8 Fashion Portfolio Development – I

R. Shanthi

epgp books

 

 

 

 

 

1.   INTRODUCTION

 

Creativity is an integral part of the human being which has set us apparat from other species. The thirst for leaving an impression on the earth or to leave something for the future generations has led to the development of art and design. A design is a creative plan to organize an artistic output for a particular environment or use. Designers have created many art works over the years and they have showcased their work in many ways. Fashion designers work with garments and the space occupied by an apparel, ensemble or garment serves as the training ground for innumerable designs. Presentation of these art works have been seen in museums and caves but today technology has developed to create digital versions of art and the reach is endless. One such tool to showcase the ideologies of a fashion designer is the fashion portfolio.

 

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • To learn about the basics of portfolio development
  • The methodology of preparing a portfolio
  • The material selection and techniques involved
  • Customer profile and requirements

  3. WHAT IS A PORTFOLIO?

 

A portfolio has been defined as a portable case for holding material like loose papers, photographs and drawings which is representative of a person’s work. A portfolio displays the sampling of work done by an artist, designer or illustrator. A fashion portfolio is portable proof of design education and a display of exercises, talent, thinking and solutions to visual communication problems.A fashion portfolio displays the inherent and explicit information about the best work of a fashion designer. It is a design problem and contains an assortment of visual and verbal material. An interesting layout of spreads and pages, color, form and/or thematic relationships, dramatic scale changes, humor, elements of surprise, details and whole pieces, sequencing and rhythm, are all tools to entertain the eye. Likewise a design portfolio is a show piece in the best sense and it is a tool that can groupelements which either plays up with individual piece in the composition or fights it for attention.A fashion portfolio is a body of workthat brings together a selection of thedesigner’s ideas to demonstrate acertain style or vision. A portfolio can include research, sketches,illustrations, photographs and fabric samples and presented as a whole, should deliver a very clear message as to what the designer is all about. In a nutshell…. A portfolio is a visual representation of a designer’s skills, exploration and experimentation, ideas, knowledge and personal interests that tells a clear story.

 

3.1. Why use a Fashion Portfolio?

 

Fashion design portfolios have different end uses depending on the market for particular talentsand skills. Different end uses lead to different expectations on the part of the person or people reviewing a portfolio.Different end uses for portfolios include thefollowing:

  • Placement into college or graduate school.
  • National or international design competitions.
  • Exit interview from college.
  • Interview with a job placement counselor.
  • Interview with a head hunter.
  • Assistant design internship (paying or nonpaying) while in college or after graduation.
  • Entry-level position in the industry: assistant designer or assistant tech designer.
  • Entry-level position in the industry as a first patternmaker or an assistant draper: sometimes a designer will interview fora position as a first pattern maker or assistant draper as an option to building a career in patternmaking or draping instead of design or as a foot in the door to become an assistant designer.
  • Presentation for the next levels of design, after your first job: associate designer, associate tech designer, tech designer, designer, head designer, design director, creative director.
  • Interview with a specific company—designing a collection just for the interview.
  • Follow-up interview with presentation board.

3.2.Points to note while preparing a Fashion Portfolio?

 

A designer can highlight his/her skills with a Fashion Portfolio. To prepare a portfolio there are certain requirement one must take into consideration

  • The portfolio should showcase one’s personality and creative style
  • Identification of the specific purpose of using the fashion portfolio eg. Admission to a fashion school / applying for a designer job
  • Whether it is going to be presented as a hard copy as a presentation binder or as soft copy on a CD or website; having physical and digital versions of a portfolio is beneficial
  • The photographs of the finished garments for the portfolio should serve to highlight the special details and construction of the apparel; definite accompaniments to a portfolio are the original design sketches and the fabric swatches.
  •  Five exemplary designs are considered to be ideal for a budding designer and they should be as photoshoot representations with a live model.
  • It is good to start the portfolio with the strongest feature and store the second strongest feature to the end. There should be a story flow throughout the portfolio (Julia, 2013)
  • For convenience of packing, the portfolio should have two dimensional scripts; three dimensional materials can be incorporated as photographs

4.   Concepts for portfolio development

 

4.1.Planning

 

Planning is an important part of the portfolio development. It includes a time frame, research and predicting trends. Designers work one year in advance to create a collection.

 

In spring season the designers work for the next spring/summer collection. The time frame is an essential feature in planning. The collection is usually assessed for its style and look it portrays and the way all the parts of the design complement each other.

 

Interpreting the success or failure of past trends to look into the future and using forecasts for the coming years is a difficult task in predicting the future fashion. During this process the season, colour, environmental factors, culture, fabric design, occasion and presentation technique are important aspects to be taken into consideration while planning a fashion portfolio.

