
theprintspace.co.uk). Here, he outlines some basic guidelines for buying and using a camera and get-
ting good results from editing, printing and exhibiting work.

What do you need to think about when buying a camera?

You need to pick a camera that is going to be useful for what you need it for. The Canon G10s are
good because they are compact and they have a good sensor size for their physical size. Don’t spend
all the money on the camera if you are going to buy a serious piece of kit. The lens is what is recording
your image so the poorer quality the lens the worse your image will be. Spend as much on the lens
as you would on the camera and get a variety of lenses. The most important thing is to buy a camera
and lenses that suit your needs; if you are doing lots of studio work you can have a massive camera; if
you are a documentary photographer you might need one with a fast-burst shutter so you can record
a lot of images at once.
With a digital SLR (digital single lens reflex) camera you have an interchangeable lens and a slightly
bigger sensor. They usually come with a telephoto, they are slightly bigger cameras than the compacts
and they start at about eight to nine megapixels upwards.
A digital back is used in conjunction with a medium-format camera like a Hasselblad, the old view-
finder cameras. They have adapted a digital sensor for the back so instead of using a film roll you take
the back off and you use a digital back but these are upwards of £20,000 for the back. A lot of pho-
tographers rent them out because they can’t afford them. The quality of the image is a lot better but it
doesn’t quite reach the quality and feel of large-format film cameras like 5 x 4” and 10 x 8”.
There are some things that film cameras are better at than digital: long exposures and large-scale
prints are two examples. If you want to take very long exposures for night photography or large-scale
landscapes with a lot of detail a film camera or large-format camera could be better and allow more
flexibility to the photographer.
It is always good to read the online reviews about cameras but any magazine or Web site with
promotional advertising could mean that the reviews are biased so look for blogs and articles where
there is no advertising, usually they are a good source of information.

Is there a difference between digital and traditional photography?

The difference is that you have got a digital display so in theory it should be a lot easier because you
can see what is happening in front of the camera and you can experiment a lot more and assess the
image during capture. If you have a laptop with you, a lot of people shoot with a laptop they will be
194 visual research methods in fashion

looking at a big image if not you can be looking at the LCD display and that gives you a good indication
of what the image is looking like.
Although they are discontinuing some film stocks others are still holding the sales volumes that
had been seen over the past ten years. Kodak has discontinued some stock but there are still a lot of
photographers out there who are used to the traditional film workflow. For big jobs you need it but the
speed and the budgets are what have killed it off commercially because a lot of the agents and the
clients can’t spend the money processing film and they haven’t got the time to make the three shoots
and three lots of processing which is why digital has taken over but there will still be a need for film. It
is my preference for what I shoot, those cameras give you the most flexibility. You need to think about
the type of photography you are doing and what equipment best suit this work.

What is the secret to getting a good photograph?

With digital photography a lot of people overlook the thought process involved in taking photographs.
If you are taking a picture you have got to think about where the light is coming from, about have you
got enough light on your subject how that is affecting the shadows on your image and how that affects
the composition, the whole shot.
What makes a good photo? There is not an exact science to making a good photo but there are
certain things you can look for: good contrast, a nice bright image. One thing we find is that a lot of
images are too dark, if it is for show work it can look very dull. Getting a good exposure is the first thing
to get a good image because all the information is getting recorded then sound editing will result in a
good image but if you haven’t recorded a good exposure in the first place it will make the editing a lot
harder and it will degrade the image through the whole process.
Think about where your camera is the most boring images are the ones at eye level. Most people
use their camera at eye level because it is easier but think more creatively about the composition
maybe something low down or stand on something to get a higher viewpoint because that will give you
a more interesting image. Don’t actually look behind the camera look at what the lens will see because
the lens is actually recording the image not the viewfinder. Get your head in front of the lens and look
at what you are actually photographing and spend time examining the subject and the light around it
before setting up and recording any images. If you choose to shoot outside in daylight choose a time
of day when the light suits the mood and subject content.
You have to think about what you need the image for before you take it. A lot of people will shoot
on a compact camera and try to blow something up to poster size. You have to think before you shoot
what is the output? Where is it going to be? Is it going to be on a Web site at low res or a large-scale
fine art print?
My favourite photographers are Ansel Adams and Edward Burtynsky, as they both employ the
large-format camera techniques that I am interested in. No digital photography has reached the level
of what 10 × 8" and 5 × 4" film has produced there are certain things you can do with a film camera
that digital hasn’t caught up with yet.
If you don’t understand the fundamentals of photography in relation to the shutter and the aperture
the automatic settings and scenes are a good starting point. However if you have a bit of knowledge
about how the camera actually works you get a better image
The main settings you need to consider are outlined below.
traditional research tools and techniques 195

Tetons and the Snake River, by Ansel Adams. Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

The ISO Ratings

The ISO is how much light the sensor is recording so at the lowest setting it is recording less light at a
higher setting it is recording lots of light. A low ISO number means a slow response to light and a high
number means a fast response to light so in low light conditions you will want a faster ISO for example
16000. This could also be used if you were shooting something that was moving fast and you wanted
to capture that without any blur you could use that setting with a fast shutter and that would record
the image. If you put your camera on a tripod and wanted a really nice fine art image and you weren’t
worried about blur or you had enough light in the image you could use a much lower ISO—there is a
popular myth that low is always better, when it’s not in digital—most digital cameras capture the most
amount of information at the highlight end which is why it is good to get a bright exposure because that
holds all the tone it is different from film where it used to be a lot in the shadow end—so photographers
exposed for the shadows and developed the highlights whereas in digital you can push your ISO and
get a nice bright exposure and get a better image.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed is the length of time the shutter is open, the length of time that it is recording light on
the camera’s film or sensor. If you leave the shutter open for a long time you will get more light in but
subject content is more likely to experience motion blur. A faster shutter will stop moving objects much
196 visual research methods in fashion

quicker so if you have a helicopter you could set it up to 1/500th of a second and that shutter speed
would stop the blade moving. If you took the same shot on half a second you would not see any of the
blades, just a blur of their movement.
You can use the shutter speed creatively to introduce movement into a shot—everyone has seen
pictures of sea scenes where it looks like it is perfectly still and blurry. That is done over a long expo-
sure you can create much more artistic images using the camera manually with the shutter speed and
aperture settings.
If you are shooting outside the amount of light that you have on the day will dictate a certain amount
of your shutter speed how much how fast the shutter is but you might want to have a bit more control
so that is why you change the diameter of the aperture or increase the ISO value.

The Aperture

The aperture is the size of the hole that allows light to pass through the lens and into the camera. Ef-
fectively the bigger the hole the shorter your focal distance will be so you have a range of focus, which
is determined by the size of the aperture (the hole). The smaller the hole the longer the range of focus
so if you have a model in the foreground and a mountain in the background and you wanted to get
everything in focus you could use a small aperture. If you wanted to take a close-up of a flower and
to blur the background you would use a larger aperture because you would get a shorter length. This
would bring the subject out by having sharpness on the subject whilst blurring the background. The
aperture can have a bearing on the artistic feel of the image.

Lighting

As a general rule the more light you can get on the subject the better; the more flexibility you will have
in terms of the camera settings. I shoot most of my stuff in available light. In the studio you can use
different lighting it depends on the lighting effect you want to go with the image. A lot of people rent the
lighting kit because it is quite expensive.

RAW Images

A RAW is an unprocessed digital file it is like the digital version of a negative before negative pro-
cessing. The only information saved with a RAW file is the luminosity (the brightness) and the actual
exposure information, the shutter speed and the F stop (aperture). When you take a normal image
with JPEG or TIF on a digital camera the camera automatically sets the points for the shadows and
the highlights in the image where it thinks it is appropriate. This might not be the aesthetically pleasing
place and it might cause clipping some of the information in the file.
You can use the RAW file as a starting point to work creatively on your image it is also used be-
cause you can make multiples of the same image, you can export the RAW file differently depending
on your use or your need. It’s a standard for working in digital now because you might only have one
chance to shoot an image. If you shoot JPEG not RAW the shadows and highlights may become
clipped therefore losing important information in the image. The white balance is not editable after
using JPEG, which can become problematic if you have a cast in your image or you are shooting
traditional research tools and techniques 197

in mixed light conditions. When you shoot RAW, you have the ability to manipulate a lot of these
parameters.
Most digital cameras support RAW files and the other important thing is in your image editing soft-
ware like Photoshop needs to have the right plug-in. They have upgrades for each of the new cameras,
every time you buy a new camera it is not necessarily going to work on an old version of Photoshop.
You need to find the right software to download to use with your camera. There are a lot of different
RAW processors on the market and usually the best one is the one produced by the manufacturer of
the camera so if you are using a Canon camera find the Canon plug-in.
There are some specialist areas of photography that need extra consideration, for example, where
you are trying to capture moving objects, scenes with low light.

Night Shots and Low Light

You need a tripod for night shots because you need a longer exposure. Because there is not as much
light you need a longer shutter speed—sometimes they can be ten to fifteen minutes. This is a problem
with digital photography. Night photography is one of my personal favourites and I have gone back to
a film camera purely because you cannot set an exposure length longer than about five or six minutes
on a digital camera. Because of the battery life it uses it is not practical; it really does drain the battery
and you would not be able to take a lot of shots. The most important thing is to have a tripod to keep
it still over that time; even for a shot of thirty seconds you need a dead-still camera. Any shutter speed
below one-sixtieth of a second requires a tripod to eliminate camera shake.

Fashion Photography and Portraiture

For a good catwalk shot the shutter speed is important. You want to freeze the model; you don’t really
want any motion blur unless they are in a flowing dress and you want to create that feel. Mainly it is
finding an angle where you have got light on the subject. One of the most common things we find with
students when they come in is they will backlight something and they have shadow over a model’s
face; you want to see the detail in someone’s face, the light in their eyes. You need to think about the
angle where the light is coming from and where you want to be in relation to the subject and make sure
you get a lot of light on the subject.
In the studio a lot of it depends on the type of image you are going for but for a classic portrait the
most important thing is someone’s eyes; that is what engages you with the image. You want sharp
focus in the eyes maybe you can use short depth of field because you don’t want the skin so sharp
and concentrate on their eyes, which is what engages you with the picture. The most important thing in
a portrait to get the focus right and get some light on their face making sure they are not in shadow.

Editing Pictures

Retouching. A lot of students come in and they have something that is too heavily retouched because
they have read a couple of things online how to do something and followed the technique. I would
rather that people know what they want in their heads and go about it in the right way in Photoshop.
What I teach people when they are first learning is basic colour correction using curves and selection
198 visual research methods in fashion

An image after and before editing. Courtesy of David Moy. Reproduced with permission.

using masks. A lot of fundamental problems with the work of fashion students are caused because
don’t understand the concept of colour. They don’t understand how to correct for a red cast or a blue
cast they don’t understand RGB and CMYK.
With traditional photography they would have been working in the darkroom and learning those
principles but now it is all on computer so it feels more like playing than actually seeing what is in front
of you. This can cause problems because people tend to overwork their images. All I teach is curves
and masks and most retouchers will use those two things to get 90 per cent of their retouching done.
Curves. A digital image is comprised of 255 levels, 0 being black and 255 being white, and the curve
represents the curve from the shadow to the highlight end and you have a red curve, a green curve and
a blue curve. It is a more accurate way of editing your image throughout those levels of tones. You can
be more specific in your shadow and highlight end rather than using a global correction. The curve is
more precise because you can go into each individual curve and edit individual areas in the image from
highlight to mid-tones to shadow areas. Oversharpening, that happens quite a lot, that is a no-no.
Composition. Cropping and sizing are important. I like to think that most of it is done in camera but
that isn’t always the case nowadays. A crop can have a big visual impact; you might want to draw
attention to a certain area so you might want to crop off certain things. What I find is people will crop
something to an unusual shape then they won’t understand the relationship when they come to print
so they will crop something and say I want a 4 x 11 print and the original is not in a 4 x 11 ratio you
need to think about the aspect ratio, students can find that hard to understand.
Filters. I tend to stay away from those sort of things you can create all the styles in photography
based on curves, you can create a Nick Knight feel or Vincent Peters style, they can all be created with
curves and masks. I wouldn’t get involved with the filters so much because they don’t make your work
stand out they don’t give it any uniqueness because anyone can do it.

Printing Your Image

A good print starts with a good image, a good shot in the first place and good knowledge of the editing
process as well, based on what size print you want. You need to have some knowledge of the papers
because different papers and printing techniques give different feels and have different applications.
traditional research tools and techniques 199

It is good to know what sort of paper you visualize your image on and that will help you during the
editing process.
It is always good to get inspiration from other people’s work and there are unwritten rules in pho-
tography especially when you are selling work and there are standard papers for books and portfolios.
It is good to know which papers you should be using for different outputs.
A lot of people use matt for exhibitions if they are going to frame their images because you don’t
want a double reflection with a piece of glass. Ninety per cent of professional photographers’ books
and portfolios are matt as well. If you have got art directors and stylists looking at a book around a
table they can’t all look at it if it is gloss because of the reflections. Think about the paper you are using
while you are editing.

Digital C Type Print

C stands for chromagenic, which is colour basically but it stands for the c41 process this is a chemical
process that was used in traditional darkroom papers. This is a traditional silver-based light-sensitive
paper—it is not an inkjet it is done in the dark. These are the only truly photographic prints. On a square
inch of an inkjet print you have got 720 levels of colour; in a C-type, because of the silver emulsion,
you get something like sixteen million. They offer a lot more subtlety and tone. C types are the true
photographic print.
The papers aren’t that expensive but the technology to produce those prints is a lot more expen-
sive and harder to control and manage. They are the fine art standard if you are selling work purely for
longevity; they last over 100 years. Epson say that their papers are archival standard but they haven’t
been around long enough to test the claim.

Screen Calibration

To get a good print you need an accurate screen to represent what the print is going to be like and
that is based on calibration. You can spend a lot of time editing your image and be disappointed if the
screen is not calibrated. Students come in with a lovely image, they open it up on a calibrated screen
and they will look at it and think oh my god it looks completely different. When your screen is calibrated
you will have a good accurate on-screen proof of your print. You need a piece of hardware which most
universities have, or you can buy one. We use an X-Rite I 1 it is a piece of hardware that fits on your
monitor and measures the amount of colour coming out of your screen and matches that to known
values and creates a profile for the monitor. It is much easier to proof on screen and let someone do the
colour management process for the printing because it takes a lot of experience and is a skilled job.

Print Size

A lot of people come in who have shot something on a compact camera upsized it to about thirty or
forty inches and want to print it. They can’t understand why that degree of enlargement won’t work.
You can change the file size in Photoshop by interpolation and change the size but that is only adding
information that is not there. The bigger the sensor you can record your image with the bigger you can
print it.
Table 2 Photographic Print Size Guide

Courtesy of David Moy. Reproduced with permission.

traditional research tools and techniques 201

Think about your output basically if you have an image on a Web site at 72 dpi you won’t need a
big camera to record it, it is never going to be big but if you need a big print at 300 dpi you need a big
camera to achieve that. We let people do test strips at theprintspace so they upsize their file to what
they think it might print and the test strip give an indication of the quality at that particular size.

Exhibiting Your Work

You need to think about the sequencing of your work and the size. You will need to think about the
longevity of the exhibition and what quality of paper is required as well as the budget you have to work
on. Consider how you are going to mount and hang your work with or without borders, flush to the wall
or offset. An exhibition looks more coherent if the images are the same size and format, are hung at the
same height and there is some form of cohesion and narrative in the sequencing of the images. There
are various options for mounting your work, Foamex, card and MDF are cheaper, aluminium, acrylic
and die bond are more expensive. Visual examples can be found here: http://www.theprintspace.
co.uk/print-mounting.

Project: Analysing a Photographic Exhibition

Visit a photographic exhibition and analyse how it has been curated. How have the pictures been organized? What paper
have they used? What size are the images? How are the images lit? How have they been sequenced? Does it work? Would
you have changed anything?

Project: Using Aperture Settings

Set up in a studio with a camera and a tripod; change the aperture and look at the image and see how it changes. The great
thing about digital photography is that you can play—you don’t have to wait for your film to see the result, and you can
experiment a lot more. Find an object that moves like a metronome, and record the image at different speeds and see how
that changes.

using image agencies important part of many creative roles in the indus-
It is always good to be able to use your own im- try. Especially if you are working in areas such as
ages to illustrate your research and as a source of advertising, marketing or journalism, you need to
inspiration whenever possible, but often you will know which agencies are relevant to your work.
need an image—either for inspiration or to use in This case study of Getty Images explains what an
a project—that it is beyond your means to pro- agency does and how to use an agency effec-
duce. In these circumstances image agencies and tively. The study was drawn from an interview with
stock photo companies can be extremely useful. Rick Mayston, Alison Crombie and Pat Lyttle at
Understanding how to use them is an increasingly Getty Images in September 2009.
202 visual research methods in fashion

Case Study: Getty Images

Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein founded Getty Images in 1995 with the aim of bringing the stock pho-
tography business into the digital age. Getty Images was the first company to license imagery online.
It offers licensing models, digital media management tools and a comprehensive selection of creative
and editorial imagery, microstock, footage and music. A wide range of industries including newspa-
pers, feature film and television producers and bloggers use Getty Images. Getty Images creates and
distributes images, footage and music as well as rare and contemporary archival imagery (http://www.
GettyImages.co.uk).

Images and Licensing

There are different kinds of images that you can source from an agency. Editorial images are usually
sports or entertainment. They have been taken in the public domain of people going about their busi-
ness; they are normally used in an editorial way to illustrate a story.
A photographer would normally have set up a rights-managed image. If there are any people in
the shoot, the payment has been made to the model at source, and the model has signed a model-
release form which means the image can be used in advertising as well as editorial content. On a
rights-managed image you pay according to the use of the image.
A royalty-free picture is exactly the same as a rights-managed image except that when you buy
royalty-free images, you buy the rights to use them wherever you want to. They are not usually as good
a quality as rights-managed images, but you can use them as and when you need them.
Things get more complicated when there is a person in the image. There are two sets of rights: the
author’s rights and the subject’s rights. If you are using the image editorially, only the author’s rights
come into play. The subjects do not have any rights unless someone is saying something bad about
them, in which case they would be able to take them to court. In terms of actual usage of the picture,
subjects’ right come into play if the subject is appearing to endorse something. That is why you would
have to have model-release clearance for ads and publicity. If an editorial shot was being used for
advertising, you would have to clear it with the subject of the picture first.
That also holds for things like buildings; some skylines like the New York skyline require clearance
for some uses. It is actually very complicated. If you license an image from an agency like Getty Im-
ages, they will sort out the clearance issues for you; it is called indemnification. If you buy something
that isn’t indemnified and you use it commercially, you can get in trouble.

Coverage

Getty Images has photographers around the world, to react to news stories as well as to cover sched-
uled events such as sports, entertainment and news. They have a roster of staffers in Europe and the
US and stringers in various locations around the world. A staffer is a paid member of staff, whereas
a stringer is a contributor who works on licence. Getty Images also has a worldwide agreement with
Agence France Presse (AFP). In addition to the images that are available online, Getty Images also
owns the Hulton Archive. The Hulton Archive in total has access to approximately ninety million images
in the UK; less than 1 per cent of the archive’s content is digitized and online. The collection has been
built up over the years through acquisitions such as Keystone, Archive Photos, Redferns, Michael Och
traditional research tools and techniques 203

Archives FPG and the original Hulton library, which can trace its roots back to the 1850s. Approxi-
mately 70 per cent of the archive is black and white. Once a client has requested an image from the
analogue archive, it is uploaded to the Web for licensing. The archive has a conservator and a curator
who work on restoring the images, bringing them back to their former glory.
Getty Images has a selection of photographers who work in Paris and New York to cover fashion.
Some photographers have access to specific brands and particular shows, and they have partnerships
with companies such as Catwalking (http://www.catwalking.com). They cover almost every major show.

Advice on Using the Web Site

Everybody researches differently; whether they are a freelance researcher or an internal researcher
from a publisher, clients will have a way of researching and keywords that they are putting in. Getty
Images tries to put a lot of information into the metadata. You may not be able to find certain images
because you are not using the same terms that have been entered into the metadata; this is where
Getty Images’ team of researchers can be extremely helpful, as they can fill in the gaps for you.
For images that are used for commercial purposes, they will put in the metadata every item that
is in the picture and also categorize them by concepts such as happiness or tranquillity. It is always a
good idea to pick up the phone and talk to one of the team members. Especially if you have not used
an image agency before, the staff will be more than happy to help you find what you are looking for.

Trends in Stock Imagery

There are trends in the style of photography that is popular at any given time. When a new style of
photography emerges, other photography begins to look very dated. Agencies have to keep up with
photographic trends, fashion trends and also trends within book publishing.
Getty Images has a team called creative research that looks at content and analyses it from a social
demographic perspective. They look at the trends that are coming through and how that can shape
their creative content. They look at all sorts of data, such as megatrends, the really big trends that
have come through, and they shape their content in accordance with that. Subject specialists will also
check the relevant blogs and Web sites in their field looking for new influences. In fashion, for example,
celebrity fashion has become very important; it is something that people will go out and buy books
about, whereas maybe ten to fifteen years ago they wouldn’t have done so. Other forms of media are
in more demand as more publishing moves online.

What Makes a Good Stock Photographer?

Getty Images photographers look at something from a different angle; even though they are editorial
photographers, they are naturally very creative with how they construct an image. You have to be dif-
ferent to the person next to you and think what you can do to make your image stand out. An example
of this creative approach is the picture Stu Forster took of the runner Iwan Thomas who won in the
European athletics championships. Because he is Welsh someone gave him a huge Welsh flag and he
put it behind him. All the photographers rushed to get him with the Welsh flag, but Stu went around
the back, waited for all the flashes to go off, and got the silhouette of him through the Welsh flag. That
was the picture that got in the paper, and that is the creativity of the type of photographer that Getty
Images takes on.
204 visual research methods in fashion

Iwan Thomas flies the flag for Wales after victory in the 400 m during the Commonwealth Games in Kuala ­Lumpur,
Malaysia, 19 September 1998. Photographer: Stu Forster/Allsport. Getty Images. Reproduced with permission.

