It is impossible not to get carried away when you start to design new garments… or why not a painting, a movie, even designing a room in your house? That’s why I love making Moodboards and Sketchbooks… they keep me grounded and force me to stay within my chosen feeling/ theme/ mood.
The Moodboard is my source that I go back to during the design process, my frame of mind and control center.
The Sketchbook is where I play around with the ideas I get in the process, where I paste clippings that didn’t make it to the Moodboard. Where I research and try colors, drawings and shapes, all based on the Moodboard. What comes out is a series of finished , carefully selected models drawn on paper that I then create real garments of.
I always start with something I really like at the moment, it can be anything: a shape, a fruit, a movie, a building, a city … After that I try to gather everything that I feel fits into that category; structured paper, textures, fabrics, clippings, images… I also take a lot of photos around my topic, trying to find colour schemes, shapes, ideas for details etc. I look in all kinds of magazines, not just fashion, but architecture, art, photography, illustration, travel magazines etc. I often also read books related to the topic to create made-up images of people and places in my head. Even if my inspiration is found in historic times I will always try to include a contemporary feel in my chosen clippings, especially choosing garment silhouettes that follow the tendencies of the moment and particularly upcoming trends and events. When I’m done mixing all this in my head for a period of time, it is pretty easy to spit out some new unique designs.
Below are some examples of Moodboards and Sketchbooks I’ve made in the past.
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