More Fashion Show Research (Fairytales)

As we are all fully aware, end of year fashion shows are a favourite when it comes to dissertations subjects. This proved no exception for two of our course mates and friends, Sarah Bannerman and Sedge Beswick. The theme behind the show was 'fairytales and wonderlands' inspired by the convenient release of Tim Burton's Alice. The girls anticipated an unavoidable trend which has had a catastrophic impact on the world of fashion. The goodie bags were a real treat, and as is evident from the photographic evidence, the night was a real success and Sarah and Sedge did a splendid job. It was nice to see all their hard work pay off; and it will be our turn in less that ONE MONTH!

Source: own images

Fashion Show Research

With end of year degree shows looming, third year fashion design students put on a fundraiser at Coco Lounge in Hockley. When asked to model, the three of us took this as an opportunity to experience the manic and mayhem that goes on backstage in an effort to use this experience as research. There would be very little truth in saying that the fashion show/models were well organised or well executed. However, the show was well received and the evening was great fun for all those involved.

Source: own images

Update

Everything is coming together, albeit slowly but surely. Make up artists, hair, bands and djs are confirmed; models are a continuous work in progress. The press releases are drafted and we are finally getting a visual identity together. The font used for River Rocks Notts on both the beer mats and t-shirts is almost stamp like, a trend which we picked up with inspiration from LOVE magazine. Having ordered stamps to give it a unique edge, it turns out that we missed the 'mini' in the product description but tried to have some fun with them anyway. More (and bigger) stamps have been ordered so hopefully our next attempt will prove more successful!

Own Images

VIP only...

Towards the back of Escucha we are going to have a VIP area - exclusively for our band, DJ's, live artists and guests from River Island. In addition to this, we will also be inviting May Cortazzi who is featuring some of her clothing from Regenerate in our catwalk.

The images below demonstrate the area we have decided would be most suitable.

We will also be offering VIPs free drinks on the night to thank collaborators for their help. We have decided that the best way to do this would be to have bottles of spirits and mixers in ice buckets on the tables.

We are off to scout models today - wish us luck! Updates to come...

Escucha

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all enjoying the first of our many viral marketing videos!


Having spent the morning sat in front of a computer editing, we decided to take a stroll down to Escucha in the afternoon. As the venue for River Rocks Notts, we felt it time to consider where things might go on the night of the 27th of April and also to discuss arrangements with the manager.

The images below show the space available to us on the night. For those of you who didn't know, there is also a bar downstairs called Minus One which we have also hired for the evening. This is shown in images 2 & 3.

Our main concern was to agree on the best positioning of the catwalk. Given the layout in Escucha we have decided that the catwalk will take a rectangular format. Placing a singular row of chairs around the edge of the room will map out a guideline which our models can follow.

The first video in what is to be a series of Enliven brain waves. Enjoy.

Photos from today's fun

Today's fun involved a trip to the fancy dress shop in Canning Circus to make the day all the more exciting. We tried to get all of Royal Victoria Court out to help us with a mega mexican wave, but unfortunately the turn out was quite miserable. So, with the enlisted help of our friends, we lined up all our cars and came up with plan B. The video will be up soon, but for now, here are some photos for you to enjoy! The third photograph depicts our wonderful human size ketchup bottle to whom we are very grateful Rei Ohki Cox.

Source: Own Photographs

It's Time

Today is the day of the 11am experiment. Updates will be heading your way this afternoon. But for now we will be nervous and hope for the kind nature of neighbours!

Day of Fun Again

We headed into town today to start filming the first of our videos. Unfortunately it did not quite go to plan and we ended up having to head back home and rethink the slinky/spencer/escalator idea! Photos will follow tomorrow as more filming will commence at 11am.

Source: Own image

Tokyo:

Having recently come back from Tokyo I thought it about time to update you all on what we got up to out there! First of all - what an amazing city! We were only there for 4 days in total and so only really scrapped the surface - but what we saw...we loved!

We saw so much I am not really sure where to begin but thought I would start with some interesting shops! One really interesting in-store environment that we saw out there was this example by Nike. The basic idea was a sort of DIY purchase...consumers were encouraged to become recognisably involved in their own buyer decisions.

As the images above show, the basic concept of this store was similar to that of a warehouse. There was even a conveyor belt which had t-shirt designs going around on a continuous loop. Once inside the store, consumers were able to select their choice of design from the framed examples on the wall, each of which had a corresponding number. The consumer could then find the box with that number on and from this select their size. Finally the consumer is able to purchase their item there and then completing the alternative shopping experience.

We thought this was a really innovative idea and one that adds another element to the shopping experience.

This idea of encouraging involvement from the consumer is definately something we want to focus on when it comes to promoting our event. For example, with the design for our beer mats we have tried to take a different angle which is perhaps less obvious and therefore something people will be interested in picking up. In addition to this, we also aim to devise quirky ways to further promote the event. One idea we have had is to have a band write a song about the event and then perform it out in the Market Square!

We particularly like the idea of taking something that might be considered inanimate or dull (such as shopping for t-shirts) and offering an alternative spin that brings it to life. This is very much our concept for River Rocks Notts and as such will be the foundation upon which we develop our marketing strategy.

More tomorrow guys,

thanks for reading....over and out.

xxxx

Lists lists and more lists

Having met up yesterday and made lots of lists, we decided to spend today ticking off some of our many 'Things to do'. We set off at 9.30 into Nottingham City Centre with 2 main intentions:

1) To research into potential venues in which to distribute our promotional beer mats

2) To ask MAC and Benefit make-up artists if they might be willing to do the make-up for our catwalk show

We decided to look at Horn in Hand, The Orange Tree, Pulse bar and the Bonington Cafe as potential places in which to distribute our beer mats (See images below). At this stage we are unsure as to how many beer mats we are getting and so we want to select bars and cafes where people sit with friends for lunch and drinks - thus enabling them to engage with the beer mats.

We spoke to someone working at Horn in Hand who said that whilst the bar is actually moving they would be more than happy to distribute the beer mats in their new venue. We also spoke to the women working in Bonington cafe who said they would need to see a sample of the beer mat before they could make an informed decision but hopefully they will let us as this would be an ideal way to promote River Rocks to university students.

Our second task of the day was to try and confirm either Benefit or Mac to do the make-up for our catwalk models. We went to MAC first who said that an enquiry such as this would need to go through head office but they took our details and seemed willing to try their best to help us out.

We then went to the Benefit counter in Boots and spoke to a lovely girl called Abbie. She told us that she studied Fashion Design at university and whilst she loved fashion, the make-up side of it was what particularly appealed to her. We were impressed with her enthusiasm for our cause; to celebrate and showcase undiscovered talent in and around the area on Nottingham and so we took her email address and will be emailing her with further information of the event. Hopefully this is something that she will want to get involved in!

We are going to spend this afternoon emailing bands, DJ's...and even a magician or two! That's right - you know River Rocks Notts is going to be THE event to attend!

Speak soon guys.

xxxx