Title: Cat Craig fall 2006:Foliage

Models (in order with links to each of their designs):
Liza: [link]
Marybeth: [link]
Aiko: [link]
Michaelangela: [link]
Jiang: [link]
Kelly: [link]
Jessibelle: [link]
Becci: [link]
Theresa: [link]

Theme: Foliage, deep, bold, warm colors, as well as the play between greens and reds as complimentry colors (all of which can be seen in the backdrop of this image.) With this in mind, I designed a women's wear collection that consists of many practical "core" wardrobe pieces paired with special garments and accessories like suede skirts with embroidered foliage details, sweaters with "armwarmer" cuffs, gold-dipped leaf pendants, printed leaf-patterned and plaid purses and leather heels and boots in contrasting colors. Many of the individual pieces are interchangable to create a variety of different looks!

Sketches: [link]

Fabrics: Lightweight and medium weight wool tweeds, felted wool, suede, micro suede, soft leather, cotton, cotton knits, cashmere knits and wool knits.

song: You Make Me Feel by Makoto

Medium: All traditional. Micron pens for the linework and layered use of Tria markers and colored pencils.

Interview:
1. If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Naoko Takeuchi. She created Sailor Moon which is what really inspired me to become an artist. Her mangas are beautifully done as are her illustrations for the manga. Her work has always had a strong influence and I'd love to meet her and ask her how she came up with such a wonderful story filled with a variety of wonderful characters.

2. Why inspired you to sign up for Project Designer?
I wanted a summer project, I'm in school for fashion design and thought that this would be a good opportunity to keep me illustrating and designing over the summer. Though I have stayed in the contest much longer then anticipated!!

3. Did you learn anything from this competition? If so, what?
Yes, I think I learned a lot. I tried a lot of new things as far as rendering my work goes. I also think it has helped push my illustration style a bit further then before. I also designed a lot of things I would not have designed otherwise.

4. Was it fun? ^^ And why?
It was fun! It was a rush to see who the winner of each challenge was and this group had such a wide variety of styles and interpretations of each challenge. I also enjoyed watching many of my competetors' work grow stronger each week.

5. In your opinion which topic was your best? Which topic would you want to redo?
I think my best tpic was... Oh gosh, I don't know!! I really like my Hillbilly design, but I also love the team-up design. I had a lot of fun taking such a risk with Panda-eyes, and it paid off!
I want to redo my start-finish design. I didn't enjoy that topic that much, it was really strange trying to finish another designer's sketch.

6. Among the other designers, who did you admire most & why?
I love Sparklefly! She started out nicely and then just floored me week after week! Her designs and illustration style has grown emmensley since the beginning of this whole thing!! I also admire Panda-eyes playful designs and think we have similar design aesthetics.

7. In your opinion, do you think that any of the designers were eliminated too early?
I was sad when deathofrats dropped out, her style is really fun.

8. How do you bring your personal style into your designs?
My personal style doesn't really translate into my work. I think I draw what I would like to wear someday.... Though actually it might translate into my designs. I love accessories, color-coordinating and details... And also things that are fun and funky but FUNCTIONAL. Functionality is a huge part of my design aesthetic and personal style...

9. What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the near future are to finish my senior year at Mass Art with a really fantastic and fun collection (Mad Scientists!!!) Then I'll probably take a break and design for myself and create the things I've been wanting to for a few years while working and saving money to move. I'm thinking that I want to maybe work for a handbag company called 1154 Lill Studios that makes custom handbags. This will help me gain more knowledge for the field I would like to possabley build a career in and of hangbag construction... I would also like to illustrate more and make stuffed animals and silly things.


Result and Judge's comments
A very nice collection for fall, and with a bit more cohesiveness it would be a rather great ready to wear collection (I'm also not an expert on cohesiveness!). Some of the colors could use some tweaking, and usually in a collection there is a repetition of trims, fabrics, and styling details. We like the styling she has going on here- it's kinda artsy/preppy/boho. I love how she thought out each of the accesories, but we feel like some of the looks could have been styled a little edgier without losing their RTW capabilities. What I liked about Cat’s collection was how they where linked together so well through the colors, the patterns, and the cuts of the garments, yet look so different in their own right. 9 Different people with different tastes could pick one of these for there own sense of style. That’s a hard thing to do in a collection, and one can speak from experience. Every piece links to the next in little ways like accessories, patterns, but each piece has its own individuality. A great choice of colors used, lovely warm colors you would need in the fall. And also what I like is that the garments can suit a host of different body shapes, adding versatility to the collection. I saw a bit of this but not enough to tie the entire collection together. The only thing that seemed truly cohesive are the colors, which are fresh and beautiful, using colors that generally arent though of for fall and making them cheerful to wear while everyone is wearing blacks, grays, and neutrals in between, or seem to think it's ok to match their surroundings. A lot of these silhouettes are nothing special, dont get me wrong they're great and the usual customer isnt going to go beyond that much, but with the new drop waist silhouettes and plays with bubbles and puffs I was a bit sad to see only one true innovative silhouette in that line. But you arent afraid to play with details and accessories, which is great, just keep in mind that accessories arent wholly important in a clothing collection, as those are developed seperately. It's also good to know that you know more fabric terminations other than 'such and such colored fabric'. This would be a very cute line for the art college girl who isnt into exposing all her flesh to get attention, and neither is she going to result to being gaudy.

I don't agree with everything (of course) and there are repetition of fabrics and trims in most pieces. and I'm not an "edgy" designer. I love designing for the average woman. Not the 10% of women who dress "edgy." This is not my aesthetic. Other then that, if I had had more time I would have done sketches and color tests before hand and it could have been much more cohesive then it already is.