Interviews, new work and shop reports!

Aside from my freelance work I have been job hunting. When I started my current job I was given a 6 month contract, this is due to end in August- how time flies! Hopefully they will change my contract to permanent, but if not I want to have another job lined up.

I have had a few interviews and so have been very busy improving and updating my portfolio(hence the abandoned blog).  I feel like my portfolio is a lot stronger now as I have had so much more experience and there is a greater variety in my work.

The first interview was for a full time position at Amanda Kelly design studio in London. Although Amanda seemed to really like my work she already had an idea of the design style she was looking for to complete her design team. Unfortunately this wasn't me, however she did offer me a full time  freelance position, which was extremely encouraging.

I have also recently had an interview for a print design position at United clothing which I was told went very well, even if I don't get the job it's reassuring to know that companies are interested in my work and that my interview skills are improving. For this interview I was asked to completed a brief (shown below).

As anyway who has met me will know I love a good mood board, so I created several on the SS14 trends.....admittedly I may have slightly overdone it!

Digital/Abstract trend; pixelated, techno, linear.

For the Primark section of the brief I decided to stick to simple casual tee's with bolder prints that could be easily screen printed. I tried to use the trend boards as inspiration while doing this.

Geometric Art-deco inspired print.

Caged floral trend.

Bird prints are consistently popular on the high street and I think that with the introduction of the botanical trend in SS14 more exotic birds like toucans and flamingos will overtake swallows and owls that seem to have been increasingly popular this year.

Large scale geometric print.

Delftware blue designs have been creeping onto the catwalk since the spring 2013 shows and their popularity is set to increase in SS14.

Leafy botanical prints with exotic florals are all over the SS14 catwalks, I think this designs would work really well for the primark customer as it is similar to some of their existing products.

As part of the brief we were asked to consider the pricing of the garments. In response to this I have used simple shapes that I know are popular in new look but have added zip and cutout details to increase the price point. I have also been slightly more experimental with the print designs as new look sometimes carry out short trial runs of garments to test their popularity and can afford for these to be digitally printed.

I very rarely 'sound my own trumpet' but I do really like this geometric design and think it would fit perfectly with the digital abstract trend I have identified for SS14.

As well as there being a lot of botanic florals on the SS14 catwalks there were also an increasing amount of florals that are native to Britain. I quite like the mirrored effect of this design, it reminds me of some prints I have previously seen in Zara.

Carnival is one of the big trends WGSN has highlighted for SS14 and this floral skull print is a nod to the carnival trend, inspired by the the Mexican "El dia de los muertos" (the day of the dead").

Something I have been wanting to try out for a while is using animal print in other animal shapes. Here I have used a leopard print in a delicate butterfly shape- I quite like the effect this has.

Yes, I know it's another flamingo but this one has a folky floral twist.

This is the New look version o the delftware trend, as it could be digitally printed it is a lot more complex than the primark version.

Daisies are very popular for spring and have made a comeback for SS14(championed by Moschino cheap&chic), small geometrics are also a popular new trend, here I have combined the two and stuck with a black and white colour scheme as the monochrome look seems to be here to stay for at least another season. 

Simple black and white geometric print vest top. The print could be easily transferable onto another fabric for the formal jersey department.

After my interview I had been asked to look round the high street shops and compile a shop report, remind me to never complain about my job- paid to shop and to create more beloved moodboards!

Anyway here are 3 trends that are emerging in the high street stores...