Work That Shop Floor

This post is regarding the Retail Marketing assignment for the fashion Industry Essentials course I'm taking up with Parsons. It requires us students to analyze a certain store setup, and come up with reasons why it works to the store's benefit.

And for my assignment, I'm choosing to analyze one of the H&M stores in the Philippines.

The whole store is painted and set up in a muted palette. Stark white walls, clear rimmed ceiling lamps, and acrylic sculptural accents adorn the whole store; and this provides the perfect backdrop for the brightly colored pieces from the store's every collection. Given the niche that the H&M caters to, the store's calming walls, floors, and ceilings provide that needed break from the hustle and bustle of city life that it's urbanized clients are so used to. And the way the garments are hung beneath the white and chrome racks just allow the clients to see every detail even from far away.

Angela Gao also talked about the different layouts stores use for marketing purposes, and she talked about three: the grid, the spine, and the racetrack loop. She says that stores often use at least one of these three, but in the case of H&M they are able to use all three given the huge floor space they have. But H&M was wise enough to use a certain layout for a certain garment category. For the racetrack loop layout, it was used for the pieces with more detail on them, as to keep the customers going around to fully appreciate the fine details of each piece. The grid layout was used on the part where a huge selection of in-season pieces were displayed. It was upon entering the store that pieces in grid layouts were presented as to be able to showcase as much of the newer stuff they had. Lastly, the spine layout was used to display more of the basic pieces like: tees, shirts, and sweaters. This was used for those who want to have a more breezy and quick shopping trip. The people who know what they want are more likely to get whatever it is that they go to the shop for in the section with the spine layout.

Sartorial Waters

This blog post is regarding Parson's Online Marketing assignment in the Fashion Industry Essentials program I am currently enrolled to. It requires enrolled students to come-up with a marketing page in our blogs to promote an existing or a hypothetical product or service we have created. And for mine, I decided to come-up with a hypothetical service of my own. I've always wanted to be a fashion stylist, and now, it's my chance to make that dream come true. So, without further ado, let me introduce to you my styling company Sartorial Waters. 

SARTORIAL WATERS

Sartorial Waters is a professional image consulting company. It caters to both the men and women who believe that something seemingly superficial as style can change their lives in a more deeper sense. It's always through diving into sartorial waters that one gets soaked with life's greatest and easiest remedy: have fun and take it easy! No matter what body shape or size you're in, style will always be the easiest way to alter one's way of seeing themselves, and gain the needed confidence they need to conquer the world!  

Traffic Jam ParsonsxTeenVogue #ParsonsxTeenVogue

Here's a blog post regarding my audience traffic! Not much, but I'm glad that I have viewers from the US besides other Filipinos. Haha. 

Fringe Benefits and Hardcore Romance ParsonsxTeenVogue #ParsonsxTeenVogue

This blog post is regarding the Your Mockup and Your Product design assignments. Being that I have no crafty bone in my body, I have opted to do away with the construction of actual pieces, and sketched what I had in mind instead. I have always been one to take every opportunity to show the best that I can do, and if canvas and muslin bags didn't allow me to do that then I'd rather do something that would permit me to do so. So I came up with "Hardcore Romance" for my mockup with swatches of the actual materials I plan to use for it, and "Fringe Benefits" for the finished product, also, with the swatches of the actual materials.

I got my leather swatches from fabrics.com and the acrylic sheets from tapplastics.com. Also, I've included the cost breakdown of everything and came up with reasonable retail prices for each bag. Here they are:

One Hippie Summer ParsonsxTeenVogue #ParsonsxTeenVogue

This blog post is regarding my Production Inputs assignment for my Fashion Industry Essentials course with Parsons. This assignment asks us to create a fabric card with fabrics inspired by one of our mood boards. I chose to do a fabric card from the Summer '93 mood board I did. The mood board was inspired by things that reminded me of '93, which happens to be the year I was born. I know what you're thinking "How is '93 hippie?". Thing is I don't really know anything that happened back in '93 cause I practically was sleeping the whole time, and I was barely a year old, so I wouldn't count on even my sharpest neuron to give me just a vague memory of '93. But when I was looking at one of our family's photo albums I saw loads of pictures of me and my maternal uncle who passed away a few months after my first birthday.

My uncle's name was Reinzie, and he was my mom's favorite sibling, and judging by the photos I was his favorite nephew. I saw that we went to an amusement park, with every photo of him included me in his arms, hence the shirt the ferris wheel. Another photo of him had him playing the old Nintendo family computer with me enclosed in his legs as both of our eyes were transfixed to the tv set, hence the laptop and the cellphone because I'm sure that if he was still alive today he'd be even more into technology than I am. I also included donuts and fashion magazines as he, according to my mom, would love to eat and read magazines. And the polaroids are there as my uncle loved taking photos.

