PUMA RESEARCH: THE BLACK LABEL - 'It's a season to move within the crowd but never follow the masses'

Defined as the 'Sport Fashion' part of Puma, the black label collaborates with high fashion design innovators - Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Mihara Yasuhiro.

Function, motion and grace are black label's three key elements they incorporate for their products whether those be reconstructed through Puma's ranges or the designers runway collections.

Alexander McQueen - Establishing itself for Puma in 2005, McQueen makes no hesitation in reimplementing his edgy, bold aesthetics to the brand. The focus for his latest collection - Autumn/Winter 2013 originated from the work of Robert Falcon Scott's 1910 trek to the South Pole. It explores the emotional and physical impact of the expedition and McQueen decided to adapt this within his collection. Footwear has to be dependant whether thats through different environments, artifacts or moods and so he wanted to challenge this and have shoes with frosted fabrics, emblems, thick soles and fossilised textures upon them to emphasise this new latitude.

'A man and a mission that took every advantage and never looked back. Striving for legacy.'

I really think this is a strong concept for McQueen to go down - he is really pin-pointing the season in an aesthetically pleasing way. McQueen has re-created a challenging, dooming experience in a celebratory and innovative way that would otherwise be a risk to some designers.




Hussein Chalayan - The idea of MOTION is the creative force behind Creative Director Chalayan's work. His fascination escalates from anthropology and technology and the physicality's behind this - time, space and movement. 2008 marked a high point in his career, breaking a new boundary in material of using moulded latex garments. Encapsulating movement, the garments were driven from this idea of 'the speed of our lives' and remains a common notion throughout his PUMA collections.

Chalayan's Autumn/Winter collection 2013 is inspired by the city. He observed the way people walk, how they do so, carefully aware of the motion they make touching the ground. From this he created footwear which had sculpted volume, sport detailing to emphasise urban, city life and using a number of materials showing variety in the streets.

'Collectively, it's a season to move with the crowd but never (never ever) follow the masses'

Personally - I have to admit, I feel this is a little lazy concept... of course PUMA is all about urban, streets and movement but I just think it's a little unordinary and not much emphasis on the creative element. Possibly due to the fact it's not diverted into another direction - suggestion may be to adapt in a different environment/atmosphere.




Mihara Yasuhiro - Beginning his career for PUMA in 2000, he's a designer that always challenges the boundaries through his monochromatic, individuality urban style.

'grounded in logic but geared to dodge reason and surpass expectation'

For his Autumn/Winter Collection 2013, he has his sites set on the seven seas of the world with his dark, defunct base added by edgy metallics wrapped around. Everything from bright Caribbean sea blue to a burgundy colour similar of a fisherman's pants, unlikely circumstances yet all a common thread of Yasuhiro's weird and wonderful world.

PUMA - MOODBOARD MOCK-UP 1

This is the first start towards beginning my mood board... looking at the 'NOW' aspect - I got these images all from Puma's website in their media section. I chose these images to focus on their most up to date product they're promoting at the moment - the 'mobium elite glow' trainers, an idea that originates from the puma animal of it adapting to low or dim visibility conditions in it's environment.

The trainers have several features on/in them such as the 'expansion pods' which cushions, protects and allows the muscle in the foot to be flexible in the right places; allowing you to run in the most natural environment. It also has a reflective and glow-in-the-dark feature, to ensure your visibility is protected whilst running.

I had a little play around in photoshop with the layers and blending, creating a new image for puma but still using the original images and atmosphere of their new product. I like the outcome of the image, it brings the two elements together of the trainer and glowing in the dark.

Unfortunately, the rest of my mock ups were too big to be presented on my blog so I will put the rest of these in my sketchbook.

PUMA RESEARCH NO1

Puma is one of the world's dominating sporting brands establishing relationships with some of the most elite athletes and sporting teams wearing their products. Examples include Usain Bolt, German tennis player Boris Becker and sponsoring 7 teams - 3 african teams, Italy, Switzerland and Uruguay. 

As well as this, Puma owns Cobra Golf, Tretorn, Dobotex and Brandon. 

Recently, Puma have released a single consumer message 'forever faster' assuring that Puma will be the fastest sports brand in the world. This concept reflects how their 65 year history of making faster technological designs for some of the fastest athletes in the world e.g. Bolt. They feel its also a recognition of what lies ahead for the future of the brand too - being the fastest with innovation and fastest in new trends allowing their performance to be fast for their type of consumer who needs it to be.

OUTFIT OF THE DAY.

