Fur and Leather Suppliers

I have looked at a few companies where I could source fur and leather form if my collection was going to go into production...

http://www.kopenhagenfur.com/auction/how-to-buy-skins/

Companies such as:  Schwarzchild Ochs, Tissavel and Duksung, who exhibited at Premier Vision 2012

Also a fur and leather wholesaler,

http://www.kailiai.lt/en/imone_siandien.htm

BFTA Competition

As the competition states that you can use any design work so I have adapted some of my existing designs from this year to enter this competition, this also means I will be use some of the initial research that I have done for this project also moodboards and my client profile.


I created this Inspiration Board from the Autumn/Winter 2012/13 trend predictions, this includes images, fabrics and design ideas for the 'Desire Without Frills' trend.

After creating an Inspiration Board, I looked at the relevant colourways for the trend that I was designing for and found some images that would inspire my collection.

I have decided to follow the Autumn/Winter 2012/13 'Desire Without Frills' trend for this collection. This consists of very natural whites, beige's and grey colours going into darker browns and blacks.

My Client believes strongly in the quote 'Luxury must be comfortable otherwise it is not luxury' from Coco Chanel.

After establishing my client I was able to conduct some market research around the shops that she would shop in. This helped me with my design ideas and the level of market that I was designing for. 

Design 1
Design one is a shaved mink skirt, along with a sheer chiffon shirt under a long fur mink jacket.

Design 2
Design two is a mid-length coat, made from leather with a mink fur detail on the button stand, pockets and waistband with a cape style top.

Design 3
Design 3 is a pencil skirt made of leather and fir off cuts sewn together and appliqued over the top, along with a chiffon blouse.

Design 4
Design four is a dress, again made up of off cuts of leather, knit and fur which had been appliqued over, with short finely pleated silk cuffs and bottom.

Design 5
Design five us a long dress made up of strips of leather, fur, knit and feathers, which is tight fitting at the top which moves down into a long dress which becomes loose fitting with lots of movement at the bottom.

Design 6
Design six is a mid-length dress made of mink fur with a cut out at the top which is filled with pleated silk chiffon.

Final Designs With Fabric Swatches

Fur Trend Predictions Autumn/Winter 2012/13

 

 http://harileinsabarwal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/fur-copy.jpg

Auntum/Winter Trend Predictions 2012/13

I have decided to follow the 'Desire Without Frills' trend for the BFTA Competition, I have found information for this from:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:r1L8lze06dsJ:www.tune-in.info/files/custom/DesignBG/2011/november/Fashion_forecast_AW_12_13.pdf+fur+trend+predictions+2012/13&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiVZTSHMy8TemT4yFCb_U-0tkcuFsmgF5yzgqfxu3AkZMoUl2viPWFZP3pMPoGSu4c0Cjiuvs8_CeMoTXW_RisJg5uNr0sJGCVk0kugOh5wTrJoF964DPLsZv1uA8kNARIFPXUV&sig=AHIEtbR4fKRYhSBoenoOUIjQN8jcaZKZKA

Fur in the Fashion Industry

I have been looking through some old and more recent articles about the fashion industry using fur in collections and have found that the majority if press about the fur industry is bad for the fur industry in the UK...

The first is from the Independent Newspaper, 2012, 'More than 50 million animals will be killed for their fur this year, most of which will have spent their short lives in miserable conditions on fur farms before they are killed, sometimes being skinned while still alive.'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-fur-trade-bloody-fashion-425837.html

The second is from The Daily Mail, 2011, 'Filmed last month in Maryland and Pennsylvania, the footage shows animals being crushed, strangled and drowned as trappers struggle to keep up with booming demand from the fashion industry'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1366983/How-ethical-fur-fashion-industrys-cynical-yet.html

Both articles are talking about how the fur trade should be band in the United Kingdom and if there is such a thing as 'ethical fur'. After reading these I have had a look at some of the major fur companies across the world and there views on how fur is 'friendly'

Fur companies such as Copenhagen Fur, do say that 'All Danish mink farms are subject to annual, statutory veterinarian visits. The visits involve a routine inspection to identify any health or welfare issues on the farm. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration also makes regular inspections of farm welfare.' 

http://www.kopenhagenfur.com/responsibility/animal-welfare/

BFTA Competition

For another module at college we have be asked to enter into a competition, we had a choice of three that we could choose from and I have decided to design for the BFTA Competition. It states in the rules off the competition that 'Designs being entered need not been created specially for this competition but must meet criteria stated' so I am going to use some ideas from my current collection at Plymouth College.

