Let me introduce you to my new collection, Bouquet

Hello everyone, I hope we are happy and well?

As some of you may know, i'm in my third year at University at the moment studying fashion and design, with two weeks left to go! Scary. I mean, all i've ever known is being in education and now i'm about to go out into the big wide world! It's really exciting but so daunting at the same time. I have set myself big goals though, i don't want to be one of those to leave university and not do anything with their degree,  it's taken me 4-5 years to finish this degree as i had to take a year out and re-sit a year due to family circumstances, so i'm going to try my very best to get a job in the fashion industry, possibly an internship! Fingers crossed.

I'm here today to write a blog post for my business studies! And as i already have a blog, i thought i would write an updated post about my collection. Which finally has a name by the way... 'Bouquet' What do you think? It took me ages to come up with it as i wanted something that really connected with my collection. I sat here wondering if i could adapt it. For example, i was going to call it 'Day-Glo Bouquet' but i thought that was too much. In the end i thought i would just keep it nice and simple!

I've made a lot of progress this last week or two!  I've almost finished sewing my collection together and i'm hoping to have it finished by this coming week. (I'll be sure to post finished pictures!) Today, i've sat here and done all my design boards, i've constantly gone back and forth making improvements and although my illustration skills are not the best, i'm really pleased with how my boards are looking.

Mood Board

Final Line-Up Board

For my collection, i first began by looking into the 1960's! It's an area i've always been interested in. Straight away i knew i wanted to do shift dresses, further research took me into playsuits! So i decided i would do two of each. However, i wanted to put a twist on my designs. Doing my trend research i came across a trend forecast called 'Soft Pop' which was really colourful and bright and it really had caught my attention, at this piont i had a lot of idea's flowing through my head but i still wasn't 100% sure. Until i came across a designer called 'Kate Spade' who was a really big inspiration. One of her collections involved block colours with floral prints and florescent colours and i decided i wanted to do something a long those lines. Taking into consideration the rest of my inspiration, i decided i would try and create floral panels onto these simple silhouettes. As you can see from my designs above, i thought i'd go that step further and add in some bright colours.

These are pictures of my collection in progress, none of them are completely finished in any of these pictures, but definitely are not far off. Hopefully when i write my next post, i'll be able to show you pictures of the finished product!

Until then.

Take care Readers!

Daryl Ivyana Richardson x

Too much excitement!

Hey folks! I must apologise as it's been a while, but as you know i'm in my third year at University and there's a lot to handle! On this note, i've recently handed my notice in at work so i can concentrate more on my studies. Hashtag GEEK. ;-)

A little of what i've been up to? My brother previously got married and i have the best sister-in-law i can ask for. No really, she's ace! We all had a lovely day, surrounded by family and friends. It was really nice and i cried a lot... my sister-in-law looked absolutely stunning, especially when she walked in wearing the most beautiful dress. Her and my brother are just adorable, he twirled her around as they did a little dance down the isle! I cried throughout the whole thing... I'd like to think i'll get married one day and be that cute with someone. My brother reckons it'll be to someone Irish... (Some of my close friends here at Uni are Irish) while i just think i'll turn out to be some sort of crazy cat lady! Hm...

Anyway, It's coming to the end of the academic year (way too fast for my liking) and there's a lot to be cracking on with and this is where i start to panic... pretty sure it isn't just me!? right? There's quite a lot of exciting thing's going at the minute. As some of you know, i've been working on my 'Final Major Project' designing and making a collection and it's going very well.

Last night, i threw some quick drawings together of my Collection, these are not the final drawings... i was just curious to what they would look like together.

I've always had a big interest in the 1960's and the Shift dress, so i can used that shape in two of my collections, then inspired by designer Kate Spade with the colours and patterns. Followed by two playsuits. 

Here are three of them, almost finished. I just have to put the zips in and sew hemlines with one more design in progress, starting off with a toile of course.

And the last one in working progress...

It's such a good feeling to know that i'm nearly finished. Not only that, one of my best friends is currently working on a new look for my brand and logo 'Ivyana' 

EXCITING!!!!!

Follow me on Instagram for more work and designs.

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https://instagram.com/missdarylivyana/