9 Fashion Portfolio Development – II

R. Shanthi

epgp books

 

 

1.   INTRODUCTION

 

 

Fashion a million dollar business and to succeed in a career, professional designers need to be efficient and proficient about the industry’s needs and preferences. Fashion design portfolios are commercial design samples which help to fetch manufacturers and buyers, by their design lines and direct marketing techniques. Fashion is a phase which keeps changing and contemporary styles and aesthetic values are highly mobile. This needs constant updating and transformation. Today’s manufacture is highly dependent on commercial costs and values; hence costs and commercials must be clearly defined with great accuracy. Design portfolios cannot stop with design alone but should also define the technical aspects in terms of textiles, materials and piece work as exact information, clear specifications and material identification. When the aesthetics, commercials and technicalities come as a package to the manufacturer or producer in the form of a fashion portfolio, the designer and his business environment gets connected and many opportunities are opened. It reflects the creativity and capabilities of the designer enabling a position in the fashion market with a commendable job or entrepreneurship.

 

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • To learn about the organization of portfolio development
  • The methodology of preparing the different boards /pages in a portfolio
  • The material selection and techniques including Customer profile and requirements

3. HOW TO MARKET A FASHION PORTFOLIO

 

To market a fashion portfolio there should be high impact designs that have a dazzle effect. Research of the current market trends and the standards of the day should form the basis of all designs with design aspects clearly laid out. Before preparing a portfolio, the audience for which it is designed for should be kept in mind. It is best to design an adaptable portfolio, that can be modified to fit any situation. A graphic design portfolio, whether online or offline, should be to the point and easy to read/navigate through. The best work should be kept as the first views, because nobody has the time to look into the entire portfolio. The work thus showcased should be convincing and impressive, so that it appeals the potential client or the employer, fellow designers and creatives. Thus market identification is very important especially for new products and new designers. Successful portfolios are good matches with client markets.

 

A portfolio for fashion design is structured to contain a start, continuation and a culmination of a theme or story. The fashion portfolio is compared to a volume that is built up with care to showcase the designer’s competence in the correct context. This becomes a marketing tool which has been designed in the sequence of a story conveying a prominent theme or message. A chronological order is not expected but the sequence should impact the onlooker and leave behind a long long-term imprint of the designers work.

 

4. LEARNINGS ABOUT THE PAST AND CURRENT DAY PORTFOLIOS

 

During earlier times, the drawings and the illustrations that were presented were in a simple format when compared to the technological advancements in the current fashion industry that requires a different level of presentation. The designers created a fashion illustration that occupied a single page called ‘fashion plates’ which had standardized presentations in terms of style and illustration. These sketches were slowly built to create many styles to be presented in the next season. Some designers used ‘croquis’ which are templates of fashion figures in different postures. These croquis were used as the base on which different styles were sketched to create a collection. The pattern maker, draper and sample sewer would work with the designer’s brief sketch and fabric swatch to create the designer original as a three dimensional garment. The designer works in direct contact with all the personnel involved and also with the production team to estimate the feasibility of the design.

 

The current day portfolios is a combination of elaborate skills which use manual hand illustrations and computer based CAD depictions. The use of computers have facilitated the multilayer format and lay outs which incorporate the dimensional facet, depth and the textural feel that moves beyond the actual styles that are designed giving it an ethereal and artistic look. The presentations have created a virtual stage with backdrop to showcase the styles with a high degree of marketing element which is in par with the current day media projections. The new present day portfolios become a book highlighting the designers look and manifestations which reach out to the interviewers resulting in good placements for young designers. The ability to communicate to the most important stake holders of the retail business, namely the merchandisers, selling panel, the retail store managers, buyers and the consumers, help in fetching jobs to many designers using the Fashion Portfolio as the tool.

5. TYPICAL PORTFOLIO CONTENT

 

The typical fashion design portfolio should be presented in a Portfolio case which is a formal book or carrying case typically ring bound or a box containing individual pages. The port folio case may be made of materials like leather, vinyl or metal with closures as zipper, lid closure or as non-closed cases. Various sizes are available and to mention a few – 8” x 10”, 9″ x 12″, 11″ x 14″, 14″ x 17″ or 16” x 20”. The portfolio case should contain the sheets that are shown during the personal interview. The inner front cover of the portfolio case should have the business card of the designer to enable proper identification. A one page CV, having details of the designer’s past design projects handled till date along with his/her educational qualification and experience, should be made available at the front sleeve of the portfolio case or pocket to be presented during the interview.

Basic portfolio case with a multi-ring binder system Archival page protectors

 

The design sheets should be stored in polypropylene enclosures which have archival quality as they will tend to protect the sheets from perspiration, fading, dulling, tearing and other environmental damage. Enclosures made from polyvinyl chloride or PVC are not recommended for storing design sheets as they do not possess archival quality. The deteriorating chemicals are volatile plasticizers that produce hydrochloric acid which tends to weaken the plastic that may turn yellow and break. Sometime many pages tend to fuse and spoil the image of the design sheets. Hence PVC or vinyl is not recommended for storage of design work. Polyethylene or polypropylene tend to be clear and do not chemically react with substances thereby they are safe for storing archival work for long periods.