Summary
Traditional tools and resources should not be overlooked just because there are also digital
alternatives. The boundaries between the two overlap, as many traditional resources can now
be sourced or accessed online. However, there are some things like a sketchbook and pencil
that it would be very difficult to completely replace with technology, and a computer image is
no substitute for viewing an original artwork or installation. Traditional tools used together with
technology provide us with a world of possibilities for being creative researchers. In the next
chapter we explore some of the digital tools and resources that are currently available.
traditional research tools and techniques 205

references and further reading Langford, M. J. (2010), Langford’s Basic Photography:

The Guide for Serious Photographers, 9th ed., Ox-
ford: Focal.
Anon. (2003), Acrylics and Gouache: Materials, Tech-
McCarthy, M. (1997), Making Books by Hand: A Step-
niques, Color and Composition, Style, Subject, 1st
by-Step Guide, Rockport, MA: Quarry.
ed., Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s.
Mower, S. (2007), Stylist: The Interpreters of Fashion.
Anon. (2004a), Pastels: Materials, Techniques, Color
New York: Rizzoli International.
and Composition, Style, Subject, 1st ed., Haup-
New, J. (2005), Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art,
pauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series.
New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Anon. (2004b), Pencil Drawing: Materials, Techniques,
Parramón Ediciones and Barron’s Educational Series,
Color and Composition, Style, Subject, 1st ed.,
Inc (2003), Watercolor, Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s
Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series.
Educational Series.
Bailey, D., and Victoria and Albert Museum (1985),
Siegel, E. (2008), The Fashion Photography Course:
Shots of Style: Great Fashion Photographs. Lon-
First Principles to Successful Shoot—the Essential
don: Victoria and Albert Museum.
Guide, London: Thames & Hudson.
Brereton, R. (2009), Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of
Viaux, N., ed. (2009), Contemporary Fashion Photogra-
Designers, Illustrators and Creatives, London: Lau-
phers, Cologne: Daab.
rence King.
Wilson, K. (2009), The Modern Eye: Stieglitz, MoMA,
Derrick, R., and Muir, R. (2004), Unseen ‘Vogue’: The
and the Art of the Exhibition, 1925–1934, New
Secret History of Fashion Photography, London:
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Little, Brown.
Fuga, A. (2006), Artists’ Techniques and Materials, Los
Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. websites
Harrison, L. (2005), Artist’s Materials: All the Materials
You Will Ever Need to Make Art, Richmond Hill, art supplies
Canada: Firefly Books.
Hicks, R., Schultz, F., Larg, A., and Wood, J. (2006), Daler Rowney http://www.daler-rowney.com/
Photographing People: Portraits, Fashion, Glam- Derwent http://www.pencils.co.uk
our, Crans-Près-Céligny, Switzerland, and Hove, Faber Castell http://www.faber-castell.us
UK: RotoVision. Winsor and Newton http://www.winsornewton.com/
Jacobs, L. (2010), Professional Commercial Photogra-
phy: Techniques and Images from Master Digital libraries and museums
Photographers. Buffalo, NY: Amherst Media.
Jennings, S. (2006), The New Artist’s Manual: The University of London Research Library Services, ‘Using
Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Materials Libraries’ http://www.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/tutorial/
and Techniques, San Francisco: Chronicle Books. libraries/
Kennel, S. (2010), In the Darkroom: An Illustrated Guide British Library http://www.bl.uk/
to Photographic Processes before the Digital Age. Costume Museums in Europe http://www.marquise.de/
New York: Thames & Hudson. en/misc/museums.shtml
Krug, M. M. (2007), An Artist’s Handbook: Materials European Museum Guide http://www.europeanmuse
and Techniques, New York: Abrams Studio. umguide.com
206 visual research methods in fashion

MuseumNet (list of museums in the UK) http://www. tutorials on painting, drawing

museums.co.uk/ and sketching
MuseumsUSA http://www.museumsusa.org/
Derwent Academy http://www.derwentacademy.co.uk/
photography and stock photos Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com/
How to Draw and Paint, ‘Acrylic Painting Section’
Ansel Adams http://www.anseladams.com http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/acrylic-
Corbis Stock Photography http://www.corbisimages. painting.html
com/ Watercolor Painting.com, ‘Watercolor Tutorials’ http://
Ed Burtynsky http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/ www.watercolorpainting.com/watercolor-tutorials.
Getty Images http://www.GettyImages.co.uk htm
chapter 8

web- and technology-based

research tools
Chapter Overview
In this chapter we look at the technological tools and materials that can be used to assist in the
research process. The Internet and digital imaging software have had a profound effect on the
fashion industry, speeding up the research and communication process and offering access
to a vast array of digital resources. It is very easy to be overwhelmed by the resources and
information that are available. This chapter presents some of the most useful resources available
and explains how to use them effectively.
This chapter includes:
• How to use the Internet effectively
• Image search tools
• Using databases
• Image databases
• Multimedia
• Online networking
• Blogging and Twitter
• Interview with Filep Motwary
• Interview with Leon Bailey Green
• Role of computer-aided design in the fashion industry
• Case study: Rose Sinclair
• Copyright
• Interview with Kevin Smith.

how to use the internet effectively the amount of information available, and not all
information is equal. Some is useful; some is
The amount of information on the Internet has ­erroneous. You always need to check your facts
grown by more than 360 per cent over the last with more than one source, and you need a good
­decade, and it is now estimated that almost strategy to evaluate the information that you find.
a quarter of the world’s population is online If you have not already done so, you should read
(http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm). Chapter 1, ‘Strategies for Information Seeking’,
As the use of the Internet has grown, so has for advice on how to plan your research.
208 visual research methods in fashion

It is useful to know a little bit about how search engines that use a combination of the two
the Internet works, as this will help you to use methods, called ‘hybrid’ search engines (http://­
it more effectively. The Internet is a large net- searchenginewatch.com/2168031). Google is
work of ­computers that are connected to each prob­ably the most popular search engine on the
other. Some of these computers contain infor- World Wide Web. It is so popular that it has be-
mation that they share with other computers. come a verb to describe conducting a search: to
These are called servers. The World Wide Web ‘Google’ or ‘Googling’.
is a part of the Internet where graphic-based Most people use search engines to find things
­documents are linked to each other using a because even when they know the Web site’s ad-
system of ­hyperlinks. Every site on the Internet dress, it can be quicker to Google it and click on
­ ddress, or URL (uniform re-
has its own unique a the link than to type in the URL. You should be
source locator). To view these pages we use a aware that most search engines return two types
piece of software called a browser. Browsers in- of links: natural search and paid-for search.
clude Internet ­Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. The Natural search returns links using the search en-
URL or Web address of the site should tell you gine’s own algorithms or page ranking system,
a bit about who they are. The letters that come whereas paid-for search shows sponsored links:
after the dot are a good guide. The ending .org a company has paid to have its site link appear
means the site owner is a not-for-profit organiza- when someone enters a particular keyword.
tion, .com means it is a business, .gov means These sites may be very useful but are usually
it is a government organization, and .edu in the commercial in nature. A typical Google search
US or .ac. in the UK means it is an educational will return a mixture of natural search results and
establishment. sponsored links; the former are usually in the cen-
tral part of the page, while the sponsored links will
Search Tools appear above or to the side of the natural search
Search Engines results. Each search engine has a different way
Perhaps the most important tools on the ­Internet of ranking sites based on their content, popular-
are search engines. Search engines trawl the ity and the number of people linking to that site.
Web cataloguing the information so that we Using this information the search engine decides
can find what we are looking for. They use key- which content is most relevant to the query and
words within the page titles and content to iden- returns the information in that order. This is called
tify what a Web page is about. When you use page ranking. Page ranking is very important to
a search engine, you type in the keywords that commercial companies on the World Wide Web
you are looking for, and it matches them with because most users only look at the first few links
the pages it has found containing those key- that come up.
words. Search engines that use an automated Most search engines offer a powerful set of
system to do this are called ‘crawler-based’. advanced options that can help you to refine the
Some ­directories or search engines are based on results of your search and make them more use-
human input in which people submit information; ful to you. You can usually refine a search to look
these are called ‘human powered’. There are also for a specific type of content such as a video or
web- and technology-based research tools 209

A Google search results page for the keyword fashion. Courtesy of the author.

Project: Using Advanced Search Options

Use the advanced search options on Google to find an image of a dress that was created in the UK within the last year.

an image. You can also filter the results by date, many people do not organize their bookmarks
country, language and so on. Many people do not properly, creating long lists of links instead of
use these really useful functions. placing them in folders, and they do not use the
tagging options. This can result in a large number
Saving Your Searches of random addresses that are difficult to navigate.
Once you have found a useful site, you can add Tools such as Zotero, Delicious and Foxmarks
its address to your bookmarks or favourites list can help you to synchronize your bookmarks
so that you can easily find it again. Unfortunately, and access them from different locations.
210 visual research methods in fashion

Zotero snapshot of them (very useful for sites where the

Created by George Mason University and the content changes regularly). It also allows you to
Centre for History and New Media in the US, download bibliographic information from library
Zotero (http://www.zotero.org) is the ultimate catalogues and Web sites directly into your own
­research tool. It is a plug-in that at the time of writ- library of resources. You can then export the infor-
ing is designed to work on the Firefox browser. mation in a variety of bibliographic formats such as
Zotero allows you to bookmark sites and take a Harvard or APA. It has a cite-as-you-write function

Screenshot of Zotero library. Courtesy of the author.

Screenshot of Delicious page. Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. ©2010 Yahoo! Inc. Delicious and the Delicious
logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.
web- and technology-based research tools 211

that enables you to insert citations ­directly into a is that you can also search for sites that other
Word or OpenOffice document. You can also cre- users have tagged on that topic, and you can
ate shared libraries and synchronize the informa- see how useful the site is from the number of
tion on your computer with the Zotero Web site. other users who have tagged it. You can link your
Shared libraries are excellent for teamwork and Delicious account into your blog or social net-
group projects. working site.
The Zotero button sits at the bottom of your
browser window, and you can open the library by RSS
clicking on it. You can create folders for specific proj- You can use RSS feeds to get updated informa-
ects, and you can create citations for a vast range tion from your favourite Web sites. RSS stands
of media and formats including journal articles, vid- for really simple syndication; this means that you
eos, books, reports, Web pages and so on. don’t have to visit a Web site to get updates, as
the information comes to your feed reader or ag-
Delicious gregator. Bloglovin (http://www.bloglovin.com) is
Delicious (http://delicious.com) is a social book- a good example of an aggregator that brings to-
marking site. You can add bookmarks for your gether updates from all your favourite blogs in one
favourite sites and tag them with keywords that place. If a Web site offers an RSS feed, you can
you can then use to retrieve information on a subscribe to the site, and this can save you a lot
specified topic. The best thing about Delicious of time. Look for the RSS symbol.

An RSS icon. Courtesy of the author.

212 visual research methods in fashion

Screenshot of Wikipedia page on fashion. Courtesy of the author.

Wikipedia pages. Cooliris (http://www.cooliris.com) allows

Quite often the first result for a search will come you to scroll through a three-dimensional wall of
from Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org). Wikipedia is a images. It works with a variety of sites including
free online encyclopaedia that anyone can contrib- Flickr and Google images. You can also search for
ute to. Because anyone can contribute to it, there images on Flickr using attributes such as shape
has been a lot of discussion about the validity of the and colour with a tool called retreivr (http://labs.
information. Some educators even ban their stu- systemone.at/retrievr/). This is very useful if you
dents from using it. It can be a very useful resource are looking for a particular colour for a mood-
if you use it properly; as with any other source of board or colour board.
information, it is a good idea to triangulate and You should note that finding an image with
cross-check the information. Wikipedia pages will one of these search tools does not mean that you
give you the references that were used to compile can use it with impunity. You should always check
the page. This may be a good place to start cross- the copyright of the image and get the appropri-
checking. You could also check information on an ate permissions. There is more information about
academic database or in a printed encyclopaedia copyright at the end of this chapter.
to be certain of its value. Printed encyclopaedias,
journals and so on are usually edited and checked Picasa
by professionals, but that does not make them Picasa is a piece of software that helps you to or-
foolproof. Newspapers often have to print correc- ganize your images, both online and offline. Some
tions and retractions. If the information you need is of the features work only on Windows, but you
important and the facts have to be accurate, you can get a Mac uploader for Picasa Web albums
should try to use a minimum of three sources. (http://picasa.google.co.uk/).

Evernote
image search tools Evernote is an application that works on most
mobile telephones that are capable of connecting
There are now some excellent tools for searching to the Internet. You can create text notes, take
for images instead of downloading lots of individual pictures or make audio memos and then upload
web- and technology-based research tools 213

them to the Web site, where you can search and main types of image databases: those that are
retrieve them. Evernote even allows you to find created for educational and research purposes,
words within images. So if you have a photograph commercial sites and image-sharing sites. Access
of a business card, for example, it will find a name to educational sites will depend on the institution
or address in the image of that card. You can find you are attending as a student and your country
out more at http://www.evernote.com. of residence. Access to commercial sites usually
requires registration, and you will usually have to
pay a fee to use an image. The fee will depend on
using databases how you want to use the image and will vary ac-
cording to the company or institution you are buy-
Most databases operate on keyword, author or ing it from. Usually, you are buying the right to use
title searches, or you may be able to browse al- the image in a particular way: on a Web page, in a
phabetically or according to subject. If the data- book or on a garment. It is important to check the
base offers you a function to store your searches terms and conditions to make sure you have the
or mark your favourite resources, it is a good idea right permissions. Examples of commercial sites
to use it. Saving your searches will save you time, include Corbis (http://www.corbisimages.com)
as you can go back to a search or avoid search- and Getty Images (http://www.gettyimages.com).
ing again using the same keywords. If you can’t Educational databases are very useful because
find what you want straight away, use another they will have all the appropriate reference infor-
keyword. See Chapter 1 for more information on mation and will offer high-resolution images that
search strategies. Some databases offer you ac- you can download and use for educational pur-
cess to the full text of the document if your library poses. Many offer you the opportunity to create
subscribes to that particular publication; other- collections of your favourite images or libraries
wise, it may offer you the abstract or preview of images around a specific theme. Examples of
and citation information along with information educational image databases are VADS (http://
about the publisher or source. You may have to www.vads.ac.uk) in the UK and ARTstor (http://
pay for an article or image if it is not covered by www.artstor.org) in the US. Both of these sites
the subscriptions of your university. Useful data- pull together a range of collections from different
bases that your university might subscribe to in- institutions and allow you to search them.
clude Mintel, Academic Search Elite, Art Full Text, Many museums, art galleries and libraries have
and the Design and Applied Arts Index. There are searchable online image galleries. These include
many more, so check with your librarian. the British Library (http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk),
the British Museum (http://www.­britishmuseum.
org), the Victoria and Albert Museum (http://­
image databases collections.vam.ac.uk) and the Metropolitan
­Museum of Art (http://www.moma.org). Many of
The benefit of using an image database over an these sites allow fair use of the images for edu-
image search is that the images will have been cational noncommercial purposes. Always check
professionally curated and tagged. There are three the terms and conditions on the site.
214 visual research methods in fashion

A third source of images are social sites such Tools for creating multimedia content include
as Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) and Photobucket Flash (animations and interactive Web sites), Final
(http://photobucket.com). Images on these sites Cut Pro (video editing), Fireworks and Dream-
are usually licensed under Creative Commons, a weaver. Many sites offer free tutorials on how to
system that enables the creators to easily make use these tools. Some useful sites include:
their images available for others to use whilst re-
taining the intellectual property rights (IPR). There Adobe.com http://www.adobe.com/­design
are different levels of Creative Commons licences center/tutorials
so check the details before using these images, Tutorialized http://www.tutorialized.com
particularly if you plan to do so in a commercial Vectortuts+ http://vector.tutsplus.com
context (http://creativecommons.org).
If you are a Mac user, then iWeb, iMovie and
GarageBand are excellent tools for creating Web
multimedia sites, video and music tracks or podcasts. You
will find plenty of tutorials on the Apple Web site
Many of the organizations and companies that (http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iphoto-
provide images also have video footage and audio hero).
files in their collections. You can usually search for
them in the same way using key terms, and they
may have a separate area of their Web site for mul- online networking
timedia resources. There are also sites for sharing
video. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) is prob- Throughout this book you will find references to
ably the best known, but there are others such as the importance of networking. Networking online
Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com). There are also sites is a really good way of getting contacts around
such as Academic Earth (http://academicearth. the world with shared interests and finding out
org) where you can access educational videos about new trends, designers, suppliers and so on.
created by professionals from major universities. There are the popular social networking sites such
YouTube used to be full of pop videos and home as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) and My-
movie clips of animals doing silly things; those are Space (http://www.myspace.com), but these are
still there, but it can also be an excellent source for not professional networks. LinkedIn (http://www.
fashion trend information. There are videos of cat- linkedin.com) allows you to connect with people
walk shows and tutorials on how to use software working in the same field and to join groups with
such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. similar interests. IQONS (http://www.iqons.com)
There are also sites where you can access copy- is a specialist site for fashion networking, and
right- and royalty-free music for use in educational Coroflot (http://www.coroflot.com) is an employ-
projects. These include Freeplay Music (http://free ment community for designers. You need to be
playmusic.com) and ccMixter (http://ccmixter.org/). careful about what you post online as employers
You can get information about sharing and licens- are starting to use online profiles as part of their
ing music at http://creativecommons.org/audio/. selection process.
web- and technology-based research tools 215

blogging and twitter project. You can use it to jot down your thoughts,
add links, embed videos, create book lists and
Blogs are fast becoming an essential source of so on.
information for the fashion industry. Well-known The best blogs are impartial because they don’t
bloggers can have more readers and be more in- rely on advertising and are regularly updated. In-
fluential than traditional fashion journalists. Keep- fluential bloggers are well connected and know
ing track of all the blogs you like can be tedious, what is going on in the clubs, shops and fashion
so it is a good idea to use an aggregator like Blo- business in their part of the world. The following
glovin to keep up to date and see which blogs are two interviews are with bloggers who have found
the most popular. A blog can also be an excellent a niche in what is increasingly becoming a very
tool for storing all the research related to a given crowded arena.

Interview with Filep Motwary

Filep is a blogger, illustrator, journalist and designer. He lives in Athens and has a business partner,
Maria, who is a jewellery designer. As well as writing his blog Un Nouveau Ideal (http://unnouveauideal.
typepad.com/), he creates collections, films and illustrations.

What made you decide to start a blog?

I never decided to do that. I do have writing skills but I didn’t really care about literature or any of that
sort of thing, not at least six years ago. Until then I was just a reader. Diane Pernet, an American living
in Paris (she is also a blogger and a very interesting person) gave me the idea that I should blog for her
as a Greek correspondent. I was writing endlessly for her then one day she said ‘Filep I like what you do
but you should start your own blog ’cause you write so much’. So this is how my blog was born; at the
beginning it was a personal journal, which did not really interest people because it was a sort of diary.
I discovered that I didn’t have any identity so I had to create my own voice and instead of revealing
how my day was, I started sharing my personal opinion, which no one asked for before. I put it out
there and my aim was to have original material from the people I feature, instead of ‘Googling’ and
stealing photos or information from the net.
The good thing about blogging was the fact that a lot of people here, that in a way had ignored
me in the past, discovered me again afresh. They realized that I was not what they had in mind; I was
something else.
Because of my time in Paris I had made some good contacts. I can say that I was lucky.
The first interview I did was of Mr Jean Jacques Picard, consultant for some of the most important
brands in the world, including Louis Vuitton. When the second phase of the blog was introduced, I
asked him if he would be interviewed he said yes and I think it was quite shocking for me because he
is very influential in the fashion industry.
He was my first major interview and that led me to the rest of the real professionals in the business
like Christian Lacroix, Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens. There are many names coming in the future
months.
216 visual research methods in fashion

I never sit down to think how the blog is going. I just work on it combined with the rest of my work.
Whether it is clothing, photography or illustrations I am completely devoted to my work.
I am proud that my blog has been chosen as one of the TOP fashion blogs of Europe recently by
Dazed and Confused magazine.

How do you approach people?

In a completely different way from when I started and it also depends on whom I want to interview.
Right now it is much more professional; a clear and formal letter which I send to them is sometimes the
starting point. If they have any questions about who I am, there is always a return on my behalf with a
short bio and links where one can see that I am no time waster or amateur.
These people have no time for nonsense they all have a very tight schedule and they are well known;
they are who they are. One needs to know the story of the interviewee and the background, there has
to be a reason why the interviewer wants to interview someone otherwise there is no motive to do so.
Most of the people I interview are people I admire not someone I heard of. Of course there are some
glints of talent happening every now and then from the young generation and I’m interested in young
people because there is no boundary in what they create. But only some of them deserve a future in
fashion, not all of them. I just interviewed Brett Bailey. A twenty-one-year-old boy who is a stylist; and I
did it because I saw something in his work which reminded something of myself at that age.
Research is very important, the starting point of it all. If you don’t know the history of the person if
you don’t know the history in general or the background of the professional you dream to be, you have
no future. You can’t be a jazz singer if you don’t know Billie Holiday, correct?
This is something I learned during the thirteen years that I have been working in the industry.
It is very important to participate in a conversation with people who have knowledge; it is not sitting
on a chair in the corner and smiling at people. You need to have an opinion if you want to have a part
in fashion, or any other field you want to be part of.

Was there someone whom you have interviewed who surprised you?

All of these people I interviewed because I really like what they do and know what they are doing. I
would say that equally I like them all on the other hand I wish that some of them were more expres-
sive in their answers. At the end of the day an interview happens because someone asks you to share
something more than we already know and to give it out to people, because there are people who want
to dream out there or hope for their own future.

Who would you like to interview?

There are so many people. Now I am trying to get approach Comme des Garcons. There are three
different designers and a seniority of whom you have to interview first and second and third because
this is how the house goes.
I want to do that; it is a big dream for me since CDG have an important chapter in the modern his-
tory of fashion.
Also I want to do Maison Martin Margiela and Givenchy’s Ricardo Tisci. Their work makes my heart
ring like a doorbell and brings tears to my eyes. Such is their poetry.
web- and technology-based research tools 217

What advice would you give to students who want to be in the fashion
industry?

Nowadays young people choose to study fashion without really knowing the reason why. Of course it is
understandable, because if you are very young not everything is precise in your head. I find that young
people have a lack of knowledge these days but also seem not to care about it.
I get a respectful number of emails every day, most of them sent by young designers demanding to
have a place on my blog. But not all young creators deserve to be on the blog or any other blog. Work hard
because nothing is for free! Also it is a matter of approach. Manners can be the key to enter a steel door.
To students I would say that the world has already enough of everything and has already enough of
talent. One needs to become necessary or you will be kicked out (sooner or later).

Are there other bloggers that you admire?

Diane Pernet her blog is called A Shaded View of Fashion, Style Bubble by Susie Bubble; I love Susie.
Do you know how many girls copied her blog? They start their own blog trying to be Susie and I am like
‘there is only one Susie’. The same goes for Diane’s blog. There is only one Shaded Diane.

Do you pay any attention to trends?

No, I don’t care about trends. I only buy magazines to admire people and their works, not to see what
is going on selling-wise. There are some great stylists out there, helping the world to keep on dream-
ing. I think that everything starts from London, everything! Not Paris. Paris is the second step, where
everything becomes really elegant and admirable.
One is so lucky living in London because even to go out in the night you have to dress up. Not just
simply put some make-up on. Dressed up, and in a way attend the competition among other fancy
people in the clubs.

Screenshot of Un Nouveau Ideal (http://unnouveauideal.typepad.com). Courtesy of Filep ­Motwary. Reproduced

with permission.
218 visual research methods in fashion

A network is important factor for one’s success, but before it gets to the network part. You need
to have your own universe, your own vision of things otherwise as I said before, you are unnecessary;
impress me with your presence.

Interview with Leon Bailey Green

Leon’s background is in Web development and online marketing. He worked for the social networking
site OSOYOU and now runs the Online Fashion Agency (http://www.theonlinefashionagency.com) and
organizes the Online Fashion 100 awards.

How did you get into blogging?

I was doing lots of different things and just went round and decided I wanted to talk about the work that I
was doing. I suppose I just wanted to share some of the learning as well. The blog that I’ve got at the mo-
ment has concentrated on fashion since the beginning of this year but prior to that it was a lot about online
marketing generally. I suppose the archive basically follows where I was personally and professionally.

How many visitors do you get?

I’d rather not give exact figures because it’s an industry blog so I look at the results in terms of who
contacts me and what they ask for.

So outcomes are more important than this?

I think if I was looking at a blog that needed commercially to have certain users then that’s where you
look at numbers. I don’t make revenue from the blog, I make revenue if somebody reads it, follows it
and then asks me to consult for them.

Why do you think blogs are important in fashion now?

Blogs are only going to become more important, they’re not going to become less important so the
brands and the designers that get involved now will reap the benefits when blogging becomes even more
mainstream. It really is just the beginning in terms of how popular blogs can be. When brands look at en-
gaging with bloggers now they shouldn’t think ‘if we engage with all these bloggers today then tomorrow
we’re going to be everywhere and everyone’s going to know us’ because that’s not what it’s about. It’s
about engaging with a group of people now so that in a few years’ time when they become even more
popular you are on their radar and as a brand you care about them, you care about their development.

How do you choose what to write?

It’s normally just based on conversations I’ve had with people, events that I go to, people that I speak
to, sometimes if I meet people I’ll write about ‘Oh I met so and so this week and we were talking about
this particular topic’ but the majority is based on project work that I’ve been doing.
web- and technology-based research tools 219

The work you get through the site is that still in the area of search
engine optimization and driving traffic or is it more fashion-related now?

It’s all fashion and it’s quite broad actually. I get some people that just want to bounce ideas. They’ll hire
me just to sit with them for half a day and talk about ideas that they have. They want me to say yes or
no to something they’ve already thought about because I speak to so many people and have absorbed
all this information. It’s just finding the new areas of interest and where the demand is going to be.

What makes a good blog?

Everyone’s doing blogs at the moment. There are students doing this and people who were journal-
ists or online editors that have lost of their jobs because of the recession. They are starting up blogs
and because there are so many the key is to be completely different. We don’t need another blog that
says I’ve bought this moisturizer and it did this, that and the other, or I’ve just seen this photo in this
magazine and this is what I think. No one cares about what the blogger thinks unless you’re a really
good writer; they care about how it might affect them. The key thing is other blogs liking your angle
and talking about you. To be popular you have to know the other bloggers and that means being at
the same places sometimes.

