Working Toward A Vacation

Mood Board

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This is basically the same post as is in my  fashion design portfolio blog, BECAUSE this is a capsule wardrobe  for travel concept.

For this project I chose to design a collection that could transition from a work related trip, to a vacation.  My target customer might need to attend a business seminar  during the day, and go out for  a social  event in the evening, or may have a day to "play tourist" in between meetings.

This is not entirely hypothetical, as my parents often combined vacations with  work related seminars or overseas  work related trips, and  luggage space was always at a premium!

In addition: Many  tourists destinations have specific dress codes, such as the Cathedrals and  places of interest in Europe which often required sleeves or  a more modest  look. 

When I was traveling Europe as a teen, many of my fellow tourists  who dressed for long walks and  crowded bus rides could not enter  some of the  tourist destinations!  Having a scarf or two  packed in my luggage (as well as a multi purpose wrap) meant that i was able to  go from  walking around comfort to  Cathedral tours.


Of course for even a pure vacation, the idea is to  pack  with space to bring home souvenirs.... expanding totes, and a  mix and match  packable wardrobe  make that possible.
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 This was a "digital only" collection, which means I did not have to  sew the sample garments.  I did all the same research I would normally do, and  was required to improve my photo shop and illustrator skills for this class.

sketches

 The concept, which seems to be my niche, is a capsule wardrobe.  This capsule is intended to be useful for one of those "working vacations" where you  have a lot of meetings and  need for business suitable clothing, but you also have a lot of need for social event clothing.

So, this capsule had to  be:

1. Modest enough  to handle tourism (and business meetings) in  a variety of cultures
2. Dressy enough to go to events (but suitable for business events)
3. Professional enough to  handle a board meeting by Skype at least
4. Casual enough to be able to relax and have fun in...

while all fitting into  the luggage for a plane or cruise ship.

flats

 One dress, one jacket, one cardigan wrap, three tops, one pants, one skirt

line sheet page 1

line sheet page 2

 By making it available in multiple colorways, including a print that mixes with  all  of them, a careful selection of pieces should enable  you to create  enough different outfits  to manage  anything a working vacation throws at you.

of course you need a purse:

Accessory Design Sketch and Line Sheet

Everyone on a vacation needs a tote bag for those shopping excursions (or to carry your dress shoes while you wear your hiking shoes), but if you are going to go someplace nice you need a nice purse...

I combined them.

 This was my first class to require we design an accessory. I had MADE them before, of course, but  illustrating them properly was new to me.

The  dressy clutch unzips  into a tote bag for shopping to night on the town convenience, and has multiple  possibilities to make it  unique, like different straps, and decorative tassels.

Fabric samples

The  decorative sheer fabric I used on the dress  and top overlay is an Italian embellished sheer, with  fabric ribbon embroidery all over it in addition to the print.  I own a few yards of this and always wanted to use it in something....

and that leopard print and roses fabric?  Its a scarf panel.  I live in hopes of finding  (or making) it in yardage someday....

In keeping with the idea that this  collection has to  be able to work for an extended trip, Everything in this collection is washable.  Except the items that have the sheer embellished overlay , everything is machine wash warm, tumble dry low or lie flat. The Italian sheer embellished items are hand washable.

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so if you were building your capsule from this collection, you would first consider where you were going and HOW MUCH time you will be spending  at which type of activity.
 how much "business" how much "party" how much "semi casual walking around"?

because if you will be  needing mostly  dressier clothing your packing list will be very different than if you are MOSTLY going to be walking around  doing tourism.

you can pack for both from this collection, but you would pack differently.

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