[avLOG]

Updates have been slack because I’ve been working on my final project. It’s been full of ups and downs as I haven’t been enjoying designing lately. Concept and images behind the cut.

I’m making a magazine for 14 – 19yr old girls who are interested in fashion and perhaps studying an art subject at school. It’s less of a magazine, more of a resource – there are articles about life as an intern, how to’s, interviews with young designers who’ve ‘made it’ and plenty of inspirational material in the way of mood boards and photos from fashion shows (runway and backstage). I’m developing a web aspect once I get the print side finished and both mediums will carry the concept and hopefully, compliment each other.

I’ve noticed that a lot of my classmates are finding themselves playing catch up in third year. They’re scrambling to learn skills they could have acquired earlier and they haven’t been acquainted with many resource that are available to them. They don’t know how to sell themselves and their work and so what should be a year of honing and perfecting because a year of unecessary stress and self-doubt. I was lucky enough to have some older friends point me in the right direction at an earlier age but not everyone is so lucky. Éclat was inspired by the communities I see on livejournal – full of young people sharing magazine scans, discussing fashion photographers, models and critiquing each others art. It’s a small world though hidden away behind passwords and members only walls; you also have to know where to look. I read Elle, I read the coffee table stuff and I read Creative Review but it can all seem a bit beyond your station when you’re a young adult – people feel embarassed to ask something as simple as how to pronounce a name, especially if it’s fashion. That is a very snobby world. Eclat magazine aims to introduce you to fashion, and the creative industries at that. It’ll strive to give you a leg up at what is a crucial stage in your career. Even if you don’t formally study art or design, you’ll still take something from it if you like creating things as a hobby, or if you love clothes and want to know more.

The magazine will come as a set of parts. One major concept was to present the main fashion editorial as a separate supplement: people rip them out anyway and why ruin a good magazine?

Each issue comes with a set of ‘collection’ cards. These contain the 9 looks (that’s all you can reasonably fit on an A4 sheet!) from a fashion show that I feel sum it up best. Cards not only span current season runway, but resort, couture, backstage and exceptional or influential collections from the past. Whether you study textiles or not, you’re probably heavily influenced by fashion. I find great inspiration in runway photographs – colour combinations, textures, themes. At the least you can use these cards to inspire your day to day style. At most you can collect them in your own custom made file and use them as a source of reference, learning and inspiration.

The third key concept is a listings section: this is the place to advertise for volunteer crew members, interns, models and festival attendants; or you may use it to sell equipment, handmade items or even your own creative services.

There are going to be lots of extra little things too – stickers, bookmarks, postcards, pens, clips and whatever else I can think of. Some of it helpful to your creative endevours some of it not! I started work on this in February, and have decided to keep the month on the cover as February and reference Valentines day. I found some heart shaped balloons in paperchase that would be lovely to give out.

Lastly, and time permitting I would like to make a newspaper-style pullout that is much more lighthearted: small bits of news, industry gossip, a short interview with the model from the new topshop campaign, quizzes, crosswords and music. Something to take with you to read on the daily commute.

The Cover. A5.

‘Eye’ – trends. You’ll see speech bubbles dotted around – this is ‘fashion phonetics’. Look out also for golden apples – they contain tips or links to further information.

‘Sorted’ is devoted to helping readers with their project work and answering any questions they have about anything to do with art and design (technology, terminology, research methods, concepts, people..)

Obligatory big interview. I picked Alexa Chung because she’s a rising style icon and most 14-19yr olds are bound to have seen her on T4. Notice I didn’t pick Kate Moss, a famous actress, someone from Girls Aloud or a WAG. This is a bit more upmarket! I want to stress that I decided to feature her in my magazine back in October, when the concept was hatched. That is.. BEFORE all the Guardians and Telegraphs decided to make her their darling.

This looks more green than it’s supposed to. The collage on the right is greyscale, with translucent yellow shapes.

These are the show cards. Each one is coded with a symbol in the top left which tell you whether it is runway (new) runway (archive), couture, backstage, resort of high street. Some cards can have two codes, for example couture/backstage as seen in the Jean-Paul Gaultier one at the end. Burberry Prorsum is a special archive card, so it has a little contextual bit on the back to explain why it’s been chosen. Every issue comes with a key and introduction on a separate piece of paper.

Every card has a colour bar to summarise the show’s palette and the bottom right corner tells you the name of the label’s head designer. Always useful.