Nicole Coates - Meeting to discuss brief

Posted: Saturday 5 February 2011 | Posted by Adam Townend | Labels: ,

Today I had the chance to meet with Nicole, a fashion designer, to discuss the identity brief I am producing for her. From the outset she explained her fashion line would be referred to as Collie Co, which I had reservations to as it just sounded cheap and uninspiring, however Nicole seemed intent on having the name.

She explained that she was inspired by machinery and her style of clothes could be referred to as designer diffusion, which I researched into and found this

A diffusion fashion line is the name for an accessible ready-to-wear line for the masses produced by a major designer who usual sells expensive couture. It all started when designers began creating diffusion lines of their own labels like D&G by Dolce & Gabbana and Gianni Versace’s Versace Jeans Couture. In the past few years, the new trend is for designers to create fashion lines for discount chains and department stores such as Vera Wang’s Simply Vera line for Kohl’s. But are these diffusion lines all they are cracked up to be? Before you put down your hard-earned cash for a name on a label, weigh the pros and cons for yourself.


Nicole went on to say that she wanted the brand to have an industrialised feel but the products would be aimed at expensive market.

She suggested a grunge type identity with an element of craft and a typewriter style font.

To me this all seemed to go against some of the other things Nicole said. If she did create these lines with the intention of selling them to the higher classes as the designer diffusion suggests, then she would need an identity that had a quirky element but was arranged in a way that could be easily digested and understood by her market. I haven't seen any top end brands with a grunge style logo for a reason. Grungy logos are kept for skate and teenage angst brands.

To top it all off Nicole also suggested Greys, oranges and chrome for the colour palette.

I think this one needs a little work. I will attempt to work with these ideas to develop ideas but I need to rethink what she has suggested and come up with a way that this could work. Perhaps two routes might be the best way and persuade her that my preferred route is the best way forward.

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