A photo to define our style - I feel that this outfit sums up my style quite accurately on a very broad, daily basis though I am an avid fan of a splash of print!
I feel I dress quite classic, I am definitely challenging my creams here but I like how they're different shades with the white under layered. I have never really bought plain white coloured items before, mainly because I am so clumsy but I am so glad I bought these cigarette zip trousers - like black, they can go with just about every top half item I have in my wardrobe. I try to buy long term items instead of following a trend at one particular time so I get more wear out of it.

NO5 - BRAND VISUAL AWARENESS

For my next project I have been given a brand to research and explore any prevailing themes and cultural references associated. This will then be transversed onto a mood board compiling of 10 carefully chosen images which convey the brand's core elements such as - motifs, communication platforms, products etc.

My brand: 

I'm looking forward to interpreting Puma's values and what their visual imagery from 'the then to the now' communicates. I've never been that sucked in by any sporting brands and their 'performance, endurance promises' as I only buy my sportswear through recommendation from friends and family. Therefore, I think it will be an interesting challenge for me to hopefully have a more fair opinion of the brand and how the brand reaches to their consumer as this is something I haven't acknowledged. This will then be able to aid me to make a decision for the 10 images I will choose for my mood board. 

Over the next few days, We will be looking at ways to find and collect images, as well as establishing the brand's core prevalent themes. 

'A stand out collection embodying the culture, attitude, style and ambition that PUMA consumers represent. Inspired by the belief that 'Next Starts Now' - the styles and silhouettes are edgy, progressive and inimitable.'

"It's not about the dress you wear but it's about the life you lead in the dress" - Diana Vreeland

One of the main reasons why Diana Vreeland had such distinction in the fashion industry was the column she created in Harper's Bazaar for just over 20 years, 'Why Don't You?'.
The Column comprised a range of ingenious, primitive and often controversial quotes with a slight rhetorical questioning embedded within them - I believe her opinionated nature really emphasised this task and led her into a direction of fascinating opportunities.

Vreeland's talent was certainly a force that dared not to be recognised from the column not just from her consumers but most importantly, her co-workers who waited no longer to appoint her as Fashion Editor of Harper's Bazaar till 1962. Her career traversed over six decades, with major social events and changes including world war two and the sexual revolution. Vreeland was not shy to confront these topics in the magazine, her shocking yet inspiring and innovative thoughts all account to her unforgettable figure today.

Collaborating with leading photographers such as Lillian Bassman, Toni Frissell and Richard Avedon. Ultimately, the pages were reflective of her deep love affair with fashion and an art that would long out stand her presence at Harper's Bazaar.

Her next quest - editor in chief for the glossy pages of Vogue in 1962. She enjoyed the sixties greatly for it's freedom and uniqueness whilst also discovering the 'Youthquaker' fashion model Edie Sedgwick   attracting the likes of Andy Warhol. What is interesting to also know from her 'Diana Vreeland Memos: The Vogue Years', is of her communication with her staff, photographers, designers and writers. She did not believe in meetings or brainstorming rather Vreeland would send memos through her phone, have a one-to-one discussion or write letters on a daily basis.

"You shouldn't give people what they want, you should give people what they don't know they want yet"- Diana Vreeland

COMPLETED MOOD BOARD

This is the final outcome for my mood board on my favourite designer - Henry Holland. I am really pleased with the outcome, I wanted to entail a lot of negative space so that the visual imagery was bold like his collections. The colouring is mainly bright, electric yellows and oranges. I wanted it to be quite a playful mood board, in the literal sense that the arrow and circular diagram relates to a ferris wheel or a spinning board but also to show this mixed theme of one of his recent collection 'nana rave' of florals, spots, lace etc. If I were to change anything, id perhaps make it a little busier in the centre of the board to add more of an atmosphere of it progressing but in general, I'm pleased with my first attempt.

NO4 - Photoshop

I've used very little photoshop previously to my degree but I've suddenly become a little bit obsessed with it now! In a workshop a couple of days ago, we were taught some basic skills so I wanted to put them to the test and decided to do my own digital mood board. I decided to do Henry Holland's latest SS14 collection as my theme as I've been looking at him over the past few days. Although I'm pleased with how much I remembered, I felt my last two outcomes were a little too structured - I think this was because of the use of squares for everything e.g the colour palettes and photos. Next time, I might try more with the free hand tool or perhaps add a bit of negative space to even out the layout more. 

Bill Cunningham - "Fashion is on the streets, always has been and always will be"

In relation to our Street Style brief, We watched a screening of 'Bill Cunningham - New York' at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. I've heard of him before but it was truly interesting to see how much passion he puts into and has for fashion and photography, to the extent that it even made ME feel like I'm not doing enough!!

