My Personal Resources....Fashion Magazines

I can use these resources for: inspiration, information, and for enjoyment.

http://www.style.com/vogue

http://www.style.com/w/

http://www.elle.com/

I have subscribed to Vogue for a long time; and it displays the latest and most expensive fashions. Each page is full of ads from Payless to Saks Fifth Avenue to Dolce and Gabbana. This magazine is the best at informing the readers about fashion in different environments all over the world. Vogue also has information on current fashion trends. All of this information would be helpful to a designer because it is essential to know what fashion trends are popular.

W magazine is great just like Vogue. Both magazines involve celebrities. Celebrities are a huge influence on fashion; they are in movies, on TV, they are everywhere we are. Everyone wants to know what styles the celebrities are wearing and what ordinary people can do to duplicate the styles. Celebrities are: on the covers, they have stories written about them, and they have fashion shoots to show current fashion trends.

Elle magazine is another great fashion magazine. It shows much of the same things that W and Vogue do. It shows: celebrities, affordable fashion trends, and expensive trends. Elle magazine, like the others, showcases fashion designers and the garments they have designed. It is a good idea to have references to celebrities and fashion designers when you are designing your own garments. I think every fashion designer, or women who are into fashion, should have a subscription to: Vogue, W, and Elle magazine.

Vogue Magazine. Vogue Spring 2007 RTW. Homepage. 29 Nov 2006. http://www.style.com/vogue.

W Magazine. W. Homepage. 29 Nov 2006. http://www.style.com/w/.

Hachette Filipacchi Media, U.S., Inc.Elle.com. Homepage. 2006. 29 Nov 2006. http://www.elle.com

Fun Technology

Other than the typical fashion design tools like: imagination, creativity, pens, pencils, paper, fabrics, and much more; there is another useful product that is being used. This product is computer aided design (CAD). CAD came about in the 60’s and has progressively gotten more and more advanced and easier to use. This is a computer software program that helps fashion designers, and other types of designers, tremendously. With this program items like: computers, clothing, furniture, jewelry, and much more can be designed. A fashion designer can create patterns for garments, which is easier than making them by hand; unless you drape fabric over a dress form but that is a totally different concept. A designer can also create a 3D dress form or even a 3D body to help design clothing. You can make any type of garment you want to, in any color or shape you want. I have never used CAD but I think it would be a lot of fun and will probably become one of my best friends in the future.

These are images of CAD as it realtes to fashion design.

Inspiration images

Here are some images I like that I could pull inspiration from.

I can use this color chart to help me find colors for garments. I could use the colors on the chart to find which colors go together and what colors I would want to use to make a garment. After I find colors I want to use, I could take the chart and find fabrics that match the colors I chose.

This image that I found is of a peacock. I think peacocks are beautiful animals. They have wonderful feathers that have an array of colors that I love. Their feathers have blues, purples, greens, and copper browns mixed together. All of these colors I love to wear; and when I am designing clothing, I would design garments in colors that I would wear myself. The design on the feather is also an inspiration for me. The circular pattern reminds me of a human eye. I have always been fascinated by the human eye because every single one of them is different just like peacock feathers.

This next image I found I thought was really unique. The pattern on the girl is zebra which is my favorite animal print. I also like the color scheme; black, white, and purple go very well together. Using these colors and patterns when designing a garment is something I would definitely do and could do very easily. I could also find inspiration for makeup and hairstyles. This would be helpful if I were to have a model show off a garment I designed.

I thought this image was very interesting. I am inspired by this image because of the textures and colors that come through. The texture and colors remind me of water. Water can have amazing energy and can be many different colors. Water can be: midnight blue, turquoise, skyblue, and even brown. Texture is a big factor when designing clothing and water can have many different textures just like this picture. I can pull textures and colors from this image and water, to produce a garment.

It never ceases to amaze me how one picture can spring up so many ideas for many different creations.

My Personal Resources....All about Colors

These resources I have found are all about colors. When designing clothing I would need to know everything about colors. Everything from what primary and complimentary colors are to what colors are predicted to be popular for the season I would be designing for.

http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html

This website is extremely helpful. Being a fashion designer, I need to know information like the difference between a hue and a shade; this website provides this information. Information is provided about all of the characteristics of colors. It also provides information on what different colors mean. This information would be helpful because clothing should make you feel a certain way when wearing it. If a jacket is supposed to make you feel powerful I would want to make that jacket in a powerful color like black, which represents authority.

http://www.colormatters.com/r_barclay.html

This article will help me when designing clothing that would be displayed in a retail environment. I would need to know how the fabric colors will look under different kinds of lights. Fluorescent and natural light makes colors look slightly different. This article provides information on how fabrics react with different lighting. The article also provides information on what to do to achieve the look that would be most appealing to customers buying clothing in a retail store.

http://www.fashiontrendsetter.com/content/color_trends.html

This website provides information on color trends according to season and year. When designing clothing, it is necessary to know what colors are predicted to be fashionable and popular. I could use the predicted colors for the season and make clothing in hip colors that people would want to buy--instead of making a product that is an unfashionable color. The forecast for color is already provided for the year 2008. This site continually updates color trends years in advance. I can design clothing or get ideas for garments ahead of time.

Doug and Melissa. “Color and Design Rules”. Homepage. 26 Nov 2006. http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html

Ian Barclay. “Color Matching in a Retial Envornment”. Color Matters article page Color Matching in a Retail Enviornment. 2001. 26 Nov 2006. http://www.colormatters.com/r_barclay.htm.

Fashion Trendsetter. “Fashion Trendsetter The Online Fashion Forecasting, Trend Reporting and News E-Zine”. Color Trends page. 2004-2006. 26 Nov 2006. http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html