Tuesday 28 July 2015

A Week in the Life of a Freelance Fashion Designer: Tuesday



Ever wondered what its like to be a freelance fashion designer?  This week I am publishing a post each day recounting what I did last week on a daily basis.  Here is my Tuesdays editions...

Today I got up at 6am, jumped in the shower and got dressed and ready for the day ahead.  Jamie stayed in bed longer with Alfred while I got up and prepared breakfast for the little one and packed his bag for the day as my mum is looking after him for us.  At just gone seven I leave the house and head to the station to catch the train into London.

I arrive in London at 9am and head over to the Victoria and Albert museum in South Kensington to meet some colleagues that I lecture with at UCA.  We have a morning organised of exhibition visiting followed by lunch.  There are two exhibitions we are seeing at the V and A the first being a small one called 'What is luxury?'  The exhibition raised questions about how and what defines a luxury item and what makes a luxury item stand out above other mass market products.  It raised many interesting questions surrounding design, demand for it and the process and craftsmanship behind various 'luxury' products on display.

There were a variety of different 'luxury' products on display that all seem to offer something way more than what the average human needs from a product.  Take a saddle for example, they have been around for centuries and have been developed and transformed to provide comfort for both horse and rider.  However, if you look at a saddle from five hundred years ago and compare it to one today you would notice that there are a huge amount of similarities and it hasn't developed in design remarkable.  In the exhibition there was a black Hermes saddle that is constructed from carbon fibre to ultimately be light weight and flexible.  It still looks like a saddle but more like a saddle that would appear in an equine horse sci-if movie (if you can imagine?) rather than in your average tack room.  There was no price put on this saddle but it would be extortionate in comparison to your everyday leather version that you can easily pick up for less than £500.  Does this mean we will see every jockey and show jumper using this new Hermes one in the future?  I very much doubt, instead that saddle represents 'luxury' it would make you presume that it's owner has an excessive amount of cash to indulge in such a product which in reality is hardly necessary.



We then moved onto and exhibition on shoes titled 'Pleasure and Pain'  this was a large exhibition showcasing hundreds of different shoe designs dating back centuries through to current day.  There were lots of references towards shoes and status etc...  This was a fun and inspirational collection that I would highly recommend to people.




After the exhibition we moved to regent street for lunch at the new restaurant Thomas's of Burberry.  This was a real treat and a great opportunity to discuss design related ideas.  Days like this are so important as a freelance designer as you are so often working from home you lack opportunities to discuss and debate design innovation and ideas.  It's good to be challenged by others too and get contrasting opinions to your own if not you can find yourself in a bit of a design cocoon! 


After lunch a receive an e mail from someone whose found my Cambridge themed wedding invitations online and promise to send them a sample pack out tomorrow morning.  I get quite a few orders of my stationery at this time of year!

I headed back home mid afternoon and headed to my desk to start work on some baby layette designs I have been briefed by a UK high street retailer.  I work on them until late in the evening taking a short time out to bath and put Alfred to bed.  I sit down for dinner of slow roasted lamb and veg before heading out for a swim before bed.

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