Marvin Peng

Archive for the ‘Fashion Collection Inspiration’ Category

In the 20th century, the war and social revolutions brought definite changes to the fashion industry. The most important change might be the women’s fight against politic and social restrictions. On the first years, the corset disappeared and women’s natural silhouette was modeled in the streets along with their legs showing down their skirts.

On the 30’s, the French designer, Coco Chanel reinvented women’s fashion by adding an original piece to their wardrobe, one that was only used by men back in the day: pants.

Since that moment, every little detail added to a piece of clothing, every invention, every try, has been considered fashion. These last years, the relation between fashion and advertising has transformed the fashion and textile industry in one of the most financially important worldwide.

There have been key items discovered through the years, in 1914, the first bra ever invented was introduced, and by 1934 the first ever male brief was commercialized. Nylon was presented in 1939 and by 1940 women were already using pants, thanks to the revolution and Coco Chanel’s inspiration. After pants, by 1955 the popular jean was revolutionizing Europe, where 5 years later, the famous lycra was invented by Du Pont de Nemours.

The 60’s were a different era, the young generation positioned themselves in a place where everything was prohibited, the mini skirt now showed the knees and more, music played a huge part in fashion in the 60’s, retro fashion was born and The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin and even Jim Morrison were the trendsetters for fashion. The hippie “Power Flower” fashion was more than a fashion trend; it was a social movement, introduced by the Hindu religion being praised in this decade, especially influenced by artists like George Harrison and Jane Fonda.

Entering the 70’s, women were forced to be skinny because of the fashion inspiration in mini dresses, and tight pants, especially influenced by Twiggy and “Saturday Night Fever”, transporting the lifestyle to nighttime and heavy partying. Punk fashion started appearing by 1975 and entering the 80’s, with a touch of femininity by using underwear inspired lace accessories with your clothing. Everything was bigger, makeup, hair styles, blouses, even bows used in the hair. Michael Jackson and Madonna were the biggest inspiration using leather, lace, gloves, and unusual accessories. On the elegant side, “Dynasty” and Lady Di created a romantic style movement involving hats, ruffles and shoulder pads.

Jeans were popularized in the 80’s with their acid pre washed colors and Billy Idol’s punk look was used by every guy that wished to be a rock star, while on the contrary, Miami Vice’s look was essential for every elegant man that wanted a unique style. The 80’s were some years where people searched for their own look, and everything was allowed. Bright colors and shoulder pads were highlighted in the 80’s and continued on to the early 90’s; this movement is still considered as the worst historic moment for fashion.

Back from the first day of the Alternative Fashion Show at Spitalfields Market, London. This is the place where young new designers can show their collections and hope to be discovered.

The audience was eclectic and lively; the designs ranged  from entertaining to dreamy; the models were not stick thin; the surrounding market stalls were teeming with clothes and accessories to buy and there were plenty of places to eat. All in all, a great day out.

What was showing on the catwalk?:

Shuttlecocks to be the next hair accessory??? Well I hear pompoms are to be a hit as this autumn/winter trend so why not shuttlecocks? These were featured in City & Islington College’s collection who took their inspiration from the ”Fashion Vs Sports” exhibition at the V&A. White lace tights, white lace skirts / blouses, pink t shirts and white lycra shorts – all teamed up with the pink and white shuttle cocks giving a cute fun girlie feel.

Victorian Goth made an appearance in Gemma Garnham’s collection. Lots of black lace, black leather, long white cotton shirts all worn with macho flat boots. The leather kept the look sultry, the lace feminine and the boots edgy. Loved the exaggerated puff on the sleeves.

Spooky black or white masks were worn by both male and female models in Manjit Sangha’s debut collection called unprecious & unruly, the backstabbers of couture. White t-shirts sported designs and large American football style shoulders; leggings or cycle shorts were mostly black wet look; and the jewellery was large square or triangular plain cardboard boxes worn as bangles.

Rubberwear caused a stir in Robert Miller’s Pretty Pervy collection. Styles included a peplum jacket and pencil skirt, Wild West saloon style dress and body con dresses. The models were plus sizes, oozed sexual confidence and looked like they were having a good time.