So do you think commenting on other people’s blogs is a good idea or not?

That’s a start but as long as you say something relevant. People know if you’re just commenting to get
a presence out there.

How important are the visuals?

Important but it doesn’t always have to be about what someone’s dressed in or wearing. If you go to
http://www.fashion-stylist.net/, which is Rebekah Roy’s blog it is very visual but it’s not about what she
wears. It’s about things that she’s seen she’s a stylist and it’s a chronicle of her working week. She has
a few freelance guest writers but it’s all very visual. It’s about the people that she’s styled that week,
campaigns that she’s done, how it’s turned out in a magazine.

What do think about company blogs?

If someone is looking at the product on a retail Web site they go to the blog for confirmation of how to
wear that item from a styling point of view. If you imagine that when you go into a store you see things
on mannequins, they’ll put a pair of jeans and a couple of tops together and the store owner is telling
you that this pair of trousers goes with these tops and these shoes and this handbag. The blog is just
the way of doing that online. It looks like product placement because it’s just their stuff in one outfit but
it’s only the same thing that you would see in a shop because they’re merchandising it all together.
What I think we’re going to see more of are retail blogs where they put together stuff that’s available
elsewhere on the Web. Rather than saying you have to style it with our items they’ll give the user what’s
best for them. So, if another retailer has a better black top that goes with a pair of jeans they’ll put that
top on there instead but it’ll be a while before that mentality kind of kicks in.
220 visual research methods in fashion

Online Fashion 100 (2009): Cover of the e-book. Courtesy of Leon Bailey Green.

Where do you see the future of blogging where can it all go?

It needs to become more mainstream because at the moment fashion people in the industry and
people who are really into fashion read blogs. This is why most of the fashion blogs are about the
high-end and designer outlets. What we need a bit more of is the high street. A good example of that
is a blog called Shoegalfi (http://shoegalfi.blogspot.com/) she’s called Shoe Gal she just photographs
herself on her landing every morning and everything she wears is high street it’s always stuff from New
Look, Primark or Dorothy Perkins. It’s more towards the high street end and we need more blogs like
that. If you find a good blog bookmark it and keep coming back in the same way that when you find a
magazine you like you buy it again the next week.

Tell me about the online 100 what’s that about?

That was as a result of working as a consultant in the industry. I thought it would be good to
put together the people that are doing different things to grow the online retail fashion industry.
web- and technology-based research tools 221

(See http://www2008.leonbaileygreen.com/index.php/site/permalink/online_fashion_100_event_
sponsored_by_fashshotcom_part_4/ )
There’s kind of an attachment between the bloggers, then store owners and the affiliate networks.
The affiliate networks are where revenue goes from the publisher to a retailer because publishing and
retailing are moving together. So you’ve got newspapers that are creating their own online shops
where they get say 10 per cent of the sale that goes through. Within retailing you’ve got retailers doing
publishing where they’re writing their own blogs so the two things are coming together. There’s a bit of
a disconnection between bloggers and people from the technical side, people who are making these
Web sites. I thought there needed to be a good way of saying here are a collection of people doing
completely different things but everything that they are doing has the same sort of aim. The event was
to get everyone together and to give out an award; Schway (http://www.schway.net/) and Fashshot.
com sponsored it.

What advice would you give to fashion students?

If I were a fashion student starting out I would find people who I thought were inspirational and just
work day and night for them. If you’ve got something that you think you want to specialize in, then just
find that someone who you think is doing it really well, follow them and absorb as much information
as possible. You have just got to get in there, it’s your business to understand what they’re trying to
achieve and think about things that can help that rather than just waiting to be told what to do. I’ve
been in a couple of situations where the people that showed the initiative they end up with the role. I
know that’s probably the simplest piece of advice but it’s just how it is.

Twitter Mobile Phones

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) is a way of com- Mobile phones are becoming increasingly im-
municating in real time by using short text mes- portant as research tools; the invention of the
sages up to 140 characters that can be received iPhone and the success of the App Store have
by the people who have decided to follow your up- created a whole new way of working away from
dates. It was devised as a social networking tool the desk. Most phones now have cameras and
but is also being used by companies for market- can play and record video; they can also connect
ing and for tracking what people are saying about to the ­Internet and store and play audio record-
them in their tweets. You can download widgets ings. There are some excellent applications for the
and applications from the Twitter site so that you ­iPhone like the Pantone app, which allows you to
can send updates from your mobile phone or have take a photograph and extract a colour palette
it sitting on the desktop of your computer. It can that you can then save or email. You can down-
be a useful research tool because you can see load documents onto your phone, and there are
who influential people are following. You can also also augmented-reality applications that ­enable
use hash tags # to follow specific topics, and you you to get context-specific information about
can see trends in the subjects people are tweeting your surroundings if your phone has GPS. Mobile
about. phones are now really miniature computers, and
222 visual research methods in fashion

Screenshot from author’s Twitter page.

they can be an effective investment. You could, sales. Data for many of these operations are stored
for example, interview someone at a fashion event and shared online and can be updated in real time
and record it as an audio or video file, then use a using sophisticated Web-based applications. A
mobile blogging tool to upload it to your blog or computer can handle almost every aspect of the
social networking site. You can snap interesting design and development process. However, there
people on the street, shop windows, landscapes, is still a need for traditional processes and an un-
interesting textures and so on. Because we tend derstanding of how these processes work manu-
to carry our mobile phones with us at all times, ally before you start to work on a computer. If you
the phone is perhaps the most effective tool you don’t understand how a pattern works or what
can have. elements are required for a good photograph or
presentation, then using a computer will not en-
sure a good outcome: it is a tool, and it still needs
role of computer-aided design a skilled operator.
in the fashion industry Many companies develop and produce soft-
ware for the fashion industry. Some of the key
Much of the fashion industry is now computerized: providers include Lectra, Gerber, Assyst and
news, communication, production, marketing and Speed Step, but there are many others, so if
web- and technology-based research tools 223

you are thinking of investing in a system, it is a systems are Web-based, they are extremely use-
good idea to do lots of research. Talk to people ful when you are dealing with offshore production.
in the industry about the systems they use; if Different levels of access can be set, so that users
you are a freelancer, find out if your clients have can access only the information they need and
any preferences. In most cases, however, it is can change information only when they have the
now possible to swap files between different permissions to do so.
systems.
Pattern Cutting and Marker Making
Product Data Management and Product Many companies now digitize their basic patterns
­Lifestyle Management and blocks so that alterations and modifications
Product data management (PDM) and product can be done in a pattern-cutting package. This
lifestyle management (PLM) software enables saves time, reduces duplication of effort and en-
­everyone in the production process to track ables the easy recall and updating of styles. The
the development of a product in real time. This pattern can be checked for accuracy, then taken
­improves communication, speeds up the produc- into a lay-planning package where the best pos-
tion process and reduces errors. Because the sible lay plan and costing can be created.

Range plan created using Kaledo Style by Lectra. Courtesy of Lectra. Reproduced with permission.
224 visual research methods in fashion

Computer-Aided Design Programmes Specialist programmes are available for fash-

for ­Design Development ion design development, textile print design and
Many students and companies use generic soft- knit and weave. These include the Kaledo suite
ware such as CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator and of products from Lectra, Fashion Studio by Ger-
Photoshop to draw and develop their design ber and a suite of tools by Speed Step. There are
ideas. Whilst these programmes are success- advantages to both generic and specialist pack-
fully used by a lot of fashion and textile designers, ages; fashion students should be aware of what
they were not specifically created for this purpose. specialist software has to offer.

Case Study: Rose Sinclair

Rose Sinclair is an experienced user of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufac-
ture (CAM) and is heavily involved in introducing CAD into the curriculum in UK secondary schools,
through the CAD/CAM Initiative, a programme supported by the Design and Technology Association
(DATA) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Here, she explains why she
thinks it is important that students are able to use specialist as well as generic software.

Textile designs produced using Speed Step ProPainter®. Courtesy of Speed Step. Reproduced with permission.
web- and technology-based research tools 225

Specialist software speaks your design ­language; if I want to do a repeat pattern, I click on the
repeat icon. If I want to create a weave I click on a weave icon. I really can’t do that in a generic
CAD programme unless I have spent money buying all the additional add-ons and tripling the
price of my initial ­investment in the software. Then you have got to learn them all. It is not just
learning to use the software you have got to learn all of the add-ons as well.
Specialist software does the job quicker ­because it is designed specifically for fashion and
textiles. In generic software there isn’t a repeat pattern icon, there is a tile icon but a tile and a
repeat are not the same thing. It does not work as you would as a textile designer. In specialist
software I can apply a simulated knit finish with the fabric simulation icon, or even design the pat-
tern in an actual knitted stitch. In generic software I would have to scan my design in greyscale,
put my design in a layer, add my knit in another layer then merge them together. That is why the
students get so frustrated when they are introduced to software that is very graphics-orientated.
To simulate a weave I can put in my colours for the warp and the weft then I have 800 weaves to
choose from and I can just click and see it instantly. You could never do it that quickly in generic
design software.

In practice many designers will use both generic and specialist software, and a good specialist
programme will allow you to import files from the popular generic programmes that are available. Most
generic programmes will also allow you to export files in a variety of common formats.

copyright Protecting Your Copyright

If you create a design or a photograph, you au-
Throughout this book we have touched upon the tomatically own the copyright; if others want
issue of copyright. This is an extremely important to use your work, they need your permission.
topic in fashion from two perspectives. First, you Copyright applies only to objects that have a
need to protect your intellectual property rights for material form, whether physical or digital. You
your own creations, and second, you need to en- cannot copyright an idea for a design—you have
sure that you do not breach the rights of others. In to have actually produced it in some form. You
an industry that relies upon the exchange and rein- have copyright only for original works that you
terpretation of ideas, this can be very challenging. have created. Copyright can be sold or given
The advice offered in this section is not in- away, however, so even if someone owns a
tended to be legal opinion, and if you have a photograph, he or she may not own the copy-
copyright problem, it is always best to seek expert right. Copyright covers literary works, dramatic
legal advice. A lot of copyright legislation has not performances, broadcasts, artistic works, films,
kept pace with technology, and there are many music, typographic works and sound record-
grey areas around the use of digital imagery that ings. The duration of copyright is also very
have not been tested in court. Different laws apply complex depending upon the type of work and
in different parts of the world, so you will need to the country in which it was produced. In the
check what applies in your country. UK, for example, a photograph produced after
226 visual research methods in fashion

1986 is covered for the life of the photographer property rights is to use Creative Commons. With
plus seventy years (JISC). An excellent guide Creative Commons you can define the rights to
regarding misconceptions about copyright is use your work, from all rights reserved to no rights
available at http://www.templetons.com/brad/ reserved or some rights ­reserved, and they work
copymyths.html. globally. To find out more about the system, visit
Depending upon what someone wants to http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc.
do with your work, you may or may not want There are links to Web sites with more information
to charge him or her for using it. If you intend to about protecting your intellectual property rights
publish your work on a Web site or image-sharing in the references at the end of this chapter.
platform, it is a good idea to make sure that the In education, the whole area of copyright is so
terms and conditions clearly state how the work complex that some universities hire specialists to
can be used and by whom. An easy way of shar- advise their staff and students. Kevin Smith is such
ing your work whilst still retaining your intellectual an expert working at Duke University in the US.

Interview with Kevin Smith

Kevin is the scholarly communications officer at Duke University. He is a librarian and a lawyer and went
to law school in order to deal with intellectual property issues in higher education.

What do you do in your current role?

Probably 60 per cent of my job is consulting with faculty administrators and students quite often on
copyright issues. The other part of my job is to help encourage management of copyright when faculty
and students publish work, to encourage digital techniques for distributing research scholarship, and
to help with licensing issues.

What advice do you give students about using images?

In the US there are two specific provisions of our law that would be applicable to students using im-
ages as well as most other things in their work. First is what we call the Teach Act or Section 110(2)
of our Copyright Act. This was a provision added to make digital transmission of classroom material
possible. It was originally envisioned to assist distance education but really applies most often to hybrid
classes or things that are done in Blackboard or other course-management systems. The Teach Act,
which would allow a substantial amount of images to be used in a digital course, is obviously restricted
to nonprofit educational institutions. Once a student left a university or school they would no longer
have the advantage of using the Teach Act. That is a major difference for US students versus the rest
of the world.
The other provision is fair use, which in the US version is very flexible but difficult to define. It is
extremely important as well; we rely on it all the time. A student would be able to use fair use both in
an educational setting and later in other settings but the argument would change. Fair use is always
very fact-specific and depends on the specific circumstances of the use. The first and one of the most
important factors in the fair-use analysis is what is the nature of the use being contemplated? In an
web- and technology-based research tools 227

educational setting we always have the advantage of saying it is education and education is something
that is favoured in a fair-use analysis. Once a student leaves the educational institution they no longer
have that advantage so it becomes much more important that they look at all four of the fair-use as-
pects, especially if it is a commercial use. It is much more likely that the now-former student will have
to seek permission from the copyright holder.
US law also has a specific provision that says that any kind of display or performance that takes
place in a face-to-face classroom is authorized; it is a specific exception to the performance and dis-
play rights in US law for face-to-face teaching. When we go online things get more difficult.
More and more we find that students and their instructors want to put student work online to
showcase the fine work that our students do. We always have to address a couple of intellectual
property issues, one is the material that is owned by some third party that the student has incorpo-
rated into their own work. If the student work then goes on the Web, the Teach Act no longer ap-
plies and the fair-use argument is more difficult to make. The other issue we need to consider is the
students’ own intellectual property rights in their work. We discourage faculty from putting student
work online without permission from the students. It is important to respect the students’ rights in
their own work.
When a student has incorporated images by some third party into her work, for example, and then
she wants to put it online, the incorporation of those images into the student works is likely to be fair
use. There are four factors that are balanced when we consider fair use:

• Nature of the use

• Character of the use and the nature of the copyrighted material
• The impact on the market
• The amount used.

Impact on market is extremely important and sometimes courts have said it is the most important
factor. When a student uses someone else’s work in their own work just to hand in to class it is very
hard to say it has an impact on the market. When they then put their work on the Web, on the other
hand, so that somebody who finds their work might be able to download the images that they have
incorporated, then it is much more likely that there will be a negative impact on the market for the
original. For that reason the fair-use argument is much more difficult, and we need to look at those
situations very carefully. We have encountered situations where we have decided to remove images
or video clips from the online version so it is only the student’s own work and not the other material.
Sometimes that really harms the impact of the work but we feel we need to do it in many cases be-
cause of the copyright issues.

How long does copyright last for?

Copyright lasts a very long time; it lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years in the US and UK.
The international agreements known as the Berne Convention and the TRIPs (Trade-related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights) treaty through the World Trade Organization have required a minimum
length of copyright protection of the life of the author plus fifty years. There are a few countries that
228 visual research methods in fashion

are still at that minimum, but many have gone to life plus seventy. There are even some countries
where the term of protection is life of the author plus seventy-five years and, in one case, life plus one
hundred years.
There are other kinds of rights that if you don’t enforce you lose them. If I let someone trespass
on my property everyday over and over eventually a court is going to say I no longer have the right to
throw him or her out. That is not true with copyright; it does not fade or go away over time, until the
point at which its term expires. You don’t have to know that you are infringing copyright or intend to
infringe copyright to be found liable for infringing copyright; we call it a strict liability tort. Even material
that is very old may still be subject to copyright protection; for example, in the US many things that
were published after 1922 are likely to be still protected.
The most important thing I advise students and others to look for when searching for images to
use, especially when searching on the Web, is to look for material that is already available for them to
use. I encourage them to do searches on Creative Commons licensed material because the Creative
Commons licences usually allow for noncommercial use as long as attribution is given to the creator. In
those situations the students are free to use the material; the attribution requirement should not bother
them because that is good scholarly practice anyway. Also our institutions subscribe to databases of
images like ARTstor that are licensed already for students to use in certain ways. So finding something
that is licensed and using it in accordance with that licence ensures that you will not have any copyright
issues to worry about.
The second step would be to look at fair use. There the most important thing is to think about how
the student’s use might interfere with the original market for the copyrighted material and avoid that.
In the US the best way to do that is to use third-party copyrighted material in a way that transforms
it. That has become the key word in court analysis; transformative uses are things like mash-ups,
uses that are critical of the sources or comment on the sources, or parody. These kinds of uses are
favoured in the fair-use analysis because the courts say that they serve a social purpose, and that they
don’t compete in the market with the original.
There is a famous case in our Supreme Court around the Roy Orbison song ‘Oh, Pretty Woman.’
A parody was made by the rap group called 2 Live Crew that used most of the lyrics and all of
the tune. It is fairly crude but it parodies the image of feminine beauty in the original song. The
Supreme Court said it was a fair use largely because no one buying a CD of Roy Orbison songs
would find the parody version and say ‘oh well, that is just as good I will buy that instead.’ When
we transform a work there is not this sense of market substitution and that is very important to
consider. We want to encourage students who are using third-party copyrighted material to be as
creative as possible and to use works in a way that is transformative. That really strengthens their
fair-use argument.
Fair use in the US is maddening in a lot of ways because you can never be certain that something
is or is not a fair use until you get sued and the judge tells you it was. But it does encourage creativity
and innovation.
The nice thing is that, at least in theory, fair use is format neutral and technology neutral; when it
applies, it applies regardless of the nature of the format of the original work.
There are what we call moral rights, which usually include at least the right of attribution. That is
the right of the creator to have his or her name associated with the work. There is also often a right of
web- and technology-based research tools 229

integrity, which is a right is to have the work not changed in a way that is derogatory of the reputation
of the creator. These moral rights are recognized in most countries around the world, in the UK and
every European country that I am aware of, but they are not formally recognized in the US except in
a very limited case. We have never had moral rights. When we joined the International Convention in
1989 we argued that in most cases our other laws, trademark laws for example, were sufficient to
protect moral rights. The only place our copyright laws give the right of attribution and integrity is in
certain visual arts, artists that make works of visual art in less than a certain amount. I think if there are
more than 200 copies the moral rights don’t apply, so it is really only artists with very limited runs who
get this extra protection.
In the rest of world it is extremely important to protect attribution and the integrity of the work. These
moral rights often cannot be transferred so that if an artist transfers the copyright, the economic right in
their work, in France for example they still retain the moral right to enforce attribution and integrity. That
means that the transformative argument that I was talking about that works very well for fair use here
in the US might not translate very well into other countries because when you make a transformative
use you may be compromising the integrity of the original.
In the US we have a very strong free speech tradition and we have built into our law that parody is
one of the privileged fair uses. In other countries, where integrity of the work is considered to be more
important and where they have a much stronger sense that creative works are an expression of the
personality of the artist, it would be much harder to make that argument.
The Internet, of course, does not stop at international borders. The international agreements basi-
cally say that every country affords what is called national treatment. That means that a UK creator
gets in the US the same protection as an American creator does and in the UK an American creator
gets the same protection as a UK creator does. If an American student uses work of an UK artist for
example in the US and puts it on servers in the US the law that would likely apply would be US law.
Then there would be a fair-use defence available. But if it were on a UK server the transformative-use
defence would probably not be available; the UK courts would apply the fair-dealing provisions, educa-
tional exceptions that are narrower than fair use. So the transformative-use exception would probably
stop at our borders.
It is well recognized that quoting two or three sentences from a published book is fair use; nobody
even bothers to sue over it anymore. It is a very small piece of a much larger work and the use is usu-
ally transformative. The fair-use argument is much stronger when you are talking about two or three
sentences from a 400-page book than when you are talking about the whole work. The difficulty with
images is that you usually have to use the whole work. If you are going to use a photograph or graphic
work you are usually going to use the entire work. This will often count against fair use, but US courts
have recognized that this has to be evaluated in terms of reasonableness as to the purpose of the use.
You have to be very careful. The best advice is to contact the copyright holder and get permission
when there is any doubt.
It is not my role to give legal advice but to provide basic information on education fair use. It is im-
portant that students and faculty make the decision for themselves and understand why they made it.
This is especially true in a commercial situation, where they need to document the decision and have a
sound basis that is honest, objective and reasonable. It is easier and less expensive to get the permis-
sion and pay for the licence than it is to defend a lawsuit later.
230 visual research methods in fashion

Project: Searching Creative Commons

Visit the Creative Commons Web site (http://search.creativecommons.org). You will see a range of tabs. Select the one that
has the Flickr logo, and enter a keyword in the search box at the top of the page, then press go. Click on an image to go to
its page on the Flickr Web site. Scroll down to the Additional Information section and check what permissions the creator has
applied to the image. Clicking on the rights information will take you to the Creative Commons license details.

Summary
In this chapter we have discovered a range of tools and resources that can assist us in the
process of visual research. Computers and information technology have had a strong impact on
all aspects of the fashion industry. The introduction of Web 2.0 technologies has democratized
the flow of information, and CAD technologies have speeded up the design development process
and improved communication between designers and manufacturers. Whilst these advances in
technology offer opportunities, they also create challenges. How do you keep up with the flow of
information and not be overwhelmed? How do you evaluate the information available and ensure
that you protect your own copyright and do not breach the copyright of others? Fortunately,
some excellent tools are available to help us to meet these challenges. The next chapter focuses
on how to ensure that you present your research effectively.

references and further reading Burke, S. (2006), Fashion Computing—Design Tech-

niques and CAD, n.p.: Burke.
Alvarado, J. (2007), Computer Aided Design Using Burrows, T. (2008), Blogs, Wikis, MySpace, and More:
Gerber Technology, ill. ed., New York: Fairchild Everything You Want to Know about Using Web
Books. 2.0 but Are Afraid to Ask, 1st ed., Chicago: Review
Armstrong, J., Armstrong, W., and Ivas, L. (2005), From Press.
Pencil to Pen Tool: Understanding and Creat- Hay, D. (2009), A Survival Guide to Social Media and
ing the Digital Fashion Image, ill. ed., New York: Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and
Fairchild Books. Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web, n.p.: Pap/
Belew, R. K. (2008), Finding Out About: A Cognitive Cdr. Dalton.
Perspective on Search Engine Technology and the Pedley, P. (2008), Copyright Compliance: Practical
WWW, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Steps to Stay within the Law, London: Facet.
Black, C. (2008), Modaris, Diamino and JustPrint for Sauers, M. P. (2009), Searching 2.0, London: Facet.
Apparel Design, 1st ed., New York: Fairchild. Stern, S., and Association of Illustrators (Great Britain)
Bradley, P. (2004), The Advanced Internet Searcher’s (2008), The Illustrator’s Guide to Law and Busi-
Handbook, 3rd ed., London: Facet. ness Practice, London: Association of Illustrators.
web- and technology-based research tools 231

websites Lectra http://www.lectra.com/

Mintel http://www.mintel.com/
Bitlaw, ‘Copyright Law in the United States’ http://www. Own It (UK) http://www.own-it.org/
bitlaw.com/copyright/ Speed Step http://www.speedstep-schools.com/
Freedigitalphoto http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ UK Copyright Service, ‘International Copyright Law—
Gerber http://www.gerbertechnology.com/ the Berne Convention’ http://www.copyrightser
Intellectual Property Office (UK) http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ vice.co.uk/copyright/p08_berne_convention_
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), ‘Copyright US Copyright Office, ‘Copyright Law of the United
and Digital Images’ http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac. States’ http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
uk/stillimages/advice/copyright-and-digital- Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu
images/_
chapter 9

visual research for presentation

Chapter Overview
Effective presentation is an essential skill in the fashion industry. Whether you are developing a
paper-based portfolio, a Web site or a PowerPoint presentation for a client, you need to present
ideas in the best possible light and the most effective form. This chapter presents ideas for how
to research presentation techniques, where to find inspiration for layout design and what tools to
use to enhance presentation of a wide range of work in traditional and electronic formats.
The chapter includes:
• Sources for inspiration
• Presenting your ideas as printed media
• The portfolio
• Interview with Julia Dorff
• Interview with Shenlei Winkler
• Other forms of presentation
• Exhibitions
• Case study: Claire Baker
• Case study: Rene De Lange
• Case study: Tiffany Ong
• Catwalk or runway shows
• Giving a verbal presentation
• Software for fashion presentation
• Case study: Ayako Machida
• Case study: Philippa Waite
• Specialist software for fashion and textile design
• Interview with Sjef van Dongen.

sources for inspiration fashion industry will at some time have to present
their work, whether in a portfolio, in person or via
Good ideas for presentations require a constant the Web. Looking at how the professionals do it
supply of inspiration. Most people working in the can help you to improve your own presentation
234 visual research methods in fashion

skills. There are many places you can look for is presented and text and images are used,
this inspiration: books, magazines, the Internet, you can learn a lot about what does and does
museums, archives and other people’s presenta- not work. Graphic design is all around us: it is
tions, both good and bad. on posters and the side of buses, on the cov-
By looking at magazines, books and Web ers of books, on the television, in the cinema, in
sites and analysing the way in which content our daily newspapers, on flyers and pamphlets

Singer sewing machines advertisement poster with the name of

the Singer sewing machine company in a giant red Cyrillic letter
3 ­(reflecting the German pronunciation of ‘Singer’), Russia, 1900s.
Courtesy of Wikimedia.
visual research for presentation 235

and on the packaging of the food we eat and A couple of good starting points to learn more
the cosmetics and household products we buy. about graphic design and typography are
By examining how brands use graphics, you can
learn a lot about how to sell your message and Digital Web Magazine http://www.digital-
develop and promote your own brand. To under- web.com/articles/elements_of_design/
stand how graphics work, we need to start notic- Typographica http://typographica.org/
ing them, analysing them and thinking about our History of Graphic Design http://www.design-
responses to them. history.org/.
Graphic styles change over time, so doing
some historical research is a good idea. How have
Illustrators are also often very good at lay-
advertisements changed over the last fifty years?
out and presentation, so looking at some il-
If you wanted to convey a retro feel in your site or
lustration Web sites (both fashion-specific and
design, what kind of typography would you use?
generic sites) can be a good starting point for
If you use bright, bold colours, what mood does
ideas for laying out your pages or making your
this convey?
figures look more dynamic. Some useful sites
The message or mood may change from proj-
include:
ect to project or be dictated by the client or the
brief you are working on. By looking at how other
designers have utilized colour, layout and typog- Fashion Illustration Gallery http://www.­
raphy, you can begin to understand how to use fashionillustrationgallery.com
these elements to develop different moods and Folioplanet http://www.folioplanet.com/
messages. For inspiration on layout design and Illustration/Fashion/
how to use images and text together, start by
looking at how professional graphic designers lay Folioplanet covers many types of illustrations
out their work. You can find many books and Web and also categorizes the illustrations by themes
sites that cover packaging, book design, Web such as retro and whimsical, which can be quite
design, advertising and typographic design. useful.

