New Designers 2012: My Selections

I've been exhibiting my work at New Designers for three days and tomorrow will be the last day, so I decided to walk around the exhibition and pick out my favourite designs throughout the whole textile show. There are so many Universities, and a whole lot of talent, but I've chosen 18 prints and patterns that really caught my eye. Here are the business cards and contact details of the designers I chose:

Amelia Eady

ameliaeady.tumblr.com

ameliaeady@hotmail.co.uk

Shayna B

www.wix.com/shaybegu0/shayna

shaybegum@hotmail.co.uk

Hanah Miles

hannah_miles_@hotmail.co.uk

www.prettytough0.blogspot.co.uk

Emma O'Malley

emma@omalley.net

www.emmaomalley.com

Abigail Morris

abbymorris90@hotmail.co.uk

www.abigailmorris.co.uk

Elissa Bleakley

ellisa.b@hotmail.co.uk

www.elissableakley.moonfruit.com

Anna Duthie

anna.duthie@hotmail.com

http://cargocollective.com/annaduthie

Emily Carney

e.l.carney@hotmail.co.uk

www.emilycarneydesign.tumblr.com/

Lauren Beebe

lbeebe@live.co.uk

www.laurenbeebe.co.uk

Caroline Nolan

c.nolan2012@live.co.uk

Beverley Currie

hellointheredesign@gmail.com

www.hellointhere.co.uk

Ailsa McCreadie

hello@ailsamccreadie.com

www.ailsamccreadie.com

Mary Page

marypagedesign@hotmail.co.uk

www.marypage.co.uk

Eline Le Callennec

eline.lc@gmail.com

www.elinelc.co.uk

Francesca Lahiri-Langley

langleyfranky@aol.com

www.francescalahirilangley.co.uk

Sarah Patterson

sarah_p_9@msn.com

sarahpatterson.co.uk

Sinead Ruddy

sineadruddy@sky.com

sineadruddy.tumblr.com

Elisabeth Connor

elisabeth.connor@live.com

www.elisabethconnor.com

Up to date news..

1. I've spent the last two days at New Designers Exhibition in London, where my current graduate collection is currently being shown. So far, it's been a very interesting experience! My feet do hurt a little after standing up all day though!


2. I've had my graduate collection profiled on two websites. Take a look on:
          1. http://fashionvignette.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/featured-artist-kate-lynch.html
          2. http://blog.avabooks.com/?p=3960


3. I've had a spruse up of my website! Take a look on: http://katel.moonfruit.com/#

I can't stop listening to...

Coldplay - Princess Of China ft. Rihanna

Stylist Magazine - Careers Advice

I happened to come across this fantastic website yesterday: Stylist Magazine. A free women's weekly magazine from London, UK, with articles on fashion, careers, current affairs, food and other lovely things. The website is great, with tonnes of pages and articles about anything you could think of - and it's extremely easy to navigate too! (something I always find frustrating about fancy websites is that I can't find what I want to.. keep websites simple!!!) 


The part of the website that caught my eye the most was the careers section. As a recent graduate I am extremely interested in any advice that can be given to me about starting up a new career. On this page, there was some really great business articles such as 'Top business tips from Karen Brady' (I think she's great), 'How to create an entrepreneur's CV' and 'Top tips for running a business', along with some great, more personal articles such as 'Are you a workaholic?', 'How to be funny at work' and 'The dangers of your daily fix'. 

The website also offers a 'Stylist Network', where Stylist Magazine holds many different flagship business events (six so far), all of which offer advice and encouragement to people interested in starting up a new career. With more advice articles on how to set up your own business, how to get published and how to invent your way to a new career, this section of the website is also a great read. The next event the magazine are holding is 'Run an outdoor business', so if you happen to want to do that, go ahead to the event!


For anyone just starting out to the business area of life, or for someone who wants to excel at what they do, these articles are really beneficial. I learnt a lot from a couple of them (I even took notes!).


Visit the website on: http://www.stylist.co.uk/

New Designers Press Packs

Currently getting my personal press packs ready for New Designers next week! Inside include a disk with two images and a description of my graduate collection EPOCH and my CV, a postcard and a business card. I do hope someone will want to take one away with them!

I can't stop listening to...

The Maccabees - Feel To Follow

Alice Maughan - Graduate Fashion Week 2012

Everywhere I look when I've been researching Graduate Fashion Week, Alice Maughan from Kingston University has consistently caught my eye. Her eccentric and interesting collection featured dresses looking not too dissimilar from your Grandma's curtains. Hideous, you say? No, it's not. The collection is amazing! 


Taking inspiration from her comic fascination with 'cat ladies', she has incorporated the eclectic, old-fashioned aesthetic of those environments and fused them with a modern, lighthearted twist. 


Her interest is not only in the obsession some people have with their felines, but the interiors of their living room. On her website, Maughan says of her work: 


"Home furnishings inspire the silhouettes and finishes; some are quite subtle and others create a surreal statement alongside an array of hand-illustrated prints, inspired by wallpapers, cats and trinkets. Each look features elements of matching and clashing, a tendency I identified through research and development of my concept. This is enhanced by the use of vintage furnishing fabrics alongside custom, modern materials."


Many of her looks in the collection feature jackets that have been inspired by the vintage sofas found in the infamous cat ladies' houses, and though they might sound like something a little too far-fetched, the end products are actually extremely beautiful. 


Being brought up by two trained illustrators as parents, it's no wonder Maughan is a whizz at illustration. All of the gorgeous cat drawings you see on five of her looks are illustrated by her, including a cat with a monacle. 


My favourite piece of the entire collection is a simple teal coloured dress with a repeated cat pattern as shown below. Though one of the less eccentric pieces of the collection, I would definitely wear this dress!

