Project Sign Off

 Today my fashion design project has been successfully signed off by Zoe, which can be viewed here. During the tutorial, there are several changes and revision that I made on the project statement, mainly about researching deeper of the concept that I'm going to use for the project. I also need to explore the trend forecast further to look at what style or trend I will be incorporating into my design. Through the tutorial session we were also discussing about trying different approach by making design for both menswear and womenswear. After getting my project signed off, the next step I'm going to take is to further explore designers that creates collection with similar approach as mine. Along with that, I will also start to make sketches of designs which later will be finalize into my collection. This will help me to narrow down what kind of textile manipulation I'm going to experiment. 

When exploring different designer to gather inspirations, I was fascinated by Balmain's unique and eye-catching SS23 collection. This collection has a lot of unique textures and silhouette based on what I observed. The choice of fabric used also enhance the silhouette it shows. For example on the first picture, the brown knitted top reminds me of tree bark rough texture while the skirt have the pattern of flaky tree bark. "For this Spring Summer ‘23 collection, Rousteing gestures to the global complexity and cruciality that accompanies fundamental environmental transformations and the need for change, eventually circling back to sustainability" (Street, 2022) Balmain's creative director, Oliver Rousteing was inspired by his parent's homeland, the Horn of Africa and motivated by climate change issues that has been going on the past decades (forest fire, drought and heatwave), Balmain's SS23 collection aim towards the rebirth of the nature. What's more interesting is that, the organic materials are source sustainably by sending teams to harvest bark, twigs and branches in the forest to reduce carbon footprints. These materials are then soften in water before woven into a basket-weave pattern. 

                                        BALMAIN FESTIVAL VO3  SS23 COLLECTIONS

References:

Lent, C. (2022). BALMAIN FESTIVAL V03: Renaissance. [online] Interview Magazine. Available at: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/balmain-festival-v03-renaissance [Accessed 21 Jan. 2025].

Malony, T. (2023). Balmain Festival v03 | Spring Summer 2023. [online] Flaunt.com. Available at: https://www.flaunt.com/blog/balmain-summer-2023-fashion [Accessed 21 Jan. 2025].

Street, M. (2025). Blocked Page. [online] Vmagazine.com. Available at: https://vmagazine.com/article/a-symphony-for-world-rebirth-balmain-v03-festival-and-ss23-collection/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2025].