After all that hot rubber, Laura Booty’s collection was a cool romantic breeze of loosely flowing dresses embellished with discarded nick-knacks and unwanted rubbish as an alternative to gems. Recycling at its most glamorous.

Men were not forgotten – Aaron Ray Dowie went for “Lord of the Estate” country elegance. Colours were brown and neutrals – fit for a Duke.

Punk rock meets prima ballerina was brought by Cassie Kogler from New York.  Not so sure about the gold metal embellished leggings – you have to have very skinny legs to pull them off.

Knitwear never looked so sexy. Amelia Palmer’s collection certainly did  with its intricate pleats and folds. Loved  the cardigans.

Amazonian rainforest hues were the colours for Chantal Gibbs-Jones evening dresses. Her designs exaggerated and enhanced the female silhouette. You’d definitely be the Belle of the Ball in one of these creations.

I had my favourites, but the question is who will be the fashion industry’s favourite?

Karen Grace – Personal Shopper & Image Consultant for frumpy to funky.

Call for consultations on 07787 800 390

More details through the website: www.frumpytofunky.com

In a fashion world of more, faster, now, and copycat competition; a handful of online retailers follow a different pathway to succeed as, designer, marketer and collaborator. The way forward is not to compete for customers, but to cooperate with them.

To this end we need to determine consumer needs and action the most direct economical means of delivering. This means working collaboratively with fashion designers which separates customer a couple degrees from the source, and, six degrees of separation? It’s a proven philosophy, work it out. What do customers seek first? Service, the product becomes second.

You can spend a lot of time looking over your shoulder watching what you competitors are planning and less time on your own strategy. The danger is you will end up focusing more energy concerning competition. It can be overwhelming. Turn it around, develop a workable strategy and seek competitor collaboration, and, then you will see how your competitors react to your actions. This puts you in the driving seat.

Be innovative, don’t just do because this is the way it has always been done, to change is to improve, remember, business either grows or dies, there is no point on the scale that says you have made it. Complacency is the beginning of decline.

Cooperation blows in the face of traditional competition.

Competition is built on protectionism

Collaboration is built on working together, its part of Asian culture, why did Japan rebuild so rapidly of complete destruction? Why is China overwhelming the west in mass production and innovation? They are united in their cause and willingly share their intellectual capitol and work cooperatively.

Working in fashion, research and looking forward is critical, at front line retail sales we can learn what customers are demanding, but this information is useless if not put to use. So if we are wise enough and collaborate with designers, then vital real time research can be analysed and fed back to the creators of style.

Retailer, designer and customer become united and the gap between all parties is narrowed. Best of all the universal philosophy of supply and demand are being adhered to.

We don’t just give lip service to these philosophies, they are part of our strategy, more over, we believe in them, and this concludes in right attitude. Our belief is, if you have the right attitude you will succeed, however, success is not just measured in dollars, it comes down to principles unbroken. There are many dependants otherwise, such as being in the right place and the right time, and in retail, having the right product at the right time.

One example is a silk tie design concept we have been working on. After trialling a number of styles we know from consumer response which styles are in demand. So we base our future designs conclusively. A concept should be thematic, these two factors are the essence and regardless of changes will carry the product through many fashion fluctuations, why? Because style is constant (the essence) and the product is right and so is the time. Without giving away the secret, our theme goes back to 1920; it was a raging success then, but ironically never repeated. So we are in the driving seat.

It’s a bit like building an engine. No matter how much logic and research is applied during constructing you really don’t know how well it is going to work until the ignition is turned on. A bit of test driving will identify the bugs.

Now the engine is built, its being put through the paces, and, lap by lap, we learn and improve. Our ideas have been contained in a powerful vehicle, which is fully gassed and set on semi automatic pilot. Every ten laps it’s in the pits, do a little more refining and back into the race.

We have been attempting to do the same with cufflink designs, but based on consumer response have not got it right, so there is a bit of work to do on the jewellery design. Further in the wings are leather wallets and bags. With a totally new kind of mini man bag in very early concept phase. It takes about three years to develop thematic, test the market, refine, manufacture and sell.

Do achieve all of the above economically and harmoniously requires collaboration.