Being the ultimate hippie, my uncle loved to dress up in stuff that were very much representative of the 60's. So I chose fabrics and patterns that were probably worn by the hippies back in the 60's. I got my swatches from Moods online store, as the fabric shops in the Philippines didn't allow free samples of their fabrics. I got suede, chiffons, lame, fur, and silk and I plan to construct them into billowy tops with pussybows and a-line suede skirts that will have hems falling just above the knee, for that nostalgic look.

Skinny Love ParsonsxTeenVogue #ParsonsxTeenVogue

This blog post is regarding the Production Standards assignment that asks us to try on one item of clothing in different sizes. Although my entry won't be featuring me trying out different sizes of clothing, it still will be able to show you how perfect fitting clothes can alter your body shape, and ultimately, how people see your body.

This is the first ever pair of skinny jeans that actually fit my legs as skinny jeans. And the reason they do is because I got them from the ladies section of Forever 21. Measurements of ladies jeans are far smaller than that of men's jeans, hence, the different fit. Essentially because men's leg muscles are far bigger than that of women's, unless you are the athletic type then probably your legs have perfectly toned muscles.

I've always wanted jeans that wrapped my legs like my second skin, but problem is I have chicken legs. Until one day my aunt suggested that I'd buy from the ladies section. I was hesitant at first cause I thought ladies jeans would look feminine on my legs, but they turned out quite well.. I got this lightwashed pair in US 27. The ease in walking and the added confidence it gives you when people see you wearing jeans that look like they were tailor made for you are the best things I've learned by choosing jeans that fit me perfectly, and that applies in all garments.

Candy Wraps Turban ParsonsxTeenVogue #ParsonsxTeenVogue

This blog entry is regarding my Production Cost assignment for the Fashion Industry Essentials course I am currently taking with Parsons. Previously, they had us do an accessory design which restricted us to using only unconventional materials. It was Project Runway realness at its best, and I must admit that I was dumbfounded when I learned that we had to use materials that you wouldn't normally use for your accessories.

Being that I have not a single crafty bone in my body, I chose to illustrate my accessory while others actually crafted theirs. I didn't want to compromise my aesthetics just because I didn't know how to put together a piece of accessory, although I attempted to do some like: a paper clip chain necklace ,and a popsicle stick obi belt; but I found it too banal for my taste and wouldn't make me happy to put in my portfolio.

I ended up doing the Candy Wraps Turban. An absolutely wearable headpiece accented with your favorite sweet confection. I made sure that my favorites were there: gummy worms, twizzlers, hubba bubba gum tape, and sour strips! Here it is:

Included in the photo is a table of the breakdown of costs. I would have loved to make this in real life, but seeing how much i would spend for it made me think otherwise. I would've love to construct it in the future given the sufficient financial resources. Lol.

I canvased all my candies from candywarehouse.com, my fabrics from Mood fabrics, and the spray paint from Walmart. The candies from candy warehouse were sold by bulk as they supply to stores, so I had to adjust the prices to single production prices, As I was calculating how much this would cost, it surprised me to have seen my total amount to three figures, which made me think is this really practical. But I realized that what I've created is something bespoke, and something that I probably won't be producing more than once, so something as avant-garde as this definitely deserves a price of its own.

Ultimately Utilitarian

Nothing says utilitarian chic than make-shift belted denim coats, and that's what I wanted to achieve with this look. I've always been in awe at how a cinched waist can spell the difference between a mundane oversize jacket and a shape-defining polished coat. Back skinny jeans provide the needed balance between the azure of the jacket and the graphic stripes of the inner shirt. And to cap it all off brown walking shoes in faux suede.

H&M Manila's Contemporary Eclectic Holiday 2015/2016 Store Display

H&M's fashion philosophy is simple: wearable ease. Whatever is in the store exudes pragmatism but still has that necessary allowance for sartorial experimentation.

From billowy blouses in mustard and tribal print to shearling coats that can go from casual to formal, this collection from arguably the best retailer in the industry has got the fashion savvy covered for all her activities. The looks transcend form and function as the textiles used permits ease of wear as well as a blank canvas for accessories.

Truly, the retailer is everything but esoteric. H&M's Holiday 2015/2016 gives the modern urbanite the right balance of daring and conservatism. This is a woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it with the right wardrobe pieces.

Sartorial Ethos #ParsonsxTeenVogue

Another assignment for the online course I took up was called "Your Look". It asked the students to come up with a look (in my case "looks") that reflected things that epitomize your "visual style".

The looks I came up with were basics matched with accent pieces I already had in my wardrobe. My "visual style" is basically basic. I have my trusty faux leather jacket (which I need to replace soon since the leather's starting to chip off), white shirt, and skinny jeans in light, medium, and dark washes. Shoes are all comfortable shoes that I can walk in from morning till night (if the day calls for it). And a recent purchase is the metal bracelet, I got just a couple of days ago, that adds that tinge of edge to the rather mundane look.