Live Brief: Evaluation.

This Branding project has helped me understand how the industry works when designing for specific companies. The collection as a whole is strong and the techniques I have used relate well for Zara and could be adapted for high street wear. I never normally use such a large proportion of black, however for Zara as a high street menswear brand, this was suitable.  The use of the leather works as it adds volume and depth stopping my fabrics becoming flat. 

Initially I was worried that my samples were too plain, if I added more  techniques or colour they would not relate to the brands identity. The techniques I used are simple but effective. The inlaying brings a lot to my work and is the main technique used in conjunction with others such as drop stitch and plaiting. 

I found designing for menswear difficult. This challenge pushed my research which has helped inspire me greatly. I looked mainly into street trends and styles. This is what my brand awareness board focuses on, as all the different styles, such as layering are what Zara as a brand looks at when designing and developing their collections. I enjoyed researching future trends and how I could develop this into my own ideas and create a collection that is unique; however as Zara is a high street brand my collection will still fit in with AW season. This challenge pushed me to try to create something new for Zara. I feel I achieved this as they have never used leather in this way. I have also decided to create a menswear collection for my locating project as I found it extremely interesting researching menswear.

My concept for Branding was ‘interruptions’ which has been shown throughout my fabrics, as the striped patterns have been broken by the foils or a colour change in the yarn. This creates interruptions within each piece. The leather interrupts the textures in the fabric adding volume and depth. This concept came from my research about Zara as in menswear they have two contrasting collections, I wanted to combine these collections so they interrupt each other within a sample.