Project: Analysing a Magazine

Find a current magazine—something that deals with fashion—and start to analyse its style. Does it use a lot of colours in
the text? How are the pages laid out? What relationship do facing pages have to each other? How many typefaces are
used within an individual article and the magazine as a whole? How much white space is there? How does the font relate
to the content? How do they use scale, alignment and perspective?
Now find an online version of a fashion magazine. How does this differ from the printed version? Which has the stronger
impact?
236 visual research methods in fashion

presenting your ideas as to have one you can use. High street print shops
printed media such as Kall Kwik have both inkjet and colour
laser printers, but remember that these printers
The introduction of digital printing has had a mas- can be restricted in paper sizes, normally to A4
sive impact on how we can present work. It is now and A3 (but some may be able to print up to A2
possible to use an infinite number of colours and or bigger on large-scale printers). Commercial
to integrate text and images in ways that would printing, whether lithographic or digital, will give
not have been possible without desktop publish- you the best-quality results. However, if you are
ing. However, just possessing a copy of Adobe In- using desktop colour inkjet or colour laser printing
Design or QuarkXPress does not guarantee good you will get better results by using the specialist
results; in fact, it can often lead to over-­designing papers marketed for the purpose by the printers’
and over-complex results. Also, a project some- manufactures (Epson, HP, Canon etc.) to suit dif-
times calls for a hand-finished feel or the addi- ferent printed results.
tion of textures and embellishments. When you If you are using a standard commercial print
are giving a presentation, you want people to be process, you should use CMYK colour because
able to clearly see your ideas. There are some the printer will not recognize RGB. You should
guidelines you can follow to make this easier. The note that CMYK colours tend to be more muted
following advice is based upon an interview with than RGB, because of the process by which the
Richard Doust. Richard is a graphic designer who colours are laid down. You can produce digital
lectures at the Royal College of Art in London; he prints in RGB if you are using a photo or inkjet
is also co-author of New Media Design (Laurence printer. Some inkjet printers use special and extra
King, London, 2007). colours, so read the advice provided by manufac-
turer. There are some differences in how you will
The Difference between Digital set up your document depending upon how you
and T
­ raditional Printing are going to print it.
There are two main methods for commercially pro-
ducing print media. The first is lithographic print- Resolution
ing where a plate is produced for each colour and Printing requires your image to be at a higher
printed using ink. The second uses digital printers resolution than for viewing on screen. For black-
such as inkjet and laser printers. In terms of cost, and-white laser printing, the minimum resolution
if you are printing fewer than 500 copies, digital is 85 dpi (dots per inch), and 150 dpi is good.
printing can be more economical. If you are pro- For inkjet and colour laser printing, the minimum
ducing upwards of 500 copies, then lithographic is 150 dpi, and 240 dpi will give you better-quality
printing is usually more economical. images. There is no point in going higher than
Within digital printing there are three main types 240 dpi because the printer may not be able to
of printers: inkjet, colour laser and commercial interpret the information. If you are using a pro-
digital printers such as Indigo. Inkjet printers are fessional commercial printer, it usually requires an
easier to access and use; you may already have image of 300–400 dpi. For colour, the minimum is
one yourself, and your college is almost certain 300 dpi, and for black and white, 250 dpi.
visual research for presentation 237

It is important to think about resolution when make your life easier and your work more eco-
you are preparing your images. If you are shooting nomical to produce. The type of paper you use
an image with a digital camera at eight megapix- is very important. For best results from an ink jet
els, the resulting file size can be very large. You can printer, use specialist papers recommended by
change the file size and achieve a high resolution the printer manufacturer for high-quality prints.
by adjusting the image in photo editing software Most of these are coated on one side only,
like Photoshop. To change the image resolution but some are two-sided. The accuracy of non-
upwards—from 72 dpi to 300 dpi—in Photoshop, commercial ink jet printers is usually not good
for example, select Image Size, un-tick the Resam­ enough for printing both sides of the same sheet
ple Image box, and enter the dpi number you of paper (except for some laser printers that have
require (300). This will reduce the dimensions of a ‘duplex’ function). If you are using a special
the original image but increase the resolution; the paper and a laser printer you need to make sure
file size will stay the same. Then you can reduce that the toner adheres to the paper properly. In
the Document Size if it is still too large. Be careful commercial printing, if the paper is too light, the
not to reduce the file’s dimensions before chang- printing from one side will show through on the
ing the resolution as this will result in a pixelated other.
image when printed. There are several main types of paper that you
Try to retain as much image data as possible will come across when printing. Laid paper is like
for as long as possible. If you are scanning an writing paper: when you hold it up to the light, it
image, saving it as a TIFF will help you get the has lines in it which are formed by the way the
best result. Keep your image in TIFF format until paper is made. Laid papers are normally used for
you are sure you have made all your adjustments letter heads and quality brochures, but laid paper
and then save it in the required format, e.g. JPEG can be problematic when used with a laser printer,
or PNG. Most digital cameras will record in JPEG as the toner does not always adhere properly.
format; this is not a problem and will give you Wove paper is made on a mesh, and you can’t
good-quality results when printed, but converting see a pattern when you hold it up to the light.
from a JPEG to a TIFF will cause a deterioration Wove papers are more commonly used for print
of your image. Some digital cameras also record work. In commercial printing, the surface of the
in RAW format. This holds the greatest amount of paper can be uncoated (like drawing cartridge),
colour information, but you will need some spe- coated, normally smooth (matt or semimatt) and
cialist knowledge to make the best use of this gloss, often referred to as ‘art paper’. Commercial
format. It is also a good idea to keep your image coated and glossy papers may not be suitable for
in RGB mode until the last minute and then save ink jet or laser printers. You should always check
it to CMYK if you need to, for example, for most that the paper you are using (other than those rec-
commercial printing. ommended) is suitable for ink jet or laser printers.
If you want to print onto film, it is most important
Paper Size and Quality check that it is ‘laser safe’ as ordinary film material
The most common paper sizes for printers are will melt in the printer. Some special inkjet films are
A4 and A3. Working to these standard sizes will also available.
238 visual research methods in fashion

File Formats It is usual to leave a slightly larger margin at the

Whether you produce your document in Word, foot and inside, or spine, edge of the page than
InDesign, Quark or Illustrator, it is best to create at the head and outside. Cheaper books tend to
your final document as a PDF. Some commercial user smaller, more compact text and narrower
printers insist on this format. The advantages of margins to save on printing costs. If you want your
a PDF are that it is smaller and prints faster. Also, book or brochure to look more expensive, then
you can ensure that your layout and fonts will be you should leave more generous margins.
exactly as you planned them. If you make a PDF
in Adobe Acrobat, you will be able to select ‘Press Orphans, Widows and Hyphens
Quality’ for professional printers and ‘High Quality When you are laying out your document there
Print’ for inkjet and laser printers; these settings are some things you want to avoid. Widows are
will save your file at the right resolution. words that end up on a line by themselves at
the end of a paragraph. You can usually fix this
Borders and Margins by changing the text slightly to make the para-
The top of the page is referred to as the head; graph or a sentence shorter or longer. When
the outside edge of the page is the fore-edge; the going from one page to another, try not to end
inside edge, next to the spine, is the gutter; and a paragraph on the top line of a page and try
the bottom of the page is known as the foot. Nor- not to start a paragraph on the bottom line of
mally, you cannot print right to the edge of the a page; sentences like this are called orphans.
paper because most inkjet and laser printers have Avoid hyphenation of words wherever possible
a border that will not print, but some printers can unless the word is one that is supposed to be
do borderless printing. As a rule, if you are able to hyphenated.
print borderless or on oversize paper, you should
allow an extra three millimetres on each side, ex- Fonts and Typefaces
cept for the binding edge of the sheet if your doc- The font or typeface that you select for your text
ument is to be bound, or if an image is the size of is extremely important. The main aim is to en-
the page on all sides. This three-millimetre ‘bleed’ sure that your audience can easily read your text.
is a margin for error, because when the paper is There are two main categories of fonts: serif and
cut on the guillotine every printed sheet will not sans serif. A serif is the little tick-like shape on the
necessarily be in exactly the same place. Even end of a character, as in Times and Georgia. Sans
if you are carefully trimming pages by hand, you serif fonts like Helvetica and Arial can be easier to
should allow a ‘bleed’ because otherwise white read than serif fonts such as Times New Roman
edges can result. If you are printing and binding a and Georgia. You can see examples of these
book of more than thirty-two pages, you can get fonts below:
something called creep where the centre pages
are pushed outwards. You may need to compen- Helvetica
sate for this in your design. Commercial printers Arial
usually provide this information or have computer Times New Roman
software that makes the necessary adjustments. Georgia
visual research for presentation 239

Fancy and stylized fonts should be used with black, can be very difficult for people with dys-
care and not for large portions of text. They can lexia, whereas a soft, muted background colour
be effective, but you also need to ensure that they can work better. Putting text and a background
are relevant to the content. Don’t forget that pre- with similar tonal values together will make your
sentation is about communication. If your work is text difficult to read because there won’t be suf-
difficult to read, people may not bother. Examples ficient contrast.
of some fancy fonts that should be used with care
are given here: Laying Out Your Text
White space is as important as printed space,
Stencil we read the white spaces as much as the
Lucida Handwriting text.
Haettenschweiler
—Richard Doust
If you are communicating electronically, it is im-
portant to know that not all computers can deal The spacing between lines of text and the
with all fonts. You may need to use a format like way the text is aligned on the page can also add
PDF where you can embed the font to make sure to its readability and improve the clarity of your
that you get the result you want. There are some message. Unless you are a very experienced ty-
standard fonts that you can reasonably expect pographer, it is better to select one style of align-
most computers to be able to deal with. Verdana, ment and not mix centred and left-aligned text.
Helvetica and Arial are basic sans serif fonts, and Captions are better ranged left than ranged right,
Times New Roman and Georgia are generic serif and large sections of text are usually best pre-
fonts. sented as ranged left with a ragged right-hand
The general rule with typefaces or fonts is the side.
fewer the better. Richard recommends using ‘no For maximum readability a line of text should
more than two fonts in no more than two to three be sixty-two characters including spaces. This
sizes’. The size of font you choose will depend can be extended up to seventy characters if the
upon the purpose of the document and its au- font is compact. Try not to change the width or
dience. If you are producing something for an ‘measure’ of continuous text from column to
older consumer, it is wise to use larger type, as column.
many older people develop problems with their The space between lines of text is called the
eyesight. If something needs to be read from a leading; this gap needs to be comfortable, not
distance of two to three feet, such as an exhibi- tight. If you are working with 12-point font size,
tion caption, then it should be at least size 18 then 15-point leading usually works well, an ad-
point. dition of three points between the lines. With 10-
The colour of your text should also be consid- and 11-point font sizes, use 13-point leading.
ered carefully. Muted colours often work better Some fonts like Helvetica and Baskerville may re-
and look more sophisticated than garish bright quire extra leading, whereas other, more compact
colours. Black on white and the reverse, white on fonts may require slightly less.
240 visual research methods in fashion

Combining Text and Images can be very boring. You can ensure that your
Making text and images work well together is not project is cohesive but still has sufficient variety
difficult if you consider a few simple rules. Richard to engage the viewer by considering the use of
Doust recommends using a grid to place things scale, colour, grouping of objects, symmetry and
so the type always appears in roughly the same asymmetry and perspective when laying out your
place on the page and the images always line up. page. What is the main focal point on your page?
One thing to consider is whether the pages are Is it strong enough to stand out? Is the eye drawn
going to be printed on both sides. In that case it is to it?
best to ensure that the type is in the same place
so it does not show through and affect the white Scale
spaces on the other side; this is called ‘back up’. The larger an item is and the more of the page
Consider the position of each element on your it occupies, the more it will stand out and draw
page carefully—the title, images and text. the eye in. You may want to play around with the
scale on different pages. Some may have one
Page Layout and Design large image and others several smaller images.
When you are presenting work on paper, you
often need to consider the relationship between Colour
pages that face or follow on from each other. A The eye is drawn to strong colours. If you
portfolio with page after page of identical layout put something bright pink on a white page,

Designers of books and magazines use a grid to help order the elements, text and illustrations throughout a
publication. Courtesy of Richard Doust. Reproduced with permission.
visual research for presentation 241

that object will become the dominant feature. Grouping

Choose colours that reflect the mood of your If you group objects together, this reinforces the
project. It may be acceptable to use bright connection between them. If you place the text a
primaries for a childrenswear project, but long way from the image it is related to, the viewer
this will usually not work for something more may not make the appropriate connection.
sophisticated.
White Space
Perspective Think about borders and margins and how much
Placing objects on the page using the principles white space you want to leave on the page. It can
of perspective can give your page depth and draw be useful to divide elements from each other and
the viewer into your composition. also to frame the images you are presenting.

A selection of layout designs for

presentation sheets. Courtesy of
Fashionary. Reproduced with permission.
242 visual research methods in fashion

Project: Designing a Layout

Produce a range of thumbnail layout designs for a double page spread for your portfolio. Consider all of the elements that
have been discussed in this section. How are you going to ensure that the two pages work together? Will they mirror each
other, or will they have different layouts, with some elements that create unity between the two pages? Choose your favourite
thumbnail design and work it up as a finished piece.

Movement Physical Portfolios

You can use the placement of objects and lines These may be designed to take loose sheets or
to give your page a static or fluid feeling. The have ring mechanisms that allow the use of pro-
figure on page 241 shows an illustration taken tective plastic sheets. With the advent of online
from Fashionary (http://www.fashionary.com), digital book printing, some students have produced
a fashion-specific sketchbook developed by their portfolio in book format. This can look very
Penter Yip. Here, he presents a range of different slick, but it is difficult to update, and your portfo-
ideas for the layout of presentation sheets. By lio needs to be constantly updated and reworked
working in this thumbnail style, you can quickly ­depending upon whom you need to show it to.
and easily try out layout ideas before committing
yourself to a final piece. Content
The content of your portfolio will depend upon your
subject area and also on the purpose for which you
the portfolio are compiling it. If you are applying for a college
or university course, the tutors or interviewers will
In addition to the design of individual layouts and probably want to see some developmental work
spreads, you need to consider how you are going and sketchbooks as well as finished pieces so
to present a body of work to a potential employer that they can see the thought process behind your
or client. In most areas of art and design, this is work. Once you move into the professional arena,
done using a portfolio. Your portfolio is a collection this becomes less important, but on some occa-
of work that represents your skills and abilities. It sions a client may want to see how you develop
can take a variety of forms, from a traditional port- your ideas. You should also include sufficient tech-
folio made of card, plastic or leather to an online nical information to illustrate that you understand
or electronic portfolio in the form of a DVD or even how to bring your ideas to fruition. In the case of a
on a memory stick. The format of your portfolio design portfolio, this means technical drawings as
will depend upon the product that you are design- well as beautiful illustrations and photographs.
ing, your own preferences and the preferences Whatever the purpose of the portfolio, you
of the clients that you work with or the demands should ensure that it contains your best work and
of the section of the industry in which you are is well organized. It should contain a range of proj-
employed. ects, and these should be clearly defined. Most
visual research for presentation 243

interviewers or potential employers will not be im- work and the most appropriate for the position or
pressed if you stagger through the door with a huge course you are applying for.
portfolio that has not been properly edited. If you
are going for a college interview, they will probably Size and Format
provide you with guidelines as to what they want The type of work that you produce will determine
to see. Otherwise, bear in mind that professional the size of your portfolio. An A4 portfolio is easy to
people are busy and may be interviewing several carry and cheap to produce, as most home print-
people, so they will not want to trawl through 300 ers will produce A4 printouts. However, this would
pages of your work. Also, they will probably make not work if you were a textile designer producing
a judgement about your work based on the first large-scale prints that need to be viewed at full
half dozen pages, so these should be your best size to achieve the intended impact.

Technical drawing created using

Speed Step Sketch. Courtesy of Speed
Step. Reproduced with permission.
244 visual research methods in fashion

Anything up to an A2 size is fairly portable, but Your portfolio should flow in the way that you
once things get bigger than this, you might strug- would expect of an illustrated book or magazine.
gle to carry your portfolio. Also, remember that There should be a table of contents at the be-
not everyone has a huge desk onto which you can ginning, clear visual clues to show where one
open and display your portfolio. If you have cre- section ends and another begins and sufficient
ated large-scale work that will not fit in your port- text to explain the work because in some cir-
folio, consider whether a photograph will suffice cumstances you may not be there to provide the
or think about producing a scaled-down copy by commentary.
scanning it. Remember that you could also use a You can use title pages, coloured sheets, tabs
double page spread. If you want to put something or other devices to break the portfolio into sec-
A3 size into an A4 portfolio, you may be able to tions. Remember to think about how facing pages
cut it in half and present it across two pages. interact with each other, and make sure all of the
Whether you choose a loose-leaf portfolio or pages run in the same direction. Try not to mix
one that has binder rings to take plastic sleeves landscape and portrait pages within a project un-
will again depend upon your work. Plastic sleeves less absolutely necessary.
can be useful in protecting work, but these do not
work for everything. You do not necessarily have Texture
to use a commercially produced portfolio. You In fashion, texture is often important. If your port-
can make your own customized version, using folio contains lots of colour photocopies or com-
card and paper, plastic, wood, metal or any other puter printouts, it may lack texture. Texture can
material. If you go around a student degree show, be achieved by using textured papers for printing
you will find all kinds of innovative approaches or mounting or by adding fabric swatches if ap-
to making a portfolio. Books on bookbinding, propriate. If you are using fabric swatches, it is
packaging and handmade books can be very in- a good idea to attach them by only one edge so
spirational and give you lots of ideas on how to that the fabrics can be handled. This is especially
customize your portfolio. important if you are a textile designer. In fact, most
textile designers present their work on card head-
Organization ers or as garment parts (if it is a placement design)
For a college portfolio you may wish to organize rather than in plastic sheets as a fashion designer
each project so that it shows what your sources or photographer might.
of inspiration were, how you developed your ideas
and what the final outcomes were. Another way of Three-dimensional Objects
organizing your work is into themes. Perhaps you You may have used three-dimensional objects in
have design and illustration work; these could be your research or have created three-dimensional
in separate sections. Maybe you have completed objects as part of your project. In this case pho-
some childrenswear assignments, some styling tographing them from a variety of angles may be
projects and some womenswear designs—these the best solution. You may also want to present a
could be grouped according to the product or finished piece to show the quality of your techni-
category. cal work; in this case you will want to make sure
visual research for presentation 245

it is presented professionally in a good box or in a Resolution and Browsers

good-quality garment bag. It is not a good idea to All computer screens have a resolution of 72 dpi,
put bulky objects into your main portfolio as this but the size of the screen may vary. Therefore, it
may distort the other pages or make your port- is important that the pages that you produce for
folio look untidy. Some companies and design- the Web look good on a variety of sizes and work
ers are starting to use augmented reality to show in the most popular browsers. As the number of
three-dimensional objects; this approach uses a browsers and displays that are available continues
target on a card or paper and a link to a Web to grow, it is impossible to ensure that your page
site via a webcam that then displays the three- works on everything. The popular approach has
dimensional item on screen. You can see some been to ensure that your design works on a screen
good examples here: http://econsultancy.com/ that is 800 × 600 pixels by making the page
blog/4288–10-mindblowing-augmented-reality- 780 pixels wide (reserving 20 pixels for the scroll
apps-and-videos. bar), but the number of people using this size of
monitor may be changing (http://www.webdevel
Electronic Portfolios opersnotes.com/design/web-screen-resolution-
A lot of the advice for creating a physical portfolio usage-statistics.php). If you are a proficient Web
also applies to an electronic version; indeed, you designer (or know someone who is), you can de-
may well want to have both. If you are presenting velop your pages using a liquid template that auto-
your work electronically, then much of the work matically adjusts to the size of the screen.
has to be done on the computer. Even if you have
to produce something by hand, it will have to be Plug-ins
digitized by being photographed or scanned in. Plug-ins are programmes that add functionality;
You will need to adjust your work to the format in for example they can enable your browser to play
which you want to display it. If you create some- multimedia files or display certain kinds of graph-
thing in Photoshop, Illustrator or a specialist de- ics. Examples of plug-ins include Adobe Flash
sign package, you cannot presume that everyone Player and Shockwave.
has this software. It may be a good idea to save
your work in a generic format such as JPEGs or Video
PDFs so that the majority of people will be able Video on the Web is very complicated. There are
to view it. many different formats including AVI, Quicktime,
If you are presenting your work on the Web, MPEG and Windows Media and Flash. There are
there are more issues to consider. One major dif- plug-ins or helper applications that the browser
ference is that you cannot control the size at which can use to play a video, Adobe Flash Player for
your image is being viewed. Computer screens example. These applications allow the user to
vary in size: some are widescreen, and most are in control how the video is played, for example to
a different ratio to the printed page. Also, people rewind or change the volume. Videos can also
use different browsers to view content and may be embedded in Web pages; this is done using
have different plug-ins and applications to the one a piece of code. You can see an example of this
in which you created your content. on YouTube: next to most videos you will find the
246 visual research methods in fashion

code to embed the video, which can be copied captured is of decent quality. These programs
and pasted into your Web site or blog. One of the allow you to add titles, transitions and music,
most popular video formats is Flash (FLV ), which to remove unwanted footage and to rearrange
plays using Adobe Flash Player, a plug-in that scenes.
is very common and free to download from the If you want to get really professional, you will
Adobe Web site. The format you use will depend need a package like Final Cut Pro or access to
upon where you want to put your video and how someone who has the skills to use it. Sometimes
you want it to display. YouTube, for example, sup- it is quicker and more effective to find someone
ports a range of formats including WMV, MOV and with the skills you need than to try and learn a
MPEG formats. whole new skill set yourself. It depends on what
If you want to get really technical there is a lot kind of course you are following as to whether
of information on the Web. Try starting here: making professional video is something you are
able to engage in.
W3schools.com, ‘Multimedia Video Formats’ A few tips to help you capture good video
http://www.w3schools.com/media/media_ include:
videoformats.asp
Adobe Developer Connection, ‘Video Tech- • Storyboard your movie before you start.
nology Center’ http://www.adobe.com/ What are the opening and closing scenes
devnet/video/ going to be? How many scenes do you
want? What sequence will they follow?
Creating Videos • Use a tripod if you don’t want the Blair Witch
Digital video cameras are becoming more afford- effect, that is very shaky video.
able, and many still cameras and mobile phones • Consider using a variety of shots including
include the ability to record video. There are also close-ups and unusual angles.
cameras such as Flip (www.­theflip.com) that are • Remember that, as with still photography,
intended for producing video for the Web. You the more light the better.
need to decide what kind of quality you need for • Think about the sound. If possible, use a
your purposes. If you are recording interviews microphone for interviews to try and cut out
purely for research purposes, the quality may the background noise.
not be that important. The end product that
you want will determine how much you need to There is an excellent article with lots of tips on
spend and how much time you need to invest. the Adobe Web site (http://www.adobepress.com/
articles/article.asp?p=1350893&seqNum=2).
Editing Video
Editing your video has become more accessi- Animations and Interactivity
ble with the introduction of packages like Apple Many Web sites now include animations and in-
iMovie and Windows Moviemaker. For simple teractivity with interesting introductory pages or
projects these can give you perfectly satis- ways of navigating the site. A couple of good
factory results as long as the video you have ­examples are
visual research for presentation 247

Jonathan Yuen.com http://www.jonathanyuen. Entheos Free Resources, ‘Flash Tutorials and

com/main.html Resources’ http://www.entheosweb.com/
Dave Werner http://okaydave.com/ Flash/default.asp
W3schools.com, ‘Flash Tutorial’ http://www.
Many of these sites use Flash to create the inter- w3schools.com/Flash/default.asp
active elements and animations. There are lots of
tutorials on the Web that can help you to learn ePortfolio Web Sites
this package and many designers who will create There are many ways that you can get your port-
Flash sites for you. The main thing to remember is folio online and many sites that will host them.
the purpose of the site and why people are visiting Students are sometimes worried about putting
it. Sometimes flashy introductions and esoteric their work online, but many sites let you con-
navigation methods are off-putting rather than en- trol who sees your work and whether they can
couraging, so use them with care. download it. Issuu (http://issuu.com) is one such
For some introductory Flash tutorials see the site; you can upload your documents and make
following: them into interactive Web documents. Julia Dorff,
a designer from New York, published her gradu-
Macromedia Flash Getting Started Tutorials ate portfolio on Issuu; in the following interview
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Flash/ she explains why she thinks this is a good way to
Getting-Started/1 present your work.

