Final Year - Fabric Shopping in Paris
At the end of November, I went to Paris to buy designer off-cut fabrics for my final collection. Buying fabric this way makes my collection sustainable. In first year, I was able to go to Paris to help my final year the first couple of days of this experience. It looked stressful and overwhelming. It was both of these this year, but it was very exciting as I had waited 3 years to do this! We spent 2 days from 9am to 4-7pm in fabric shops.
Day 1 - Travel to Paris via coach
On day 2, a small group of us made our way there earlier so we could get a sense of location. I was able to find several fabrics that matched my mood-board before the rest of our year turned up. Once the tutors reached the shops, they had all our mood boards and began searching and finding fabrics that could work for our collections. I was offered some fabrics, but decided to turn them down as they related better to other peoples collection's. The pile of fabrics started to build up and the spending did too.
Image - "Knotted" Moodboard - Alice Wylie, 2019
(Updated 26/03/2020 - CADS on "Knotted" mood-board are not up to date)
Whilst applying to university to study Fashion, I was made aware that in final year you needed to save up around £1,000 - £2,000 for fabrics. This does not include costing for toile's, sketchbooks, experiments etc... Fashion university courses do not cover the costs of buying your final fabrics. I worked hard in retail after finishing my placement and was able to achieve this. I have had scholarship funding every year from the university regarding my UCAS points , which has helped to fund my course for 4 years.
(Updated on 12/12/2019) I successfully received a student bursary award from the City of Culture 2021 for my final collection "Knotted", which covered the cost of all my final fabrics.
After buying our fabrics (day 2), I laid all my fabrics that I had bought. This helped me to identify what fabrics colours I needed to find. The second day of fabric shopping (day 3) I focused on buying a plain orange, green and yellow. The bottle green and yellow fabric (seen below) matches the colours in my chunky knit. I needed these colours so that my styling of fabrics flowed in my collection. I was able to complete all my fabric shopping by early afternoon day 3, so myself and a friend trekked our fabrics back via the metro instead of waiting for the rest of the year to finish later.
Image - Final Fabrics for "Knotted" - Alice Wylie, 2019
Day 4 of Paris, we got dropped off in the centre of Paris and separated off from the rest of the year to explore the tourist spots. I have been to Paris many times, so I wanted to do at least one thing different to make the trip worthwhile. Going to Paris in late November, meant that Christmas Markets were open. We found one by the Louvre Museum. We enjoyed raclette cheese on a baguette for lunch and continued to eat cheese samples around the market - this was one of my favourite things about the day!
Image - Paris Trip - Alice Wylie, 2019
The rest of the day was spent shopping near Gallerie La Fyette, where we would be heading the next day before going home. We planned the day out really well, as by the time we got to the Eiffel Tower the lights were sparkling!
Image - Paris Trip - Alice Wylie, 2019
Emma and I continued the evening by doing my Paris tradition of going on the Eiffel Tower carousel! I love being a tourist! We ventured all the way to the top of the view point and enjoyed a glass of wine. Enjoying our last night of freedom before we had a lot of coursework to do. Our evening finished, being joined by another group of friends and having dinner out, which included more wine!
Images - Paris Trip - Alice Wylie, 2019
Ali xox