Future planning

Options I am having for next year:

• Top-up year at AUCB: In order to get a proper Bachelor Degree afterwards. This option will give me the opportunity to continue and finish my education in a familiar environment. Generally I am happy with AUCB so far, therefore I would happily take this option into consideration.
• Top-up year in London: I am aiming for London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins. They obviously have a great reputation and would definitely look good on my CV later on. However, if I got there I would have to start from 2nd Year again. Moreover, the costs in London would be higher than Bournemouth. I will give it a good thought, though, I am not sure that starting the 2nd year again is really worth it.
• Top-up year in Europe: This could be an interesting direction to consider. Having been to Denmark, I like the European atmosphere as I like travelling in general and I think it would be interesting to go to Europe again for a couple of years. At the moment I am thinking about Denmark, Italy or Germany. However, in order to move there I would like to be able to speak the language although there are English-based courses there.
• Internships: I personally think it is not too hard to get a good internship. I enjoy travelling therefore I like the idea of getting more work experience at different places. It would be very helpful as well to get different experiences in different countries in different working environments.
• Employment: This is also an option. However, I think it would be best to continue my education in order to prepare myself better before coming up with a decision of what to do and where to do it.

Design developments

I have come up with some more design ideas using the blue and the brown materials. My style is quite feminine and I think the materials really flatter it.

PPRD Group project

These are some designs of mine and the final illustration board for the group project.

Final photoshoot

The photo shoot was between just me and a model. I worked on the makeup, styling, photograph and photo touching up myself. It was rather a simple shoot, so it was not too difficult achieving my visions and ideas taking care of everything myself.

Besides designing, I enjoy working with styling and photos. I am very into hair and makeup as well. I would love to get involved in some makeup activities later on. In my opinion, it is extremely helpful to get experience in different job roles in order to challenge myself and understand myself more in terms of my abilities and interests. At the moments, I have a few preferences myself, though, I am still open to different options. I might end up doing completely different things compared to my plans at the beginning and it is not a bad thing. I would like to experience new things and explore myself in order to find out what I do best and what I like the most.

Handmade

I enjoy working with small details and I believe they can definitely make a garment look very different. Creating small unique details is the way to make everyday fashion become more interesting and personal.

Effects

Putting the dress under the sunlight, the 3D effects I wanted to achieve seemed to come out correctly. The blue was shown quite nicely under the brown, and the dress made nice movements every time the wind blew.

Making the dress

I am quite familiar with materials such as chiffon, silk, satin etc. as I have been dealing with them a lot since last year. It was also interesting having experiments with the strap of the dress. I enjoyed directly trying different things with the actual materials on the stand without having the sketches. I felt like having more freedom and that I could take my work wherever it could lead to.

Experiments with pillowcase method

Using different materials could make total differences to the garments in terms of shapes and effects. This time, instead of calico, I was using chiffons in order to achieve a soft and flowy look. By pulling the 2 corners on the front inside and upwards towards the bust, it could create an interesting effect with the layers I was planning to use.

I like the shape of the garment. It reminds me of a lotus.

Pillowcase method

The Pillowcase draping method is basically to sew 2 pieces of square fabric together, then create a neck and a bottom hole, and start creating different shapes, effects and details on the stand before making the patterns.

The pillowcase technique, in my opinion, is interesting and inspiring. It opens up many ways of draping, playing around and experiencing to create different shapes, styles and details.

I have decided to develop my garment by adapting this technique into my draping progress. Calico created a fairly hard shape and texture, though, if I used chiffon instead, it would create a complete different texture and effect.

Cutting on bias

I think every small step in garment making process could make a difference to the final garment, therefore it is important to take all the details into consideration.

Cutting on bias is a big difference compared to cutting on grain. In this case, the fabric hangs nicer on bias, therefore the effect created by the fabric is better. Changing the grain line on patterns also sometimes affects the shape of the garment.

In conclusion, cutting on bias or on grain mostly depends on the design, in other words, what the designer wants to achieve. Experiments while draping are very important and helpful in order to reach the best constructing methods.

Draping

I have started draping on the stand. Different materials create different effects and react differently, so it is extremely exciting and helpful to directly work with fabric on the stand. It is very inspiring as well as at the end I might come up with something totally different from my vision at the beginning of the process.

Photoshoot

Photographer: Nick Gool

Model: Madeleine Pritchard

Designer, Makeup & Stylist: Giang Tran Le Thu

I have done a photo shoot with the blue and brown fabric I've chosen. It was exciting and I got a few nice photos. I want to maximise the effect of the colours achieved from the 2 layers. I enjoyed the progress of creating a photo shoot and trying to achieve my ideas and visions in the beginning by styling the model, working with the photographer etc. I also enjoyed retouching the photos. I am definitely improving my Photoshop skills and am very pleased.