In toolbox 2 we learned about customers and comparative shopping. We were given images of people and looking at that we had to analyze their style. I found this extremely interesting as once again I was reminded that fashion is not just clothes but a feeling. You wear what you are and that was proved when we made assumptions on their hobbies and livelihood depending on their outfit.
From this class, the first thing I learnt is to put myself in my customers shoes (metaphorically and quite literally), to analyse them I had to think like them. Given the pictures I looked at the colours they were wearing, the trends they were following. Was it chic, street style, rock and so on. I looked at the size of their bag or at the colour of their lipstick to get a more in depth understanding. This attention to detail I applied to the shops I visited next. I looked at the music they were playing to see what kind of customers they wanted to attract and what kind of ambience they created for them selves. The second thing I learnt was to go with my gut instinct, even if I wasn’t sure I responded in class and this made me feel more confident towards the toolbox session. I applied this even when was interviewing people at my research trip. The third thing that I would highlight from my visit to the shop was keeping my eyes, ears and nose open. From our sensory organs we can understand a lot about our surroundings. I learnt that understanding a shop does not only come from the merchandise displayed, rather how it is displayed and the supporting people and objects around it.
The above three would help me not only throughout my education but also through life as now I know the importance of living in the moment and trusting my instincts. I however yet need to develop a way to articulate my thoughts in the right way, be it to use it for a creative process or for notes to myself for the future.
For me the highlight was definitely the interactive session in class and being free to answer whatever we think is correct. Watching the video from vogue to then looking at a mere picture and learning so much about the person was very interesting to me.
I think I responded reasonably well in class. I had my own answers for every question that was asked. I loved it when I guessed a certain brand and my professor agreed with me, it encouraged me to be more open in class.
Since I was very interested in the presentation and the SDS we had to come up with I was able to focus well on this class.
I could come up with ideas quite quickly but the downside of this was that my mind was going in different directions and it was tough to narrow down on a crux idea. It took me a while but ultimately I could ultimately come up with something I like and link everything together .