written work – Megan Rose

MOTIF, presented by ‘RAW Hobart’

Posted on October 25, 2016 by meganRose

On Thursday November 17th @6:30pm the Hobart Unibar is holding an event called Motif, presented by the RAW organisation. I am so excited to announce that I have been invited to take part and display my work in my own fashion show on the night. I need your support and sponsorship by selling 20 tickets to the event, so please help me to get there so I can put on a great runway show, and my first ever show for Tasmania! After this event in Hobart, I will have the opportunity to go show my work at other RAW events around the world.

“With artists from all genres in each showcase, RAW events come together to form an amazing one-night circus of creativity.” To view my profile and get tickets, click here!

Thanks to Julia Ralph (Newstead Hair & The Voice Australia) for recommending me, I am excited to collaborate with you to create unique look for our models.

“RAW showcases indie talent in visual art, film, fashion design, music, performance art, hair and makeup artistry, and photography. RAW is a fun and alternative way for artists to showcase both to their local community and the world-at-large. We are not your average art show. We are loud, colorful, creative, and all about our artists. We are RAW. RAW currently operates in over 60 cities across the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK!”

Arts of Fashion Masterclass: Week 1

Posted on July 10, 2016July 10, 2016 by meganRose

Wow! What an amazing first week it has been at my Summer Masterclass course in Paris with the Arts of Fashion Foundation!

Monday 4^th July:

Today was the first day of the course. I walked 2km to the Louvre from my apartment near the Notre Dame and found the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs where our studio is based. We all got to meet and it was nice to know that some others were nervous like me. It is amazing to see so many cultures in the one place and have everyone bring something different to the experience. I am the baby of the group but there is a mix of ages up to 32. We all shared our initial thoughts on the Cuba theme and the research we had done prior to the commencement of the course.

Our artistic director and mentor, Stephanie Coudert is amazing to work with! She has such a wealth of knowledge and I am excited to see what she will bring to my individual work. Stephanie proposed the idea for everyone to use white for our projects to have a cohesive look when it comes to the exhibition at the end of the month. This goes against my initial thought of bright colours for Cuba but I think it is a great and unexpected theme. Bright colours and Cuba is very predictable.

After lunch we travelled to Aubervillier to visit Maison Lognon, a pleating company and I fell in love! It was such an extraordinary place with the most intricate pleating patterns I have ever seen. This overwhelmed me a bit because there are so many different possibilities and I don’t know what path I should take. I knew before I came here that tis first week would be my hardest, trying to come up with the designs is what I struggle with the most but there is definitely a lot of inspiration here in Paris!

Tuesday 5^th July:

We started off today working on our individual projects before seeing the ‘Fashion Forward’ exhibition on display at our working home, the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs. We had an amazing guide take us through the collection of 300 silhouettes from the past 300 years, such an amazing insight into so many iconic fashions.

After lunch we went to see ateliers Maison Lesage and Maison Lemarié to see their world famous embroidery work. Both of these companies work with big couture houses including CHANEL which is just across the way and I could see it through the window. This was all very surreal as Chanel was presenting their Autumn/Winter 2016/17 haute couture runway that same day and we got to see the samples of the collection! Maison Lesage was working on a special edition for another famous company but I can’t say who or what but I got touch it and I loved it!

Wednesday 6^th July:

Today we met at the studio at 8am and travelled for two hours by train to Calais in the north of France to visit the Museum of Lace and Fashion. The town of Calais, along with Caudry, produces 70% of the world’s high end couture lace. The machinery was amazing to see working away… The looms require 11,000 threads and takes two months with two people working on it to thread!

After viewing the lace part of the museum we visited the temporary exhibition of Anne Valérie Hash’s works. We were incredibly lucky to have Anne with us for the day, catching the train with us and giving us a private tour of the collection. Her work was so inspiring and definitely worth the long round trip. She even signed one of her books for me!

Thursday 7^th July:

We worked in the studio today on our individual projects with Stephanie Coudert and went in two groups to see some fabric stores with Nathalie Doucet (President of the Arts of Fashion Foundation) and Clémence who is interning with the foundation. Fabric stores here are not very well organised and I was certainly overwhelmed with the mess in some. Others said that they weren’t that different to ones in their countries so maybe it’s just an Australian thing!

My designs are coming along and I am starting to figure out how it will come together and what fabrics I will need…

In the evening we went to Palais Galliera to see another exhibition called the Anatomy of a Collection. I was in awe when I saw Rick Owen’s Spring 2016 Human Backpack garment.

Friday 8^th July:

Today we went as a group to another fabric store which caters more to couture designers and some of the materials were beautiful. Luckily we are working in white because I think I would be too overwhelmed otherwise. We went back to the studio and I worked hard to finalise my designs (still room to refine) and choose all of my fabrics. I decided to head back out and buy all of my fabrics today so I would not have to come back to it. I had to buy three times the amount I need of the fabrics I will be pleating as it gets smaller once pleated. I am feeling like I am on track but there is a long way to go with less than three weeks until we will be exhibiting!

Saturday 9^th July:

I was in the studio from 12pm-6pm today and was able to work on my designs. I created sample of how I will be finishing my seams and hems. I have also started the process of hemming five metres one of my fabrics in preparation for the pleating process. It works best to do the hem prior to pleating so that it sits properly, if this is attempted after the pleating has been done them it is very complicated and will be difficult to make look professional.

Jumping FB

Sunday 10^th July:

I think I deserve a day off today but there are no days off when there is so little time to complete a collection! I am still working hard on putting together some drawings and information to take to the pleaters before Tuesday. Of course I also wanted to write this blog to keep you all up to date so I hope you enjoy!

