The Beauty of Poison

Name of Authors: Shiyao Peng

Department: Fashion School

Problem:

To create a Fall/Winter and Holiday 2016 women’s clothing collection that incorporates personal aesthetics and market trends. Visual research was conducted from different perspectives relating to the theme of “beauty of poison.”

Methods:

• Design style identification: Evening wear in the Ready-to-Wear category
• Design inspiration research: Imagery of creatures which have attractive characteristics, but the fragile and dark ‘souls’ inside of them are poisonous.
• Market research and trend analysis: Used WGSN to research the forecasting season, colors, fabric and texture and knit wear designs to find out my design direction.
• Fabric and color story: Soft, light weight silk chiffon, silk mesh and silk jersey were selected to contrast the stiff, heavy weight knits and leather. Rich contrasting colors of dark blue were implemented with the flare of coral orange.
• Swatch sampling and creation:

Digital textile prints- Designed abstract prints which were inspired by the texture and dark soul.

Hand-knitting- Created extreme boulder-like volume knit samples with bobble shape and cable details.

• 3D Research: Draped garments on the dress form.
• Design Development: Problem solving worked out in fashion illustration with which clearly showing garments’ silhouette, fabrication and color.
• Flats: Illustrated different view of the garments, to visually explain the design construction, details.

Results: Mood board, fabric and color story, prints designs, fashion flats and fashion illustrations.

Conclusion: The collection displayed effectively integrated the theme of the ‘beauty of poison’ through the integration of the design elements and materials used.