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 Wednesdays editions...
I wake up at 6 am and go through the usual morning chaos of
getting the family up and ready for the day ahead! I manage to get to my desk by 8am where I
check through my e-mails while drinking a mug of earl grey and slowly eating a
Weetabix. I’ve received an e-mail from a
student in the far east asking for advice on getting into the fashion industry
and for books I recommend on the subject.
I’ve had a number of e-mails recently asking a similar kind of thing so
I set up a draft blog post titled ‘Recommended Reading for any Aspiring Fashion
Student’! Watch this space!
Today I have a range of baby layette to design for a UK
high-street retailer that I regularly freelance for. To get me in the right frame of mind I have a
look through some of my favourite baby blogs as well as looking what they and
their competitors currently have in store.
As a freelance designer I regularly devote days to comp shopping where I
go to either a large scale shopping centre like Westfield or trawl a major high
street like Oxford Street, London. I
also visit lots of markets and independent boutique shops dotted about
too. Huumm this sparks another idea for
a future blog post hehehe!!! It’s really
important that I keep up to date with current and future trends and am constantly
aware of what’s happening on the high street as well as the catwalks.
I open up illustrator and my library of babywear CAD flat
templates and start to look through the brief that was sent through. By the end of today I need to get 2 packs of
basic boys and girls six packs of body suits (all with graphics) designed, two
packs of two pack novelty sleep suits (both with graphics and 3D
embellishments), two three pack up-specked sleep suits for both boys and girls
and four packs of boys and girls five pack printed bodysuits designed. No time for tea breaks today.
Luckily I have lots of inspiration from research I did last
week back when this brief came in as well as lots of Spring/Summer 2016 trends
I created earlier in the year. I begin
the day by coming up with some colour palettes – in some of the more basic
packs I’m restricted to 4 colour prints so I know I need to be quite clever
with my colour to make the packs look fun and exciting!!!
At around midday I feel happy with my progress and stop for
a quick baked potato for lunch with tuna and cheddar – got to feed the brain on
busy days like this – no diets in this household!!! After lunch I get back to my computer and
browse Pinterest for a few minutes to top my imagination and to start thinking
about Spring/Summer 2017 (YES 2017!!!)
Working in fashion means working on one season (today SS16), finishing
off the previous season (AW 15/16) and creating trend for the next season
(SS17)! It’s no wonder anyone in fashion
never knows what day of the week it is let alone what month – I can’t count the
amount of times I sign the date with the following year at the end either!!!
I get back to my babywear and manage to get the rest of the
brief completed by 5.30pm. I now spend a
precious hour with Alfred feeding him, playing with him and getting him washed
and ready for bed. This week is a crazy
week so I won’t get to spend much time with him, next week I know I have a couple
of spare days in my schedule which I will devote to him. I’m already thinking of a trip to Ickworth
House not far away from me for a nice long walk with the dog and a picnique and
maybe arranging coffee with by lovely NCT girls!
At 7pm I go for a nice long swim to forget about the
stresses of the day then collapse on the sofa (with a small white wine spritzer)
before watching some TV then settling into bed with a book!
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