Time is of the essence and sleep is also.
*actual footage of me post-final project*
Fashion design school is tiring work people. When big projects are due, you've got to put in that work. I've stayed in that studio from sun up to sun down. Day and night for hours on end and all the everyday through the weekend.
My sophomore stories of lack of sleep pail in comparison of my junior and senior friends, but never the less I shall tell you my tale of woe...or no sleep...rather. The end of the semester comes hard and fast. Everything is fine until you go into class after Thanksgiving break and BOOM! 2 papers, a LARGE group project and SEVERAL OTHER smaller isolated assignments that can lead to more than you need. (or are willing to handle for that matter.
Fashion design operates in a world of their own. My one fashion "final exam" consisted of THREE CLASS DIFFERENT PROJECTS. One final presentation for three classes. THREE. THREE CLASSES. Apparel Development I, Digital Design I, and Fashion Design I. 1 + 1 + 1 =3. Three HUGE pieces for one huge project. Apparel Design: One complete garment a top, skirt, dress, pant, or jacket. Fashion Design I: 8 to 12 fully rendered sketched. Digital I: Flats of all your designs with different color palettes.
That's a lot right? Imagine doing all of this in less than two weeks...with a limited skill set. The saying "you learn from experience" rings true.
The Shirt: This was the most time consuming piece of the presentation. I will elaborate in another post. For now, just know that I had to work on that top for about a week (and two days) of my two week work period. Although it was the first piece to be FULLY completed, it was most time consuming because of all of the revisions.
The Flats*: Although this wasn't the main time-sucker, making the flats took longer than I originally had planned. (*flats are digital "sketches" of the garments) In the end I spent about five hours "making" about 24 individual digital garments. Oh what fun! Due to my underestimation of time, I ended up in a crunch for time (at like 3 AM, mind you) to complete the rest of the project.
The Sketches: I actually finished these FIVE MINUTES before the presentation began.Yes, you heard correctly. I actually "ran out of time" because I saved them for the last. Coloring doesn't take that long right? WRONG...especially when you don't know what color each look is supposed to be. :) I had 12 looks in total but only presented 8 because I didn't have time to finish the other 4 looks.
That weekend I had the least amount of sleep I had ever had. EVER. Friday I was in the studio from 9:00 AM until midnight. I don't know what time I tried to go to sleep. That Saturday I left my house around 8:30 AM and didn't go back until 3:00 AM. "Saturday night" I went to sleep at 4:00 AM and was back up at 7:00 to head back to the studio. Sunday was the most wild. I was quite devoid of rest. I was running on willpower alone! That afternoon I finished my top.
It was the longest night. I also helped two of my friends study for their exams...while working on my digital sketches. One venti chai later, I gained my strength back and sketched on. 3:00 AM turned into 4:00 AM; 4:00 AM turned into 5:00 AM; and so on until I decided to take a nap at 5:45 AM. BLONK! BLONK! It's 7 AM and the grind never stopped, work continued til' that presentation at 10:00 AM.
When I gave that presentation...my head was spinning from the lack of sleep that I had. I powered through anyway...Chai Lattes are one of God's greatest gifts.
At 1:15 PM EST December 11, 2018, I was free...free to take a very, very, very long nap.
Rest up Narwahls,
Natalie D.
P.S. Team No Sleep, I quit.