Initial Design Ideas

Here are a few of my initial design ideas from my concept shapes

Concept Shapes

These are some of my first concept shapes that I came up with after creating my moodboards and initial market research

Market Research

Client Profile

Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” Coco Chanel

My client is a young woman called Gabriella, she is originally from Italy and has recently moved to London to peruse her career in Actuary. She is currently living in the City overlooking the docklands, with her partner Antonio. Coming from Italy, fashion is something that runs through her veins and will pay for good quality and ethically made clothing. She earns enough money to shop in high end stores and is always looking for clothes that can be worn to work in the day and dressed up in the evening if she doesn't have time to go home after.

Colourways

From the moodboards and given colorways I have chosen these colours to work with

Moodboard

From the Initial Moodboard we were given I then created my own moodboard, made up of images, textures and photos that inspired me for my final collection


My Moodboad

Year 2 Fashion Design

I am now in my second year at Plymouth College of Art. This year we have been given a live brief for Spring/Summer 2012

Initial Moodboard

On The Catwalk

My dress was taken to Birmingham's NEC Clothes Show Live. It was shown on the College Catwalk representing Plymouth College of Art, sponsored by Diet Coke and Company Magazine.

Finished Garment!

Pattern Construction

To get the basic shape of me pattern, I used paper to create the shape 

of the dress that I wanted, before going on to create a

final pattern for my garment 

Final Design

Final Designs

These are a few of My Final Designs

I decided to create the middle design into a garment

My Ethical Stance

Over 50% of clothes bought every year are put into landfills which emits about 1,000kg of CO2 per person; which is about half the amount of a small diesel car. This contributes significantly to our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling is being promoted more and more by the fashion industry using ideas such as hacktivism and upcycling; taking old clothing garments and re-vamping them to produce new and individual garments, which allows people to express themselves more through clothing and wear something different as most high street clothing is standardized to keep production costs to a minimum and cheaper for us to buy.

Cotton is one of the most used fabrics in the fashion industry; it is the 2nd largest produced and consumed natural product in the world after food.

Uzbekistan is one of the worlds’ largest exporters of cotton. Many people that are in debt to the government get taken out of well-paid professions such as doctors and lawyers to pick cotton, as well as children being taken out of schooling and education. Uzbek cotton farming has also taken gallons water from the Aral Sea, which has now droughted 60 miles off shore making living conditions extremely hard. Many pesticides are used on these crops and are not disposed of properly, which has lead to the local drinking water supplies being contaminating. These pesticides are also highly toxic on contact with the skin, and the majority of people who pick the cotton cannot afford to wear protective clothing, due to their poor wages and working conditions.

I have chosen to use recycled fabrics as I believe that until these poor working conditions and unfair trade to the workers and farmers have been properly addressed, and we in the Western World of fast fashion and throwing away should not encourage this outrageous behavior to human kind and the environment; and re-cycling and up-cycling could be fashions response to this.

As I have decided to use reuse and recycle fabrics, as producing new fabric, even if sustainable, such as cotton, has a huge effect on the environment; and therefore have tried to source fabrics which have not been dyed or treated with harmful pesticides, which has lead me to my colour palette of neutrals, creams and browns, which are common colours in natural fabrics before being treated.

After looking at designers that reuse and recycle, such as Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen, I became inspired not only by the way in which garments were changed but also the idea of deconstruction. I decided to reuse and recycle textiles and garments. I have also introduced the idea of deconstruction into my designs through the recycled items to create new and different one-off lengths of fabrics.

My First Designs

These are some of my first designs that I had come up with after putting together my moodboard!