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Why Create a Moodboard?

Lesson 2 from: Fashion Design: Start to Finish

Jay Calderin

Why Create a Moodboard?

Lesson 2 from: Fashion Design: Start to Finish

Jay Calderin

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Lesson Info

2. Why Create a Moodboard?

Next Lesson: Student Mood Boards

Lessons

Class Trailer

Fashion Design Inspiration: Where to Begin

1

Intro to Fashion Design Inspiration: Where to Begin

04:10
2

Why Create a Moodboard?

12:03
3

Student Mood Boards

24:59
4

Fashion Inspiration Resources

09:54
5

Learn from the Masters of Fashion

23:32
6

Explore New Fashion Frontiers

06:52
7

Why Narrow Your Focus?

19:48
8

Find a Fashion Specialty

11:18
9

Craft a Collection

31:37
10

Learn to Edit

12:32

Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

11

Intro to Making Fashion: Draw, Draft and Sew

04:07
12

Why Start with a Sketch?

07:11
13

Drawing: Draw Your Muse

35:41
14

Drawing: Sketch a Figure and Define a Silhouette

19:07
15

Drawing: Render Color

10:56
16

Drawing: Add Texture, Patterns, and Details

12:58
17

Pattern Draping: Working with Muslin

06:14
18

Pattern Draping: Drape a Basic Form

25:44
19

Pattern Draping: Drape Folds

05:43
20

Pattern Draping: Experiment with Style Lines

06:21
21

Pattern Flat: Create and True a Pattern

09:31
22

Draping and Patterning Recap

05:55
23

Constructing Clothes: Put it Together

09:51
24

Constructing Clothes: Make it Special and Finish Well

07:22

Fashion Marketing and Branding

25

Intro to Fashion Marketing and Branding

04:55
26

Explore Your Audience

33:41
27

Display, Data and Design

04:28
28

Share Your Work

05:44
29

Find Your Following

09:45
30

Inform Your Brand

14:51
31

Build Your Business Model

14:34
32

Why Tell Your Fashion Story?

28:25
33

Establish Relationships

17:27
34

Be Ready for Change

25:12

Produce a Fashion Show

35

Intro to Produce a Fashion Show

01:12
36

The Fashion Show: Why? When? How?

06:13
37

Pre-Show: Develop a Fashion Show Concept

23:46
38

Pre-Show: Build a Team

22:09
39

Pre-Show: Create a Timeline and Checklist

22:45
40

Day of Show: Backstage Strategy

14:06
41

Show: Working with Front of House

18:43
42

Show: Scheduling Run of Show

17:12
43

Show: Breaking Down the Event

19:30
44

Post-Show: Increasing Your Audience

10:06
45

Post-Show: PR for Fashion Shows

04:16
46

Post-Show: Dealing with Downtime

04:54
47

Fashion Design: Start to Finish - Wrap Up

05:30

Lesson Info

Why Create a Moodboard?

Let's weave right into why create a mood board starting with a strategy? Sometimes you might have this sort of germ of an idea you'll think I have a certain color scheme in mind, or I have, uh, I just went on a trip and I was inspired by the beach, and that could be that starting point on dh. That is a great a place to go if you if you have something, but then also you often that that whole process might be limiting. So you might have a collection that you were inspired by the ballet, right? So ballerinas and you love that. Chances are that hole creative slant has been explored a great deal. So the next step you might want to consider is thinking in terms of formulas, how to maybe pair that with something else to make it a little more unusual. And then we have the actual mood boards themselves, which can take many, many different forms. They can be an entire wall in a design studio where designers constantly are putting up inspiration, colors, watches, terrorist from magazines, or they...

