Structured Creative Thinking

Last year when I opened my store, many people felt the sizes in my collection ran too small, and that most of my clothes were sleeveless (not a great thing in a conservative city like Chennai). It may be true that while starting out many designers (including myself) are less willing to pay attention to environment as they are to their creative visions. However in my case I tend to tune out all notions of practicality while brainstorming. Going forward, I have to be conscious of my audience while putting together a collection.

During my design process, I tend to look at each style in isolation rather than the entire set as a collection. The brainstorming sessions are usually done with some good music playing in the room (Femi Kuti is my recent favourite) and it’s also important to have some snacks handy (anything salty and crunchy). Then, I begin to go through inspiring pictures that I collect throughout the year. As I go through these (pictures of clothes, furniture, architecture, colour combinations, plants) I usually think of a theme and then I begin sketching while keeping that theme in mind. I don’t like being tied down too strictly to a theme, so I never choose anything too literal; this past summer’s theme was fruit and flowers of summer, and this monsoon collection was inspired by ancient maritime trade. Since I like to work with a variety of fabrics in each collection, I do try to stick to a colour story that works for the mood of that collection. These may sound like clearly defined guidelines that I work with, but I find it easy to stick to a colour story without that hindering my creativity (my suppliers and their ability to match colour shades is another matter).

The design process is followed by editing (“would I really wear that?”, “that looks interesting, but it is classy?”) and then re-designing for the styles that were scratched out, followed by more editing until I have a collection. Subject to fabric availability, some styles have to be changed at the last minute, but that is an issue more related to my fabric supply and the textile industry at large rather than the editing of the collection. Now to this entire design process, I need to add another structured guideline. The business side of my brain has been urging me to adopt some structure to my process, and now my task is to ease my creative side into the process.

The structure: I would like to have certain criteria that I must fulfill with styles in every collection. The criteria relate to my customer base and their tastes; each collection must have at least one sleeved style for work and evening wear, at least one style that is flattering for larger sizes, and at least one sleeved tunic. That doesn’t sound too tough when you think of the criteria themselves, but when you are down to 2 fabrics you haven’t assigned to any style as yet, and your creative brain is told you can only design a tunic or a sleeved garment for a plus size with these fabrics, it can get hard.

The good side is that working with these criteria, aside from the good business sense, gets me started on the editing and the streamlining while I'm still in the sketching phase. This past Monsoon collection I have made an effort to design more sleeved garments and I think they appealed to more people as a result. I haven’t overcome the difficulty to design with guidelines though- I mean, if a sleeved tunic doesn’t sell then clearly it means that I didn’t succeed in designing a sleeved tunic that is a stylish piece as well. I’m trying though, and hopefully with time I’ll be able to fulfil my criteria without playing it too safe.

Until then, I have this very expensive and gorgeous Varanasi silk fabric with zari jamdani that I must make into a sleeved evening garment and time is ticking!