Friday, November 28, 2008

Final Vol. Hermes report

According to Hermes’ previous Women Fall collections, the color presentation keeps changing in a stable process and safe situation. Black is the must in color presentation in each collection. However, its using proportion has been reducing. In 07 Fall collection, two third of the collection was black in color. Next year, black dominates half of the Fall collection. In fact, not only the Fall collections, black also is a must in Spring collections. But, its dominating proportion is shared by white. Hermes 09 Spring collection had been made public recently; we can see that black and white share two firth of the collection only. Therefore, using of black in future Fall collection will be continuously fewer, but still will be a must. In my collection, black is used in a one third proportion in order to keep this tradition.

Following black, earth tone is a symbolic color in Hermes’ collections, both Spring and Fall. It is a must in every collection, but its value keeps changing from low to high. In 07 Fall collection, shaded and dark brown were everywhere. However, in 08 Fall collection, there is a great change in value and chroma of earth tone. Deep brown is nearly disappeared, and is being replaced by brown-orange, red-brown, and light brown. Besides, apricot, the “Spring dominator of color”, begins to invade in Fall collection with low value. In fact, the proportion of earth tone is increasing in which begins to take the dominating place of black in Fall collections. As in 08 Fall collection, earth tone share half of the collection. Therefore, using of earth tone with high value in future Fall collection will be continuously more. In my collection, earth tone dominates half of it. I choose brown-orange and red-brown as their value is suitably high enough to make this collection fresh. Moreover, normal brown is also used in a little proportion; on the shoes, in order to keep a balance. As I mentioned before, apricot is chosen at small proportion. Since, it is a Spring color according to Hermes’ tradition, it should not be too much in a Fall collection. Although it will be used with a high possibility in the future, it can be a decorative color only in Fall collection.

Apart from earth tone, two other colors always appear flashy: olive and steelblue. They seldom appear together in Fall collections, but separately. However, we can find them in 09 Spring collection. In fact, they will be included in the future Fall collection together. Firstly, their value is not too high, which is suitable to Hermes’ tradition of Fall collection. Secondly, Hermes’ Fall collection begins to be dominated by earth tone instead of black. Earth tone, olive and steelblue are natural colors. Adding them in the collection will be an inevitable trend which can be shown in 09 Spring collection. Therefore, I put olive and steelblue in my collection: one being a decorative color, another is a main color. In fact, their proportion in my collection is quite large, as I think Hermes will not satisfy with full of one tone in one collection. In Hermes’ website, products with steelblue are displayed on the first page of some of the categories. It shows that Hermes value steelblue so much.

Grey can be easily found in Hermes’ collections. Its proportion in Fall collection is larger than Spring one. As Hermes’ Fall collection keeps changing from low value to high value, I choose light grey in my collection. However, it disappears in 09 Spring collection. Therefore, I reduce its proportion in my collection as a decorative color.
Last but not least, I put violet in my collection will be the traditional surprise of Hermes. There is always a special color used in each collection. For instant, 07 Fall collection has a garment in blue with high chroma, while 08 Fall collection has a garment in olive. In fact, we can not find violet in Hermes’ previous collections, even the latest 09 Spring collection. It is very suitable to be the new color used in future Fall collection. The violet I chose has low value, which follows the tradition of Hermes in Fall collection. Besides, using violet is a world trend. Hermes is an international fashion brand; although it is a traditional brand, it has been kept changing recently. Therefore, using violet is not a strange surprise in future Fall collection.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Vol.14 Gaultier's dress code

Jean-Paul Gaultier (born April 24, 1952, in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne) ,a French fashion designer and past television presenter, has been Hermès creative director since 2003.






It's very interesting to find that Gaultier, just like you, indulges in black. These photos are taken after the fashion show of Hermes. It shows that he dress in black every time. However, when I visit his website, I find that his works are not as monotone as he dresses; mostly are colorful and attractive.

Gaultier's official website: http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Vol.13 Class Ex.6

(a) Concumers' lifestyle & mass customization


Schoolmate A

Lifestyle: Simple, love reading and singing, dislike stimulus
Mass Customization: Planned buying, like big sales
Color Preferences identify: Black, deep blue, brown (She likes shade hues actually)



Schoolmate B
Lifestyle: Aggressive, hate losing, love dancing and playing PSP & Wii
Mass Customization: love outlets, may indulge in impulse buying
Color Preferences identify: Red, orange, white (She likes orange-yellow actually)



(b) Designing a feedback form

1. Do you have a specifically favourite color?

2. Do you prefer shade color?

3. Do you love nature? (natural colors: green, blue, brown e.t.c)

4. Are you sporty? (Active colors: red, high value blue, white e.t.c.)

5. Do you love simple life? (simple colors: black, white, grey)

6. Do you like summer? (Hot colors: red, orange, yellow e.t.c.)

7. Do you like being "focus"? (Sharp colors: silver, gold, red e.t.c.)

8. Are you a calm person? (Cool colors: blue, purple, deep blue e.t.c.)

9. Do you like futurism? (Metal colors: silver, white, fluorescein e.t.c.)

10. Do you like nostalgia? (Classical colors: brown, cream, walnut e.t.c.)

Monday, November 17, 2008

Vol.12 Hermes=orange?!

When my friends know that my chosen brand is Hermes, their frist response is "Orange!". It shows that "Hermes is orange" has been rooted in people's mind deeply.

However, it is interesting to find that there is little orange in Hermes' fashion collections which are dominated by black and white. Orange can be found in every collection, but mostly are in low value and chroma; nearly brown. In fact, 07 Fall collection had no orange.

I think the reason behind is :Hermes' target consumers are young and middle adults. Most of them think orange is too young and difficult for them to handle. However, orange accessories with small proportion of orange is acceptable. So, orange is Hermes' characteristic color only, but does not mean that everythings Hermes are orange.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Vol.11 Hermes collection color consideration

07 Spring
07 Fall
08 Spring
08 Fall
09 Spring Comparing Spring collections and Fall collections, using of different color in Fall collections is less than that of Spring collections. It means the color variation in Fall collections are little. Besides, we can find black in every collection, while white only appears in Spring collection. And, dominating power of black and earth tone has been shared by steelblue. To sum up, Hermes uses classical and traditional colors, which are safe.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Vol.10 Hermès women fashion collections

07 Spring 07 Fall
07 collections are quite "conservative" in color presentation, especially the fall one. Both collections are dominated by achromatic and earth tones. But, the value in the Spring collection is much higher than that of the Fall one, in which shade is everywhere.



08 Spring

08 Fall
However, 08 Spring collection gives a big surprise; hues with high chroma are used. Although achromatic and earth tones still are the main color presentation in the 08 collections, shade is reducing.


09 Spring

The latest 09 Spring collection shows freshness. The proportion of achromatic color is obviously fewer than the previous collections. Grey even nearly dispears in this collection. Apart from earth tone with high value, other hues with high chroma are being used too.



Achromatic colors and earth tone are used frequently, as Hermès is an long standing and well established brand. The chief designer at Hermes, Gaultier, said that, the most difficult thing in desiging Hermes fashion collection is trying to discover new things while keeping the original and traditional things. Therefore, Hermès keeps changing with keeping.

Photos from http://nymag.com/

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Vol.9 Multi but still mainly orange





When visiting Hermès official website, it is easy to find that there are lots of choices of color, including red, pink, green, blue, brown e.t.c. And, there is no particular tones of hue is being used. It means Hermès is trying to develop multi-color culture among its products. Besides, it is interesting to notice that orange is a must in the choices of color. In fact, other products which have fewer choices of color, have the choice of orange. Therefore, although Hermès has multi-color culture, it is still mainly orange.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Vol.8 Hermès fixing board

Hermès is going to open a now store at Tsim Sha Tsui. The fixing board surrounded is in orange color, which is Hermès characteristic color. It further proves that orange can represent Hermè.