could be in a notebook l or they could be on a board, and today we're going to work with a board where we can move things around and the next the next source for a mood board. Can be libraries and resource files and this should be kind of an ongoing process for designers because when we're faced with a project, we don't want that to be the starting place the point of us collecting information so having a light fashion library and resource files where you're constantly collecting stuff while you're inspired in the moment it is something you can go back to and review and I'm fine little gems and for the mood board, we also want to consider the look because we could be designing ah whole collection of little black dresses, but how are we putting the look together? Because we can put a little black dress with combat boots, right and fishnet stockings or we can use the same little dress and put it with pearls in high heels, so the look is very important and then finally something ah lot of people overlook until it actually happens is thinking about perspectives not being so hyper focused that you're not open to change on go explore that a little bit more. So the first one was when you have that little germ of an idea, you're starting point so these are just a couple examples of mood boards that are very definitely about a theme, so here we have the it's really about color, we decided we're going to go with goals and browns and we bring into it the color story so swatches on the bottom we might bring in some images for the look, and then we have some fabric swatches and even some accessories this well, so these are all areas you can explore these this is another example going really black and white and very stark in contrast, e same kind of approach and then again another color scheme, but working with a whole collection of color, I usually recommend to my students when they're starting with color to think in the ballpark of five to seven colors as a baseline for it. But I mean there's no right or wrong because you could have a black and white collection to which brings it down to two, but to think about that kind of scheme keeps it a little bit controlled you can always in if you have a lot of pattern and of, you know, a lot of complex, complex textiles, you can obviously be doing more of that, but that's a nice base line, it makes people kind of gives people a good starting point now, jay, in terms of if you don't mind going back to that last slide over here for a second in terms of mood boards, I'd love to two things one I see that you have some colors over there we color to me can be a little bit overwhelming in terms of what goes together? I know there's so much color theory out there are we going to be getting into that with regard to in general but also with regard to the mood boards as well? Well, our our students in class, we're asked to bring in research materials for a mood board so I think will be kind of seeing how they approach color and it will be very individual from person to person, but yeah, well, I think there are a lot of, like you said, a lot of different ways to approach color and well, when you since we're working on the mood board and we're gonna be moving things around will kind of see how relationships form that's one of the things that's really great about a mood board is that when you put things close to each other, relationships starts a form and we start to see things we didn't expect. So when you put something, you know, a shoe next to a nearing all of a sudden, you know, there might be something some kind of influence back and forth that's really cool. I like that uh, one more question when you like, how often are you using mood boards or where do they come into play or I'm presuming you have made mood boards in the past? Well, I think when you're starting out, you know when you have the luxury of sitting down and kind of doing this it's really great I think after a certain amount of time the having a sort of a notebook or an inspiration file becomes your mobile mood board you know, a lot of times we can also use digital tools like pinterest things like that but I think the process of adding to that mood board is to physical mood board is really helpful and it it kind of sets the tone and it keeps growing because you know, there I remember seeing a mood board from a local designer and he had stuck a candy wrapper because it was the perfect metallic shade of that color and that's the kind of stuff you want to allow yourself to get into so great thank you. So the mood board if we don't have like one one central idea we can come up with a formula I have an example of one formula that I used that that's very successful because it it allows for mixing and a lot of riffing off of ideas and I call it the hollywood pitch because in the movie industry somebody maybe pitching a movie to someone who is not cannot visualize you know what, what what they're talking about so they will give them reference points they'll give them reference points as to its blank meets blank I use in my book I used on example of for you during a teen line or teen movie and you're saying harry potter meets high school musical and all of a sudden you have singing wizards, right? But but there there things there, and then I always like to put a twist on it. And so it's harry potter meets high school musical musical with a twist of clone wars so animated in space and a cartoon and as silly as it sounds because that first we're thinking sort of literal, you know, pulling out things. There are things in in in the harry potter like school uniforms, right? Very english and certain color schemes in the high school musical, we have a sense of sort of, maybe athleticism and, you know, like a, you know, high school team and then the clone wars going to a cartoon for color for a certain heavy outline of the characters on dh, just the idea of something futuristic in space age so they can start to bring ideas together, and you have these little touch points for people where they may not know exactly where it comes from, but they're things that they can relate to. So I call it the hollywood pitch and it's sort of a three pronged approach where you have to major combinations, and then you throw in sort of odd man out to kind of shake things up so um and so so now uh we have getting back to the actual making of a mood board and I have a checklist and this is in the bonus materials and I'm just going to go through it very quickly and then we're going to actually get to it so first thing his colors we talked a little bit about color and how important it is to come up with a baseline for the color scheme you want to use textures are very important because for instance if we wanted to do something monochromatic where were doing just shades and versions of a color texture could be very important for creating a little energy in the design patterns same thing there you can break up ah ah designed by inserting a little pattern and then details are very, very key and here I refer to hardware enclosures so everything from buttons and zippers and tabs those are all things that we kind of take for granted but the difference between a button that has two holes and one that has four is a design decision so on and those are the details that are going to give you a competitive edge because to be quite honest this everything is out there right? So when you're putting out your designs it's every little choice that you make makes it a little different a little special then we get into embellishments are we going to decorate anyway? Put truman and the silhouettes often when we're uh drawing or starting to drape a collection we'll have to think about what is the general silhouette and at first it seems sort of abstract because it's just a big old shape but it also can imply a feeling so if you think of sort of a big soft square then you're thinking sort of drapey and comfortable if you're thinking you know a sharp triangles and you're thinking kind of maybe fitted and tight and angular so the silhouette is a great place to start because once you have that it becomes a frame for all the information you put into it on and as I mentioned earlier, the look that's very key thinking about what is the model look like? What is the attitude of the model thinking about the hair and the makeup accessories? Also key we have every shoes, jewelry bags, hats, scarves, belts I wear anything you can think of that would be an accent and really kind of deliver not just the clothes but what you're messages behind the close like what inspired it and what feels good about it to you and way don't want to forget a theme or a concept so you can I always recommend to my students not to go to fashion for theme like to go outside of the fashion room to get inspired by other industries and other other art forms so art architectures nature, historical periods, popular culture there, forget it had a student who her whole idea was to. Her whole idea for themes was were based around star wars and star trek and sci fi. And the guy was a little worried at first because I didn't want the assignment wasn't about costume, and I was worried she was going to the fashion, and she was actually looking for, I mean, looking to the images of sort of the ships out in space and all the colors of the star formations. And she came back with such a sin. Fistic, ated, elegant collection. I would not have expected it. So you really want to go to the stuff that you love for for inspiration.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Mood Board Checklist
Styling and Fashion Show Gear Guide

