New York.

I have had the amazing opportunity to attend a trip with my course at University to New York! We went for 8 days and attended a range of studio visits that were all different experiences including talks for the staff and shown the work and studio spaces.

Maharam studio space

The first studio visit I attended was at Judy Ross’s studio, unfortunately I can not include any images from this visit but I can’t stress enough how impressed I was. I have been a fan of her designs since I have seen then featured in a Lauren Conrad edit in Elle Décor but seeing her work in person was completely different. The level of detail and quality was amazing. The hand stitched chain stitches in one of the metal cushion covers was my absolute favourite. It has really made me consider the level of detail I would love to portray in my work and how people appreciate it. I was also extremely inspired by how she explained that she works for individual clients wanting her to design and create instalments. This is something I had never considered before this visit. I loved her use of ink and water quick designs on large scale then scanned into Photoshop to be perfected but keeping the edgy hand designed tone to the creations. This has inspired me to work more on literal connections with my drawings and knit practice. Also to try colour pallets with my designs on Photoshop or other software.

Judy Ross' textiles ft. Lauren Conrad

In our personal time we also visited the FIT (fashion institute of technology) museum, it was exhibiting work on ‘fakes’ and ‘copies’ of high fashion garments. Showing the difference in quality and how to tell a real from fake. This was extremely interesting as it moved on to how the fake versions then began to trend due to rappers having full tracksuits made from cut up Louis Vuitton pieces. It interested me on how things get trending and why people want copies of these items as appose to items inspired by the originals.

I loved seeing all the studio spaces and being introduced to the different job roles and how the company’s work as they were all so different. It was definitely great motivation! I will now be considering all job roles with in my practice to try and gain skills in all areas and experience which area I would like to develop myself into through industry. I would also really like to work on short term work placements to further my knowledge of the working environment.

YSL garments shown in the FIT