As part of an undergraduate unit, I have been given an opportunity to work to a selection of live briefs and international student design competitions. This blog post will follow my exploration and development of the design process of Brief Two.
After receiving the design brief, I began my creative journey by researching a little into the big brand. This was to create an understanding of what the label represents and who target audience of the collections were.
STELLA MCCARTNEY- BRAND REPORT
Using the information within the brief and from my research, I created a concept and mood board to guide my designs. Including materials, colours and shapes to be considered to fit with the ethos of the brand Stella McCartney.
Due to the ethics of the brand Stella McCartney, I decided to embrace a natural concept for the development of my collection. Using the layers of onions and finger prints as key inspiration for my textiles. Using these I developed a range of prints, including a placement print and a repeating stripe. In keeping with other Stella McCartney products, I used the brighter colours from my colour palette to highlight my motifs, using the more natural colours as a base tone.
Despite the target audience of the brand typically being women 30+, I have designed my fashion illustrations to look younger. Looking at the advertising campaigns for Stella McCartney, and the models used at shows, the majority of women displayed under the brand are all of a similar age range to that I have chosen. This is because the brand wants its consumers to feel youthful and excitted by the designs. Older models may discourage women from investing in the brand.
Another way in which I tried to reference back to the key elements of this well established brand was through the small detailing of my models shoes. This may be a very small detail, but I feel the use of the iconic platform trainer really captures the essence of Stella McCartney and really brings the collection together.
After visiting the Stella McCartney store in Mayfair, London, I quickly noticed how much the shop floor was in keeping to the website. Both are minimalist, utalising alot of white space to establish the exclusiveness of each garment. Unlike most high street brands that stock their stores wall to wall, the elegence of the open space of Stella McCartney creates a prestige atmosphere. This is why I decided to create minimalistic design boards, utalising white space in the same way in which Stella McCartney.
Petra Saleh Designs 