The Final Report

When given the brief to design a collection for a specific brand, as a group we wanted to chose a label that had an iconic and easily distinguishable colour philosophy. Miu Miu was chosen due to its more fashion forward stylings, a label we could experiment with in terms of colour and design to put across a theme. Research was carried out into the previous Miu Miu collections to establish the proportions of colour used, the range and chromas so when we design for our individual projects, this data could be applied accordingly. 

Within the collections, childhood inspired elements blend with unnatural colour combinations in a fantastical but somehow sensual world. The philosophy behind Miu Miu reflects the multi-faceted nature of the brand, how “Miuciana Prada’s vision of the Miu Miu woman is continually redefined”, utilising each seasons’ collection to make commentary on current social or political issues of importance to her and establishing a “complicated feminine ideal”.

A theme was then defined on an individual basis, mine Dada to design the collections towards. I began researching suitable colour palettes at this point and identifying which colours would be best suited to the brand.

After completing initial testers for colours, I was able to refine these to formulate a final colour palette including 12 colours and also a set of patterns from Dada imagery. The designs were drawn based on research carried out into current and forthcoming trends of Autumn Winter 09/10 in a Miu Miu style. A consumer profile was built up of a Miu Miu customer so the designs were rendered suitable for the target demographic. After which the colection was finalised, whittled down from 40 design to 22, sorted into the various colour families as ahown above.

The Final Collection

The final collection for Miu Miu Autumn Winter 09/10 in colour families of red, caramel and biscuit.

Refining the Collection Theme

To accurately present the final Miu Miu collection I need to pin point the exact image I want to portray. After carrying out research into Dada inspired artworks I felt it was appropriate to carry with the theme of revolution, of upturning the norms and looking in a radical way towards form and silhouette, just like the Dadaist did in reaction to the government and authorities of the time. I like the fact that the Dada movement was not only in terms of art but as a philosophy and lifestyle, as an alternative way of viewing the world. This was a key factor I wanted to put across - Miu Miu as an alternative lifestyle, a concious choice to break away from the norms of other labels and to embrace the wearer's inner individuality, as the Miu Miu brand philosophy reads - "Where independence improbably meets sensuality... The very definition of creative transformation to compliment a woman who is impossible to define."

The incorporation of linear drawings within Dada imagery is one of the main points of inspiration. I wanted to present the collection as angular and linear in silhouette but with a more collaged effect created by the use of patterns within. This reflected the rectangular papers of the Dada artworks then the combined images together - I like to think of each outfit as a piece of the collage and the whole collection the page, with each piece of collage combined to produce and overall effect on the paper.

I wanted the colours used to evoke a sense of rebellion from the norms but also of tea-stained nostalgia with a modern twist, perhaps evoking memories and provoking thought, especially in terms of the artworks. It is for this reason I have chosen to contrast the beiges and mushrooms with high chroma saffrons and violets to add an edge of the unexpected whilst maintaining a synergy towards the theme.

Refining the Consumer Lifestyle

To accurately pinpoint the target demographic of the collection, I developed a pen portrait of my target consumer. As a result the designs and colours will appropriately reflect the consumer attracting them to the range and in turn encourage the consumer to buy into the brand.

Pen portrait:

• Female aged 21-40
• Career minded and ambitious in some form of media / journalism job
• She lives in Herne Hill, London
• Avid reader of novels and loves buying Tashen coffee table books of art and photography
• Loves travelling, occasionally with work but wants to visit Russia and Eastern Europe in her time off
• Enjoys mixing vintage finds with designer labels for a touch of quirkiness
• Her bedroom is decorated like a Parisian boudoir - she loved mixing rich patterned fabrics
• She uses Benefit and Clinique make up and This Works cosmetics, enjoying the aromatheraphy based ingredients
• Her favourite coffee is from Cafe Nero
• Her favourite cocktail an Old Fashioned
• She drives an 1985 Porsche Carrera and likes going on road trips to isolated British pubs with her boyfriend
• On the high street she shops in labels such as Zara 
• Her most recent purchase was a red seventies telephone for her flat

"For me she embodies woman with her subtleties and intricacies. She's sensual and intellectually engaging, elegant with a very strong personal style." Miuciana Prada talks of model Kim Basinger , used within the SS2005 advertising campaigns for the brand. Kim Bassinger who was 52 at the time, appeared alongside Camilla Belle, who was only 19 in a stark contrast in age. This decision worked well for Miu Miu thereby declaring the brand was accessible to not only younger women - as originally thought due to the more fashion forward direction fo the label - but to an older audience too. Thus rendering Miu Miu's marketing based not on demographics by psychographics instead. As opposed to targeting the consumer in terms of age, Miu Miu cleverly addressed them in terms of similar personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. For example the pen portrait above could apply to any woman between the ages of 18 and 50, as long as they could be grouped as having similar kinds of lifestyles. According to the New York Times,a spokesman for Miu Miu says only that the appeal of the label is "psychographic, not demographic."

SS 2005

Initial 40 Designs for the Collection

To create a well thought out and balanced collection, I developed the colour palette into 40 models to try out different ways of putting the hues together - which ones complimented each other, which clashed, which harmonised and which contrasted. The results are quite interesting as shown below. I really like the effect of some - others were not so successful, therfore I will elminate around half to be left with the defnitive collection for Miu Miu Autumn Winter 09/10.

Within this 20 there will also be an element of divide, the colours having split personality families in terms of their chromas and values, which will sit well with the Miu Miu schitzophrenic element of both design and colour to suit their target demographic. 

The combinations that worked best were:

• reds, grey, violet, slate and yellow
  
• slate, caramel, and violet
• teal, tea, caramel and peachy beige
• dark green, teal and caramel
• reds, violet, tea and peachy beige
• teal, dark green and reds
• yellow, tea, teal and dark green

I will now select the 20 best combinations to submit for my final Autumn Winter collection.

Defining the Colour Palette

Whilst carrying out research into design inspirations and Dadaist artworks, I continously worked on picking up ideas to develop my colour palette. Lots of the works included peaches, beiges and golden brown so I wanted to obtain a good range and balance between these, and when combined with black and the darkest charcoal grey, will act as the base neutrals that all Miu Miu collections rely on. The rest of the palette will consist of dark reds and oranges as seen from previous collections and within artist's work, moving through to greys and teals on the colder end of the spectrum. To highlight and exaggerate the schitzophrenic nature of Miu Miu's brand philosophy, injections of warm yellow saffron and ultra violet will keep the Autumn/Winter 09/10 colour preditions up to date and fresh. The palette has Pantone references marked on so the correct hue can be universally selected in industry.

Also incorporating patterns within the designs was a key requirement of the brand so I have developed a palette of patterns to be used accordingly. The artwork from the Dada period relied heavily on simplistic and graphically strong linear drawings, collage techniques and the use of text, all of which feature in my patterns. Out of the collection, 9 outfits will featue an element of pattern, the ratio calculated from previous Miu Miu collections.

This caught my attention from Style.com, asking viewers to vote on the most eccentric make-up from the catwalks of John Galliano. The results are quite surreal in appearance, especially the model with the additional face trapped inside his own. The colours used here have been selected to orchestrate a feeling of oddity, which I immediately associate with Surrealism and Dada. The fairytale nature of the models, looking as unrealistic as they do, also links to the Miu Miu brand in a more exaggerated form.