 

A fashion portfolio is made up of the several pages namely

  • Title page or intro page May include a designer’s statement. It is an introduction to the collection(s) presented, creating a brand image or a setting for viewing the contents of the portfolio.

Mood Board or Concept Board:

 

A mood board is also known as the concept board and highlights the materials closest to the inspiration or theme. Usually it is a collection of images or pictures which depict the theme which may be manually cut and pasted from various resources or it can images from the internet that are aligned by the computer to showcase the concept for the collection. This board is like a reference of the inspirations used for the collection and also forms a instrument to guide the designer to work on the line development. It can be used as a visual aid to put forth the designer’s visualization while communicating with the buyers, retailers, press and various design houses. The first step for a designer is to select a theme or mood on which the portfolio will blossom to bring out or express talent. Anyvisual materialslike cutouts from books, old remembrances like photographs, fabric bits and pieces or any element that contribute to expressing the theme is mounted on one or two boards depicting a link with the other pages in the fashion portfolio like a story. The designer can choose any one page orientation either portrait or landscape. Once the orientation has been chosen it must be the same throughout the other pages in the portfolio.

  • Colour Board:

Colouris an important element that brings life to any object or material. Here the colours are chosen as per the theme and the clients for whom the portfolio is developed keeping in mind the fashion trends and the predictions. Colours for the forthcoming season are usually predicted by design experts as forecasts which will be in trend in the future by around two years. These forecasts will help manufacturers, buying houses and personnel involved in design and development to produce apparels for their future customers. Colour boards may be handmade or drawn with the help of computers for one or two pages. The colours may be in plenty but it is better to play around with a limit of 8 shades in the colour forecast. If blocks of colours are represented then they can be shown in squares of 2” to 5” or in any shapes that may match to the theme.

  • Fabric Board:

The textile materials and fabrics that can be used for the chosen theme represents the fabric board which may extend to one or two pages. The fabrics to be chosen for the fabric board should suit the theme, colour forecasts, material trends, customer preferences, target market, the forthcoming season or the season catered along with properties like weight, thickness, fabric geometry and structure, appearance and comfort. Fabrics are presented as swatches which may be as rectangles or squares neatly pinked with shears. These fabrics should be neatly presented on a hard board as per the style preferred by the designer.

  • Flat Board:

This board carries flat or two dimensional sketches of the garments designed for the collection. They are basically outlines of garments hand rendered or computer generated and would appear as the front view or back view of the garments laid flat on a table. Flat drawings are not coloured and they show the technicalities in the garment in terms of component details and stitch details. They may contain the front and back view of the designed garment; the back view of the garment is usually smaller than the front view of the apparel by around 5% to 10%. The technicalities given in the flat drawings help the sample makers in terms of measurements and also allow the judge to understand the capability of the designer to put forth visual technicalities to the production department.

  • Design Development Board:

The next board to work on is the Design development board also known as the Silhouette board or Silhouette pages. The designs developed are presented as a fashion figure or on croqui. They help the target maket, buyers or manufacturers to have a glimpse of the designs on the croqui’s and will enable them to visualize how the designs impact the figure and the overall silhouette of the wearer. Half , cropped or full figures may be used as per the need and the design sheets may be up to 6 or 8 pages. Creativity of the designer can be depicted by the use of hand drawn images or computer generated images or a fusion of both.

  • Accessory Board or accessory pages outline the accessories and trims that accompany the design portfolio. The accessories that are apt for the styles and enhance the outlook of the design are presented in this board.
  • Photographic Boards: contain photographs of the finished products and show the impact of the designs on the model or mannequin. Lighting and settings for the photoshoot by a professional is very important for the display pictures.
  •   Final Design/ Story board: is the summary of the entire collection and consists of a colour illustration of the designs on the fashion figures along with the fabric swatch. It is a individual pictorial representation of each and every garment of the collection incolour with the technical rendering.
  • Apart from the above, some essentials are to be maintained.(i) CAD pages:All the pages of the portfolio right from the title page to the last page may be converted to soft copies which may be a replica of the actual fashion portfolio. The proficiency of the designer can be shown by the CAD pages created by the fashion designer which may be a combination of hand

rendered or computer generated pages. Orientation of the pages may be portrait or landscape or a combination of both as required. (ii) Sketch book: a bound book of any one of the sizes 3×5 / 8 ½ x11 / 11×14 / 14×17 inches which contains all the rough work done on behalf of the design ideas helps the interviewer to see the ways in which the design ideas have been converted to the final products. They include rough drawings, scribbles, squiggles, comments & observations, explanation, remarks, interpretations and other images in an irregular form. The thought process and the development of the design and the creativity of the designer is well understood by viewing the sketch book. The sketchbook is a must in all portfolio cases. (iii) Leave-behind piece: a full version or a condensed version as a print out, CD or DVD is usually given to the interviewer or buyer to serve as a reminder of the designers work. This can also include the designer’s detail to help in identification of the designer’s brand or image.(iv) Computer based presentation: the soft copy of the boards can be presented in a powerpoint presentation and stored in the portfolio case. This helps to make the portfolio designs to be viewed easily by all the stake holders involved and in decision making.

 

6. METHODS ADOPTED FOR PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT

 

Portfolios can be developed as per the following methods or as a combination of the different approaches. (i) Linear approach: This process is similar to the coaches of a train that is added one after the other. This is suitable for huge projects with has a big team working to achieve a step-by-step succession without causing problems or confusion. (ii) Circular process: suitable for extensive and prolonged projects and usually starts at any stage but in turn completes the project.

 

(iii) Feedback approach: This approach handles a project in the usual forward move manner but turns back and makes changes based on evaluation reports and feedback. This is more suited to projects where care and concern is important.(iv) Branching paths: Here different stages of the project is done at different pockets and then they are interconnected to complete the project. (v) The Natural Pathway Approach: Many stages of the project progress simultaneously having one unit in the forefront and in focus. One or two steps are taken at a time and when any data is received the contents are modified on the basis of the input in an overall manner.

   7.  COMPILATION OF THE PORTFOLIO PROJECT

 

The designer can build the portfolio according to their need depending on the theme they have taken. The above mentioned approaches have been given as guidelines for beginners and to help those who have problems in putting together different pieces of work. All the worked different pages or boards are compiled to make a complete whole. A few principles or steps are given here to help in the final compilation of the fashion portfolio. The fashion portfolio should be organized to have a natural flow like a creative story with interconnecting pages composed in a logical way to create a positive potent impact. The underlying concept should run through fashion portfolio and helps you to work closely with the theme. It is advisable to include any content that can provide an insight to the work like drawings, photos, collages, fabric swatches, material fusion notes and ideas, sheets for presentation and anything else of this kind. Any orientation would suffice either portrait or landscape whichever is comfortable with the designer. Creativity is the key for the development of the portfolio and this principle can be used to arrange the pages in a creative way. It is always recommended to get the best pages intwork.o the portfolio; being a critic and evaluating the work from a expert designer’s view will enable one to use the best works and create commendable. Any portfolio for fashion should showcase characters like creativity, skill, detailing and a sustained concept or idea. The designers creativity is expressed in terms of individualism, uniqueness, significance and character. The skill of the designer is shown use of materials which have been repurposed to fit into the theme, the sketchingtechnique,expertisein art and the presentation of the designs in an artistic manner. The creative prowess of the designer is expressed in terms of the imagination and inventiveness through investigation, trial, assessment and development of a concept, its articulation and verbalization.

 

Apart from these tips there are resources and tools available like the Designer’s Grid which is a foundation or format that helps the designer working in two or three dimensions by providing a flexible support that can change the space into interesting tools for design creation; Creative Chaos Sketchbook where sketches are done randomly and without order but can be made use of when the right place is fitted for the roughly done sketches and can be defined as a subtle form of order and the ongoing final presentations and evaluations.

  1. STAGING A FASHION PORTFOLIO

The fashion portfolio is presented to create and encourage action in some form namely interactions, relationships and business activities. A fashion portfolio is presented to showcase new designs and ideas that have been developed and articulated to reach out to the audience and retain their attention. A theatrical presentation to an audience is a great communication tool that has great impact. The traditional way of presenting a portfolio is to provide the hard copy original with the actual samples and provides a good amount of selling. The more contemporary method is online presentation that makes these designs easier to access, provide high visibility at low costs. This is a means to use creativity to the fullest. A more novel method is a mini fashion show where models showcase the designs in an artistic manner in a favorite environment.

  1. CONCLUSION

The development in technology has led to many possibilities in the fashion arena. Fashion creations have moved across a multitude of digital platforms due to the development in photography and growth of websites. Fashion presentations and artwork has become screen based and appear on online magazines and stages to make accessibility easy and the reach extensive. Today people involved in art fill the internet with their creative works and fashion portfolio has moved from three dimensions to the next dimension and many design creators are envisaging a different level. The fashion future in ever changing and the media has become digital to provide a spicy twist to the presentation abilities and speculative domains in the times to come.

 

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REFERENCES

 

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  • Alexandra,10tipstoagreatFashion Portfolio. November 6, 2012. http://searchingforstyle.com/2012/11/10-tips-to-a-great-fashion-portfolio/(Accessed 15 June 2017)

Web links

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgGnxSgEmbI
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T7G3W7ssFU
  • https://www.pinterest.co.uk/thestylemine/creative-explosion/
  • https://in.pinterest.com/lisajhooper/sketchbook-ideas/?lp=true
  • https://in.pinterest.com/dacostajeanfran/carnet/?lp=true https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr5kyr4s89Y https://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/grid-theory-41411345
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knkvhBAUkd8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlJuZYL8vDc
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouy0kcy1-u4