Fashion Design Tutorial: How to Develop Your Brand Aesthetic (What are House Codes?)

hey hey party people a while back i asked y'all across my social media what your video requests were and this video's topic has the most votes and i will read it can you make a video on how to define your brand's aesthetic like finding your voice as a designer in the industry when you're opening your own fashion company and how to stand out in the crowd how to develop and find that one thing that makes you unique and is hard for competition to take away okay and i got a lot of requests similar to this one as well before we start i just want to say that you can't stop the copiers okay if you're doing something cool someone will try to copy you okay it's just the nature of the industry you just have to do the best version okay so without further ado let's get into it first by discussing brand aesthetics and house codes of some famous fashion houses and then discuss what we can learn from them first up what is a brand's aesthetic it's basically the style of a brand that has been cultivated using the company ethos the customer profile and the creative director's vision what are house codes house codes are specific shapes colors fabrics imaging details used by a brand repeatedly to help visually establish their aesthetic to the world especially their customers okay you know house codes they're not just cute stuff i like quote unquote house codes are about heritage house codes are imbued with meaning and history house codes reference the designer's muse and customers house codes visually define the brand through repetition regardless of who the creative director is okay let's go over a few houses and their codes this won't be a deep dive but a little smattering so you can get the general idea let's talk about lamban's aesthetic and house codes i'd say that lavvan's house aesthetic can be summed up in one word romantic a sweet lusciousness sumptuous materials rich feminine details all with a romantic air now let's touch on some of the specific house codes that help build this romantic aesthetic and in no particular order number one jean-long van's family especially her daughter is a central pillar of the london house codes the lamban logo is that of a mother and child it's jean-long van herself with her daughter marguerite and modern iterations of the logo still retain the distinct mother and daughter design and it's used in logos and also in prints jean lavonne has said that she found her daughter continuously inspiring that her daughter was her muse and referenced her family in her collections the lambon daisy motif is symbolic of her daughter and is occasionally called the marguerite daisy number two hats jean lavan got started creating hats during an apprenticeship when she was 16 and opened her own millinery studio in 1889 she would make clothes for her daughter marguerite and people would ask her to make adult-sized versions of these ensembles so london expanded her business into dressmaking number three lavon blue aka cuatro sento blue was inspired by a frangelico fresco in florence that lavon once visited in her travels in the 1920s she even opened her own dye factory to produce this shade which is a house staple other lambang house codes include lavvun's love of art deco she even opened a home decor shop in paris with an architect and designer who also helped lavon design her own house using of course copious amounts of lumber and blue if you watch my fashion history videos then you already know about lamban's robe to steal dresses as an alternative to the straighter flapper silhouettes of the 20s for homework go look at some of alber albaz's collections for lam van and see how he had masterfully recreated that lavon romance and included some of the house codes while interpreting them in a modern way la van is not the only house that was so inspired by a color that they incorporated into their brand and some some of these colors are now official pantone colors there's patu blue valentino red schiaparelli pink and lms orange speaking of hermes let's talk about emma's hermes began as a small harness workshop in paris which explains their logo and how they branched out from leather harnesses to other leather goods modern collections still hark back to hermes's equestrian roots ms packaging was originally beige and gold imitation pigskin and then later mustard and brown still in imitation pigskin during world war ii many materials were unavailable or tightly rationed including the materials used to make this imitation pigskin and along with more neutral dyes but paper products were available orange dye was available and etvela a fantastic example of restrictions spurring creative solutions that elevate the original speaking of war shortages inspiring creativity let's touch on gucci a bit gucci was founded by a man named guccio gucci which explains the double g logo gucci's visual aesthetic has undulated in stylistic markers over the years under different creative directors but the common themes are that of opulence a sense of rich otherworldiness and a heightened display of each era sense of sexuality more overt and dirty with tom ford romantic and lush with frida giannini more gender fluid and quirky with michaeli capturing each era's zeitgeist back in the day guccio gucci had worked at the savoy a hotel in london where he had been inspired by the aesthetic of the english racing set and this sparked a long history of using equestrian-inspired shapes and details overlaid on top of the general aura of prestige sport and wealth the double g print on cotton with the red and green stripe was a design improvisation as a result of material shortages during yes again world war ii forcing the house to start using cotton for their goods that red and green stripe is now so ingrained in gucci visual storytelling that the gucci movie trailer graphics featured the red and green stripe and yes i'm very excited to watch the gucci movie the versace aesthetic is bold and sexy featuring strong colors and prints heavy on the gold both in the color and the metal versace women exude strength sometimes to the point of being intimidating but in a very sexy way the medusa head is an instantly recognizable symbol of the versace brand as is that grecca border motif jennifer sachet grew up in a part of southern italy that remained highly influenced by ancient greek culture and tradition and this versace iconography comes from gianni versace's childhood memories of exploring ancient ruins and they mark much of their merchandise from ready to wear shoes bags bedding everything this influence also lends to other often seen versace hallmarks such as slinky dresses inspired by ancient greek kittens and pleats armor shapes and leather strappings inspired by ancient greek warriors and you know you can't have an isse miyaki collection without pleats and you know chanel codes are fairly well known at this point pearls watches hats black and white tweed chains with ribbons running through them camellias her favorite flower padded or quilted looks in both clothing and accessories you know so now we've gone over some of that let's discuss what we can learn from the big name fashion houses on how to develop your own aesthetic and house codes number one you can't fake the funk i mean inspiration you can't fake the inspiration you don't choose inspiration inspiration chooses you if you look at something or experience something and you don't feel the urge to create sketch so doodle if it doesn't make you follow a wandering path of ideas that thing is literally not inspiring you and therefore literally cannot be your inspiration well then zoe how do i find inspiration take something that is true to you and your roots when it's personal when it's rooted in who you are as a person and your personal experiences beyond who you are as a designer no one can take that away from you how many houses did we talk about earlier that started with leather goods and