Interview with Julia Dorff

Why did you use Issuu to share your portfolio?

It is a great way to show your work to other people.

You can flip through the pages of a presentation like a book, and decide whether people can
download your work or whether they can see the images in full resolution. There is always the issue
of someone stealing your work but in this industry it is so quick and based on being inspired by other
people anyway. There is no point in being afraid of it and hiding your work.

Do you do research to get ideas for presentation?

A lot of my presentation ideas are based on online research for example through street fashion blogs.
Also I studied in Italy for a year and learned more about conceptually based presentation there.

Which tools do you use to create your presentation sheets?

A lot of my work is illustrated by hand, and then touched up and laid out in Photoshop. I now use
­Illustrator eleven hours a day I could not imagine working without it now.
248 visual research methods in fashion

It is important to present yourself well. This is such a visual and fast-moving field that people have
to get where you are coming from right away. Students shouldn’t be afraid to learn how to use new
technologies. I learned Illustrator on the job, and I am teaching myself InDesign.

Have you had to change your approach now that you are working?

Now that I am working, everything has to be presented clearly, simply and quickly. I am doing boards to
lay out the line, sketching clothes in Illustrator then laying in the colours and fabrics. These boards are
shown directly to buyers so there is often no need or time for over-designed composition and loads
of artwork—sometimes they just have to be clear, flat sketches. It is very different from creating your
portfolio in school.

Images from Julia Dorff’s graduate portfolio. Courtesy of Julia Dorff.

Images from Julia Dorff’s ossify project. Courtesy of Julia Dorff.

visual research for presentation 249

Design created in OptiTex by

Zorana Kozomara. Courtesy of
OptiTex. Reproduced with permission.

Three-dimensional Objects on the Web be shown on a virtual catwalk. Videos of these

It is now possible to represent objects in three di- can then be posted onto a Web site.
mensions on the Web using technology that en- There are also virtual worlds such as Second
ables the user to spin the object around or zoom Life, where many designers are experimenting
in on it to see the detail. Mostly large companies with virtual prototyping and presenting their work
use this technology at present, but it is becoming in virtual fashion shows. One pioneer of this ap-
more accessible. It is possible to use packages proach is Shenlei Winkler of the Fashion Research
such as OptiTex and Modaris 3D to create three- Institute. She is working on a three-dimensional
dimensional versions of garments and place them software design solution for virtual worlds called
onto animated models or avatars that can then Black Dress.
250 visual research methods in fashion

Design created in OptiTex. Copyright 2009 OptiTex International Pty Ltd. (www.optiTex.com). Image courtesy of OptiTex.
Reproduced with permission.

Interview with Shenlei Winkler

Why are you using virtual worlds?

We feel strongly that virtual worlds are the path forward for the apparel industry; it is an old and wasteful
industry. We have found working with virtual worlds with our new application Black Dress Design Studio
visual research for presentation 251

that we are able to cut about 75 per cent of the design cycle time and about 65 per cent of the physical
sample waste. It is appreciable when you consider that it takes about 11,000 litres of water to produce a
single pair of jeans or that there is so much oil wasted in creating physical samples. When you can cut out
65 per cent of that, particularly for developing nations where so much offshore production is being created,
it becomes a substantial saving. You are able to produce a higher-quality product for the end user and you
are capable of addressing fit issues, and you can actually send to production with a single sample.

How do virtual worlds differ from three-dimensional design packages?

All those software packages run on a single PC and you cannot bring your collaborative team into a single
space and actually have a process of discussion about your product. For example the designer comes up
with a handful of designs for a handbag and perhaps some of them cannot be produced in the factories
that the design house has available to them. The designer may not know that, it is fairly technical information
and knowledge that perhaps the product manager or someone else in the company or the factory has.
You can have the entire team together to have a conversation about that product in real time. Being
able to have that discussion with the designer in real time before you go through the sampling process
and before you even start production means that you can start alleviating some of those issues and
reduce some of the waste.
With virtual worlds one of the things that is wonderful is that when you have these collaborative
immersive spaces you can also have translators built in. So often the designers are sitting some place
where they are speaking a completely different language. It doesn’t matter where the designer is Milan,
New York, Paris, London; the odds are good that the designer is speaking a different language to your
production factory wherever your factory may be India, Brazil, or China. When you bring all the people
together and have the translator right there you have the ability to point and look at the different con-
cerns that you have. We get people who don’t speak English with whom we do rely on translators and
our experiences have been that they are largely accurate.
The one thing that line designers hate doing more than anything (besides filing) is doing their tech
packs—they hate them. Designers are thrilled by the idea of being able to design their product and not
have to tech-pack it. With Black Dress as you are designing you add components and you are building
your tech pack. It is very fast and simple and you can just approve the pack when it is done. You don’t
have to go back and tech-pack the line design.

How will it work?

You would enter the virtual world and begin designing your product in the world. People probably will
continue to do their sketches and scan and upload them. We broke down the process of design into
something that could be heavily codified by technology. There is a specific process that people would
have to follow that ensures that everything that is put into the system is tracked correctly in a relational
database. Having dealt with companies where they have existing data files and there is no way to
search them I found that thrilling. The database itself is easy and simple to use and it all talks back to
the primary database. The wonderful thing about the relational databases is they can be plugged back
into the back end existing systems, business intelligence systems, enterprise resource planning sys-
tem, supply chain management and product life-cycle management systems. It enables the designer
252 visual research methods in fashion

to have access to a number of those different things. When product managers need changes on prices
of materials or it turns out that the material is no longer available it is taken out of the system and is no
longer available to the designer.

How does the system differ from the fashion design that is currently
happening in Second Life?

Virtual fashion for Second Life and OpenSim is a niche market part of virtual goods and it is very different
from what we have to do for the apparel industry. Things in Second Life and OpenSim never have to go
into production. You can do things with Photoshop and you can do things with OpenSim and Second
Life that you would never actually be able to do in real life. Those details like strapless gowns; how do
you get it to stay up and get into it? Second Life fashion designers are by and large very good graphic
designers but those skills don’t necessarily cross over into making product for the apparel industry. Real-
life fashion designers can cross over pretty well and easily develop new marketing channels and revenue
streams because of the discipline they need to design for the physical marketplace. This is something
that we are interested in talking to people about because the virtual goods marketplace is something
that is set to explode. The global marketplace is estimated to be somewhere in the region of ten billion
dollars.

What is your vision?

The idea of being able to do true product customization is very much part of the vision. There are some
interesting things including the idea of moving to some less massive production capabilities. Right now

Fashion Research Institute virtual runway in OpenSim. Courtesy of Shenlei Winkler.

visual research for presentation 253

anytime that you do true custom it is expensive because the factories aren’t set up for that and when
they talk about ‘custom’ they are pulling from their master patterns, putting it together and calling it
custom. The human body exists in four quadrants and you have to take measurements of each one
of those quadrants and unless you are doing that you don’t actually have full custom. Going forward
factories will be looking at being able to do short-run custom production and that will get the cost down
to where people can actually afford it.
For more information see http://www.fashionresearchinstitute.com/.

other forms of presentation • Swatches: These are textile or knit samples,

usually shown on hangers. They include
In addition to portfolios, many other kinds of pre- information about the fabric such as the
sentation are used in the fashion industry. These fibre content, the width and the supplier’s
include: details.
• Trend books: These are created by fore-
• Moodboards and conceptboards: casting companies and contain photo-
These are used to visually present a con- graphs, swatches and drawings to illustrate
cept or theme and are used throughout the forthcoming trends.
industry. • Audiovisual presentations and slide shows:
• Specification sheets: These are used These are often used by forecasting com-
to provide technical information about a panies and at trade fairs to present the
design and usually include a detailed line trends for the coming seasons; they usually
drawing. use a combination of still images or video
• Range plans: These show all of the pieces and music.
in a collection and the various options such
as colours and fabrics. Toiles/Calicos, Maquettes and Prototypes
• Illustrations: These are used in promotions To present an idea that is still in the developmental
and editorials in magazines, stores and stage, designers might use a toile or calico, which
exhibitions. is a representation of the final garment made in a
• Look books: Companies and designers use cheap fabric such as calico. It is usually in cream
these to show how their range can be worn or white so that adjustments and alterations can
and coordinated. They can contain catwalk be marked on it using a pen or tape. A maquette
or studio shots on models or photographs of or scale model is a mock-up of an accessory such
individual garments and accessories. They as a handbag; if it is a solid form this may be in
can be very creative with interesting and un- card or plastic. Increasingly, accessory, footwear
usual covers or designs. Their main purpose and jewellery designers are using three-dimen-
is to help the buyers decide which pieces sional printing and rapid prototyping to present
they want to purchase from the collection. their ideas.
254 visual research methods in fashion

exhibitions • Staffing
• Display items such as rails, stands and busi-
You may have to present your work in an exhibi- ness card holders
tion either as part of your final assessment or for a • Mounting and hanging
trade fair. Exhibition presentations require a lot of • Accessories to decorate the stand—fresh
planning. You need to know the size and layout of flowers, etc.
the space you will be given as well as any restric-
tions about how work can be hung and rules about Display
health and safety. For example the organizer may If you want people to look at your work, you
insist that all materials are not flammable, and you need to attract them to your stand or display
will normally need insurance coverage. area. If the space is small, it may be tempting
to cram in a lot of work, but this can be coun-
Budget terproductive. It is usually better to pick out
The next thing you need to consider is your your best pieces and highlight them and have a
budget. Staging an exhibition can be extremely brochure or CD to hand out containing more of
expensive, especially in a professional venue your work or a business card with a link to your
where you can expect to pay not only for the Web site.
square footage of your stand but also for all If you are displaying images, you need to think
the extras such as power lighting and an In- about how you are going to mount and hang
ternet connection. Things you may need to them. Will you need signage, how will you create
budget for: it and how large will the lettering need to be? If
you are showing garments or three-dimensional
• The stand, usually charged by square footage pieces, do you need rails, mannequins or hang-
• Lighting and power ers? Small precious pieces such as jewellery may
• Internet connection require closed cabinets or other security mea-
• Furniture (something to sit on is vital and sures. Do you need to print some literature about
often forgotten) your work? How does this fit with the overall
• Business cards and point-of-sale materials theme of your exhibition?
• Signage Visiting shows and exhibitions—not just in
• Refreshments: for you and visitors/potential fashion but also other creative areas—can give
buyers you ideas and inspiration.

Case Study: Claire Baker

New Designers (http://www.newdesigners.com/) is an exhibition in London that features the work of

recent graduates in fields such as textiles, jewellery, ceramics, glass, furniture and visual communica-
tion. At the 2009 exhibition Claire Baker, a ceramicist whose work is heavily influenced by fashion and
visual research for presentation 255

textiles, had created a wonderful display of objects that had inspired her. Here, Claire explains the
thinking behind how she displays her work.

I revisit the memories and emotions associated with vintage ceramics, and recreate them using
a collage of textural surfaces, slips, glazes, transfers and lustres. In my view boxes, shelves,
window ledges, mantelpieces are all substitutes for subconscious shrines. In a transitional world
it is an area of stillness and reflection, my own shelves are cluttered but orderly, in fact a reflec-
tion of myself.
My dresser shelves tend to ‘grow’ I don’t feel that there is ever an item that doesn’t belong;
so plastic toys sit happily with bone china or jewellery.
It is from the eclectic dresser in my house that I take inspiration when displaying my ceram-
ics. I have always been drawn to junk shops, their smell is intoxicating, it reminds me of the
large cupboard under the stairs at my grandparents’ house, where we would haul out the trunk
of (vintage) dressing-up clothes and parade happily for hours to the music blaring from an old
wind-up gramophone.
My own collecting has stemmed from this very happy childhood, Chanel bottles, brooches,
flowers and vegetables, kitchenalia, Yardley soapboxes, tins and travel sweets would all be
memories of this and therefore in my mind sit happily alongside each other.

Display of work by Claire Baker (http://www.bakerart.org.uk). Courtesy of Claire Baker.

256 visual research methods in fashion

Claire Baker’s display at New Designers 2009. Courtesy of Claire Baker.

Case Study: Rene De Lange

In the Master’s Textiles Show at the Royal College of Art in 2009, Rene De Lange presented her finished
work along with an animated movie showing some of her research experimentation. Her final collection
was called ‘Chasing Shadows’ and explored the idea of creating illusion and mystery through print and
fabric manipulation. Her interest in illusion led her to look at photography and the power of light and
shadow. She wanted to communicate the story of the creative process behind her work, and a film
provided the platform to reflect this story in a slightly humorous, romantic way.
Another Royal College of Art student with an interesting approach to display was knitwear designer
Tiffany Ong. She was inspired by the way specimens were presented in the Natural History Museum,
and she used this format to show her knitted pieces.
visual research for presentation 257

Still from film by Rene De Lange.

Courtesy of Rene De Lange.
258 visual research methods in fashion

Another still from film by Rene De

Lange. Courtesy of Rene De Lange.

Case Study: Tiffany Ong

Tiffany’s work and the manner in which it was displayed were inspired by the notion that craft is slowly di-
minishing and may become extinct. The presentation was inspired by natural history museums—the long,
unpronounceable labels on the exhibits and the care and attention that go into preserving, cataloguing,
labelling and displaying the objects. Tiffany displayed her knit samples behind glass in order to convey the
sense of preciousness that you get in a museum and also the notion that the knitting itself might become
something precious. She hunted around and finally came upon the old entomological display boxes that
visual research for presentation 259

she then used in her display. She labelled the exhibits in the same manner used by museums according to
what yarns, materials and machinery had been used. She added the creation date as a gentle reminder that
the pieces were made by someone and to give the piece a place in the timeline of history (see Plate 29).

Project: Analysing a Display

Visit a local art gallery or museum and look at how the work is displayed. How have the pieces been arranged? If they are
three-dimensional, are they in cabinets? Look at how the pieces are lit; this will be important if you are presenting your work
in an exhibition-style setting. Are there any ideas you can use for presenting your own work? Make notes and sketches in your
journal.

Dior Spring/Summer 2010 haute

couture show. Getty Images.
­Reproduced with permission.
260 visual research methods in fashion

Image from McQueen catwalk show Spring/Summer 2010. Image by Chris Moore of Catwalking.com. Getty Images.
Reproduced with permission.

catwalk or runway shows you have little control, or you may be staging an
individual show. If you are organizing the show
The ultimate fashion exhibition is the catwalk or yourself, you need to budget for and consider
runway show. This takes the form of a live pre- the venue, the set, the models, hair, make-up
sentation using models to wear the garments and styling, dressers, music, public relations
and show them to an audience on a catwalk, on and marketing. Most companies and designers
stage or in a salon setting where the models walk will employ a show producer to do a lot of this
through the audience. Catwalk presentations are work for them so they can concentrate on the
extremely expensive and require a lot of research collection.
and preparation. They can be quite simple, with a Because catwalk shows are so expensive,
white backdrop and walkway, or very extravagant. some designers are now looking at alternatives,
Even the simplest catwalk show is an expensive either holding private showings in their studios
commitment, and most designers need some or using mannequins (Nikkhah 2009). Others are
form of sponsorship to be able to stage them. experimenting with alternative forms of presenta-
You may be participating in a group show, in tion such as film for either artistic or budgetary
which case there will be many factors over which reasons (Williams 2008).
visual research for presentation 261

Project: Catwalk Show Analysis

Go to http://www.style.com/video/fashion-shows-by-season/ and look at some of the catwalk shows for the current season.
How are the models styled, and how well do all the elements work together: garments, models, styling, lighting, set design?
Produce a short analytical report.

giving a verbal presentation • Use too many transitions, animations and

irrelevant sound effects.
There are many situations in which you may be • Create a background that is so busy you
called upon to verbally present or explain your can’t see the information.
work. You may need to ‘sell’ a trend to a buyer, • Give a presentation about a visual subject
persuade a gallery to stage your photographic with no images.
exhibition, address an audience at a trade show • Use images at very low resolution blown
or present your work to a potential employer. This up so they pixelate.
section will point out some things you should • Advertise your presentation as twenty min-
avoid and provide some tips that will help you utes and run to forty-five.
to feel confident and give a clear and informative • Woodenly read from a script.
presentation. • Use charts and tables with too much
The first thing you have to decide is how you information.
are going to show your visuals, taking the set- • Use clip art. This looks really amateur. Use
ting and the size of the audience into consider- your own images; after all, you are a cre-
ation. If it is a small meeting, you may want to ative person.
use boards (it is a good idea to have an easel to • Mumble so the audience cannot hear you.
place them on so you don’t have to hold them). If there is a microphone, it is probably a
In a bigger setting or depending on the nature good idea to use it. It is even better if it
of the material, you may want to give an elec- is a radio microphone so you can move
tronic presentation using PowerPoint or Key- around.
note. PowerPoint is one of the most misused
presentation tools available, and it is easy to fall
into bad habits and put your audience off rather Things You Should Do
than engage them.

• If you are using bullet points, keep them

Things You Should Not Do short and make notes about what you want
to say about each point.
• Read out the text on the slides. • Time your presentation and practise it
• Put too much text on a slide and make it so beforehand.
small your audience cannot see it. • Keep eye contact with your audience.
262 visual research methods in fashion

• Use a variety of layouts for your slides, but size without this problem. Bitmap images work
ensure that some elements such as the best for complex images with lots of subtle vari-
heading size and font are consistent to cre- ations such as photographs, and vector images
ate unity. work well when you are working with a limited
• Make sure your images are the right size colour palette, are using solid blocks of colour or
before you insert them—this reduces the want to be able to scale up your image without
size of the file and ensures that they are the losing quality.
right quality.
• Use a fairly large font size so that peo-
ple at the back or with visual impair- Adobe Photoshop
ments do not have to strain to read your Adobe Photoshop is primarily intended as an
slides. ­image-editing package to enable the correc-
• Consider producing a handout to show your tion and manipulation of photographic images.
charts and tables, as these do not always Images from Photoshop can also be taken into
work well in PowerPoint, especially if they Adobe Illustrator where they can be traced or in-
are very complex. corporated into a vector image. Photoshop is a
• If you are using a movie, make sure that very sophisticated piece of software with many
you have saved it in the same folder as your functions; depending upon your subject area,
presentation, and check that it will play on there may be large parts of the program that you
the machine you are using for the presen- do not use. If you want to learn more about Pho-
tation. Some movie formats will not play in toshop, there are many excellent books available
PowerPoint. and lots of tutorials on the Adobe Web site. If you
do an Internet search for Photoshop tutorials, you
will find a large number of Web sites and forums.
Very few are specific to fashion, but many are still
Software for Fashion useful.
Presentation If you can’t afford Photoshop and want to do
some basic editing, there are some free online
There are two types of image software: those tools such as Picnik (http://www.picnik.com) and
that create bitmap images (where the image Pixlr (http://www.pixlr.com). Many packages that
is made up of small squares called pixels) and come bundled with cameras and scanners will do
vector-based packages where algorithms are basic editing functions such as cropping, rotat-
used to create the image. Because they are cre- ing and adjusting the brightness and contrast.
ated from pixels, the resolution of bitmap images Macintosh users can also do a range of edits in
is important. If you scale them up, they may iPhoto.
become pixelated (show the individual pixels), There are many illustrators who use Photoshop
which does not look good. The advantage of extensively in their work. One of these is Ayako
vector images is that they can be scaled to any Machida.
visual research for presentation 263

Case Study: Ayako Machida

Ayako attended the Saga Art Junior College in Japan where she studied visual design. After graduating in
1990, she worked as a graphic designer before becoming a freelance illustrator. Ayako’s career is taking
off in Japan, and she is starting to be recognized in the United States. In 1998, she had her first solo show
Hajimemashite (‘Nice to meet you’) in Osaka, Japan. Her original postcards and T-shirts are on sale at
select gift shops throughout Japan. You can see more examples of her work at http://machizoo.com/.
Ayako has been drawing professionally for about ten years. Her favourite medium is her computer.
She primarily uses Photoshop on a Macintosh, because it allows her to make several attempts and
revisions and they can easily be printed and published. She makes a sketch and then scans it into the
computer, adding the colour in Photoshop. Ayako says, ‘I am not generally good at drawing so I like to
know what it is that I want to express in my drawing and I do my best to illustrate that. It is my aim that
what comes out of this process is always something warm.’
Colour is a major component of Ayako’s work. For commercial work she tends to use colours that are
easy to recognize and create a lively contrast. Otherwise, she likes colours that are subdued and tasteful
and that do not distract the viewer’s attention. Ayako’s work is inspired by everyday life and people, con-
versations with friends, travel and browsing through bookstores. She collects packages, wrapping paper,
postcards, tags from clothing, napkins, coasters and other such ephemera that leave an impression.
Plates 30 and 31 show a page from a calendar. The page was inspired by how the role of older
people in society is changing as there will be many healthy/robust ageing members of society in the
next few decades. Ayako was thinking about how she would still want to play around in a swimsuit
even when she became a grandmother.
Her advice to students is to persist and move along with your gut feeling. Also, you should always
be able to look at your own work objectively.

Adobe Illustrator Illustrator and CorelDraw has become an estab-

Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing pro- lished part of the curriculum for fashion design and
gram. It is widely used in fashion illustration be- illustration. There are cheaper and even free alter-
cause of its flexibility and wide range of tools and natives such as Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.
effects. Many of the illustrations that you see in org) if you cannot afford the proprietary packages,
books and magazines use Illustrator. The ability or you can use an online program such as Sumo-
to use vector-based drawing programs such as Paint (http://www.sumo.fi/web/?s=3#/home/).