His interest stems from a natural ability, he became a success by being himself - a remarkable flair and individual talent.
Now a columnist in the style section of New York Times, Anna Wintour, David Rockefeller and Tom Wolfe are just a few people he has 'picked upon' and photographed in his career.

What I most admired about him and his work was his freedom of taking photographs - the way his moving images make the outfit really come to life and create an atmosphere. Also for me personally to be seeking a career potentially in styling, I also admire his ability of carefully choosing who he is going to photograph. I remember him saying in the film he would always choose someone who simply stood out and creatively pushed the boundaries.

At a time when street style is so exposed through the media now, it was fascinating to see how street style began when Bill Cunningham started out ...The KING of it! Also, how culturally being in New York differs to now. This was particularly poignant when we carried out our street style brief - obviously we weren't at luxury fashion shows or events but even on the streets nowadays, ordinary outfits are so rare to find but what's so much more appreciating of that is when you DO see something that catches your eye its SO worth it!

Experimenting with WGSN

These are some images I've chosen on WGSN of some of House of Holland's previous collections - for me, they all have a visual quality I'm interested by.

HOUSE OF HOLLAND BY HENRY HOLLAND

HOUSE OF HOLLAND AW13 Collection - 'Nana Rave' 

Henry Holland Interview, HOUSE OF HOLLAND AW13 Collection - 'Nana Rave'

NO3 - Mood Board Brief

Mood Board = FOCUSSED INFO to client/customer, STARTING POINT, tells a STORY and explores a CONCEPT.

Key Elements:

• Colour Palette
• Theme of research
• Materials and Media
• Design Equation (WHAT)
• Key words/text
• Market
• Styling

General Rules:

• Don't cover every part of the page
• Allow negative space - adds dynamism
• Varied scale of image
• Allow for juxtaposition
• Less is more
• Visually Stimulating
• Balance of quiet and busy areas
• Clear inspiration Sources
• Underlying grid to structure layout of composition

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR:

- Trend /season /occasion - colour, motif

- Customer/client/consumer - profile (age, gender)

- Target market - price point / analysis

- Materials - focuses creativity

- Costing - price

- Practical outcomes - production expectations

I chose Henry Holland - H! by Henry Holland (midstream collection) and House of Holland (designer collection) as my favourite Designer/Brand

I chose to do my mood board on his House of Holland collection because it's got a real quirky, overpowering, vibe and he has a strong visual element of colour which bursts through his collections in some way. Kate Moss was a big impact for the beginning of his brand - he designed bold, 80s T-shirts with catchphrases such as "I'll tell you who's boss, Kate Moss". 

What was possibly a turning point as well for Holland was his collaboration with Levis Strauss & Co in 2009, collaborating with a well-known label would have made his label more publicly noticed for the consumer/client. 

To start with I focused on his 'nana rave' A/W 13 collection for my mood board because I felt his message as a brand really portrayed through it. I then decided to go a lot broader with it to really give a diverse look across his different collections yet when combining all this, the outcome should be obvious of House of Holland. 

Attached are some photos of experimentations I did in my seminar for the mood board...

NO2 - Street Style Brief

My first and one of my favourite tasks - there is nothing I love more than seeing raw, rich fashion on the streets and I've always enjoyed looking at the street style sections in magazines; even if some of them have been set up... (and yes, i did die a little inside when I found out)
I was really looking forward to the task, we were put into groups and were hypothetically given a scenario to help give direction to what we needed specifically.
We had to find people, interesting objects or/and displays of what we felt would be the next trend.. clothes, make-up, hair or a more individual item such as an interesting clutch or watch.
Being put into a group definitely made it a good learning experience, we all decided different roles to  do when carrying out the task i.e - who to approach and ask them, who to do the photography and who to look out for.


Here are some examples of what we found...

http://www.pinterest.com/fcp1streetstyle/group8-streettrentstylers/

Concluding the task, I learnt a lot about the trends people made - it was also good to compare all of our images as a group together against other groups to see how their themes differ.

The general trend in clothing which was apparent in the majority of the images was that the woman/man would have one statement piece which stands out from their outfit - for example, one of the ladies wore 'mom' jeans and a loose crop top, then she accessorised this with a neon leather satchel.

common trends: tartan, 60s, lazy sacks and a 'grungy' edge.

*Some of these posts are not correctly dated due to beginning the blog a few days later

NO1 - Introduction

I am currently studying a degree in Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University. This blog will be presented with work I have produced and am interested in, as well as lecture notes, inspiration and anything related to Fashion. If you have any opinions, please feel free to note them. 

Photograph taken during street style activity of a vintage shop in Nottingham City Centre