Research Report

Lulu asked me to write a research report and gave me 3 days to do it. As she is rebranding herself and struggled to figure out a strong aesthetic in recent years, she asked me to research the history of some processes, trends and silhouettes which she has done in the past and may bring forward and improve on to base her aesthetic around in the future. Looking at her past collections, I decided to research the history of weaving, embroidery, fringing and ruffles. I firstly researched on the internet then made a Central St. Martins library visit to back up my findings.

 Furthermore, Lulu wanted me to research designers that used each of the processes strongly in their designs as part of their aesthetic and look up how each of them promoted themselves on social media. Lulu felt that she wasn't using social media to her full advance to gain potential customers.

I learnt a lot doing this research report; about the history of the processes, and how designers promoted themselves, especially on instagram. I think I learnt most about what makes for a good instagram and how having a strong aesthetic is very important when promoting yourself visually. I put the report in a powerpoint format backing it up with imagery.

   

Website Changes

Lulu's husband has his own business called 'like digital media'. It is a business that creates websites for other businesses. Lowik and I went to his office at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, to learn how to change somethings around on Lulu's website; including uploading her latest collection and taking off and adding sale items. This was a useful learning experience for me because I have have no experience in how to work a website. I didn't learn how to do every much but I understood the basic concept. I think this would be very useful to me in the future when I have my own website. I made some friends at 'like digital media' that maybe good contacts to have in the future.   

Sample/ Charity Sale

The design assistant, Lowik, and I, had to prepare the garments that needed to be sold at a Charity and Sample Sale, both happening in the same week. This involved steaming and putting the garments in the right order according to the price list that was given to us. I changed the price on the price tags to the final sale price shown on the price list. Now that I am more confident with handling the garments and more familiar with Lulu's collections. This was a quick and easy task for me. We managed to get the garments carefully packed up and ready to go in a morning. 

Trade Show: Meet The Manufacturer

Lulu asked her design assistant, Lowik, and I to go to the trade show to meet manufacturers on Wednesday 25 May on Brick Lane. Our task was to talk to as many manufacturers as possible. To explain to them about her brand, particularly, how she was currently rebranding herself to become a Couture designer. Our task was to form relationships with certain manufacturers who could help Lulu when she becomes a Couture designer.

Lowik's english is not strong and he found it difficult to communicate with the manufacturers, and asked me to talk to the them on behalf of Lulu Liu. At first, I was hesitant and not confident as I have never been in the position to talk to people in industry in a professional environment. However, after speaking to the first few manufacturers, I quickly gained confidence and enjoyed finding out about what all the different company's did. Specifically, I asked what the company's did, their USP, what their price range was, where they are based, whether they can manufacture one off pieces or only mass produce. Furthermore, I told the manufacturers about Lulu's Company to see if there is anyway they could help us, and exchanged business cards with. The range of different kinds of manufacturers was much larger than I expected; knitwear, one off pieces, only mass production, only leather pieces, digital print, company's that could help with a range of services such as pattern cutting, designing etc as well as manufacturing, specifically weather-proof pieces or pieces that are to do with physically demanding jobs such as; firemen, policemen etc and manufacturers that deal with unusual pattern cutting. All the company's were so interesting to learn about and I asked on behalf of myself as well because there were some company's that offered help to students with pattern cutting and manufacturing for a discounted price which might be useful for my third year collection.

The found the whole experience very valuable, I gained confidence with talking to people in industry and collected many contacts that may be useful to Lulu and I in the future.

    

The Owl And The Lion

Lulu asked me to research Lions and Owls on Pinterest. She said she wanted illustrations for some prints. The concept was a love story between a fierce looking male owl and a lioness. A fierce looking passion must be in the expression of the faces and especially the eyes. She showed me some images/illustrations of owls and lions so I can get a feel of what she was looking for. She told me to research and then do some illustrations for her. I thought it was an interesting concept and wondered why she had picked it but Lulu didn't explain why she had chosen it or what it was being used for.

I hadn't sketched in a while so I did some practice ones to get back into it and so see if Lulu liked my style because my drawing style is quite sketchy.

I really enjoyed doing this task as I enjoy designing and sketching. Nora, the other design intern, also had the same task as me. Nora's work seemed more like proper illustrations and not sketchy at all and Lulu seemed really impressed with her drawing style. Although I was proud of my work, Nora's looked more professional and more likely to be on a print.

 

Finding Finishings

Nora, a design intern, was in charge of designing the Lulu black collection and I was to help her complete the task. Lulu had fully briefed her on the concept etc and gave her a deadline to illustrate 200 designs of which Lulu would then pick 25 to 30 pieces to be made. Nora expressed that it was difficult and time consuming. She had to think about the concept, the fabric, finishings, the cost when designing. This is where my fabric samples and illustrations off of net-a-porter came in handy. Most of all, Nora was struggling with the finishings, in particular, she wasn't sure how she wanted to do the ruffles edge. She asked me to go to department stores such as Liberty's and Harrods and take pictures of the finishing of ruffles.

