Thursday, May 26, 2016

Fashion Industry Studies: Retail Marketing

Guys !!!! I'm almost done with my Fashion Industry Studies course! This time, my assignment was to go to the mall and take note of different store layouts and item placement and then to take a picture of a particularly interesting display at a store. This was harder than I thought it would be because it's actually really awkward to be standing there taking pictures of a store while people walk around you lmao. Anyway, so I ended up taking this picture of Francesca's jewelry display on my way out of the mall:


Their store layout works really well because 1) the first thing you see is the eye-catching jewelry, which is usually more affordable (and in this case even more so because it was 50% off). It's a smart way to ensure that people will be more likely to buy things. Another thing that works about their store layout is that they tend to categorize clothing by color schemes, rather than types of clothing. It's visually appealing!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Fashion Industry Studies: Production Standards

Alright friends, this is gonna be a short little tiny post. Basically, if you ever go shopping and whatever you're trying on fits a little snug or a little loose, before you try on the next size up or down, you should try on another of the same pair in the same size because manufacturers allow up to a 1/2" variation. It's just a nice little tip they mentioned in my Fashion Industry Studies course and it's also something my mom always told me growing up! To illustrate this, I tried on a few pairs of the same pants in the exact same size:


those two pants were literally the exact same size, but the one on top was about a 1/2" larger around the waist.


Fashion Industry Studies: My Audience

Hey guys! For my Teen Vogue / Parsons class I'm supposed to research  statistics for all my social media channels, including this here blog. The truth is I've always made it a point to be at least a little aware of how well my accounts were doing. It's hard not to care in this day and age. I remember in 2013, when one of my friends told me she had 8k followers on tumblr and I immediately decided that needed to be my next goal because at the time, I only had 2k. Or when I started this blog and I made it my everything. I used to spend 4+ every morning working on content just so that I could have at the very least one post up every day because I had a clear goal in mind and it was fantastic. Of course, I eventually had to stop because of other obligations, i.e. working two jobs to save up for NYC + when I got my kitten and I needed to constantly be watching over her. Still, it was actually very interesting. and I still love learning about the statistics of my social media. I'm hopefully going to be spending more time focusing on better curating my social media + blog in the next few months!

Here are a few of my stats with explanations:



let's start with Twitter, right now I have 850. Last week I had 856, the week before 859 and I know this because 1) I keep track of it, and 2) I'm well aware I started losing followers when I stopped talking about Taylor Swift so much and when I started talking about other, more relevant topics in my life currently. But along with that, I'm also aware that the only reason I gained so many followers so quickly was because Taylor Swift noticed me on tumblr and the whole thing with meeting her in Denver happened. That night was when I gained 200+ followers.

As for tumblr, I currently have two blogs (one for aesthetic + art + personal posts and my older blog, an ex-person blog, for Taylor Swift posts) We'll start with the older blog:


With this tumblr blog, I actually accumulated the followers over time. I've had the blog for a little over 5 years, in 2013 I had 2k followers, but by mid 2014 I had around 4k, then after Taylor Swift joined tumblr and an influx of new fans joined the blogging platform, I gained an additional 8k. In 2015, I stopped using this blog for personal posts and I lost around 2k followers, but I've been steadily regaining them probably since my blog is strictly a fan blog now and not a personal blog. Some people prefer that. I'm simply catering to a different audience.


My second tumblr blog is my personal account, which I only created around 7 months ago. I only have 81 followers so far, but I've found that I gain more followers by posting original content, i.e. personal artwork and scans from my sketchbook and when I message other bloggers and start a conversation. It's a lot like how I started out when I created my first tumblr blog.This one more closely reflects who I am as a person and what my personal aesthetic is like. It's more similar to what my old tumblr blog was before I decided to turn it into a fan blog.


As for this Simply Ceci blog, I always get more views immediately after posting. That's why it's better to actually post just one or two posts a day, several days in a row rather than posting several posts at once on one day. That was the views are more spread out and people can keep coming back to check if there is a new post.  I've also found that advertising posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram helps get more views because then my readers are aware that there's new content up. As you can tell, my most recent posts have been getting between 20-30 views, which is actually more than older posts were getting, but also less than my posts were getting last Spring, when I was consistently posting every day. This is something I really need to work on.

Now, for Instagram I have the most information thanks to iconosquare (Teen Vogue/Parsons actually suggested I use Hootsuite, but it was too confusing for me, so I decided to find what worked for me)



With Instagram, I've been steadily increasing followers over the last few years. One thing I've noticed is that I tend to gain more followers as I increase my use of hashtags. This is something my friends with large followings have told me worked for them as well.


It's also a good idea to post only one picture a day, every day. As you can see from the graphs above, my pictures tend to keep getting likes/comments up until 16 hours after I post the picture, for this reason is better to just post one picture a day. That way people are more likely to like/comment on both, rather than just picking one. For even more notes it's better if I post at night, especially on Mondays around 9pm.