INVITATION

I’m going to PARIS…

Posted on April 30, 2016 by meganRose

I’m very excited to announce that I have been accepted for the 2016 ‘Arts of Fashion’ Summer Masterclass to be held in July. The most exciting part of this opportunity is that I will be travelling to Paris and be working day in day out at the Decorative Arts Museum in the Louvre!!!

It is a four week intensive course where I will have two design, make and produce two bodies; along with only 14 other people selected from around the world. The final Thursday of the course will be an exhibition within the Museum of all the student work. Followed by a professional photo shoot on the Friday.

I can’t believe I’ve been given this opportunity and I am so honoured to be chosen. I don’t mind if I don’t make the best thing there but I am going to soak up every bit of information and use this time to learn as much as I can about the industry. It will also be a huge personal learning experience living by myself in another country.

I have to you thank Nathalie from the ‘Arts of Fashion’ foundation for giving me this opportunity, and my mentor Juliana Luna (Whitehouse Institute of Design) for helping me in the application process.

I will be blogging about my experiences whilst I’m in Paris as much as I can whilst maintaining the full on course in July so tune in for my adventures.

La Peluche AW15 Collection…

Posted on August 3, 2015August 3, 2015 by meganRose

Year 2, Semester 1 at the Whitehouse Institute of Design… Our brief for this semester was to design and make a two body collection, incorporating an original print and channelling an Autumn/Winter aesthetic.

I named my collection La Peluche which is French for plush. I took the soft, luscious elements and juxtaposed them with my bold print.

I created my print from an image I took of the internal architecture at the NAB building across the bridge. It is an amazing building and I am often there as that is where my sister works. I then manipulated it on Photoshop before mirroring a section to make the print you now see. I have included the development in my folio. I created the stripe print using small slivers of the image.

I definitely believe that my collection was on trend! The silhouettes of the wide leg pant and having bulk around the neck can be seen from many designers latest collections, especially Chanel’s bar runway for AW15. The over-sized long length coat is also on trend but I took a different spin on it adding the cloak like hood. I wear my dressing gown everyday so I wanted to design one I could wear out of the house.

The scarf and belt I have hand knitted myself from unspun merino wool roving that is untreated and even has small husks entwined. I searched for all different products that I could use for this and I found this gave me the bulky look I was going for whilst still being cushiony and comfortable for the wearer.

Thank you to my beautiful models Heidi Fettke and Lucille Croft and thanks also go out to the lovely Chloe Elizabeth for the photographs.

Remember My Name…

Posted on June 18, 2015June 18, 2015 by meganRose

It feels so amazing! I am being recognised for my latest work left, right and centre!!!

My AW15 collection was received very well at my panel assessment last week, and it has been a whirlwind since then. In the panel, Leanne Whitehouse, founder of the Whitehouse Institute of Design was so impressed that she took some photos and instantly posted them to the university’s instagram!

The full length image has been shared numerous times since, even by my old school Scotch Oakburn College and the APEX Australian Teenage Fashion Awards group!

My creations were then involved in a professional photoshoot by the Whitehouse on Monday and will possibly be used in upcoming promotions for the university. My collection is also going to be featured at Melbourne Whitehouse’s Open Day this Friday and Saturday (19 & 20 June) in the runway show at 12:30pm. It will be great to have as much support as possible so come along if you are free.

I just want to thank all those people out there who believe in me… thank you for helping my dreams come true!

More photos from my AW15 collection to come and also the inspiration and concept behind the whole thing.

AW15 Collection: Design Approved…

Posted on April 14, 2015April 15, 2015 by meganRose

I am well back into work and life at the Whitehouse Institute of Design… The start of semester has been extremely busy, as you all might have noticed the lack of blogging!

This semester’s OFFBEAT design brief is for the up and coming Autumn/Winter 2015 Collection… It requires two full bodies (two model’s full outfits and styling) along with designing a two original prints that I will get digitally printed on fabric to make my garments.

I submitted my folio to the director and was amazed when I got it back completely signed off and approved!!! I am just about to undergo the toile and making process.

I am excited to give you a bit of a sneak peek of my design print and folio…

Online Presence

Posted on October 11, 2013 by meganRose

Technology has significantly changed our world.

With 82.3% of Australia’s population online as of 2012, and 67% of this group regularly using social media platforms, it amazed me whilst doing my research to find that only 27% of small businesses have a social media presence according to the Yellow Social Media Report, June 2012. Only 15% of this group are connecting with customers or fans via business pages on Facebook.

For businesses, a social media presence builds community, creates an easy way to get your message out instantly, encourages loyalty, and it makes your name rank higher in an online Google search. It costs nothing, but time.

An online presence for businesses is a powerful marketing and communicating tool globally, 24/7. It is cost efficient and almost a requirement to be successful in this modern era.

I wondered how important it is for businesses to have an online presence.

My brother gave a seminar to 150 Business partners and CEOs in Melbourne recently, recommending that they become engaged with potential clients through social media platforms. Current statistics are showing that there is up to a $1 million advantage in earnings to those who are using social media successfully, than those who are not.

Social Media platforms are created by and owned by someone else. Therefore it is very important to have my own website and links back to my website from Facebook and Pinterest.

Inside the booklet of my written work

Posted on October 5, 2013October 5, 2013 by meganRose

The Cover Page

The Contents Page

About My Label

Pattern Making

Part of the Process

My Written Presentation

Posted on October 5, 2013 by meganRose

On the 26th of September I handed in my written component of work for my Student Directed Inquiry.

This was then passed onto each of the judges who will be sitting on my panel in a few weeks time for my oral presentation. This gives them the opportunity to read into what I have completed and researched over the year before my exam.

I wanted to present my written work professionally and carry across my clean white design with the accent of a bright pink.