I spent the day finding and taking pictures of as many ruffles as I could in order to give Nora the widest range of possibilities. I didn't find this challenging. Especially in liberty's, ruffles seemed to be a popular choice in designs. I managed to get a lot of images for Nora and the pictures below are some examples of my findings.
 

The Goal By Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Lulu wanted to learn more about business so read 'The Goal' By Eliyahu M. Goldratt. She had highlighted the key parts of the book as asked me to type up everything she had highlighted. 

 'The Goal' is written in the style of a novel. It is about a plant manager, Alex Rogo, whose factory has 90 days before it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. To prevent this, Alex must rapidly improve performance. A chance meeting with a past colleague, Jonah, helps him to see things differently and helps him to see what needs to be done. The book contains important messages for managers in industry as well as explains the 'Theory of Constraints', which has been developed by Eliyahu Goldratt.

 'The Goal' seemed to be an easy read and was very interesting. I didn't understand all of it as I only read the parts that Lulu highlighted, but it is a book which I will read as it will be useful in applying it to my own business in the future.

                                

 

Fabric Sample Hunting

Lulu briefed me in order to get her some fabric samples for her Lulu Black Collection. She asked for medium weight Jersey, silk (matt), cotton, lace or croche fabric in either white, grey or black. She wanted the fabrics to be thick enough that they could hold a structure but thin enough that they can be worn in warm weather. She didn't mind if the fabrics had an interesting pattern, texture or embroidery. For the lace and croche fabric, lulu wanted an interesting modern pattern and she showed some examples. She gave me the whole day to go to all the shops on Berwick street and especially the Misan Showroom and Pongees in Shoreditch.

 I started my mission. I went from one end of Berwick street to the other, going into every store. A lot of the stores wanted me to be more specific about what I wanted but were helpful and helped me to make an informed decision about which samples to get. The number of samples I could get ranged from one to three so I tried to pick sensibly according to the choices available to me and how many samples I could get. Sticking to fabrics I know she would like if I was only allowed one or two samples. Broadwick silks, however, was the only store which allowed me to have as many samples as I liked. I told the store assistant what Lulu was looking for, and although he would rather I was more specific e.g. what kind of silk exactly? what quality? what was it was being used for? what kind of pattern? etc, he was very helpful and picked himself all the possibilities the store had to offer. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to the Misan Showroom or Pongees because I didn't realize it was appointment only.






















The next day I came back to the studio and showed Lulu and the studio manager, Joyce, my findings. By this point, Lulu had changed her mind about what fabrics she wanted so none of my findings were helpful. Instead, they wanted light weight silk (matt), jersey and cotton in black, grey and white, plain, with no texture or pattern. She also wanted me to keep an eye out for any lace or croche which I thought looked interesting.They told me not to come in the next day and continue my fabric sample hunting then.

 In the meantime, Nora, another design intern working at Lulu Liu, briefed me on what my task was that day. She told me to go on to the net-a-porter site and sketch all the garments that Lulu would find interesting for her Lulu Black collection. She showed me some examples. The brief was clean edged ruffles. designs that can be worn in warm weather and appeals to the Chinese market e.g. designs that are more 'cute' rather than 'sexy'. I spent the day sketching garments off of net-a-porter which I enjoyed. Towards the end of the day I was told to develop and change the most interesting designs to appeal more to the Chinese market and Lulu's brief of clean edged ruffles.

 I made sure I called Pongees and the Misan showroom ahead of time to book an appointment. This time I was more prepared; I had a better idea of Lulu's designs and she gave me clearer instructions on what kind of fabrics she wanted. I did the whole of Berwick street again as well as the Misan showroom and Ponguees. This time the trip went a lot more quickly and I was less stressed. Lulu was happy with my findings.

 I learnt from these tasks to be clearer on my instructions before I do the task in hand as it will save me time and stress.

     

The Swimsuit Brief

One of Lulu projects is to design a swimsuit. She briefed me; she had the idea of designing a swimsuit that makes women's bodies look more toned and desirable by allowing certain parts of the body to get more tanned than others. Lulu told me she got the idea when she went on holiday and wore a cut-out swimsuit. The swimsuit looked good however when she took the swimsuit off after a day of tanning, she ended up with horrific tan lines in weird places. She wanted to design a cut-out swimsuit that would flatter the body after tanning.