horse stuff but each added their own aesthetics to growing their brands yeah i said horse stuff it's it's horse stuff okay in the examples i talked about earlier many of those designers embrace things organically in their lives their families their childhood homes their travels their favorite things go live your lives but also get out of the house and open your eyes to the world around you and pay attention go visit gardens and museums don't just look at fashion stuff travel if you can be a tourist in your own city watch movies daydream sketch listen to music document everything expose yourself to many things and see what calls you if you can't find something to be passionate about find something you're curious about and follow that path of questions and research drop me a comment if you want a video on inspiration and tell me your specific questions about inspiration i'll drop some links on videos on concept development and mood boards in the description box number two practice designing for students this means going from rough sketches all the way to tech packs for those of you trying to start companies by practicing design i mean go all the way from vague rough sketch to complete garment or accessory worn by a person doodling ideas in a sketchbook is not practicing design you have to work out the logistics of getting something made for it to be true practice you don't practice running by looking out at the track an idea without execution is only a daydream every time we do a new design project we learn something new we learn something about what we like what we don't like we learn about our aesthetic preferences as much as we learn about the practical logistics of design and as you practice you'll find yourself gravitating towards certain looks fabrics colors shapes prints all of that and that my friends is your aesthetic your style beginning to emerge and if you're sitting there on zomling i already know what i like listen often we don't know what we don't know in high school it was gowns gowns gowns i left a lot of things about fashion but i really only wanted to design gowns especially wedding gowns and then when i got to fashion school i fell in love with working with denim and leather there are still two of my favorite materials to work with and i still love gowns but in a completely different way completely different aesthetic from before and you know what i thought i would always hate menswear nope and i thought swimwear would be fun nope and so on and so on and i didn't need school for this per se but i did need to do a bunch of different projects to learn these things about myself do lots of practice design projects with difficult prompts and stick to the brief whether you write that brief yourself or get an assignment at school number three you can start with a single item category everyone thinks it's some new funky marketing forward way of doing business and the old school way was to start doing full runway shows no listen if you have the money and you can start with full collections but it's not the only viable option lavan and chanel started with hats schiaparelli started with a single sweater ralph lauren started by selling neckties prada gucci hermes all started in small leather goods louis vuitton made trunks and now they're all huge brands with many many product categories but they all started with one diane von furstenberg started with one wrap dress the lingerie sector has new companies disrupting the industry every day by starting with one amazing bra one amazing panty pick a category you're obsessively in love with if you're not obsessively in love with it don't even bother okay pick one you're obsessively in love with do your research perfect a small group of offerings be great at your thing be noteworthy at your thing and expand slowly and this is merging points two and three but don't launch your brand with the first thing you've ever designed but zoe i have this concept and i'm building my empire around my concept okay yeah but are you sure there aren't better ways of creating that more beautiful or different iterations more efficient more cost effective with better materials more locally sourced for shorter shipping times put down your ego and really analyze number four you don't need to reinvent the wheel every collection in fact you shouldn't you should take your favorite themes your most popular themes and rework them into new iterations over and over again to start building your signature your house codes if you watch the documentary unzipped which chronicles isaac mizrahi's rise and fall then you already know that part of the reason why he went bankrupt is he refused to give customers what they wanted because he was like irony did that okay but seriously how many versions of the chanel camellia have you seen and they still continue to be wildly popular after all these years i'd like you to think about your brand as a book every collection is a chapter in the book the content of each chapter is new and different than the one before but it's still part of the same story it's a continuation of the same story now you may be thinking but zoe my teacher hates it when i repeat something project to project they always tell me to do something new well yes when you're in school the point is to push yourself to the outer reaches of your creativity to explore under a guiding hand to play as much as possible until you start discovering what works for you what doesn't what's unique what's not all those things those are your beginning stages but once you've understood your design style you can start playing with repeating themes number five define your customer and let that be the backbone of your whole company i go into this more deeply in a video i'll link in the description box below who is your customer but i also talk about this all the time you can't have a cohesive brand aesthetic and business direction if you're not keeping your customer in mind you have probably already seen or read interviews with designers talking about who the versace woman is or who the chanel woman is etc etc number six don't let restrictions limitations so-called problems stop you from creating something great even iconic the next time your teacher wants you to work on a project you don't want to do the next time your money guy says you need to tighten up your budget the next time you don't want to do something because sustainability cramps your style i want you to think about hermes being told uh my dude the world is at war and we don't care about your fancy imitation pigskin boxes figure it out creativity doesn't actually thrive when someone is allowed to do whatever design things it never occurred to you to design design categories that don't interest you challenge yourself to make it interesting design with very very cheap fabrics i was forced to follow design briefs i initially hated while i was in school but i am a far better designer for it if you do things that are only easy to you you'll never grow it's like working out you have to do all the reps you have to increase the weights you lift you have to bike more miles to grow your muscles but the soreness you feel is literally your muscles breaking apart to grow stronger do that with your brain and that's it for today please give this video a thumbs up if you learned something new today it really does help my channel subscribe share this video with your fellow designers and drop your questions and video requests below check the description box for links to related videos and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: Zoe Hong

Views: 95,376

Keywords: branding, branding your business, zoe hong, zoehongteaches, zoe hong fashion design tutorial, fashion design, fashion brands, fashion brand, fashion house codes, brand aesthetic, fashion design tutorial, inspiration, fashion business, hermes, lanvin, gucci, versace, valentino, chanel, schiaparelli

Id: qPumkqeRrY4

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 03 2021