Dream Bag Project is the first tutorial and reality show about the creation of a Fashion Collection. The Italian Designer Patrizia Prencipe explains how to do it and shares her experience.
If you work
in the fashion industry, you know that the fashion designer’s work starts about
12-18 months before the new collection’s arrival to the shops.
As freelance
designer, I support the fashion companies with a specific and accurate trend
forecast, from 18 months ahead. Through a curated analysis of the runways, I
translate key trends into color directions, materials and collections.
Trend research is one
of themost fascinating andfun activitiesof a fashion designer. An expert professional is able to
sniff the latest fashion updates in advance. This skill is given by experience
and talent. You need to be creative in two ways when you approach trend
research: the first one is to discover always new sources to discover the news
(new brands, new places, new people, new artists...); and the second way is to
reinterpret all these inputs and transform them in "wearable fashion".
Before explaining
how to do trend research, I wantto
introduce what trend research is.
You do trend
research also when you study history of art, philosophy or literature.
Everything is happening while you are here in this world is a trend: politics,
economy, art exhibitions, cinema, magazines, music, technology…
The person who
searches trends as a job is called “cool hunter”. This profession requires a big
sensitivity and intuition which can be achieved through a good preparation,
knowledge and experience.
The first source for trend research is the
web: you can surf all
the websites of the brands or the fashion blogs; you can subscribe some social
network which collect new trends like Pinterest and Tumblr.
This gives you the
chance to have a look through all the upcoming trends all over the world.
The practice to
share pictures through the social media is used by a lot of emerging blogger:
with Lookbook and Chictopia, you can find a lot of inspirations.
You can also
subscribe specialized trend research websites. One of the most famous is WGSN.
Now switch of your
laptop and go out. Collect pictures of the shops of your city. Try the clothes
to see the new keyshapes and to understand what the people buy.
I give you some
more simple advices:
- Travel;
- Take pictures;
- Experience new lifestyle and food.
This will help to open your mind.
- Read newspaper;
Fashion is really
influenced by the present history.
- Visit fashion
fairs;
Read
magazines.
Do not just watch at the pictures. Vogue is one of that newspaper
which introduces very well all the most important art exhibitions all over the
world.
- Visit museums.
You
can find a lot of inspirations from the past.
In the next video I
will give you a sample of my trend research, focused on my collection.
If you liked this
video you can subscribe my channel, leave a comment or a question.
Thank you for
watching me! See you in the next video!
"Marketing is
not a battle of products, but of perceptions," marketing expert Jack Trout
once wrote.
What does it mean?
The market is full
and offers every kind of product for each target price.
The reason why your
customer will buy your product must be really convincing: he will not buy your
bag because it is functional, convenient or just beautiful.
He will buy it
because he wants to belong to the world represented
by your bags. He wants to live a dream and wants to be part of that group
which forms your target. If the consumer will feel indispensable to get that
product and be recognized, he will become a loyal customer.
The creation of a
coordinated proposal has the aim to express to the customer the image of your
brand. That’s why it’s very important to build a strong philosophy around your
collection.
Now it’s your turn:
you identified your target, and all your inspiration images. You can start your
trend research.
First of all, I
want to thank you for all the messages you are sending me. Your support is
pushing me to entertain you better and better.
Today, I tell you
what is my target selection and I explain you the reason of my choice.
As this is my first
own collection, and I’m not linked to any brand like when I work as a
freelance, this bags will be designed for my lifestyle.
A very important
part of my life is travelling.
This is an aspect
of the being a Fashion Designer. You can’t imagine to do this job without
having your luggage always ready.
Obviously, it must
be a very comfortable and fashion suitcase, very light and in matching colour
with my handbag and my eyeshadow!
If I would have a
coordinated set of travel bags, it put me in a good mood, even after a twelve
hours flight!
I could recognize
it very easily at the baggage claim and I would feel like a diva, walking up and
down through the metro of all the cities!
My husband always
travels with me. It’s an agreement we made to stay always together. This allows
me to combine holidays and work. I don’t make distinctions between work and
leisure because I love my job.
I think that our
generation has a new concept of work. Many of us, finding no job, had to invent
it and these new jobs were born from our passions.
We can manage our
time in a different way because internet allows us to transform every place in
our workplace.
This is the reason
why I will design a bag collection that allows you to take your office
everywhere and that can be loved by men,
too!
In the next video
we will start to talk about the trend research and I will give you all the
tools to start your own fashion exploration!
Subscribe my
youtube channel to be always updated about my new videos and posts!
As I
promised, we are going to talk about the TARGET.
Wemust define it, to locate our product in the
market.
The Target
is delineated by several aspects:
-Age
-Geographic
segmentation
-Socioeconomic
segmentation
-Culture
-Behaviour
-Related
products
When I
design a product, I must imagine what is the kind of person which will buy it.
We want to
design a women bag collection and we identified some potential categories,
belonging to different geographical areas, ages, social classes. Let’s have a
look:
The smart casual:
She is a refined
woman with a simple elegance. She follows the fashion but she never leaves her
personal style. The smart casual look is perfect for your office outfit.
The Fashion Victim:
She is the first
who wears the new trend. She is a self-confident and up-to-date woman.
Denim:
Chinos and
sneakers are her uniform. She is dynamic and youthful.
Vintage:
She is very
romantic. Her style is nostalgic and sensual.
Street Style:
Gritty look
for a young woman.
Hipster:
The hipster
style mixes vintage looks with modern concepts.
Sport:
She uses
technical materials and comfort fits for a better performance.
Glamour:
She is a
sophisticated woman, very elegant and well-off.
Have you chosen
your style?
When you
have found it, you can start to create your moodboard, collecting some similar
images you like.
You can also
identify some brands with a similar mood.
You must analyse
their target price, their marketing strategy, their consumers and the trends
they follow.
Some
samples?
If your aim
is to a vintage collection, you should have a look to the Ottod’Ame which reinterprets with elegance vintage fabrics.
Do you want to design a hipster collection? Go to Scotch
and Soda website! Now you must ask yourself: “Which kind of bag could match
with this outfit?”
If you know the brand Campomaggi, you immediately will
think to that!
Your exercise for the next time will be:
-To analyze one of the style you like and to collect some images of it.
-Find an original idea, detail, accessory, philosophy that will make your
products different from the others.
This will be useful for the first draft of our moodboard.
In the next video you will discover my choice and I will
show you how to do trend research.
