Thursday, June 17, 2010

Easton Pearson. My mentor

Easton Pearson.
i got to know them when i was walking around David Jones.
How pretty are they? they always have elements that are asian, eastern yet with gorgous western silhouettes!!!
Hope my collection can turn out to be like this....



TOP SHOP unique cat walk

Top shop is one of our favorite trendy brand.
We tend to forget about them cos we don't have them in sydney

I was going through some catalogues and found some of their catwalk images.
How shocking and artificial are the colours???
These colours and texture reminds me of bubble glues (not sure what is the formal name of that weird glue...) when i used to draw on when i was a child.


Monday, June 7, 2010

Street Artists in Central!

Look how cool is this?
I never walk through the tunnel between railway station and central..
I was on my way to greenfields.. and look what i saw!
he's better than my drawings!

My pretty model can pull off my garments!!!

That's why there is a job called model..
they look good in my lousy sewing skills! :O





Working desk

Seems like workind desk always gets messy and messier

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Zimmermann Sring Summer 2011

Zimmermann Spring Summer 2010-11 RTW and Swim


how nice is this!

Little play suit toiles

After I cam from work, I started cutting fabric and was able to make this playsuit toile in 3 hours... i was so proud.... I had slight problem of inserting elastic at the back but other than that, it looked good! now, i need to figure out what print i'll be using!
Go soomi's brain! Go little brother machine!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Cheap fashion vs Expensive fashion

While I was walking around westfield and I was surprised how many shops were on seasonal sale. Some stores were up to 70% of RRP which comes down to approximately $20 per garment (simple jersey top). There was even a shop that only sell garments that are $10. I had a quick look inside the store and their product did not seem too bad. Then I thought maybe I can analyze the experiences from two stores (one low and one mid market) and compare from customer's point of view and business point of view..! This will make me think which market i will want to target in the future!
Cheap fashion store I went in had their garments were hung without any plan (no Visual merchandising plan) and was not ironed. The signs of '$10' were printed off their home printer without proper signage or laminated.

Pros for customers :
-Fast faced fashion
-Cheap, affordable
-Less pressure by sales assistant
Cons for Customer's point of view:
-No greetings by sales assistant (personal contact with the customer)
-Crowded
-look messy
-For a customer's point of view, it's very good for laundry~! (don't care much)
-slightly poor quality

Pros for Business point of View:
-Easy to maintain
-Cheaper fixed cost (rent, renovation, electricity, staff wage, etc)
-Fast gain of income

Cons for Business point of View:
-High capital cost
-High cost of establishment
-Heavily rely on trend
-Need big warehouse, deliveries

Then, I was invited to a VIP night to one of the big mid-market fashion brands, 'R**iew' in the westfield. As I stepped in, the shop assistant greeted me with big smile and offered me a glass of champagne and chocolate. The lighting were emphasizing the garments that were hung on the rack. Their visual merchandising were organized and lead me towards inside the store which was very inviting but expensive!

Pros for Customer point of view:
-Good quality (Which will last me long time)
-Inviting (also paying for the service you get personally)
-Delicate detailing
-Delicate and good fabrics

Cons for Customer point of View:
-Expensive
-Heavy pressure from the sales assistant
-Due to delicate details and fabrics, washing instructions were more complicated (usually dry clean)

Pros for Business point of View
-Gain regular customers (offer loyalty programs)
-Regular reputation for the company
-Stable marketing
Cons for Business point of View
-Expensive Fixed cost
-Expensive high maintenance
-Cost for staff training
-Higher stress for quality and designs
There is no good or bad for going cheaper garments or expensive garments. I know I am very business minded although i am a fashion student. I do appreciate fashion and believe it's one of the main industry that leads the economy going. But I believe wearing and purchasing something that makes the wearer happy and feel good is the most important thing and should be the main focus for the fashion designer(for me...) Therefore, if i get a chance to have my own brand, own business, I'll definitely target somewhere between mid to low.. which is affordable, fashionable and good quality.