Our dress

In garment tech we have been learning how to construct the pattern and make up different parts of garments. We did a rever collar, a lantern and puffball sleeve, a circle skirt and a number of different darts. We used what we had learnt to design and then create a dress.
Our design development was a long process as we kept changing out mind but in the end we knew we wanted a modern edgy dress that was inspired by a classic design. We look at many designers and mainly Dior for the crisp clean shapes. At first we wanted to use a very feminine pink fabric but when we saw the fabric we used in the end our idea also change.
We knew we always wanted to use leather but it was only going to be for the collar or cuff of the sleeve but we decided to challenge ourselves to create the whole bodice out of it. (using leatherette as we are only students)

Here is a mood board that inspired our final design

Here is the final dress. We are very pleased with it and love the outcome. If we had more time we would like to experiment with the collar to improve it.

Yohji Yamamoto

We have been doing a project on Yohji Yamamoto. He is en extremely talented designer and part of the emerging Japanese designers. They have been around for years but only really recognized in the past 20 years. As a group we researched Yohji’s inspirations and past collections.

We saw how he liked to use black as the major colour in his collections with accents of colours like red or blue

We made a men’s customer board seen above, which we worked out after visiting the shop in London and speaking to the staff.

Here is our mood board which we created, it’s the women’s and we wanted it to look a lot more fresh. There still would be a lot of black but have more Japanese influences with more delicate colours and details.
We then started designing clothes for our own collection. Our group went all in different ways. I went with two main trends; Mixing old and new architecture and layering clothes.I used these trends to create a collection of 10 outfits. It was for autumn winter so I used a lot of layering but had some outfits that stood out more on there own as a statement piece.

I had a go at doing some illustrations. I wasn’t so happy with how they turned out. I drew them firth by hand and scanned them into the computer and edited them a bit.

The Barbican

The clothes where all connected, it was amazing the amount of work that had gone into it!

This was also really cool! He had created garments that could be folded into 2D origami shapes, the detail was remarkable


A couple of weeks ago I went to the Barbican museum and saw the Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese fashion! It was absolutely amazing and was so inspiring! I really loved all the past pieces from the designers and their currency collections! I especially loved the Issey Miyake stuff!
We couldn’t take photos but here is a photo of something similar

Majorelle Gardens

While we were in Marrakesh we visited the Majorelle Gardens which is a moments piece inside the chaotic city! The garden was revived some years after the death of Majorelle by Yves St Laurent and the artist Pierre Bergé. The house oozes style and the garden is so unique it is a must see!

I love the cobalt blue walls with the bright yellow! The paints are made from all natural products like plants.

It was amazing to see somewhere a great designer like Yves Saint Lauran could have been inspired by!

Holiday to Marrakesh

Here are a few imaages from my holiday to Marrakesh this summer;

Mint tea...Mmmmmmmm

This was the most amazing room I’m very seen! The light was so calming and every inch was decorated with such detail and precision it’s unbelievable it was done by hand!

We went to the dying souk where they used saffron to dye the cotton and cashmere! It comes out this lovely colour!

The main square was amazing! This was my view from the restaurant where me and my mum shared a vegetable couscous and fish tagine! Yum... 

First Blog

Hi, I’m new to this so bare with me! My name is Esther Oakley, I’m from Oxford and study fashion at the University of Leeds. Fashion Farm is my space to show what I like…fashion, art, who knows?! Hope you enjoy it! Xx