 The way Lulu wanted me to go about it was to research toned women with desirable bodies in bikinis and sketch them. Shading in the parts of the body which naturally looks darker on a toned body. I enjoyed this task because I like sketching, however, it was challenging to distinguish which parts to shade in dark and which to keep light as the bodies darker to lighter parts are subtle and gradual. I expressed this to Lulu, she suggested that we look at fabrics that are semi transparent as these parts can get semi-tanned as apposed to parts that would be completely exposed to the sun. However, semi transparent fabrics may be too flimsy and not look good as part of a swimsuit. I carried on sketching and distinguished as best as i could the dark, medium and lighter parts of the torso and breast area. Lulu said the shapes were a bit too complicated and this may cause the swim suit to not look desirable and would make the costs of making the swimsuit too high. She wanted the costs as low as possible as it was being made for a more commercial market. She asked me to make shapes simpler and try to stick to straight lines creating shapes that are not complex. I sketched about 15-20 versions of interpreting the shapes into simpler form. Lulu picked her favorites that she thought looked the sexiest and would flatter the body the most.
  I learnt from this task; to show the designer that you have thought of the bigger picture and thinking outside the box e.g. how to design the costume so that the darker to lighter parts look subtle and gradual instead of having really bad tan lines. 

Research Victorian Children's Clothes

The next task Lulu gave me was researching Victorian children’s clothes. Lulu explained that she was doing a line called Lulu Black, a more commercial line she would bring out to appeal to the Chinese market, as most of her customer base was the Chinese. She wanted her line to feature ruffles as this is a trend that the Chinese, in particular, like.  She wanted me to research Victorian children’s clothes so she could reference it in her line. She asked me to go through Pinterest, and download 100 images into a file, particularly black and white images that were first hand. At first, I downloaded most of the images I saw because I wasn’t sure exactly what interested Lulu about the garments. After I had finished, Lulu went through the images with me, pointing out exactly what interested her. She said my research was thorough but now I needed to narrow it down according to the examples she gave on what interested her about the designs, e.g. ruffles and unusual sleeve patterns, unusual patterns and shapes that are easy to be translated into modern day silhouettes.


I learn't to make sure I am clear and understand exactly what the designer is looking for before I start a researching task so that I can be more helpful quicker leading to better time management and results.

First Week At Lulu Liu

For most of my first day at Lulu Liu my task was to steam her last collection ready for press to use. Different fabrics were different levels of difficulty to steam. Flimsy fabrics that easily creased were the hardest because however much I would stem them they just managed to crease themselves again. Thicker, more structured fabrics were easier however every garment had its awkward tricky spots.

 The task taught me, that seemingly simple tasks can prove not to be simple at all and more time consuming than you think. I am used to an iron steamer whilst the steamer that Lulu had was more mobile and a different shape which made it more difficult to steam. I tried to quickly adapt to the facilities around me to make the task go as quickly, smoothly, and as precise as possible; for example, I used a table and the back of a chair to hang the garment whilst steamed it with the mobile steamer as their was no plug sockets for the steamer in the room that the garments are normally hanged in.

 Unfortunately, Lulu didn’t seem too impressed with the results and asked if some of them had been steamed at all. I told Lulu that I had steamed all of them and had tried my best. I appreciated that I may need more knowledge and practice in order to complete the task to the highest level.

Images of Lulu's studio.

Interviews; Lulu Liu and Jaeha

I prepared for both my interviews; making sure I knew about their background, how many seasons they have been in business, what their style is like and what gives them an edge or makes them special. I also thought out why I would like to intern for them against their competitors. I put together a portfolio of my work to show them.

                                      JAEHA                                         

 Jaeha's silhouettes are very wearable, practical and away from the body yet still flattering. I especially love their play on proportions and use of layering. Jaeha was founded by Jae Kim, an MA graduate from Central Saint Martins who is mainly inspired by abstract art forms.

Lulu Liu

Lulu Liu is a London based designer who graduated from London College of Fashion in 2011 before setting up her own business. I like Lulu's structural silhouettes, the combination of her use of fabrication within a look and her textiles.

I went to Jaeha's studio in Bermondsey for my interview. I thought the interview went well. I talked through my portfolio, my skill set and what I have learnt during my time at Ravensbourne doing BA and Foundation. They asked me why I wanted to work for them and what I liked about their designs.They also wanted to know how my pattern cutting and manufacturing skills were. I told them honestly that I wasn't confident and I just had basic knowledge but that it is something I would like to improve on and that I was willing to learn. They appreciated my honesty but would prefer interns to have a better understanding of pattern cutting and manufacturing.

My interview with Lulu Liu also consisted of a trial day. The interview went well and she asked me to start immediately. She told me that the internship would consist of jobs like researching, design development, designing and collecting fabric samples etc rather than pattern cutting and manufacturing which wasn't done in her studio. Pattern cutting and manufacturing was something that I was keen to learn more about during the work placement brief however the internship sounded like she was willing to give me a lot of responsibility and I would learn a lot from that. Therefore, I accepted to internship placement.