Simply Lush Collection

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Simply Lush was my first mini collection I designed in school. I did it in my Technical Design class. I learned a lot about myself in Technical Design, one thing in particular is how much I love the technical design process. I love getting into all the details of a garment, what fabrics to use, where to place buttons, the spacing between buttons, creating technical flats, etc. The enjoyment I felt in that class was solidified in my patternmaking classes, because those are also extremely technical. I just love the technical side of fashion design.

Anyway, back to the collection. So, I actually just recently named the collection. I don’t think I’m all that great at naming things, but I needed to have a name for the collection so I could put it in my portfolio. I chose Simply Lush, because so much of what I design is classic and simple, and this collection is no different. I also associate the color green with the word lush. Enter Simply Lush! Haha! I feel somewhat anxious as I write this, because I don’t normally explain why I do things, I just do them.

I researched on WGSN the upcoming trends in silhouette, style, and color as per the assignment requirements (I’m going to miss WGSN access). The research and inspiration part is one of my favorite things to do, but I often get stuck in this phase before getting to the design phase. This collection was designed for Fall 2019. We are now in Fall 2019, and I think I’m going to add part (maybe all) of the collection into my New Wardrobe series I will be starting later this year (2019). I have a few of the patterns made already, but I still have a lot of work to do for it. The hardest part will be finding the right green color. I’m trying to figure out how to get myself to LA Textile in October so I can search for fabric. Sourcing fabric and trims is difficult, but it’s also one of my favorite things to do. Can you tell that I really enjoy designing and making clothes?

I’m missing one look in the new illustrations right now, so I’ll update this post later as soon as I get that last illustration done. I re-did the illustrations for this collection because it was the first collection I designed in school and my original illustrations were terrible, but I wanted to include it in my portfolio. Want to see the original illustrations?

Yeah, they are terrible, right?. But at least it shows that I made a lot of progress in the year-and-a-half since I did the originals. I’m not a huge fan of hand drawing illustrations. I can do it, but it’s not my favorite. I much prefer doing my illustrations in Illustrator.

My favorite part of this collection is the birds on a wire circle skirt. The print will be available in Spoonflower soon, so I’ll update this as soon as it’s up. I got a birds on a wire circle skirt printed, but I screwed up the resolution size, so it was printed too small. Not a fun $75 mistake to make, but I was still able to salvage it as part of my portfolio presentation. I can further salvage it to make my daughter the skirt instead of myself. I think I’ve fixed the resolution problem, but I won’t know for sure until I order it again.

Tell me: What is your favorite look? Why?