Backstage at Marchesa - LFW

Hey everyone!!

So as promised, today I am going to post some backstage pictures of the exclusive Marchesa fashion show of the 13th of September!

If you haven't read my previous post where I describe my experience working for this amazing International brand, I suggest you quickly go take a look! (link here).

When we first got to the venue, the gorgeous Banqueting Hall in London (you can check it out here), everything was a little blurry... there were soooooo many people working backstage, the hair and makeup crew was already there and so were some of the photographers; it was full of personnel for the buffet and some of the guests allowed backstage were starting to arrive.

(That would be me, proudly showing my Marchesa backstage AAA pass!)

When the moving vans arrived at the venue with all the collection, shoes, accessories, emergency kits and all the possible props necessary (and not), we started unpacking and placing everything in its right place - organisational skills are key whether you work backstage or in the studio.

Marchesa - rock' n' roll gypsy.

Hey guys!!

As promised, today I wanted to talk to you about my experience as an intern for Marchesa during London Fashion Week.

As you guys can imagine, it has been an amazing opportunity to be able to work with such a big name of the fashion industry; I have learnt so much in such a short time, and have enjoyed myself a lot, even though it's been really hard work - as can be expected.

The 'atelier' we working in the days before the catwalk show was the Chancery Suite in Rosewood Hotel in London (if interested, you can check this amazing hotel out here).

It was a gorgeous setting for a studio, even though at times the space in the suite was not enough - there were at lot of people working on the collection and a lot of industrial machinery took up a lot of space too.

We worked on many of the dresses seen on the catwalk show (if you haven't seen it yet, you can check out the collection here), mostly hand sewing and doing embroidery work on the delicate fabrics.

London Fashion Week.

Hey everyone!!

So it's been a pretty intense couple of days since I've come back from Barcelona! Yes, I went to Barcelona as well - my friend Alice is currently living there because she's interning at the amazing Arts Hotel Barcelona (in case you're going to Barcelona and are looking for a fab hotel, you can check this one out here).

Since the fashion month has started and since I'll fly back to the Uk on the 5th of September, I thought I better apply to help backstage during London Fashion Week (in case you were wondering which designers will be showing or what the schedule looks like this year, here's the link to the official page).

This would be my second time experiencing LFW, and I obviously couldn't let the chance slip away. So I've spent the last couple of days emailing companies and sending my CV and cover letters around, and..... I'm happy to announce that from the 12th to the 14th of September I will be interning for Marchesa.

Images by Norman Jean Roy (on http://www.bellanaija.com/2013/01/26/bridal-inspiration-from-magic-kingdom-marchesas-georgina-chapman-feature-in-american-vogue-february-2013-issue/)
Vogue US February 2013 – “Magic Kingdom”

I have always admired this high-end womenswear brand, as it brings together timeless elegance and innovation - no wonder many Hollywood stars have chosen it and still choose it for their Red Carpet looks.

This is the first time the brand, established in 2004 by Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, has chosen to present their new (SS 2015) collection abroad - they usually show at New York Fashion Week.

This year they decided to move the catwalk show to London, city that it's growing day by day as a Mecca for all of us fashion addicts, partly because it's a metropolis that still maintains its European charm.
So I will report back to you guys what's going on backstage and I will tell you how my experience will go - which by the way I am sure will be amazing as I will not only be participating in LFW but also working for a brand that I admire this much!



Until next time,
x, Val.

Valentina goes to Shanghai!

Hello everyone!

I'm officially back!

Sorry for the lack of new posts of the blog, I have to admit I haven't been writing anything at all because I really needed to take some time off from any kind of work. The last project in uni, the one with Tommy Hilfiger Denim, has been pretty intense and tiring, so decided to take some time for myself and refuel after all the hard work. In the next few days I will write a post about this exhausting yet amazing opportunity to collaborate with such a great brand and show you guys the resulting collection my group and I came up with.

I have been travelling around quite a lot this summer so I really wanted to share some new experiences and amazing photographs with you guys.

Since finishing uni last May, I went back to Italy to see my Italian friends and family and then I flew all the way to China to visit the other half of my family. It's been a pretty good summer and I've been collecting some really good memories, plus I've been taking lot of photos so that I can have material for my Final Year Collection!

So far yet so close, my 3rd Year Collection will start coming to life this year, so I need as much visuals and inspiration as possible. This summer's been great in that sense, cause I've been travelling a lot and that allowed me to widen my horizons and draw inspirational imagery and ideas from many different sources on two different sides of the world. What could a designer possibly want more than the possibility to travel and explore?

One of the most satisfying things was exploring Shanghai in more depth; I've been to this A M A Z I N G city many may times, but never really 'explored' it in the non-tourist kind of way; this year I decided I really wanted to get lost in its alleys, and visit some less known places and areas I had never been to, allowing myself to be a real 'Shanghainese' in a way.

One of the most surprising and interesting places I went to was a place that sold lots of antiques, not really definable as an antique market, but more like a massive warehouse with lots of antiques, varying from memorabilia, decorative objects, bags, clothes to furniture and vintage electronic devices.

Womenswear Design Development - Refined Freedom.

Hello guys!

