Living the Dream - 006

At University, we were taught how to draw fashion illustrations. I think the golden proportion was ‘8 heads high’. That makes for some freakishly tall looking lasses.

When I first learnt to draw the girls that now wear my imagined clothing, my husband was a little worried that I had some skewed view of how women should look. When I explained that that was actually how we were expected to draw, I’m not sure that it eased his mind completely, it is possible he lost even more faith in the world of fashion, but at least he could see that I had my head screwed on a little straighter.

My design tutor said that a lot of designers often end up drawing some taller, skinnier version of themselves, and this turned out to ring true in my case. In their beginning, my girls sported masses of long curly brunette hair and a cheeky side smile that was dwarfed by their big eyes.. Ok so I don’t have the big eyes.. but the rest was reasonably on to it.. give or take 4 ‘heads’.

In more recent drawings, the eyes and smile have mostly been left out. This is because I so often feel that the way I’ve drawn their faces ruins the drawing of the garments and instead of looking at the clothes, you’re drawn into the oddly drawn facial expression. As I’m a fashion designer and not a makeup artist, the focus really has to be on the clothes.

But without further a do.... I give you a little sample. This is of the Summer 10/11 ‘Triglinae’ Dress which spawned the Winter 12 ‘Nightfall’ Dress and this past Summer it had another spin-off, the ‘Kalied’ dress.  Gotta love it when you start to develop a classic cut!

Isn’t she cute?

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Living the Dream - 005

Wow! What a whirlwind of a week!

I wrote an EPIC document on ‘How to do my job’ at #thedayjob and had a two day handover of my role to the sweetest lass in the world! Good luck to you, B! You are going to need it!

Yesterday, I officially started my three month 'Leave of Absence' to Live the Dream as a Full-time designer... *pinch*.. yup, it’s very real.

Day One of working for myself, from home definitely had its perks. The sleep in for starters was the perfect start to the day. Sending emails to suppliers and other industry contacts whilst munching through my cereal was not much of a change from the norm (I often eat my breakfast at my desk at work), but this time I was in my PJ’s. Excellent.

Other perks, cooking ‘real food’ for lunch, popping out to the balcony for sun at regular intervals and ‘nailpolish breaks’ in the arvo.

Don’t be fooled, I also did REAL work all day. I was actually kinda suprised, to be honest.

Today, amongst other things, I made the final phonecalls, plotted maps, got directions and finalised an itinerary for our fabric buying trip to Auckland, this Wednesday-Friday!

I am ‘super-pumped’ about this trip and especially pumped because the lovely Rosie (Copywriter, Fashion Consultant, and currently starring as The Rock of this whole adventure), has booked herself on a bus to meet me in AK and join me in the hunt for the perfect fabrics, trims and pretty things that will eventually make up the first full Mardle collection. (BUSing..that’s commitment, people.)

I’ll hopefully get to update you on our fabric hunting adventures as they unfold... now if ONLY I still had a Smartphone and Data plan! That’s one thing I am definitely missing about #thedayjob!

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Living the Dream - 004

The beginning stages of designing a collection are always SO exciting.  There is so much possibility before you. The scary deadlines are months away and everyone around you is ‘super-pumped’ to see what you’ll come up with.

For Mardle’s first full collection, I have most of the ideas in my head, a few down on paper and a few that are yet to be dreamed up.

Over the next few days I aim to have most of the collection sketched out and plastered all over my workroom. I love this part. The ability to draw up what I see so vividly in my head is a great one to have. I so enjoy being able to show people what I imagine and get feedback on whether or not those ideas should take the next step towards becoming a wearable garment.

If you’re lucky, I’ll post a couple of the drawings along the way.

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Living the Dream - 003

Good people. That’s what you really need for any project to have a chance at success.

Having a great idea and the capital to see it through are also important, but if you don’t have the people to support you, it can all be a bit overwhelming. Especially, if you hit a bump in the road.

So, the idea of making a full collection occurred just a week and a half ago. It was pedal to the metal from the word go. I had been given an opportunity and decided to throw everything at it.

Then came ‘the bump in the road’.  I hit it at full speed on Thursday night.

I suddenly had that awful sick feeling... felt the project slipping away and freaked out a little, externally. (I was freaking out a lot internally!)

Fortunately, I got in contact with ‘my people’ and they were all so great at throwing out new ideas and encouraging me that I felt confident enough to regroup, level my head and with their help, figure out our Plan B, C, and D... I’m prepared to go all the way to Plan Z if necessary!

A BIG thank you to my people: Adam, Benn, Jamie and Rosie.

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Living the Dream - 002

So where do I start planning this collection? There are so many ways to approach it.

Do I start with a theme? Or will that be too restrictive? Will it steer me too close to ‘gimmicky’ territory.

Do I start with a colour palette? I’m a sucker for neutrals. Wave a little cream, beige, grey, silver, gold or peach in front of me and I’m all over it. But I really want an injection of colour. Especially surrounded by a lot of black, here in Wellington. And that's another thing ..traditional black? Or could Navy be my anchoring 'dark' instead?

What usually works for me is to start with the fabrics. Having studied textile design, this is where I draw a lot of my inspiration from. What does the fabric feel like to touch?  What is the fabric made up of?  Will these two fabrics compliment each other or look odd if I paired them in an outfit? How can I manipulate this flat piece of fabric into a great shape when it is worn? How will it fall/drape on the body?

What kinds of garments do I want/need to make up my collection? I want to stay true to the design aesthetic I have been designing out of so far but also to branch out from there and challenge myself with pieces I have never attempted.

Representing where I have come from, design wise is important to me. For example, I launched Mardle with a single womens tee. Developing a cut that I felt flattered a woman's body. So including one of Mardle's 'New Favourite Tees' is logical not to mention just being a great wardrobe staple.

More recently, the voluminous, draped dresses that have evolved from the 'Triglinae' dress of Summer 10/11 have become very much a part of the Mardle 'look'. How do I include that style of dress in this new collection?

There is so much to consider and so many elements to draw from. I am beyond excited about this new challenge before me!

More soon...

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