Quintessential

Quintessential is my showcase collection for Patternmaking 2. It was based on the 2024 Annual TXMD Runway Show, themed "The Unstoppable Future." My collection focused on the Classism subcategory, pulling from themes of luxury and extravagance available only to the top members of society.. This is the cumulation of about three years of planning and thought, and a full semester of intensive work to complete everything from the inspiration to the sketches, the mock ups and fittings to the final fabric, and the rehearsals to the final show day.

This is my mood board for my collection, Quintessential. It is based on the Classism subcategory of the 2024 TXMD Annual Runway Show, so I pulled very heavily from luxury, extravagance, and other lavish subthemes.

Target Market Brief

Sketches

These are my concept sketches for my collection. My collection was something I had been thinking about with pretty regular frequency since my first semester at MTSU, in Fall of 2021, so it was about three years in the making. My first ensemble showstopper design was conceptualized a year before the actual show, and my entire collection was reconceptualized a few weeks prior to the beginning of the semester, in order to fit my desired theme better. I knew I wanted to feature corsetry and careful seaming in my collection, so I made sure to incorporate that into my designs. I also knew that I wanted to make the accessories as well, including the hats, as it was something I had enjoyed doing previously, so I made sure I was able to experiment with the millenary aspect as well. In the future, I would love to study with a milliner to learn more about the art of hat making.

Ensembles

These are the technical pictures of my final collection, with the styling elements like jewelry included as well. My ensembles were primarily constructed with 100% Polyester Sand Wash Satin, 100% Nylon Eyelash Lace, 100% Polyester Tulles and Chiffons, and 100% Cotton twill, for the corsetry and dress pants. I chose these fabrics because I wanted the final outcome to look extremely flowy and delicate, so using synthetic fabrics was necessary. On the other hand, corsetry and structured garments require more stiff fabrics, so using the cotton twill was ideal for this. Using all of the same fabrics helped to add unity and similarity to my collection, and because I used the same fabrics over a broad variety of garments, I got very skilled with handling the specific fabrics by the end of my construction. As such, I learned a lot about working with synthetics as well as successfully constructing my garments with them.

This is my collection of styling boards for my collection. It features hair, makeup, jewelry, shoes, and other accessories for each model. I styled each model based on their individual features, their ensemble, and their personalities. I didn't want any of them to feel uncomfortable with their style choices or ensembles, so I made sure I worked with their personal levels of modesty and tastes in styling. I did try to keep the makeup and hairstyles relatively consistent, though, while still working with the hats my female models and the hood my male model were wearing. For example, my fourth ensemble has a large hat, so my model wore lighter makeup than my other models, to avoid casting harsh shadows on the eyes and lips.

This is the final result of my collection, with all of my models fully styled and accessorized. Making this collection was extremely useful for me in a few ways. Firstly, it was my first experience directing models in the back of a runway show, so that will be helpful in the future when I am working with larger shows. Secondly, it taught me a lot about time management and runway presentation, since clothes looking good on the runway is very different than clothes looking good in the streets. I think my biggest strength in the process was my understanding of design as a whole. I picked silhouettes that were flattering for my models, interesting and dynamic on the runway, and that expressed my vision the way that I wanted., and the elements I chose to add details were noticeable without overwhelming the design. It created a very cohesive collection as a whole, and I accented some of this with my runway music, "Coming Undone" by Korn, a early 2000's nu metal song. It helped to impact the audience immediately and hold their attention throughout my collection walking. If I had one weakness during the whole process, it was in underestimating my time, because I did find myself struggling to keep up with creating this on top of my other courses. However, I think that I pushed through it and made a collection I am extremely proud of. Several people that were in attendance of the show have mentioned that my collection was their favorite, and in a show where my classmates also pushed themselves incredibly hard for their own collections, I take that as the highest praise.