Please visit Alice Maughans website here: http://alicemaughan.co.uk/home.html
and her Arts Thread here: http://www.artsthread.com/p/alicemaughan

Creative Review: Pantone Queen

I found this great article on the Creative Review blog and had to share it! Enjoy:


Posted by Gavin Lucas, 19 June 2012


"Pantone and Leo Burnett have collaborated to create a rather special, though somewhat tardy, Diamond Jubilee Colour Guide…


The colour chart, limited to just 60 copies (we're most honoured to receive one) doesn't just show colours that the Queen Elizabeth II might consider wearing, given her penchant for monochrome pastel coloured outfits, but instead documents the colours that the Queen actually wore on 60 different occasions during her 60 year reign, including the Primrose Yellow she wore at William and Kate's wedding in April last year, the Canal Blue outfit she wore to Royal Ascot in 2008, and the Pink Carnation colour she sported at the Chelsea Garden Party in 1967.


Of the Queen's colour choices over the years, Pantone's Leatrice Eiseman says: "The Queen's decision to favour one colour in every outfit is a strong style statement. Monochromatic colour schemes make the wearer appear taller, delivering a more stately air."


Apparently The Queen herself has been sent one of these limited edition Pantone reference guides. One does hope Her Majesty approves."

HTC One Freefall Fashion Shoot

I saw the HTC One advert on television about a month ago and thought it was brilliant, not only because it highlights two of my great loves, fashion and photography, but how visually stimulating and engaging it was.

I love the concept around it and how they've created the experiment. 

The advert sends Nick Jojola, a second year photography student from Upland to Arizona to capture the perfect fashion photo during a tandem freefall with the new HTC One mobile phone, basically showing how well the phone works even in extreme conditions.

...

The HTC One Experiment

The Aim: Nick has to take the perfect fashion photo on an HTC One phone in freefall.

The Apparatus: 1000 feathers, 50 mirrors, 4 lights, a C-130 Hercules, 4 canisters of smoke, a model who skydives and an HTC One phone.

The Method: We gather the best skydiving team in the world. Nick will be falling at tandem at 126 miles per hour. The mode, Roberta Mancino, will be falling at 181 miles per hour. Therefore, Nick has 0.8 seconds to get the shot. We took a fashion designer and added a physics proffessor. Nick was asked to test the HTC One camera features he would need to get the perfect freefall photo. Low light capability for the dark jump. Video and photo to record the whole freefall and take stills at the same time. Instant capture to guarantee the perfect photo in time. Back light photography for when the sun is behind the model. Burst mode, keep pressing to take up to 99 shots in a reel. 

The Risks and Hazards: Like all good experiments, we came across some obstacles, phones dropped in testing, the jump taking it's hold and a crash landing. 

The Experiment: To see the results watch the commerical at HTC.com

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HTC One: The Experiment

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The HTC One Freefall Fashion Shoot

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Urban Geode Street Project: A Common Name

Paige Smith is the artist/graphic designer behind A Common Name. Her street art project named 'Urban Geode' caught my eye when I first saw it on the Plenty Of Colour site [http://plentyofcolour.com/] where I related it to my graduate collection EPOCH. 


The amazing 3D sculptures are placed in the Los Angeles area in small holes in buildings and pipes.


The three-dimensional paper shapes (created to look like geodes, crystal, quartz or other minerals) are so beautiful and look amazing in the gorgeous metallic colours. There is a spectacular purple and gold piece inside a post of some kind (bottom image) that actually inspired one of my later pieces in my collection, so I have that to thank Paige Smith for!


Below are some great images of the street art project. Smith says of her project: 


"A parallel aspect of these “geodes” in nature and in the city is they are always unexpected treasures. You might go hunting for treasures but you generally happen upon them during your adventures or casual interaction with the environment. I enjoy the fact that many people will not notice these, but some astute people will; that these will not last forever and the weather will affect them as naturally as it might in nature. So far I’ve made twelve—several have been trashed or taken away, and one has fallen apart due to rain."
(Text taken from A Common Name website: http://acommonname.com/street-art-project/)

(All images taken from A Common Name website: http://acommonname.com/street-art-project/)

Since the street art project, Smith has been working on a Giant Geode Installation at The Standard Hotel, Hollywood. On the A Common Blog [http://acommonblog.com/] I found a video of this amazing feature being created and installed. Take a look:


http://vimeo.com/43876685#


I hope you've enjoyed looking at Paige Smiths project, and if you'd like to see more of her work please visit her website at http://acommonname.com/ and her blog on http://acommonblog.com/.

My postcards have arrived...

New postcards have arrived with my fashion illustration on them! 


Very exciting. If you would like a postcard, I'll send you one for free! Simply email me at klynch@hotmail.co.uk with your name and address and I'll send you one over.

I can't stop listening to...

♡ PART 4: "PRIMADONNA" ♡ | MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS

Resort 2013: Stella McCartney

I love her dad, so I have to love her too. No, she makes me love her all by herself with her continuously wonderful collections. Resort 2013 by Stella McCartney is a knock-out, screaming out sixties wallpapers and kooky fashions (perhaps reminiscent of her fathers hey-day?). Beautiful bright yellows and oranges teamed up with beige and browns remind me a little of The Shining.. in a good way.

A touch of leapard print and some shiny plastic gives the collection a fantastic modern twist (and shout).

Resort 2013: Matthew Williamson

I adored the Matthew Williamson Resort 2013 collection so much it was hard to choose any favourite to show on this blog! It's fair to say if I had the money I would purchase every single item in this collection. Beautiful shades of coral, mixed with bright and pale greens. Elegant floor length dresses with stunning prints in amazing colours and cute high waisted shorts teamed with sophisticated blazers really hit the spot with me. A round of applause for Matthew Williamson please.