Case Study: Philippa Waite

Philippa Waite is a fashion graphics designer who works for many major high street brands. She uses
Photoshop and Illustrator extensively in her work. Her advice is that it is very important to understand
the technical aspects of working on a computer.
264 visual research methods in fashion

I don’t think it’s all about the computer but I think you have to have a solid grasp of Photoshop
and Illustrator to do what I do. I think that’s what sets the good designers apart. Yes you’re a
good artist and yes you can draw beautiful pictures but if you produce it in such a way that it’s
technically viable then you’re likely to be more commercially successful. I do think that if you’re
going to do what I do it’s very important to understand the technical side. You can produce the
most beautiful design ever but if it is difficult to output then it may not be commercially viable,
because most things come down to cost (see Plate 32).

You can see Philippa’s work at http://www.phirefly.co.uk.

Adobe InDesign for the fashion industry. There are some functions
Adobe InDesign is a page layout program. It en- that fashion and textile designers need that do not
ables you to bring together text and images and come as standard in these programs, and some
to organize them into layouts. It is much easier to things you want to do may take longer since these
manipulate images and text in this kind of pro- functions are not built in. Colour reduction, cre-
gram than in a word processor. You can easily ation of colourways and drawing in symmetry are
flow text around images and create styles that just some examples of actions that can be much
you can apply to text. You can create your text quicker in a specialized program. Specialist pro-
in a word processing program and then bring it grams may come with a library of silhouettes or
into an InDesign document to format it. InDesign details such as stitches and pockets that would
is also extremely useful for formatting and laying take a long time for you to develop. Specialist
out long documents such as dissertations, es- programmes are also required for knit and weave
says and books. You can use InDesign to create design, embroidery and advanced print design
documents for print and the Web. Again, you will ­functions. There are many programmes on the
find many tutorials on how to use the application market, and it is not possible to review them all here.
on the Internet and the Adobe Web site. The pro- Lectra and Gerber are probably the main suppliers
gram also integrates with both Photoshop and Il- to the industry, and Speed Step is a company that
lustrator. If you can’t afford InDesign, there is a has been involved in getting computer-aided fash-
free page layout program called Scribus (http:// ion and textile design into the curriculum.
www.scribus.net/). Lectra offer a range of design packages under
the Kaledo brand. These include Kaledo Style, a
design program in which you can create illustra-
specialist software for fashion tions and technical drawings. Kaledo Collection
and textile design enables you to save and easily retrieve all your
designs, along with components and materials,
Although Photoshop and Illustrator are excellent and to quickly make changes that are reflected
design tools, they were not specifically developed throughout the collection. Lectra also produces
Presentation sheet created in Kaledo Style by Lectra. Courtesy of Lectra.

Presentation sheet produced in Speed Step ProPainter. Courtesy of Speed Step. Reproduced
with permission.
266 visual research methods in fashion

Kaledo Knit, Weave and Print for textile design- php?option=com_content&task=view&id=282&It

ers. You can find more information at http://www. emid=463).
lectra.com/en/fashion_apparel/products/kaledo_
fashion.html. Three-dimensional Design Software for Fashion
Gerber Technology produces a software suite Three-dimensional designing for fashion is a fairly
called Vision Fashion Studio that includes colour recent innovation that is becoming more popu-
reduction and cleaning, textile design and repeat, lar. When you create your design visualizations in
storyboard and cataloguing functions, Easy Knit three dimensions, it is easier to understand how
and Easy Weave and an optional component for the final product will look. Some companies see
draping. You can find out more at http://www.­ three-dimensional prototyping as a way of re-
gerbertechnology.com/downloads/pdf/html/1view/ ducing costs, reducing waste and speeding up
index.asp?name=VisionFashionStudio_E. the supply chain. Applications that are available
Speed Step also offers a package of appli- vary from those that enable you to just create a
cations for fashion and textile design called Pro graphic representation of your design and see this
Sketch and ProPainter. Information about their on a virtual model or avatar and those that en-
educational offer is available on their Web site able you to bring in a pattern and test that pattern
(http://www.speedstep-schools.com/index. for fit. There are also three-dimensional design

Design being created in Romans Cad software by Lectra. Courtesy of Lectra. Reproduced with permission.
visual research for presentation 267

packages for accessories and footwear such as characters including humans and animals. Poser
Lectra’s Romans Cad. figures can be exported into other programmes.
You can create three-dimensional designs in For more information visit http://my.smithmicro.
Maya or Rhino, AutoCAD or SketchUp. These com/win/poser/.
are generic three-dimensional programmes used You can also create designs in Photoshop and
in a lot of creative areas such as product design then upload them to Second Life to see them
and computer graphics. Poser is a specialist on a figure (these are just graphic representa-
package for creating three-dimensional animated tions and will not show fit details, however). Other

Research into producing real-time three-dimensional visualizations for online fashion retail by Peter Hill for the
Fashion Digital Studio at London College of Fashion. Courtesy of Peter Hill. Reproduced with permission.
268 visual research methods in fashion

programmes such as OptiTex (http://www.optitex. an impact is visual merchandising. Three-

com/about_us/industries/fashion) and Modaris 3D dimensional technology has made it pos-
(http://www.lectra.com/en/fashion_apparel/prod- sible for designers to design a virtual version
ucts/modaris_3d_fit_fashion.html) enable you to of their store through which the client can
bring in a pattern and to test it on a fit model. take a virtual walk. One of these packages
Another area where three-dimensional is called Mockshop, produced by Visual
software has been developed and is having Retailing.

Interview with Sjef van Dongen

Sjef van Dongen is an independent retail consultant with a focus on all visual aspects of fashion
retailing, from virtual merchandising (VM), to visual identity, to visual communication. He has six-
teen years of retail experience with C&A Netherlands and C&A Europe. He is also working with
VRSoftware Co Ltd as a solution provider, implementing their software at retailers in the European
marketplace.

Where do you start when you first get a project?

First of all I try to figure out what the company stands for, what they claim to be, what is their target
customer base? What are their brand values and what the message is that they want to bring across
and the total environment around that. Then I try to come up with a concept for that.

Do you sketch things?

Since I have started working more intensively with the Mockshop application from VRSoftware I quite
often make a 3D mock-up with the software. I used to sketch things and make them up in Illustrator
and Photoshop. I have even gone as far as making little maquettes, 3D window boxes to scale with
the elements in it. It helps in selling concepts to be able to work through the store in 3D. There is an
advantage to being able to do it virtually to be able to walk around it and see it the way the customer
will see it and know if it looks right.

What are the current trends in visual merchandising?

There are general trends more like interior trends in what type of materials are used for the fixtures
and that reflects in what sort of new concept the store comes up with. We have had a trend where
big bold wallpapers were back in fashion probably for some retailers they still are. So you would see
shops where they started playing with bold wallpaper patterns, as backdrops the trends you can see
in interior design certainly will have a reflection into store design.
Abercrombie is one of the first to start with almost dark shops where there is limited lighting and in
their new stores there is even more suspense because it is really very dark. That limits the possibilities
for the visual merchandiser and what they can and can’t do with the merchandise displays.
visual research for presentation 269

In terms of window displays, Selfridges is still one of the inspiring ones their displays are like small
pieces of art. They probably take a long time and cost a fortune but they do give inspiration and they
do set trends to water down and use in a normal store; likewise Saks 5th Avenue and Barneys in
New York.

Have the skills you need to be a visual merchandiser changed?

It is a change of your job content; you would normally be more hands-on in the showroom you are now
doing it in the virtual way. The advantage is the scope of what you do and the number of shops you
can reach with something that has been done virtually is a lot bigger than when you have to go there
and do it yourself. Because of the constraints of time it has changed the skills.

What advice would you give to students who want to work in virtual
merchandising?

They need to be able to communicate with whatever product they are dealing with, to know how a
store layout works, how a customer walks into a store and observes what is happening in a store, then

Planogram created in Mockshop. Courtesy of Visual Retailing. Reproduced with permission.

270 visual research methods in fashion

Virtual store created in Mockshop. Courtesy of Visual Retailing. Reproduced with permission.

what that shows and the different offers that they have to display. If you look at the showroom layout
there are areas that are hot and areas that are cold they have to understand the basic principles of
shopping. A good book to look at is Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. It is a
good book in terms of understanding the whole logic or illogic of shopping.

Is colour important?

There are colours and odours that help create a good feeling. Abercrombie in the States do it really
well; they go around the shop with a house fragrance and they spray around the presentation units
and when you come back and open the bag you recognize it as theirs. The smell is still there subcon-
sciously it has been there while you were shopping.
If you go in a store where they have coffee the smell of coffee makes you want to go and have a
cup. It is those sorts of things that influence your buying behaviour and yes colours do have an effect
as well, how colours are displayed.
Understanding colour is really important for VM it is partly instinct but a bit of theory is useful to un-
derstand colour families and how colours can work or not work together. Students need to understand
visual research for presentation 271

different light sources. It may not be their main area of responsibility but when the showroom is laid out
and the fixture and light plans are discussed they need to understand what they will be able to do with
light. If a light plan is not correct they know they will not be able to set any highlights where they need
them. They need to be able to say we don’t need just general lighting there we need spotlights be-
cause that is going to be a focus wall. They need to be aware of light and how to use light in a store.

Project: Showroom Layout

Create a basic rectangular showroom layout. In any high street store there is a window and a store entrance. How would you
do the routing in that store? Based on the routing, where would you have your focal areas? What are the hot spots? Where
would you put your bestsellers? How would you work that showroom? It may be useful to visit a few high street stores to
research how they guide their customers around the store using walkways and signage and to see how they create focal
points within the store.

Summary
In this chapter we have explored a range of options for presenting your work. There are many
tools available to help you to achieve exciting and original presentations, but the most important
element is your imagination. As with all other areas of fashion, you need to do research to be
aware of the latest trends in presentation and of new tools coming onto the market. Researching
the techniques used in other areas of creative practice is possibly one of the most valuable
things you can spend time doing. Practice and experimentation along with an understanding of
some of the basic principles of layout and design will help you to ensure that your presentations
are effective and fit for your purpose.

references and further reading Austin, T. (2007), New Media Design, London: Laurence
King.
Adobe Creative Team (2009), ‘20 Tips for Shooting Great Blackman, C. (2007), 100 Years of Fashion Illustration,
Video’ [Web page], AdobePress.com. Available at: London: Laurence King.
http://www.adobepress.com/articles/article. Borrelli, L. (2004), Fashion Illustration Next, London:
asp?p=1350893&seqNum=2 (accessed 8 January Thames & Hudson.
2010). Borrelli, L. (2008), Fashion Illustration by Fashion De-
Armstrong, J., Armstrong, W., and Ivas, L. (2005), From signers, San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Pencil to Pen Tool: Understanding and Creat- Burke, S. (2006), Fashion Artist—Drawing Techniques
ing the Digital Fashion Image, ill. ed., New York: to Portfolio Presentation, 2nd ed., London:
Fairchild Books. Burke.
272 visual research methods in fashion

Centner, M., and Vereker, F. (2007), Fashion Designer’s Underhill, P. (1999), Why We Buy: The Science of Shop-
Handbook for Adobe Illustrator, Oxford: Blackwell. ping, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Clurg-Genevese, J. (2006), ‘Design in Theory and Prac- Viaux, N., ed. (2009), Contemporary Fashion Photogra-
tice’ [Web page], Digital Web Magazine. Available phy, Cologne: Daab.
at: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/designing_ Williams, E. (2008), ‘YSL Ditches the Catwalk in Favour
for_the_web/ (accessed 15 May 2009). of Film’, Creative Review (January). Available at:
Dawber, M. (2007), Big Book of Fashion Illustration: A http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2008/
World Sourcebook of Contemporary Illustration, january/ysl-ditches-the-catwalk-in-favour-of-film
London: Batsford. (accessed 10 January 2010).
Delicatessen (Firm) (2005), Mondofragile 2: Modern Williams, R. (2006), The Non-Designer’s Web Book: An
Fashion Illustration from Japan, Modena, Italy: Easy Guide to Creating, Designing, and Posting
Happy Books. Your Own Web Site, 3rd ed., Berkeley, CA: Peachpit
Digital Web Magazine. ‘The Elements of Design’ [Online Press.
article]. Available at: http://www.digital-web.com/arti
cles/elements_of_design/ (accessed 15 May 2009).
Digital Web Magazine. ‘The Principles of Design’ [Online websites
article]. Available at: http://www.digital-web.com/
articles/principles_of_design/ (accessed 15 May Adobe http://www.adobe.com
2009). Adobe Illustrator Tutorials http://www.adobeillustrator-
Emden, J., and Becker, L. (2004), Presentation Skills for tutorials.com/
Students, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Computer Arts (free illustrator fashion tutorial) http://
Gatter, M. (2006), Software Essentials for Graphic De- www.computerarts.co.uk/­t utorials/premium_
signers: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, QuarkX- content/2d_and_photoshop/create_a_stylish_
Press, Dreamweaver, Flash and Acrobat, London: fashion_illustration
Laurence King. Evernote Web http://www.evernote.com/Home.action?
Lafuente, M. (2006), Essential Fashion Illustration, login=true
Gloucester, MA: Rockport. Extropia, ‘Photoshop Tutorials’ http://www.extropia.
Nikkhah, R. (2009), ‘Designers Seek Cheaper Alter- com/tutorials/photoshop/toc.html
natives to Catwalk at Fashion Week’, Telegraph Fashion Illustration Gallery http://www.fashionillustra
(14 February). Available at: http://www.telegraph. tiongallery.com/
co.uk/fashion/london-fashion-week/4623418/ Folioplanet.com: ArtistFinder™: Fashion Illustration
Designers-seek-cheaper-alternatives-to-catwalk- http://www.folioplanet.com/Illustration/Fashion/
at-fashion-week.html (accessed 10 January Typographica: Type Reviews, Books, Commentary http://
2010). new.typographica.org/
Pegler, M. M. (2006), Visual Merchandising and Display, Visual Retailing http://www.visualretailing.com/
5th ed., New York: Fairchild. Webmonkey, ‘Flash Tutorial for Beginners’ http://
Tain, L. (2010), Portfolio Presentation for Fashion De- www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/flash_tutorial_for_
signers, 3rd ed., New York: Fairchild Books. beginners/
glossary

Abstract – A brief summary of a research paper Augmented reality – A combination of ­computer-

or article. generated and real-world data.

Acid dye – Class of dyes used on protein fibres, Avatar – A representation of a computer user in
such as wool, silk and nylon. either two or three dimensions. Avatars are used
in games, in virtual worlds and on Web sites.
Acrylic paints – Fast-drying paints made from
synthetic materials. Basic dye – Class of dyes used on some
­acrylics.
Additive colour – Method of creating colour
involving emitted light and using red, green and Bast fibres – Natural textile fibres obtained
blue to produce other colours. from the stem or stalk of a plant, e.g. linen, jute,
ramie.
Aesthetics – Branch of philosophy dealing with
the notion of beauty, particularly in reference to Betty Boop – Animated cartoon character; first
works of art. appeared in the 1930s.

Agents (textile) – People who represent a Bibliography – A list of works used to compile
number of mills or designers. a book or written piece.

Aggregator – Software or Web site that draws Bitmap – A digitized image made up of a grid
together information such as news from a range of pixels.
of online resources. Block – A basic pattern from which styles and
modifications are developed (called a sloper in the
Algorithms – Sets of rules to solve problems;
United States).
they are used in data processing.
Blog – An online diary or journal that is orga-
APA referencing – American Psychological
nized chronologically.
Association style of referencing, often used in the
social sciences and similar to Harvard. Blogroll – A list of blogs in the sidebar of a blog
which the blogger recommends.
Appliqué – A decorative design created by
sewing one piece of fabric on top of another. Bollywood – India’s film industry.

Archive – A depository containing historical Boucle – Fancy yarn typically showing an irreg-
­records and materials. ular pattern of curls or loops.
274 glossary

Brahmani – A Brahman woman; they are the Chroma – The intensity or saturation of a
highest ranked of the social classes in Hindu India. colour.

Broderie Anglais – A white needlework tech- CMYK – A mode of colour that uses a mixture
nique characterized by the use of eyelets overcast of cyan, magenta, yellow and black — sometimes
with buttonhole stitches and patterns worked in called four-colour printing.
satin stitch.
Cold-pressed paper – Paper with a slightly
Browser – A software application for retrieving textured surface, popular with watercolour artists.
information from the World Wide Web, e.g. Inter-
Colorimeters – A device for measuring the
net Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.
amount of red, green and blue reflected or emit-
Buyer – The person who decides which lines to ted from a colour sample. Used for measuring
buy for a given company or retailer. colour from computer monitors.

Cable stitch – Knitting stitch pattern achieved Conceptboards – See Moodboards.

by moving the position of stitches within a row
Couture – See Haute couture.
(using a cable needle to transfer the stitches).
Crimp – The waviness of a fibre, e.g. wool fibres
Carcinogenic – A substance that may cause
have a characteristic natural crimp. Man-made fi-
the development of cancer.
bres can be produced with crimp if required.
Cellulosic fibres – Natural textile fibre from
Cupro – Generic name for a man-made natural
a plant, e.g. cotton, linen and sisal. The term is
polymer regenerated cellulosic fibre.
also used for man-made fibres regenerated from
plants, e.g. viscose, modal. Curation – Organizing and maintaining a col-
lection of art or artefacts.
Chenille – Fancy yarn produced by weaving a
leno fabric and cutting it into warp-way strips so Databases – Structured, searchable collections
that each strip forms the yarn, which has a vel- of related information.
vety caterpillar-like appearance. (A leno fabric is
Delta Ecmc – A system for representing the
a woven fabric where some warp yarns are made
distance between two colours.
to diagonally cross other warp yarns between the
picks by a special mechanism on the loom. This Demographics – Statistical data relating to a
allows yarns that are widely spaced to be firmly population, for example age, gender and occu-
held in place.) pation.

Chiffon – Originally a very lightweight, sheer, Device-dependent calibration – Where one

plain-weave fabric made from silk. Now can also device is used as the standard to match the colours
be used to describe a similar fabric using other between two or more devices, for example a dis-
fibres. play and printer.

Citations – A reference to a published (or un- Device-independent calibration – Where

published) source. colours are matched using a software application,
glossary 275

the colour profiles of the devices and a colour no- Fads – Short-lived trends.
tation system (e.g. CieLab). The software creates
Fair Isle – A knitting technique using various
algorithms to decide how best to reproduce the
coloured yarns in which there are normally only
colour on the target device.
two colours in each row; named after an island in
Dewey Decimal classification system – the north of Scotland.
Library classification system that uses ten main
Farthingale – Structure used under women’s
categories that are subdivided into ten divisions,
clothing in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth
which are further divided into ten sections. It is
century – it added width at the hips.
a numerical system; e.g. the arts and recreation
come under 700. Fashion blogger – Someone who keeps a
Web blog about fashion or clothing.
Direct dye – Class of dyes used on cellulosic
fibres. Feed reader – An application that enables you
to subscribe to multiple RSS feeds and access
Disperse dye – Class of dyes used on some
them in a central place.
man-made synthetic and modified cellulosic fi-
bres, e.g. polyester, acetate and triacetate. Felt – (1) Fabric made directly from fibres con-
taining at least 50 per cent animal hair, usually
DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a nucleic acid
wool. Manufacture relies on the property of wool
containing the genetic instructions used in the de-
and other animal hair fibres to become entangled
velopment of living organisms. Term is used in mar-
when exposed to heat, moisture and intermittent
keting to indicate the distinctiveness of a brand.
mechanical pressure. (2) Fabric woven or knitted
Double jersey – General term to describe from staple fibre yarns containing some wool or
weft-knitted fabrics made on two sets of nee- animal hair, where in finishing the woven or knit-
dles. Includes both rib-based and interlock-based ted construction is completely obscured by the
structures. smooth felted surface of the fabric. (3) Needlefelt:
a nonwoven fabric where fibres are entangled by
Dressers – People who work backstage at a
the mechanical action of barbed needles.
fashion show to assist the models with changing
their outfits. Fibre – A long, thin, flexible, solid structure,
where the length is very much greater than the
Drill – Woven twill fabric with a similar structure
thickness.
to denim but usually piece-dyed.
Fields – An area in a database that holds one
Elastane – Generic name for a man-made syn-
type of information, e.g. an address or telephone
thetic polymer fibre with very high elasticity.
number.
Extruded/extrusion – The process of forming
Filament – A textile fibre of infinite length.
filaments from fibre-forming substances by forc-
ing them, in plastic or molten form or in solution, Finishing – Processing, physical or chemical,
through the holes of a spinneret (metal plate with of textile material that improves the appearance,
perforated holes). handle or performance.
276 glossary

Flagships – A retailer’s leading store, usually in Gouache – An opaque water-soluble paint.

a high-prestige location; the largest store or their
Harem pants – Loose-fitting trousers gathered
first outlet.
at the ankle.
Flammable/flammability – Ability of a textile
Harvard referencing – A referencing style that
to burn with a flame under controlled conditions.
uses the author and date of the work in the main
Flower power – A 1960s youth culture that ad- body of the text. The full citation is then listed at
vocated love and peace; they used the flower as the end of the essay/written piece.
a symbol.
Haute couture – Custom-made high-fashion
Fluorescent – Energy-efficient light source cre- clothing – from the French for ‘high sewing’.
ated by gas discharge in a low-pressure tube.
Harajuku girls – Fashionable teenagers from
Font – A font (also fount) is traditionally defined as the Harajuku area of Tokyo.
a complete character set of a single size and style
Heterophilous – Where individuals collect in
of a particular typeface. For example, the set of all
diverse groups, the result of which is thought to
characters for 9-point Ariel is a font, and the 10-point
promote innovation; used in social network analy-
size would be a separate font, as would the 9-point
sis; see E. M. Rogers (2003), Diffusion of Innova-
italic (slanting) and bold (heavy). After the introduc-
tions, 5th ed., New York: Free Press.
tion of computer fonts based on fully scalable out-
lines, a broader definition evolved. Font is no longer High resolution – An image with a large amount
size-specific but still refers to a single style. Geor- of detail; having more pixels per inch than average.
gia regular, Georgia italic, Georgia bold and Georgia
Hippies – 1960s culture that favoured an alter-
bold italic are four fonts but one typeface.
native lifestyle, rejecting mainstream culture.
Freudian psychotherapy or psychoanaly-
Hot-pressed paper – Paper with a smooth
sis – The ideas of Austrian physician Sigmund
surface.
Freud, looking at human behaviour and psycho-
logical functioning. Iconic – An easily recognized object with great
cultural significance.
Genetically engineered seed – Seeds that
have had their natural genes (DNA) altered to make Incandescent – Light that is created by heat,
them stronger or more resistant to ­disease. in the case of a light bulb, by using electricity to
heat a filament.
Georgette – Fine, lightweight, plain-weave,
crêpe fabric, usually having two highly twisted S Innovate – Introduce something new, e.g. an
and two highly twisted Z yarns alternately in both idea or a product.
warp and weft.
Intarsia – Weft knit technique where different
Glam rock – 1970s musical movement that colours are used within plain, rib or purl structures
began in the UK; characterized by male musi- on the same course. Each area of colour is knitted
cians using make-up, glitter and decorative cloth- from a separate yarn, which is contained in that
ing, e.g. David Bowie. area and does not float on the back of the fabric.
glossary 277

Jacquard weave – A fabric woven on a jac- Library of Congress cataloguing ­system –

quard loom where the patterning mechanism al- System of library classification used by most
lows individual control on any interlacing of up to academic libraries in the US. It divides subjects
several hundred warp threads. into broad categories using letters of the alpha-
bet, such as Class N — Fine Arts.
Judy Garland – American actress and singer
born in 1922, famous for her role in the Wizard Loop yarn – Fancy yarn typically showing an ir-
of Oz. regular pattern of curls or loops.

Keyword – A significant word or phrase that Low resolution – Images with limited detail
can be used as a search term to retrieve data. and a low number of pixels per inch.

