Pics from the fashion show

We finally got the internet connected at our place! Here are the show photos, finally. The runway photos (ie, the good ones) were taken by my brother.






My friend Jess O'Connor's amazing knitwear collection

I won a couple of prizes!

Grad show update

So I've picked a terrible time to not have proper Internet, but we've moved recently so for now I'm blogging from my brother's iPad. The fashion show was on Wednesday night and went really well! I came runner-up in the business award so I've got a bit of cash to produce some bags and stuff to sell, and I also won a prize sponsored by the co-op bookshop which a nice surprise! Today I found out that I'm a finalist in the iD Emerging Designer Awards, so I'll be showing the collection again at Dunedin Fashion Week in New Zealand next year. It's all very exciting and I'd love to attach photos from last night but I don't think I can do that from this ipad so they'll have to wait unfortunately.
Just wanted to update you and say a big hello to any new readers who were at the show on wednesday! There'll be lots of exciting things happening around here over the summer so stay tuned!

Random backstage photo on facebook - hope it works!

Look four

The countdown to the show is ON! It's happening this Wednesday night, and I couldn't be more excited! I just found out the other day that I'm also being included in the Preview Show, which is where the uni selects 16 designers (out of 42 in my year group) to present to the media and fashion industry people. Yay!

I also had my presentation for the business grant on Tuesday, I had to present to a panel of ten people and it went for 45 minutes! I was told to prepare for about 15-20 minutes. I think it went pretty well though. My mum and I took some photos of the clothes the morning before, they're not great as we had rain all of last week so we didn't have much light.

Yes, due to popular demand, the rain coat will be part of the new range! Who wants one?

A more ready-to-wear version of the yellow coat from my grad collection

The panel LOVED this bag. It's a satchel that can be worn as a backpack while you walk to uni or when your shoulder needs a break.

I love this bag too. I have a bit of an obsession with big tote bags but I'm sick of losing little things like my sunnies and phone. Plastic pockets to the rescue!

Look Three

Another look from the collection! I clearly have nothing else to post about. I've been working on some new samples for Bell Street to show in my interview for a business grant on Tuesday!



Yep, that's a pretzel print. The collection is inspired by the Tiergarten in Berlin.

Look Two

The second look from my graduate collection. This collection already feels 'done' to me, even though we haven't even had the show yet!

That may be because I've already launched myself head first into the next collection! I was selected as one of four finalists to receive a business grant from uni, and I need to do a presentation next week so I've been very busy whipping up samples. I should say my mum has been very busy, she's been helping me a lot while I've been working. I'll take some photos when I have more made up.

Look One

As I said in my last post I've been undecided whether to reveal my finished collection after the assessment (which was almost a week ago now, oops!) or after the design show. I decided I'll post one look at a time leading up to show. So I'm starting with my favourite, the rain coat look. It's also my favourite photo from the shoot!


It's only a small photo sorry, we moved house yesterday and my hard drive is packed somewhere, so I had to grab this one from an email.

Finished!

I hate to be such a tease with these pictures, but I'm still deciding whether to do the big reveal of the collection after my assessment (tomorrow) or after the fashion show (December 8th). I'll probably do it tomorrow. This is a photoshoot I did on Thursday with Natasha from eMg Models.
So everything is finally finished. I present it all to my teachers tomorrow, then it's off to the pub!
I am really really really excited to be done!

More collection stuff

The cupboard is starting to fill up with lots of colourful and exciting things!


I felt like this jumper suited the policeman's helmet. Isn't it the best jumper ever! so keeping this one for myself. That's right, hands off! mine.

THE big puffy cocoon coat. I have made six versions of this throughout the year (you can see one on the chair in the corner of this pic). So I gave this job to my mum because I pretty much never want to look at it again. Also because she was the applique queen in the 80's with her appliqued jumper business.

I always hated this jacket whenever I toiled it but the coloured knit fabric makes all the difference. I like it now.


Lots of lists to keep us organised....


We get a bit silly in the workroom....
My mum kept calling these her 'Adam Ant glasses' after a cartoon she watched when she was a kid. I just googled it and it's actually 'Atom Ant' so now I feel a bit silly.


I forgot to mention earlier, thanks for the comments on the last post. For those who love the raincoat, I am definitely doing a version of it when I start my business next year so you WILL be able to have one! As for the rest of the pieces in the collection, I'll set up an Etsy store to sell some of the garments and some toiles too. Be warned that anything from the collection will be pretty expensive as they are one-off garments made from expensive materials, most hand-dyed, screen printed, or custom knitted. If anyone is REALLY interested in a style, we can discuss re-creating it using more affordable materials and techniques. Thanks for all your interest! It means a lot to me.

Raincoat, skirt, dress finished

Some more finished garments from the collection. I have a few other things done but haven't taken photos yet. Back to it!

Dress finished

Finished this dress earlier this week. The weeks have been going really slowly, I feel like I finished this ages ago! I guess that's a good thing, getting lots done. There are a few more nearly-finished things and lots of half-done things. So it's all happening! On Friday I finished up my last bit of screenprinting and handed in my business plan for the business grant application, so that was a good day. Lots more to do though.

First garment finished!

Yay! I've been so busy working on the collection I haven't really had time to write about it. My mum is helping me and things are coming along really well but it's still kind of overwhelming to think about the amount of work we have to do! I was determined to get this coat finished first because we need to hand in a photo of our work on Friday to be used on the grad show website and little personal profiles we get to hand out at the show. Most fashion students end up using an illustration or a picture of their textiles, because it's unlikely anyone has a whole look finished at this stage. My frustration in previous years has been looking through the profiles to find a particular collection and not being able to connect any of the images with what was shown on the runway. So I was really happy to have this coat finished and ready to photograph on my friend! I will probably use the picture below for the grad show stuff (it has to be a square image).


Note Jenni is wearing my awesome Pucci gumboots! I love them so much.
We're still sewing and printing away, and I'm also working on my business plan so that I can hopefully win a bit of money to start up Bell Street! Next week I'm going to Queensland for a couple of days to visit my cousin and her baby and see the Valentino exhibition, so I should have lots to talk about!

This is the online invite for our grad show. Isn't it cool? The fashion show will be streamed online, so definitely save that date!