So as promised I'm writing a new post about my Made to Measure project (check the first post here).

I'm going to post my main boards and a few portfolio pages I made, with drawing made both by hand and on Adobe Illustrator (or mixed medias).

Enjoy and let me know what you think!!

| Inspiration Board |

| Fabric Board |

| Inspiration page | Sketchbook |

| Illustration |

| Brainstorming | Design development |

Please don't forget to let me know what you think with a comment on the section below!! And if you haven't checked out my other posts on the same 'topic' you can take a look by clicking here!

x, Val.

Final Menswear Lineup - Refined Freedom.

Hey guys!

So I just came back from Paris last Sunday…it was amazing!! I have so much to tell you and most of all - as it always works better for me - show you through pictures I've taken during my journey. The trip to Paris lasted just three days and two nights, but it was magical and I'll write a whole post about because it definitely deserves its own space in this blog. In the meantime, take a look at my final Menswear Collection for the Tailoring Project I'e talked so much about here.

I'm posting the tailoring project material slowly because it was quite a long one and we had many different assessment components so to show you guys better and explain everything properly I'm just posting bits of everything :)

I made this lineup drawing the figures and clothes by hand, then scanned it in my computer and, after scanning all the fabrics I wanted to use, I added them to the lineup and made a few adjustments on Illustrator.

Hope you'll enjoy and let me know what you think about it - or if you have any question in particular!

Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me your opinion about this :)

x, Val.

Scheherazade Collection ▸ ▹ Jumpsuit.

Hey guys!!

So today I wanted to show you my second outfit for the project I've talked to you about in my last post - if you've missed it, click on the link here :)

My second outfit is a one piece, and it's a jumpsuit!

Let me know what you guys think with a comment in the section below!

Enjoy :)

Scheherazade Collection ▸ ▹ Ensemble.

Hey everyone!!

So today I wanted to show you guys another creation of mine: a skirt and a top for my Thinking it Cutting it (TICI) project. So in the brief we were given a Postmodern designer (if you're wondering what exactly Postmodernism is click here) to research in depth, and then we had to create amongst others a 10 pieces collection and make 'in real life' two outfits. My fashion designer was Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, which I totally ADORE! I was incredibly lucky to have him, first of all because he's an amazing designer and secondly because my aesthetic is very close to his own.

Anyway I will stop boring you guys now…so here are the pictures of my first outfit!! Enjoy :)

So what do you guys think? Let me know with a comment!

x, Val.

Design development for tailoring - Refined Freedom.

Hey guys!

So as promised in my last post, I'm going to show you some of my design development pages for the tailoring project. I'm gonna start with showing you two pages for my Menswear collection development, and two pages for my Womenswear collection development. I really hope you'll like them! Let me know what you guys think about them with a comment! And don't forget to check out my previous post to see the final result of my Made to Measure project!

x, Val.

Tailoring Project - Refined Freedom.

Hi everyone!
I really need to apologize cause I haven't been updating my blog in a very long time :(
Let's just say that my life got really busy all of a sudden and I wasn't expecting it! Second year of uni turned out to be more challenging than I thought: I've had two main project, Made to Measure and Thinking it Cutting it, and a minor two days 'challenge' Ready Steady Cut; in the meantime I've had a part-time internship with the japanese designer Satoshi Date (you can check his website here) from early October to the end of November, and I just finished my full-time internship with the British fashion designer Ada Zanditon (check her out here).
Finally I'm having some spare time to pay my full attention to this blog, and I wanted to show you guys some of the things I've done/made in uni during the past months :)

In this post I'm gonna show you guys the coat I've made for my tailoring project, Made to Measure. We had to start during the summer with a very detailed research of tailoring (if interested in knowing more check out my post about a tailored jacket autopsy). We then continued the research after being properly briefed and had to design a full 16 outfit collection for both Menswear and Womenswear. The project lasted 9 weeks and the main goal was to create contemporary tailoring designs, while learning and perfecting the techniques related to the craft of tailoring, creating a jacket/coat from scratch.

So after this looooooong introduction, here is the result!

 Image by Paul Astley published on http://fashiondesignrochester.com/made-to-measure/

 Image by Paul Astley published on http://fashiondesignrochester.com/made-to-measure/

So my collection - and final coat - were based on Scandinavian Design and the idea of the link between men and nature - key element of the scandinavian minimalist design. Apart from using some traditional tailoring techniques, I've used the felting technique - which you can notice on the shoulder area, front and back, using some white wool fivers to represent the snow.

So, what do you guys think of my final coat?? 

Let me know with a comment in the section below! :)

x, Val.

Ready Steady Cut - Project Runway style!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to talk to you guys about this completely insane two-days 'challenge' called Ready Steady Cut, which was a two days workshop I had as part of my course. We were divided in groups and were given a designer each - my group got Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy! I was so happy about it because he's definitely one of my favourite designers - his aesthetic is one of the most interesting out there at the moment, and the quality of his work is impeccable.

So we were given a picture of a garment from one of the designer's previous collections, and we had to make an inspiration board, illustrations and technical drawing and remake the whole outfit from scratch (to look as similar to the real garment as possible).

Image by Sam Chick on http://fashiondesignrochester.com/ready-steady-cut/.