Kitsch – Objects of questionable artistic value; Loyalty cards – Used as a marketing strat-
gaudy and garish. egy to reward consumers for loyal behaviour
by allowing them to collect points or get dis-
Lab dips – Samples of colour on the correct counts; the card identifies the consumer and
fabric used for approval by the designer or prod- often collects data about their purchasing
uct developer. habits.
Lace – Open-work fabric, usually with a ground Lustre – The sheen of a fibre. This depends
of mesh or net on which patterns are worked ei- on the amount of light that is reflected from the
ther as the ground is made or at a later stage. The fibre. Fibres with a high degree of lustre can be
yarns are looped, twisted or knitted to achieve described as bright.
the openness of the fabric and the pattern.
­Machine-made laces are often named according Lycra – A trademark for a synthetic elastomeric
to the machine on which they have been made, fibre.
e.g. Leavers lace, racschel lace.
Lyocell – Man-made natural polymer re-
Land girls – Women who worked for the Wom- generated cellulosic fibre, obtained by extrud-
en’s Land Army during World War II, replacing ing cellulose dissolved in a recyclable organic
men on military service. solvent.

Leading – Leading is the amount of added ver- Macro trends – Long-term trends that are
tical spacing between lines of type. (In word pro- often global in nature, for example changes in the
cessing software, this concept is usually referred population or world economy.
to as ‘line spacing’; the inclusion of a full line
Mash-ups – Applications or Web pages that
of space between each line is known as ‘dou-
combine information from two or more sources —
ble spacing’ (in typography, this is called a white
or, in the music industry, a composition created by
line space), but in page layout software such
blending two or more existing songs.
as QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign the term
leading is still used. Leading may sometimes be Mercerized – Process of treating cotton
confused with tracking, which refers to the hori- and linen yarns and fabrics with a solution of
zontal spacing between letters or characters.) caustic alkali, generally caustic soda, which
278 glossary

is sodium hydroxide. The fibres swell, and the Mill – Manufacturer of fabric, whether woven,
strength and dye affinity are increased. The tex- knitted or printed.
tile is usually held under tension to increase the
Moodboards – A collage of images, samples
lustre.
and text used to communicate a design concept
Merchandise (v) – To ensure that the right or mood.
products are in store at the right time
Nano science – Science concerned with ultra-
Merchandise (n) – Goods for sale. small structures and devices that are usually be-
tween 0.1 and 100 nanometres (a nanometer is
Merino – Wool from the merino sheep, which one billionth of a metre).
produces the shortest and finest fibres.
Natural search – Search results that are shown
Metadata – Data that describe other data. It on search listings because they have a direct rel-
may give information about an image such as the evance to the search term entered (not paid for
date it was taken and the location or information by a sponsor).
about a document such as the author and pub-
New romantics – 1980s youth movement in
lisher.
the UK that is associated with pop groups such
Metamerism – Phenomenon where two as Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet, and flamboy-
colours may match in some lighting conditions ant clothing.
but not in others, e.g. in daylight versus tungsten-
Node – Centre point of component parts, a
filament light. Colours will match in all lighting con-
group or cluster.
ditions only if the same dyes mixed in the same
proportions have been used. Opaque – Does not allow light to pass through.

Methodologies – A body of rules and proce- Organdie – Lightweight, transparent plain-

dures of inquiry within a particular discipline. weave fabric, with a permanently stiff finish.

Microencapsulation – A process in which Ottoman Empire – Turkish empire between

small particles of one substance are embedded the fourteenth and twentieth centuries.
in another. The material is then released through a Page ranking – A way of ranking Web pages
process of heat, pressure or other means. based upon the number of other pages that link
Microfiche – Sheet of film containing micro- to them.
­reproductions of documents, e.g. newspapers. Paid-for search – Sponsored advertisements
that appear on a search engine’s results page —
Microstock (photography) – This is also
usually linked to a particular keyword or phrase.
known as micropayment photography, where im-
ages are sourced from a wide range of photogra- Paraphernalia – Equipment required for a par-
phers and sold at a low rate, usually online. ticular activity; personal belongings.

Modal – A generic name for a man-made natu- Parody – A work that mimics the characteristic
ral polymer of regenerated cellulosic fibre. style of an author or work in an humorous way.
glossary 279

Patchwork – Needlework consisting of scraps Poplin – Medium-weight, plain-weave fabric,

or patches of various fabrics sewn together. traditionally made from cotton, with a closer-set
warp than weft. Shows slight weftways ribs and is
Pea coat – Heavy coat usually made of navy-
often used for shirtings.
coloured wool, originally worn by sailors.
Premetallized dye – A group of dyes that
Peer reviewed – Evaluation of a scholarly work contain a metal complex, used for dyeing wool
by others in the same field. and polyamide fibres.

Physiological – Relating to the body. Primary research – Original research that

generates new data, e.g. through interviews or
Piece-dyed – Fabric that is dyed in a vat after it
observations.
has been woven.
Punk – Music genre of the mid 1970s character-
Pill(s) – Unsightly balls of fibre that stand up on ized by deliberately offensive lyrics and an antiso-
the cloth. cial stance (also refers to a follower of punk rock).

Pixel – A single rectangular dot in an image on a Psychological – Relating to the mind.

computer display.
Qualitative research – Research using non-
Pixelate – When the individual pixels in an numerical data, often used to gain an understand-
image become visible to the eye. ing of human behaviour; used in market research
and social sciences.
Plagiarism – Copying the work of others and
passing it off as your own. Quantitative research – Research that gen-
erates numerical data, or data that can be ex-
Plain weave – Most common and simplest pressed numerically, for example the number of
woven structure where each warp yarn, or end, people within a certain set or group.
runs over one pick and under the next pick, and
Quilting – Sewing technique in which several
each weft yarn, or pick, runs over one end and
layers of fabric are joined together to create a
under the next.
thicker, padded material or quilt.
Pleating – A fold in fabric that is held in place
Reactive dye – Class of dyes used on cellu-
by either stitching or pressing. Pleats can be
losic and protein fibres.
decorative or be used to reduce fullness in a
garment. Referencing – A note that refers the reader to
a source of additional information, e.g. another
Point of sale – Location where payment is publication.
made, e.g. till or counter.
Referent – The object/idea that is referred to by
Poly-cotton – Fabric made from a blend of a sign/representation.
polyester and cotton.
Refraction – The bending of a light wave
Polyester – Man-made synthetic fibre (generic caused by a change of speed, for example when
name). passing from one material to another.
280 glossary

Retina – A light-sensitive tissue that lines the Sketchbook – A notebook in which artists and
inner surface of the eye. designers record ideas and things they see which
inspire them.
RGB – A mode of colour (used by computer
monitors) where all the colours created are de- Sloper – American term for a block (see Block).
scribed as a mixture of red, green and blue.
Slub – Fancy yarn characterized by areas of
Rough paper – Paper with a highly textured thicker, loosely twisted yarn alternating with thin-
surface, often used with pastels. ner, more tightly twisted areas.

RSS feed – Really simple syndication; a format Smocking – Embroidery technique in which the
for providing users who have subscribed to the fabric is gathered and then embroidered with dec-
feed with updated information, used for example orative stitches.
on blogs and news Web sites. Specification sheet – A page containing all
the details relating to a garment or product; used
Sample lengths – Small length of fabric used
to communicate with a manufacturer.
to make the first prototype of a garment.
Spectrophotometer – Device that measures
Satin weave – Woven structure where the
how much light is absorbed or reflected by a colour
maximum amount of warp shows on the face.
sample at each wavelength, giving accurate data.
The smooth effect is enhanced by using filament
yarns and/or lustrous fibres. Staffers – A member of staff, a term usually
used in relation to newspapers.
Search engine – Computer program that
searches for and retrieves information from the Stock images – Professional photographs that
­Internet. are available to purchase.

Secondary research – Collation and synthe- Stringer – A freelance journalist or photogra-

sis of data based on the research of others and/or pher.
derived from existing resources. Subcultures – A cultural group within a larger
Seed – Unit of reproduction of a flowering plant culture that has distinct beliefs or behaviours.
that can produce another plant. Subtractive colour – Colour that is created by
materials that absorb some wavelengths of light
Selvedge – The neat, firm, longitudinal edge
and reflect others, e.g. paints and dyes.
of a woven fabric parallel to the warp yarns and
grain. The purpose of the selvedges is to prevent Sulphur dye – Class of dyes used on cellulosic
fraying of the outside ends from the body of the fibres.
fabric and to give the edges of the fabric sufficient
Synonym – A word with the same meaning as
strength for subsequent processing.
another word that can be used interchangeably.
Servers – A host computer that holds and re-
Tags – Labels used to easily retrieve data.
sponds to requests for information or a program
that provides such a service. Taxonomy – A classification system.
glossary 281

Tech pack – A package of technical informa- Typography – The art and technique of ar-
tion relating to the production of a garment. ranging type, typesetting and type design. The
arrangement of type involves the selection of
Thermochromic – A reversible change in
typefaces, point size, line length and leading (line
colour due to a change in temperature.
spacing).
Thesaurus – A list of synonyms and related Tyvek – A strong synthetic material by Dupont.
words.
Ugg boots – Brand of sheepskin boots with a
Think laterally – A creative approach to prob- wool lining and tanned leather outer surface.
lem solving achieved by changing one’s perspec-
URL – Uniform resource locator; the address of
tive and thinking differently. Term originally defined
a page on the Web.
by Edward de Bono.
Vat dye – Class of dye used on cellulosic and
Translucent – Allowing light to pass through.
protein fibres.
Trendboards – A collection of images, swatches
Vector – A path in an image created in software
and so on that illustrate a particular trend; also
such as Adobe Illustrator; vector graphics can be
see moodboards and conceptboards.
scaled without losing their quality.
Trends – Movement in a general direction, re- Vintage – Clothes from a previous era, e.g. the
lating to what is popular or in fashion at a given 1920s or 1950s.
time.
Virtual worlds – Computer-based simulated
Trendsetters – People who create trends. three-dimensional environments where users can
interact, create and play games.
Triacetate – A generic name for a man-made
natural polymer cellulose ester fibre. Visual journal – A daily diary kept by an artist
containing sketches and text.
Triangulation – Using more than two methods
to check a piece of information. Visual literacy – The ability to interpret images
and understand the ideas conveyed by them.
Tuck stitch – Stitch consisting of a held loop
and a tuck loop, both of which are intermeshed in Visual merchandiser – Someone who cre-
the same course. ates visual displays to promote the sale of mer-
chandise, e.g. window displays and presentations
Tweets – Messages sent via Twitter. within the store.

Typeface – A typeface is a set of one or Visual merchandising – The visual presenta-

more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed tion of goods within a store to promote sales.
with stylistic unity, e.g. Arial (sans serif) or
Vita Sackville-West – English author and poet
Georgia (serif). A typeface usually comprises
born in 1892.
an alphabet of letters, numerals and punctua-
tion marks; it may also include ideograms and Vox pop – The voice of the people; interviews
symbols. with the general public.
282 glossary

Warp knitting – Method of constructing a knit- Woodstock – A music festival held near Bethel,
ted fabric where the loops made from each warp New York, in August 1969.
yarn are formed substantially along the length of
Woollen system – Spinning system developed
the fabric. Each warp yarn is fed more or less in line
specifically for wool fibres, but which is now used
with the direction in which the fabric is produced.
in addition for other fibres and fibre blends where
Watercolour – A water-soluble pigment used the fibres are of similar dimensions.
for painting.
Worsted system – Spinning system devel-
Weft knitting – Method of constructing a knit- oped specifically for wool fibres where the fibres
ted fabric where the loops made from each weft are combed to remove short fibres and make the
yarn are formed substantially across the width of remaining fibres lie more parallel. Used in addition
the fabric. Each weft yarn is fed more or less at for other fibres and fibre blends where the fibres
right angles to the direction in which the fabric is are of similar dimensions.
produced, and the fabric may be flat or tubular
depending on the machine used. www – World Wide Web.

Wicking – The ability of a fabric to move mois- Yarn – A fine continuous length of fibres and/
ture away from the skin. or filament(s), with or without twist, that is strong
enough to be processed into fabric.
Widgets – Small applications that the user can
install within a Web page, also known as gadgets. Zeitgeist – The mood or spirit of the time.
contributors and useful
contacts

Dr Shlomo Lee Abrahmov Emma Crowther

artman2002@gmail.com Emma.crowther@live.com
http://www.hit.ac.il/visualliteracy/engdefault.html
CWCi
Kinder Aggugini Creative Agency
http://www.aggugini.com http://www.cwc-i.com/

AJS Embroidery Daler Rowney

http://www.ajs-embroidery.co.uk http://www.daler-rowney.com/

Leon Bailey Green Ruth Davis

talk.to@theonlinefashionagency.com ruth9886@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.theonlinefashionagency.com Philip Delamore
Claire Baker London College of Fashion
claire@bakerart.org.uk p.delamore@fashion.arts.ac.uk
http://www.bakerart.org.uk http://www.fashiondigitalstudio.com

Tonia Bastyan Rene De Lange

http://www.bastyan.co.uk renedelange@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.renedelange.com
Before and After Magazine
http://www.bamagazine.com/ Derwent
http://www.pencils.co.uk
Janet Best
Colour Diversity Doneger Group
bestjanet@btinternet.com http://www.doneger.com/web
http://www.colourdiversity.com
Julia Dorff
Bonhams and Butterfields Julia.Mieko.Dorff@gmail.com
http://www.bonhams.com/
Richard Doust
Tony Buzan richard.doust@rca.ac.uk
http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/home http://www.richarddoust.co.uk

Color Solutions International Faber Castell

http://www.colorsolutionsinternational.com http://www.faber-castell.us
284 contributors and useful contacts

Kathleen Fasanella Nicholas Huxley

Fashion-Incubator.com TAFE NSW Sydney Institute
kathleen@fashion-incubator.com nicholas.huxley@tafensw.edu.au
http://fashion-incubator.com http://www.sit.nsw.edu.au

Fashionary Paul Jackson

http://www.fashionary.com http://www.origami-artist.com

Gavin Fernandes Fiona Jenvey Mudpie

gavin@gavinfernandes.com http://www.mpdclick.com
http://www.gavinfernandes.com http://twitter.com/mudpietrend
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/fionajenvey
Ana Stankovic Fitzgerald
astankovicfitzgerald@gmail.com Kacchi
http://www.anastankovicfitzgerald.com http://www.kacchiworld.com/

Jane Kellock
Flyhoof
janekellock@blueyonder.co.uk
http://flyhoof.blogspot.com/
Gene Kiegel
Gerber
http://www.genekiegel.com/
http://www.gerbertechnology.com/
Kim Kight
Getty Images
True Up
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/
http://www.trueup.net
Tony Glenville
Lectra
tonyglenville@aol.com
http://www.lectra.com/
http://tonyglenville.co.uk
Philippa Leith
David Hardy
info@philippaleith.co.uk
d.hardy@fashion.arts.ac.uk
http://www.philippaleith.co.uk
Greg High Greg Lever-O’Keefe
http://greghigh.com prior2lever ltd
Peter Hill info@prior2lever.com
London College of Fashion http://www.prior2lever.com
p.hill@fashion.arts.ac.uk Kirsten Ludwig
Charlotte Hodes kirsten@kirstenludwig.com
c.hodes@fashion.arts.ac.uk http://www.kirstenludwig.com
http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/lcf-research Ayako Machida
http://machizoo.com/
Leslie Holden
Amsterdam Fashion Institute Sarah Manning
l.t.holden@hva.nl Visual Merchandising Courses
contributors and useful contacts 285

info@visualmerchandisingcourses.co.uk Tiffany Ong

http://www.visualmerchandisingcourses.co.uk tiffany.ong@network.rca.ac.uk
http://tiffanyong.blogspot.com/
MBTs
http://uk.mbt.com/ OptiTex
http://www.optitex.com/about_us/industries/
Francesco Mellina
fashion
Francescomellinaphotography@googlemail.com
http://www.myspace.com/francescomellina Daniela Orsulova
Da.ni165@hotmail.com
Miao Baby Carriers
http://www.miaobabycarriers.com/ Pantone
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.
Jessica Mills
aspx
jemcsc@hotmail.com
http://www.jessicaemills.com Lynne Perrella
http://www.lkperrella.com/
Nicola Morgan
info@nicola-morgan.co.uk Rob Phillips
http://www.nicola-morgan.co.uk r.phillips@fashion.arts.ac.uk
http://www.robphillipswork.com/
Filep Motwary
Mastori*Motwary Studio Premiere Vision
filep.motwary@gmail.com http://www.premierevision.fr
http://www.filepmotwary.com
Promostyl
David Moy http://www.promostyl.com
theprintspace
Martin Raymond
info@theprintspace.co.uk
The Future Laboratory
http://www.theprintspace.co.uk
http://www.thefuturelaboratory.com
Eric Musgrave https://lsnglobal.com/login
UKFT (UK Fashion & Textile Association)
Laura Tinsley Scott
eric.musgrave@ukft.org
Old Navy/Gap, Inc.
http://www.ukft.org
queenofcolor@gmail.com
Natural Colour System Jenny Shellard
http://www.ncscolour.co.uk/ j.shellard@fashion.arts.ac.uk
Nelly Rodi Shima Seiki
http://www.nellyrodi.com http://www.shimaseiki.com/
North Carolina State University Rose Sinclair
College of Textiles Department of Design,
http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/ Goldsmiths, University of London
Office of Metropolitan Architecture r.sinclair@gold.ac.uk
http://www.oma.eu/ http://www.gold.ac.uk/design/staff/sinclair/
286 contributors and useful contacts

Lottie Smith Sjef van Dongen

LoveLottieKnits Visual Instinct Co Ltd
basilbrush70@hotmail.com info@visualinstinct.be
http://www.folksy.com/shops/LoveLottieKnits http://www.visualinstinct.be

Society of Dyers and Colourists VV Rouleaux

http://www.sdc.org.uk/ http://www.vvrouleaux.com

Speedo Philippa Waite

http://www.speedo.com/en/ Phirefly Ltd
philippa@phirefly.co.uk
Speed Step http://www.phirefly.co.uk
http://www.speedstep-schools.com
Philippa Watkins
Style Bubble Royal College of Art
http://stylebubble.typepad.com/ philtex@msn.com

Miriam Sucis Terry Weston

miriamsucis@hotmail.com t.weston@fashion.arts.ac.uk

Basia Szkutnicka WGSN

b.szkutnicka@fashion.arts.ac.uk http://www.wgsn.com

Textile Institute Walter White

http://www.texi.org http://www.walterwhite.co.uk

Shenlei Winkler
Textile Resource Guide
Fashion Research Institute
http://cltad-web.arts.ac.uk/trog
shenlei@fashionresearchinstitute.com
Toronto Rob on Flickr http://www.fashionresearchinstitute.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torontorob/
Fong Wong
Manel Torres fongshanwong@hotmail.com
http://www.fabricanltd.com The Woolmark Company
http://www.wool.com/
Jeun Ho Tsang
peter@jeunhotsang.com Angela Wright
http://www.jeunhotsang.com Colour Affects
abw@colour-affects.co.uk
United States Department
http://www.colour-affects.co.uk
of Agriculture (USDA)
Natural Resources Conservation James Wright
Service (NRCS) Mint Vintage
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ http://www.mintvintage.co.uk
index

Note: Page numbers in italics indicate paper, 183 case studies

illustrations. pastels and chalks, 182 Abrahmov, Dr Shlomo Lee, 144–6
pencils and coloured pencils, 181 Baker, Claire, 254–6
Abrahmov, Dr Shlomo Lee, 144–6 pens and inks, 181 Bastyan, Tonia, 162–5
Academic Earth, 214 references and further reading, 205 Crowther, Emma, 153
Academic Search Elite, 213 rubbers and erasers, 183 Davis, Ruth, 3–4
accessories, 38, 73, 124, 129, 130, sketchbooks, 183–4 De Lange, Rene, 256–8
155, 161, 176, 253, 267 supplies, 205 Fasanella, Kathleen, 176
achromatic greys, 63 ARTstor, 213 Fernandes, Gavin, 147–9
acid-free paper, 183 asbestos, 85 Getty Images, 202–4
acrylic, 86–8 ASOS, 110 Hodes, Charlotte, 192
acrylic paints, 180 Assyst, 222 Kacchi, 186–7
additive colour, 62 auctions, 38–9 Leith, Philippa, 96–7
Adidas, 52 AutoCAD, 267 Machida, Ayako, 263
Adlington, Rebecca, 98 Mills, Jessica, 154–5
Adobe Acrobat, 238 background research, 2 Morgan, Nicola, 152
Adobe Flash Player, 245, 246 Bailey-Green, Leon, 218–21 Nelly Rodi, 135–7
Adobe Illustrator, 214, 224, 238, 245, Baker, Claire, 254–6 North Carolina State University College
263–4 Bastyan, Tonia, 162–5 of Textiles, 190–1
Adobe InDesign, 236, 238, 264 Beckham, David, 36 Ong, Tiffany, 257, 258–9
Adobe Photoshop, 214, 224, 237, 245, Beretta, Anne Marie, 111 rapid prototyping, 171–3
262–3, 264, 268 Best 100, 130 Sinclair, Rose, 224–5
Adobe Web, 246, 262, 264 Best, James, 72 Smith, Lottie, 64–5
aesthetics, 22 black, 65 Sucis, Miriam, 44
Aggugini, Kinder, 11 Black Dress, 249 Waite, Philippa, 263–4
alpaca, 84 blogging, 2, 109, 129, 138, 215, 215– Wong, Fong, 51
Amsterdam Fashion Institute, 150–2 18, 218–21 cashmere, 84
analogous colours, 63 blogs and hobby sites, 101, 101–2 catwalks, 110, 260
analysis, 144, 147 digital printing, 95 catwalk show analysis, 261
analysing a catwalk show, 261 blue, 66 trends, 129
analysing a colour palette, 75 bookmarks, 209 celebrities, 47, 110
analysing a display, 259 books, 46, 57 Chalayan, Hussein, 97–8
analysing a magazine, 16, 235 trend books, 130–1 chalks, 182
analysing a photograph, 146 boucle, 88, 273 charcoal, 182
analysing a photographic exhibition, brainstorming, 16–17, 18 checklists, 6
201 brand identity, 173, 174–5, 176 chenille, 88, 274
analysing a store, 31 Bread and Butter, Berlin, 138 chroma, 63
analysing trends, 138–9 British Library, 213 chromatic greys, 63
angora, 84 British Museum, 213 Chrome, 208
animations and interactivity, 246–7 broderie anglais, 96 CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and
Aniston, Jennifer, 48 browsers, 71, 208 black), 62, 63, 71, 236, 237, 274
appliqué, 96 brushes, 184–6 coir, 85
architecture, 45 Burton, Tim, 38 cold-pressed paper, 183
archives, 187–8, 192 business-to-business Web sites, 100 Collezioni, 129–30
vintage clothing, 38 buyers, 30–1, 35, 75, 124, 129, 130, Collezioni Uomo, 130
Art Full Text, 213 138, 253, 261, 274 Color Solutions, 73
art galleries, 6, 22–3, 191–2 Buzan, Tony, 17, 18 colorimeters, 72
art materials, 179 colour forecasting, 73–5, 75–7
brushes, 184–6 cable stitch, 94 colour management, 71–2
buying art supplies, 179–80 calicos, 253 dye labs and standards, 72–3
charcoal, 182 camel, 84 colour matching, 72–3
markers, 181–2 cameras, 8, 193 colour palettes, 63, 64
paints, 180 Carlin International, 124 colour printing, 240–1
288 index