 

4.2. Collection

 

A theme is chosen for the collection which may be from any inspiration – a period in history, a place, a culture, range of colors or type of fabric. The next process is the design. The designer decides the nature of the collection, the number and type of garments and the client to whom they will be catering.

 

4.3. Creative process and design tools

 

Inspiration, Research and Design are the three important phases of any development. Inspiration can come from various forms of art like music, architecture and art and can be influenced from surroundings, environment, any simple objects, daily life moments and observational studies. It is also associated with memories, feelings, associations and emotions.

 

Research is a detailed and careful study of the different features and aspects of the chosen inspiration. As part of the preliminary design process, sketches, snapshots, thumbnails, articles and notes should be placed in a journal to get a better idea of the inspirational theme.

 

In the last stage of development, the design process translates the inspiration into a design story with the help of all the collected materials as color, fabric, textures and compositions with silhouette development. The most critical part of the design process is to find the right words and associations to establish the linkages between the chosen mood and the concrete elements of the collection as trims and garment details. Once the linkages are established and verbal descriptions are written, the abstract ideas turn into concrete designs (Kiper, 2014).

 

 

5. VITAL INGREDIENTS FOR DEVELOPING PORTFOLIOS

 

A fashion portfolio should have many vital ingredients to show the designers ideologies and skills.

 

 Drawing from life to experimental design sketches are essential and colour plays a vital role in a portfolio.

 

 Sketch books are proofs of the work that has been done for the portfolio. They reveal the inspiration and its impact on the designer, how the design concept has been handled to develop ideas through experimentation, the interests, the research from exhibitions or study trips, the visual references to contemporary brands or designers and any sort of work contributed to the theme.

 

 Project work undertaken by the designer demonstrates the skills in idea formulation, research experience, response to a project brief, creativity, involvement in work and the final idea and conclusion.

 

Construction of apparel based on the theme and inspiration gives the output of design development. The skill to handle materials and their impact on the silhouette is revealed through the images of 2D and 3D experimentation. Photographs of the developed product on the wearer will help to evaluate the work.

 

Written work along with the art work will express the thought process behind the work, the technicalities of the design, the research carried out as market survey or field trip (De Montfort University,2017).

 

6.  PROCESS FLOW IN FASHION PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT

 

6.1. Trend Forecasting: focuses on the upcoming trends eg. World Global Sourcing Network WGSN. Fashion forecasting services predict the colors, fabrics, textures, materials, prints, graphics, silhouettes, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, street style and other stylesby exploring global cultural movements, economic changes, consumer behavior and technological changes.

 

The styles will be presented on the runway and in retail stores for upcoming seasons. Forecasting is usually done 20 to 24 months in advance to the selling season. Trend forecasts are currently based on carefully studied data, with the internet as the major basis of facts and observation. Trend forecasts are the inspiration and creative input and the successful tools are used as a business strategy for future planning.

 

6.2. Trend Analysis & Interpretation:is a strategic analysis that shows the best aspects of the past sales history and market trends which helps to predict the future trends and designs that will hit the market. This process helps in analyzing the current events and happenings to identify and predict new trends for the forthcoming seasons. These thoughts are communicated to the retailers and consumers by means of seasonal colors, fabrics and silhouettes to give a fresh interpretation for each season. Fashion companies used the fashion forecasts to position their design developments to achieve their sales targets.

 

6.3. Concept development: It is the starting point of an idea and the conceptualization of the basic shape of the design. At this stage the idea or concept must sync with the market trend; the outline of all the contents of the portfolio must be defined (Sarkar, 2017).

 

6.4. Customer Profiling: is a method of categorizing consumers for marketing and advertising purposes; this will increase selling of products for a suitable clientele. While designing products designers should create products to suit and cater to the target marketing. If the interest is towards sportswear then a list of sportswear manufacturers have to be made, their design philosophy analyzed, identification of their customers to be done, what is the source of inspiration and the visuals of their current collection should be taken into account before the entire design process starts. This will give the designer a chance to create the design collection for a specific customer with specific price point and style.

 

6.5. Flat Sketch/Silhouette Development: are ‘flat drawings’ or ‘technical flats’ or ‘flats’ in the fashion industry. They are black and white technical sketches that display the garment as it is laid flat with seams, topstitching, and other design details specified in the drawing.CAD software such as Adobe Illustrator is being used to sketch flats and is replacing manual hand drawings. Stylized flats are referred to ‘Floats’ and they show some movement in the garment. Use of flats and floats alternatively can create variety. Rendering colour and fabric onto flats is also possible with the help of the CAD system. The drawing of the garment on the three dimensional figure or coquis is known as silhouette development. It shows how the garment will look on the person.

 

6.6. Fabric, Trims and accessories: the most important component if the handle and type of fabric in relation to the design; the trims necessary for the design and the accessories are all defined and combined to assess the final look of the ensemble.

 

6.7. Formats and backgrounds : Templates with different backgrounds can serve as sources for creativity. Formats for setting the pages of the portfolio is also found in the open source which

 

can be used to assemble the data into the sheets. Fashion graphics as free stencils and clip art in vector or tiff formats are available eg. Abstract and geometric designs, animal, flower and insect designs, heraldry and tattoo designs, holiday and seasonal designs and ornaments and borders.Presentation formats are also available as flat figure, double figure, multiple figures and cropped figures.

 

6.8. 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.

 

6.9. Pattern Development: Once the designs are finalized the patterns are taken for the development of the three dimensional apparel to fit the form. Patterns are fabricated on the basis of measurements of the human figure or standard sizes. All the component parts are taken and when assembled will form the garment.

 

6.10. Measurement and Grading of patterns: A measurement chart for the different sizes is finalized and the pattern taken for the proto sample is graded as per the measurements given in the chart. Grading is increasing or decreasing the patterns without changing the style to create different sizes of garments.

 

6.11. Garment Construction: involves cutting the fabric according to the pattern and using the sketch as the specification or design sheet the garment is sewed by professionals. The output should replicate the sketch in all counts including the fabric, trims, accessories and the technical details.

 

6.12. Fit analysis and Quality Assurance: The fitting of the garment is of utmost important to reach the target customer. Alterations are being done and any change in the silhouette if required is incorporated. The quality is checked in terms of right fabric and ascertained characteristics, proper trims and accessories, seam and stitch quality, design aspects and the manner in which it takes its place on the live model or mannequin.

 

6.13. Styled Garment on the Ramp: Portfolios are the basis of all fashion shows. New designs created are displayed to the customers, manufacturers and others in the design world to see the designs of the forecasts in reality.

Presentation Boards

 

7.  PREPARATION OF A FASHION PORTFOLIO

 

7.1. Devising a storyline or arrangement:

  • Details to be included in the portfolio will depend on the purpose eg. Professional portfolio. Generally creative investigation, drawings, colour studies, 2D and photos of 3D work are considered as essential.
  • An organizing principle can be devised. The story line should show the important links between the different angles explored as chronological or reverse chronological order
  • ensuring clarity and communication to the viewer. Recent projects to be arranged first followed by others.
  • A flow chart or a write up about the different arrangements and its impact will help in building the portfolio. A discussion with the supervisor, guide or mentor will help.

7.2. Compiling Materials:

  • Selection of materials like color samples, fabric swatches, sketches, photos and investigative pieces, should be based on what they are going to reveal and communicate to the others.
  •  Inclusion of pen or ink sketches or charcoal drawings will show the strong aspects of the portfolio and also showcase the ability of presenting a 3D on a 2D surface
  • dentify and compile sequential pieces so that the process involved is represented. Only the most important details are to be taken and not everything. Items can be selected to show that the designer has the ability to handle many types of materials like leather, silks, chiffons, crepes etc.
  • Fit the different parts into the chosen arrangement for best results.

7.3. Completing the portfolio:

  • Presentation cases of different sizes are available as zip binders or ring binders with sheet protectors
  • Collage loose supplements like different textures, fabric swatches etc with few explanatory lines or labels
  • High quality acid free paper will help to keep the work tidy and clean
  • The sheets can be arranged into the case with the inclusion of necessary labels.
  • An artistic statement can add a touch of inquisitiveness to the person viewing the portfolio (Wikihow, 2017)

Conclusion

 

In order to make a fashion designers name etched in the design field, the designer should create his/her portfolio. The portfolio determines the sale proportion of the individual’s design and serves as a means to communicate one’s fashion ideas and concepts to other people. The length, breadth and range of the designer’s skill and expertise is highlighted . Fashion business expects the designers to constantly update their portfolios to reflect the societal changes, technology and trends. Leading manufacturers and design enterprises prefer a good blend between the company’s business focus and the creative identity of the designer. They tend to assess this association and also foresee their own future. The fashion portfolio is a significant tool to summarize the designer’s achievements.

 

In this module an introduction to the Fashion Portfolio development has been given. The general basic essentials and concepts for portfolio development, the vital ingredients and techniques involved which constitute the portfolio and methodology or process flow of preparing a portfolio has been discussed. Getting the right inspiration, researching the basis of the inspiration, blending, molding and constructing the research into the growth of the design are the fundamentals of the creative design process for fashion portfolio development. Hope the budding designers of today and the future use these tools and techniques to create their unique portfolios to extend and publicize their artistic skills to the design arena and make their contribution to the world of fashion, art and design.

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