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Body Measurements Chart
Care and Feeding of a Garment
Change Agents
Copy Rights and Copy Culture
Dissemination - FashionArt
Fashion Equations.pdf
Fashion Show Checklists
Question Charts
Specializations - The Players
Starter Questions Chart
Pattern Making Gear Guide
Sketching Gear Guide
Sewing Gear Guide

Ratings and Reviews

Abbeylynne
 

Jay is a rare gem in the world of instructors. He has the perfect balance of information, examples, and hands on visuals. He included his students in the teaching process. They were not just the audience. Even the viewers were encouraged to participate! I loved his teaching style and enthusiasm as well as the content of information he shared with us. He covered a vast amount of information and led us at a pace that was very easy to follow. It reaffirmed my love of fashion as well as designing new ideas. This class was inspiring and motivating. If you are even the slightest bit curious about Fashion Design, constructing patterns, or even drawing models, this class is for you. It was all encompassing for an overview of Fashion Design from start to finish. Jay has an easygoing manner that you will want to watch him again and again. A great resource for your library. I can't wait to see him again in the Creative Live classroom!. Good luck to Jay and all his endeavors! Thank you Creative Live for providing yet another great learning opportunity for an international audience.

Michelle B
 

This is day one of Jays class and I am already hooked and purchased this class. Jay is an awesome instructor. He explains everything in easy to understand terms. He explained things that I have bought books to learn and didn't in one easy lesson. I recommend this class for anyone that has a interest in Fashion design or even learning to draw models for anything you need to sketch out. I hope Creative Live will bring Jay back for more classes. Jay is a instructor also worth having in your tool box of CL classes to refer back to for learning and inspiration! Thank You Jay for sharing your knowledge with us!!

Anji
 

I agree with everything that michelle-b said in her review of this class, and will add that I can tell that he is an instructor who not only knows his subject matter, but has excellent teaching skills. He is very engaged with his students, and focused on making sure that they get what he is telling/showing them. He also has the rare gift of distilling a complex subject down to its essence and teaching it in a simplified form that gives the student a good overview of the basics, and somehow also gives the student insight into more of the subject’s depth than he actually says in words. This broader understanding of the subject empowers the student to proceed on a much higher level than would be possible after taking any other course overview. Even more amazing is that the lessons covered in this way could be (and are) full courses in themselves elsewhere, but were merely segments of this two-day CL class. For this reason, if I ever got a chance to take one of Jay’s classes at the School of Fashion Design, I would take it in an instant. I too bought this class by the end of Day 1. For me, the segments on sketching and drafting alone were worth the $69, and the rest is bonus.

Student Work

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