colour psychology, 65, 66–7, 67–9 databases, 4–5, 6, 212 Eye Candey, 30
colour symbolism, 65–6 Internet databases, 213
colour systems, 69 libraries, 187, 188, 213 fabric, 29–30
Commission Internationale de Davis, Ruth, 3–4 sample lengths, 100
l’Eclairage, (CIE) 71 De La Haye, Amy, 25–8 fabric finishes, 94
hexadecimal, 71 De Lange, Rene, 140, 256–8 dyeing, 94–5
Munsell system, 70–1 Delicious, 138, 209, 210, 211 printing, 95
NCS (Natural Colour System®©), 70 Delta Ecmc., 73 fabric structures, 88
PANTONE®, 69–70 demographics, 22, 112 knitting, 93–4
Web sites, 72 Denver Art Museum, 123 nonwovens, 94
colour theory, 61, 77 Derwent, Inktense, 181, 182 weaving, 88
colour interactions, 63–4 Design and Applied Arts Index, 213 Facebook, 214
colour terminology, 62–3 Design Intelligence, 124 fads, 110
references and further readings, designers, 22, 30–1, 32, 36 Fair Isle, 94
77–9 Baker, Claire, 254–6 farthingales, 23, 24
Web sites, 79 Bastyan, Tonia, 162–5 Fasanella, Kathleen, 176
what is colour? 62 consumer profiling, 173 fashion curation, 23, 25–8
colour value, 63 Dorff, Julia, 247–8 Fashion Design Studio TAFE NSW Syd-
colour wheel, 63 film, 37–8 ney Institute, 149
Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage Leith, Philippa, 95–6 Fashion Illustration Gallery, 235
(CIE), 71 music, 48 Fashion Institute of Design and Mer-
complementary colours, 63 networking, 35 chandising, Los Angeles, 192
computer-aided design, 222–3, 224–5 science and technology, 49, 97–8 fashion journalism, 10–13, 14–16
pattern cutting and marker marking, Smith, Lottie, 64–5 Fashion Research Institute, 249
223 sport, 52 Fashionary, 184, 185, 241, 242
product management, 223 Sucis, Miriam, 44 felt, 83, 94
programmes, 224 trends, 110, 117, 124, 129, 130, 138 Fernandes, Gavin, 147–9
references and further reading, 230 Wong, Fong, 51 Ferre, Gianfranco, 45
Web sites, 231 development sheets, 160–2 fibres, 81, 138
computers, 62, 71 device-dependent calibration, 72 animal fibres, 82–5
concept development, 144, 147, 177 device-independent calibration, 72 fibre blends, 88
Empire Line Project, 147–9 Diana, Princess of Wales, 36 mineral fibres, 85
Jackson, Paul, 168–69, 170 digital printing, 95 natural polymer fibres, 86
moodboards and conceptboards, Digital Web Magazine, 235 plant fibres, 85
166–7 Dior, Christian, 114, 259 synthetic polymer fibres, 87
references and further reading, 177–8 Dorff, Julia, 247–8 film, 37–8
storyboards, 167 double jersey, 93 Final Cut Pro, 214, 246
three-dimensional development, Doust, Richard, 236, 239, 240 finishes, 81, 94–5
167–70, 171–3 Drapers, 46 Firefox, 208
understanding consumer, 173 drawing, 45–6, 155–6 Fireworks, 214
visual literacy, 144–6 development sheets, 160–2 Flash, 214, 245, 246, 247
Web sites, 178 Phillips, Rob, 156–7 flax, 85
conceptboards 139, 166–7, 253 sketchbooks, 158–9 Flickr, 138, 212, 214
consumer profiling, 173 tutorials, 206 Flip, 246
cool colours, 66 visual journals, 159–60 flower power, 48
Cooliris, 6, 7, 212 Dreamweaver, 214 FolioPlanet, 235
copyright, 189, 212, 225, 226–9 Duke University, USA, 226 fonts, 238–9
protecting your copyright, 225–6 dyeing, 94–5 Foxmarks, 209
references and further reading, 230 dye labs and standards, 72–3 Freeplay Music, 214
Web sites, 231 friends, 57
Corbis, 213 eBay, 28, 101 Future Laboratory, 117–22, 124
CorelDraw, 224, 263 Eberle, Robert, 18
Coroflot, 214 economics, 34 Galliano, 29
cotton, 85 Elle, 46 gamut, 63
Creative Commons, 214, 226, 230 embroidery, 96, 97 GarageBand, 214
creative projects, 149 Empire Line Project, 147–9 Gaultier, Jean Paul, 37, 48
Crowther, Emma, 153 environment, 57 George Mason University, USA, 210
Holden, Leslie, 150–2 environmental issues, 176 Gerber, 222, 266
Huxley, Nicholas, 149–50 ephemera, 28–9 Fashion Studio, 224
Mills, Jessica, 154–5 erasers, 183 Getty Images, 201, 202–4, 213
Morgan, Nicola, 152 ethical considerations, 9–10, 176 glam rock, 48
creative thinking, 16–19, 21 Etsy, 30, 101 Glenville, Tony, 10–13
Crombie, Alison, 201 Evernote, 138, 212–13 Google, 4, 6, 208, 209, 212
Crowther, Emma, 153 exhibitions, 254 Gore-Tex, 52, 97
Cruz, Penelope, 38 budget, 254 gouache, 180
cupro, 86 display, 254 graphic design, 234–5
index 289

Grazia, 48, 110 write a list, 58 Kight, Kim, 101–2

green, 66 your personal history, 36–7 knitting, 93–4
Greenaway, Peter, 37 intarsia, 94 Koolhaas, Rem, 45
grey/gray, 66 intellectual property rights (IPR), 214 Kozomara, Zorana, 249
greyscale/grayscale, 63 intensity, 63
Guardian, 129 International Herald Tribune, 129 lace, 94
Internet, 6, 7, 129, 207–8 Lacoste, 52
hair fibres, 83–4 blogging, 215, 215–18 lateral thinking, 147
harmonious colours, 63 image databases, 213–14 layout paper, 183
Hello, 48, 110 image search tools, 212–13 Lectra, 163, 166, 173, 222, 223
hemp, 85 multimedia, 214 Kaledo, 224, 265, 266
Hepburn, Audrey, 14, 37 online networking, 214 Romans Cad, 173, 267
hexadecimal system, 71 references and further reading, 230 Leith, Philippa, 95–6
hippies, 48 saving your searches, 209–11 libraries, 6, 38, 46, 187–8
History of Graphic Design, 235 search tools, 208–9 Burlington Textiles Library, North Caro-
Ho, Lisa, 149 Twitter, 138, 221 lina State University, 190–1
Hodes, Charlotte, 192 using database, 213 fabric libraries and collections, 100
Holden, Leslie, 150–2 Wikipedia, 212 references and further reading, 205–6
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 192 Internet Explorer, 208 visiting, 188–9
hot-pressed paper, 183 Interstoff, Frankfurt, 138 Zotero, 209–11
hue, 63 interviews lighting, 73
Huxley, Nicholas, 149–50 Bailey-Green, Leon, 218–21 photography, 196
De La Haye, Amy, 25–8 linen, 85
image agencies, 201, 202–4 Dorff, Julia, 247–8 LinkedIn, 138, 214
image databases, 6, 213–14 Glenville, Tony, 10–13 lists, 58
image search tools, 6, 212 Jackson, Paul, 168–9, 170 London College of Fashion, 38, 156
Evernote, 138, 212–13 Jenvey, Fiona, 125–8 tailoring archive, 192
Picasa, 138, 212 Kellock, Jane, 75–7 loop yarn, 88, 277
iMovie, 214, 246 Kight, Kim, 101–2 loyalty cards, 129
Informat, 124 Ludwig, Kirsten, 174–5 Ludwig, Kirsten, 174–5
information evaluation, 6–7 Mannino, Kim, 131–5 Luhrmann, Baz, 37
information retrieval, 138–9 Motwary, Filep, 215–18 Lycra, 52
information storage, 8 Moy, David, 193–201 lyocell, 86
inks, 181 Musgrave, Eric, 14–16 Lyttle, Pat, 201
Inkscape, 263 Perella, Lynne, 159–60 LZR, 97, 98
Inktense, Derwent, 181, 182 Raymond, Martin, 117–22
inspiration, 21, 53–6, 58, 233–5 Shellard, Jenny, 89–92 Machida, Ayako, 262, 263
architecture and the built environ- Smith, Kevin, 226–9 macro trends, 109, 130
ment, 45 Szkutnicka, Basia, 53–6 Madonna, 36, 48, 50, 110
change your environment, 57 van Dongen, Sjef, 268–71 magazines, 46–8, 49
create a map, 57 vox pop interviews, 9, 282 analysing a magazine, 16, 235
drawing from life and still life, 45–6 Watkins, Philippa, 103–6 trends, 129–30
fabric and trimmings, 29–30 Winkler, Shenlei, 250–3 Magic Markers, 182
fashion and sport, 52 Wolfe, David, 113–16 MAGIC, Las Vegas, 138
film and theatre, 37–8 Wright, Angela, 67–9 Maison Martin Margiela, 112
listen to music, 57 Wright, James, 40–3 Mango, 124
museums and art galleries, 22–3 iPhone, 221 Mannino, Kim, 131–5
museums, libraries and archives, iPhoto, 262 Mansfield, Sophie, 150
59–60 IQNS, 138, 214 manufactured (man-made) fibres, 86–8
music and fashion, 48–9 Isogawa, Akir, 149 maps, 57
objects and ephemera, 28–9 Issuu, 247 maquettes, 253
observation, 57 iWeb, 214 Marie Claire, 46
people and networking, 35 marker pads, 183
phoning a friend, 57 Jackson, Paul, 168–69, 170 markers, 181–2
print resources, 46–8 jacquard weave, 88, 89 market research, 128–9
read a book, 57 Jenvey, Fiona, 124, 125–8 Maya, 267
references and further reading, 58–9 Jeun Ho Tsang, 162 Mayston, Rick, 201
science, nature and technology, 49, 51 jute, 85 McCartney, Stella, 52
society, economics and politics, 34 McQueen, Alexander, 52, 260
stimulating inspiration, 57–8 Kacchi, 185, 186–7 Menswear, 130
stop and think, 57–8 Kahlo, Frida, 35, 36 mercerized cotton, 85
store research, 30–1 Kall Kwik, 236 merino, 82
street fashion, 32 Kellock, Jane, 75–7 metamerism, 73
style icons, 36 Kerrang, 49 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 213
vintage clothing and textiles, 38–9 keywords, 5–6, 188 microencapsulation, 97
Web sites, 59 search engines, 208 Miller, Siena, 110
290 index

Mills, Jessica, 154–5 patchwork, 96 three-dimensional objects on the Web,

Mind Maps®, 17–18 pattern cutting, 223 249, 250–3
mineral fibres, 85 Peclers, 124, 131 video, 245–6
Minnelli, Lisa, 37 pencils and coloured pencils, 181 Prada, 12, 45
Mintel, 213 pens, 181 Premiere Vision (PV), Paris, 74–5, 102,
mobile phones, 8–9, 221–2 Perkin, William Henry, 95 103, 138
Mockshop, 268, 269, 270 Perrella, Lynne, 159–60 preparation, 8–9
modal, 86 Perry, Fred 52 ethical considerations, 9–10
Modaris, 268 Phillips, Rob, 156–7 health and safety, 9
mohair, 84 photo albums, 36–7 presentation, 233–5, 271
MOJO, 49 Photobucket, 214 moodboards and conceptboards, 253
monochromes, 63 photocopying, 189 printing, 236–42
moodboards, 131, 139, 166–7, 212, photography, 8, 9, 192–3 references and further reading, 271–2
253 aperture, 196, 201 software for fashion and textile design,
Morgan, Nicola, 152 buying a camera, 193 264–6
Moss, Kate, 36, 47, 48, 110 digital and traditional, 193–4 software for fashion presentation,
Motwary, Filep, 215–18 digital C type print, 199 262–5
Moy, David, 193–201 editing pictures, 197–8 specification sheets, 253
Mudpie, 124, 125–8 exhibiting work, 201 three-dimensional design software for
multimedia, 214 fashion photography and portraiture, fashion, 266–8
Munsell system, 70–1 197 toiles/calicos, maquettes and proto-
museums, 6, 9, 22–3, 38, 191–2 good photographs, 194 types, 253
references and further reading, 205–6 ISO ratings, 195 verbal presentations, 261–2
Musgrave, Eric, 14–16 lighting, 196 Web sites, 272
music, 48–9, 57, 214 night shots and low light, 197 Prêt-a-Porter, 138
MySpace, 214 print size, 199–201 primary colours, 62
printing image, 198–9 primary research, 1, 2
nano science, 49 RAW images, 196–7 printed fabrics, 95
NASA, 97 references and further reading, printing, 236
nature, 49 206 borders and margins, 238
Nature, 49 screen calibration, 199 colour, 240–1
NCS (Natural Colour System®©), 70 shutter speed, 195–6 combining text and images, 240
Nelly Rodi, 124, 131, 135–7 Picasa, 138, 212 digital and traditional printing, 236
networking, 35, 36 pigment, 63 file formats, 238
online networking, 214 pilling, 88, 279 fonts and typefaces, 238–9
new romantics, 48 pink, 66 grouping, 241
New Scientist, 49 Pitti Filati, Florence, 138 laying out your text, 239
New York Times, 129 plagiarism, 188–9 movement, 242
newspapers, 46, 129 plain weave, 88 orphans, widows and hyphens, 238
Newton, Sir Isaac, 62 planning research, 4–5 page layout and design, 240
NME, 49 evaluate information, 6–7 paper size and quality, 237
nonwoven fabrics, 94 identify keywords, 5–6, 188 perspective, 241
North Carolina State University, 38 identify resources, 6 resolution, 236–7
notebooks, 8 identify search parameters, 5 scale, 240
nylon, 86 make checklist, 6 white space, 241
references, 7–8 product data management (PDM), 223
objects, 28–9 set time limit, 5 product lifestyle management (PLM),
observation, 57 use advanced options, 6 223
Officiel 1000 Models, 130 pleating, 96 professional organizations, 6, 100
OK, 48, 110 polyamide, 86 project-specific research, 4
Onassis, Jackie, 36 polyester, 86 projects
Ong, Tiffany, 257, 258–9 polymer fibres, 86–7 analysing a colour palette, 75
online databases, 6 polyurethane group fibres, 88 analysing a display, 259
Optitext, 249, 250, 268 POP, 46 analysing a magazine, 16, 235
orange, 66 portfolios, 242 analysing a photographic exhibition,
organic cotton, 85 animations and interactivity, 246–7 201
Osborn, Alex, 18 content, 242–3 brand identity and trend presenta-
electronic portfolios, 245 tion, 176
page layouts, 240, 242 ePortfolio Web sites, 247 catwalk show analysis, 261
painting tutorials, 206 organization, 244 colour palettes, 64
paints, 180 physical portfolios, 242 colour photo file, 77
Pantone, 69–70, 182, 221 plug-ins, 245 contradictory elements, 149
PANTONE®, 69–70 resolution and browsers, 245 creating an heirloom, 151
paper 180–1, 183 size and format, 243–4 designing a layout, 242
printers, 236, 237 texture, 244 fabric trend report, 106
pastels, 182 three-dimensional objects, 244–5 history of an object, 28
index 291

history of costume research, 24–5 search engines, 208–9 thinking, 57–8

movie inspiration board, 38 search engines, 4–5, 6 creative thinking, 16–19, 21
networking, 36 Second Life, 249, 268 lateral thinking, 147
origami, 170 secondary colours, 62 three-dimensional development, 167–
re-working a vintage piece, 165 secondary research, 1–2 70, 171–3
searching creative commons, 230 shades, 63 Times, 129
showroom layout, 271 Shellard, Jenny 89–92 tint, 63
six degrees of separation, 13 Shima Seiki, 93 toiles, 253
starting a trend file, 123 Shockwave, 245 tones, 63
store analysis, 31 silk, 84–5 Torres, Manel, 49, 50
street-style report, 33 Sinclair, Rose, 224 tracing paper, 183
stretching paper, 180–1 sisal, 85 trade associations, 100
text as visual inspiration, 47 sketchbooks, 2, 3–4, 8, 38 trade publications, 46
textile dictionary, 98 using a sketchbook, 158–9 trade shows, 102, 138
three levels of meaning—analysing a sketching tutorials, 206 travel, 57, 111
photograph, 146 SketchUp, 267 Trend, Union 124, 131
trend tracking, 113 slub, 88, 200 trends, 2, 22, 32, 109–10, 113–16
trimmings collection, 99 smart textiles, 97–8 blogging and the Internet, 129, 214
using advanced search options, 209 Smith, Kevin, 226–9 catwalks, 129
using aperture settings, 201 Smith, Lottie, 64–5 colour forecasting, 73–5, 75–7
Promostyl, 124, 131–5 smocking, 96 communicating trends, 139
prototypes, 253 society, 34, 109 forecasting, 117, 117–22, 140
Puma, 52 specialist services, 100 forecasting companies and services,
punk, 32, 48 specification sheets, 161, 253 123–4, 125–8, 131–5, 135–7
Pure, 138 spectrophotometers, 72 magazines, 129–30
Purple, 46 Speed Step, 222, 224, 243, 265, 266 museums and galleries, 192
purple, 66 sportswear, 52 newspapers, 129
storage, 8 references and further reading, 141
qualitative research, 128 stores, 9 sales data and market research,
Quant, Mary, 34 store research, 30–1 128–9
quantitative research, 128–9 storyboards, 167 trade shows, 138
Quark, 238 Streep, Meryl, 37 trend analysis, 138–9
QuarkXPress, 236 street fashion, 32, 33 trend books, 130–1
quilting, 96 style icons, 36 trendboards, 124, 139
Stylesight, 124 Web sites, 141
R. D. Franks, 130 subcultures, 110 where do trends come from? 110–12
ramie, 85 subtractive colour, 62 trendsetters, 32, 35, 110, 281
Raymond, Martin, 117–22 Sucis, Miriam, 44, 161 Trendstop, 124
red, 65 Sumopaint, 263 triacetate, 86
references, 1, 7–8 Szkutnicka, Basia, 53–6 triangulation, 7, 212, 281
refraction, 62 trimmings, 29–30, 98–100
research, 1–2, 19 Tank 46 tuck stitch, 94
planning strategy, 4–8 techno textiles, 97–8 Twitter, 138, 221
preparation, 8–10 technology, 49, 51 Typographica, 235
purposes of research, 2–4 tertiary colours, 62 typography, 235, 238–9
references and further reading, 19 textile sourcing, 100, 103–6
Web sites, 19 blogs and hobby sites, 101 Ugg boots, 47, 48
RGB (red, green and blue), 62, 63, 71, business-to-business Web sites, 100 universities, 38
236, 237, 280 fabric libraries and collections, 100 University of Rhode Island, 38
Rhino, 267 references and further reading, 107 URLs, 7, 208, 281
risk assessment, 9 societies and trade associations, 100
Roberts, Julia, 38, 39 specialist services, 100 VADS, 213
Rolling Stone, 49 trade shows, 102 van Dongen, Sjef, 268–71
rough paper, 183 Web sites, 107 verbal presentations, 261
RSS feeds, 138, 211 Textile View, 130 do and don’t, 261–2
rubbers, 183 textiles, 81 Victoria and Albert Museum, 213
runway shows, 260 fibre blends, 88 vicuna, 84
manufactured (man-made) fibres, video, 245–6
Sackville-West, Vita, 27 86–8 creating video, 246
sales data, 128–9 mineral fibres, 85 editing video, 246
Sardouk, Richard, 65, 117 natural fibres, 82–5 Viewpoint, 129
satin weave, 88 plant fibres, 85 Vimeo, 214
saturation, 63 smart and techno textiles, 97–8 vintage clothing, 38–9, 40–3, 44
Scamper, 18–19 yarns, 88 Web sites, 60
science, 49 theatre, 37–8 virtual worlds, 249, 250–3
screen-printing, 95–6 thermochromic fabrics, 97 viscose, 86
292 index

vision tests, 62, 73 Westwood, Vivienne, 22, 23 Y-3, 52

visual journals, 2, 46, 159–60, WGSN, 124 Yahoo, 5
181 white, 65 Yamamoto, Yohji, 52
visual literacy, 144–6 wicking, 85 yarns, 73, 81, 88,
visual merchandising, 30–1, 38, 61, 268, Wikipedia, 212 138
268–71, 282 Windows Moviemaker, 246 yellow, 66
Visual Retailing, 268 Winkler, Shenlei, 249, 250–3 Yip, Penter, 184, 242
Vogue, 46 Wire, The, 49 YouTube, 214, 245, 246
Wolfe, David, 113–16 Yves St Laurent Institute, Paris,
Waite, Philippa, 263–4 Womenswear Daily, 46 192
Wallpaper, 46 Wong, Fong, 51
warm colours, 66 Woodstock, 48 Zara, 124
warp knitting, 93 wool, 82–3 zeitgeist, 2, 34, 282
watercolour, 180 processing, 83 Zimmerman, Nikki, 149
Watkins, Philippa, 103–6 Word, 238 Zoom on Fashion Trends,
weaving, 88, 89–92 Wright, Angela, 67–9 130
weft knitting, 93 Wright, James, 40–3 Zotero, 138, 209, 210–11
Plate 1 Inspirational notice board in the office of Roy
Peach, dean of the graduate school, London College of
Fashion.
Plate 2 Traditional Chinese embroidered baby carrier. Cour-
tesy of Miao Baby Carriers (http://www.miaobabycarriers.com).
Reproduced with permission.
Plate 3 ‘Six’ illustration of final collection by Fong Wong.
Plate 4 Collage of inspirational images by Basia Szkutnicka.
Reproduced with permission.
Plate 5 How the eye sees colour. Courtesy of the author.
Plate 6 RGB and CMYK colour. Courtesy of the author.
Plate 7 Colour wheel. Before and After Magazine, no. 45,
article 0646, p. 2 (http://www.bamagazine.com/). Courtesy of
Before and After Magazine. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 8 Primary, secondary and tertiary colours. Before and After Maga-
zine, no. 45, article 0646, p. 3 (http://www.bamagazine.com/). Courtesy of
Before and After Magazine. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 9 Complementary colours.
Courtesy of the author.
Plate 10 Colour interactions: Receding and advancing
colours. Courtesy of the author.
Plate 11 Lottie Smith’s collage of research and development for her
graduate collection. Courtesy of Lottie Smith. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 12 Summer and winter colour palettes.
Courtesy of the author.
Plate 13 The four colour groups. Courtesy of Colour Affects. Reproduced with
permission.
Plate 14 Author’s page on myPANTONE. PANTONE®, myPANTONE
and other Pantone trademarks and copyrights are the property of, and
used with the permission of, Pantone LLC. Portions © Pantone LLC,
2010. All rights reserved.
Plate 15 The NCS colour circle,
Natural Color System®©. Property
of NCS Colour AB, Stockholm 2010.
References to NCS®© in this publi-
cation are used with permission from
the NCS Colour AB. Reproduced with
permission of NCS.
Plate 16 Munsell colour system. Licensed under Creative Commons
by Jacobolus on Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0 Unported license. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 17 CIELAB colour space. Licensed under Creative
Commons by Jacobolus on Wikimedia. Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Reproduced
with permission.
Plate 18 Handwoven fabrics with light-responsive material
by Jenny Shellard, photographed under UV and projected light by Peter
Mackertich. Courtesy of Jenny Shellard. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 19 The English Bird Garden (textile design
by Philippa Leith). Courtesy of Philippa Leith.
Reproduced with permission.
Plate 20 Selection of vintage fabrics. Cour-
tesy of Kim Kight. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 21 Colour trend information. Courtesy of Mudpie. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 22 Journal pages inspired by history of costume. Courtesy of
Lynne Perrella. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 23 Artgrip coloured pencils. Courtesy of Faber Castell.
Reproduced with permission.
Plate 24 Commercial project by Kac-
chi for LUMINE department store and
Chocolate. Courtesy of Kacchi. Repro-
duced with permission.
Plate 25 Charlotte Hodes, ‘Sèvres Silhouette I’.
Digitally manipulated drawing, inkjet and collage,
120 x 61 cm (2006–2007). Courtesy of Charlotte Hodes.
Reproduced with permission.
Plate 26 Charlotte Hodes, ‘Bathers: Pool’. Digitally manipu-
lated drawing, inkjet and collage, 91.7 x 135.7 cm (2006). Cour-
tesy of Charlotte Hodes. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 27 Ana Stankovic Fitzgerald’s Picasa Web album. Cour-
tesy of Ana Stankovic Fitzgerald. Reproduced with permission.
Plate 28 A pattern, grading and marker
by Daniela Orsulova, created in Gerber Ac-
cumark CAD programmes for design develop-
ment. Courtesy of Daniela Orsulova.
Plate 29 Tiffany Ong’s Entomological Knits at the Royal College of
Art Summer Show in 2009. Courtesy of Tiffany Ong.
Plate 30 Sketches by Ayako Machida. Courtesy of Ayako Machida.
Plate 31 Personal work by Ayako
Machida. Courtesy of Ayako Machida.
Plate 32 Watercolour floral placement
graphics designed to be compatible with
standard screen-printing processes.
Courtesy of Philippa Waite. Reproduced with
permission.