About Me
I'm Lucy Walkling, a Fashion and Fashion Business Graduate from Herts
My final year project saw the creation of Purple Fields, an outdoor womenswear brand. The project required me to develop the brand in it's entirety, from initial concept to final launch, with consideration to the current climate of the fashion industry to make my ideas viable.
I had to consider how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the fashion industry, and make informed decisions to ensure the best chance of success for the brand. As a response to the increased consumer awareness of ethical issues in the industry, I implemented a localised supply chain and used recycled or organic materials wherever possible. Additionally, I selected the website as the primary sales channel for the brand in acknowledgement to the continued digitisation of fashion retailing, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic due to high-street store closures during lockdowns.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration for Purple Fields came from a lack of trend-driven outdoor products for young women.
During the research stage, I visited some competitor stores and saw that specialist outdoor retailers were supplying products with good practical elements to protect the wearer. Unfortunately, the ranges lacked use of bold colours or prints which gave an appearance better suited for a mature customer, leaving younger audiences not catered for. This discovery, alongside trend research, inspired the use of 70s style elements within the range, using nostalgia as a contrast to a tough living period.
When I continued my product research at home, I discovered that fast fashion brands were able to produce trend led outdoor garments, however these lacked the proper technical characteristics to provide full practicality. This provided a gap for me to target my brand towards - practical outdoor clothing with trend driven aesthetics. Additionally, I included some festival-inspired pieces within the range to maximise appeal and set the brand apart from outdoor apparel competitors.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
The Purple Fields Product Range
The Collection Moodboard with 70s Influences
The Colour Palette
The Prints - selected from various colour options
Trims - for branding and practicality
Rain Jackets Research and Development
First Toile for the Padded Jacket
Second Sample for the Padded Jacket
First Toile for the Half Zip Fleece
Website Homepage Mockup
Product Listing Mockup
Product Listing Mockup Continued
The 3rd Scene of Advert - Planning
The 3rd Scene of Advert - Storyboarding
The 4th Scene of Advert - Planning
The 4th Scene of Advert - Storyboard
Image References
DETAIL
My project included a sales and marketing campaign to introduce Purple Fields to the market.
The campaign provided an opportunity to develop my work further by considering how I would launch the brand into a heavily saturated outdoor apparel market. The campaign required an assignment of brand guidelines, aims & objectives, a budget plan and use of Key Performance Indicators to establish how the campaign would serve its purpose. As a primarily online-trading brand, a video advert concept was created to be shared through the media channels and demonstrate the product range and brand values to our market. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, I did not have access to models and instead created scene mock-ups with stand-ins to demonstrate the structure and aesthetics. I also designed web pages for the Purple Fields website, including a homepage and product listings to communicate how the brand sales channels would be received by customers. I made prototypes of some of the promotional products of the range to use within the material to improve the communication of the concept.
I hope to continue into a career that features a focus on the technical side of fashion, as this is something that has given me the most joy in my studies
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