As for content, above I'm showing you my most liked and most commented posts ever. It seems that big events tend to get more likes than regular every day scenes. For example, the time I met Taylor Swift, the time I cut 12" off my hair, the time I got accepted to FIT, and my birthday are all in my most commented. As for my more recent posts,


Since Instagram's update where pictures are no longer in chronological order I've been getting significantly less likes, my average is now around 60-70 as opposed to the 100+ used to get. However, my picture from Coachella (another big event) has more likes than the rest of my pictures.

As a side note, oe thing I personally love doing is keeping with a color scheme or theme every season. For example, last Winter my posts included lots of washed out shades of blue as well as burgundy and white. Last Spring, my colors were pastel tones with lots of grey and white. the Summer after that my posts were very focused around the color green (mint, olive, jade, etc.) as well as bright, neon pink. Lately, my posts have been centered around darker colors and I'm hoping to lighten up my aesthetic for summer.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Fashion Industry Studies: Bag Mockup

For my Fashion Industry Studies course, one of my assignments was to create a mockup of a bag that I previously designed in another lesson. I'm then supposed to make a finished version of the bag in striped fabric. Along with the mockup, I had to select which fabrics I'll use for the finished product as well as determine how much fabric I will need. I decided I'll need about 1.5 yds. of this lightweight vegan leather, which I will paint stripes on with gold fabric paint. For the lining, I will need 3/4 yd. and I will use this silk lining fabric. Below is a picture of the mockup I made using tissue paper, and below that is a chart describing how much it would cost to make the bag + the estimated retail price!



Monday, May 9, 2016

May Playlist: My Little Ribs Around You


The title is an interesting one. I've been listening to a lot of witch house lately, which is something I never thought I'd say lmao. I actually got the title for this mix from a lyric in the song Fineshrine by Purity Ring. You see, I've liked their music for quite some but now I have a special place in my heart for them. I don't know if it was the fact that I hadn't had anything to eat besides a couple popsicles and coffee for over 24 hours, or if it was their net of lights and the entire sensory experience, but I only remember fragments of seeing them live as if it was some sort of weird dream. I remember the hair style of the girl in front of me, I remember thinking I didn't have the energy to dance but dancing anyway, I remember stumbling over somebody on my way out. But enough about that, my favorite thing lately is listening to/reading random interviews from artists whose music I'm really into because I feel like I can appreciate their work even more if I can appreciate them as a person. So anyway, the other day I was reading an interview from Purity Ring and they were explaining this song, how it's a love song but it's not overtly so. It's literally about inviting someone into your heart, into your life without ever saying it. So, I put together this little mixtape of some of the songs I've been listening to most lately, particularly when I'm drawing.

Tracks:

  1. Fineshrine - Purity Ring
  2. I Think I Love You - Waxahatchee
  3. First Love Never Die - Soko
  4. A Summer Song - Conner Youngblood
  5. Dives - Alvvays
  6. Genesis - Grimes
  7. Patience - The Lumineers
  8. Please Be Naked - The 1975
  9. Such Words - Ghostly Kisses
  10. First Love / Late Spring - Mitski
  11. Korean Food - Frankie Cosmos
  12. Intro / Flowers - Grimes
  13. bodyache - Purity Ring
and you can listen to the playlist right over HERE.

the exciting news


Alright friends, so at this I'm pretty much positive you all already know but if you didn't already know, I got accepted to the Fashion Institute of Technology for Fashion Design!!!! I've been super excited about it, planning away, thinking of things I need to see in New York City and friends I will definitely meet up with. I've also started forming a mental list of all the concerts I want to attend there, which is probably not the smartest idea because if I could, I would spend every last penny on music. Anyway, so I'm moving August 26th! It was originally supposed to be the 20th, but then the Twilight Concert Series was announced and my girl Grimes is playing on the 25th... I wasn't about to miss that lmao. But irl friends, we should definitely meet up before I leave!

I'm thinking I'll make a long post about my portfolio and the application process pretty soon because when I was starting the process I honestly could not find a lot of resources from current students and it was definitely stressful to feel like I didn't know what I was doing. I might also make a video because I actually found the few videos I did find on youtube were the most informative. Maybe I'll just start a series on FIT when the school year comes around.

Fashion Industry Studies: Cactus Twig Necklace


So as you guys might know, I've been working on and off on my Fashion Industry Studies course from Teen Vogue and Parsons School of Design. I don't actually have that much time left to finish it, so I've been working on it more than usual lately. Anyway, the other day my assignment was to create an accessory using things I had on hand and inspired by a collage of pictures I took off inspiring things directly around me, which I'll show you below.


For this project, I was particularly inspired by the cactus pictures, the lace, and the color of that lovely mint candle. For my found materials I used kitchen twine, a plastic grocery bag, acrylic paint, lollipop sticks, staples, and glue. The flower was definitely my favorite part because I just got to sit there and figure out how to make something beautiful out of something so terribly ordinary and I loved painting it.


For the second part of this project, my assignment was to figure out how much it essentially cost to make by hand vs. bulk production. I definitely expected bulk to be much cheaper, and I was right about that. The first graph below is the cost of it made by hand and using materials I had:


This other graph shows the cost of production if I were to buy materials in bulk and have it mass produced: