Fashion Faceoff: Kimberly McLinden's Vantage Concept

Strategy April 05, 2016

Fashion Faceoff: Kimberly McLinden's Vantage Concept

For the Wearables Fashion Faceoff contest, we asked six juniors at Moore College of Art & Design to come up with embroidery or screen-printing concepts to embellish a garment offered by Vantage Apparel. The designs are meant to complement athleisure outfits the students have been creating throughout the school year. As part of the contest’s educational aim, we encouraged representatives of Vantage to provide feedback on the students’ concepts and make suggestions on how best to translate them to their chosen medium.

Kimberly McLinden sketched out an image of a rose, with thorny stems winding around the flower, to complement her “sports luxe” athleisure concept. She envisioned the rose being embroidered onto the front pocket of a hoodie, with the thorns snaking out from underneath the kangaroo pocket. The rose and thorn pattern would be repeated on the back of the garment as well.

Diana Mumm, creative director for Vantage, suggested its lightweight jersey knit pullover (3293) for McLinden’s design. Embroidery on the pocket would be feasible, she noted, but it would damage its functionality. Another option would be to screen print the design over the pocket area, incorporating crystallina ink to add shimmer or using a metallic ink in gold or silver, she said. For the back of the garment, embroidery would also be feasible, up to 12” by 12”.

Based on Mumm’s feedback, McLinden opted to screen print the rose in gold ink on the pocket, so it would remain functional. The vines and stems would be embroidered in dark green with black outlines, and the thorns would be rendered in a lustrous bronze thread. On the back, the rose and thorn pattern would be done as embroidery in gold, bronze, black and green thread.

Check out the below slideshow to see the evolution of McLinden’s design for Vantage.