SARAHG: Group Industry Project: Research and Planning

For our next project we were split into groups to practice collaboration with other people, sharing ideas and working as a team which are fundamental skills to have when working in the fashion industry.

On the first day we had to choose our favourite designer from a list of Burberry, Prada, Comme Des Garcons, Mary Katrantzou and J.W Anderson. I chose Comme des Garcons as I think that out of all of them they are the most innovative, free and diverse, allow a lot of scope for creativity and experimentation. We were then split into groups of our designer of choice.

Everyone had to chose a different role within the group. I chose promotion as I have always been mesmerised by Comme des Garcons print campaigns and videos. They really stand out to me as most of them are very conceptual, artistic and have little to do with fashion, yet still cleverly convey Comme des Garcons' distinct brand identity. Although I am studying fashion, I also have a strong interest in Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Design, all of which heavily feature in Comme des Garcons' adverts.

As a group we had to come up with a concept inspired by one of two quotes; we chose this quote from the Communist Manifesto: "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and men are at last forced with the sober sense of real conditions of their lives and relations with their fellow men".

As a group we decided to focus on men showing a soft feminine side, so I decided to base my concept around the theme of androgyny. We also discussed layering to represent the many facets of a male personality (the design group then used onions as inspiration) and thinks which were impermanent like emotions and morals, which exist but are easily shattered by a thought or action.

I was inspired by the quote to include a sense of gritty "real conditions" of ordinary life in my concept and show a narrative of 'relations with fellow men'. I did some brainstorming, making mind-maps and mood-boards to help me come up with a clearer concept and plan for my photoshoot and video.