Case Study, Jacket Design
I love getting the chance to work with physical mediums, especially acrylic paint, and have really taken to painting denim jackets! For the last two concerts I attended, Taylor Swift and Ghost, I designed and painted denim jackets for me and my friends.
Taylor Swift, Eras Tour Jackets
Project Brief
For Taylor Swift’s the Eras Tour, I designed and painted jackets for me and my friend Taylor (we find a lot of irony in her name) based on our favorite albums, lyrics, and Swiftie traditions.
Process
I started by sketching ideas of the different jacket elements before I transferred them to the jacket in pencil and started painting.
Both of the backs of our jackets feature aspects of our favorite albums, the left sleeves depict favorite lyrics, the breast pockets are detailed with the number 13 (Swift’s lucky number) and small song references, and each of our jackets boast either stars or guitar picks representing her studio albums. Guitar picks for Taylor, as she loves Swift’s country eras the best, and stars for mine, as a reference to the album Midnights and the lyrics “you drew stars around my scars” from the song Cardigan.
Challenges & Takeaway
Coming up with multiple elements that would look well and fit together on a wearable piece took a bit of thinking and redesigning in the early stages, but seeing the look on Taylor’s face when she saw the final product and all of the compliments we received reassured me that they were well executed.
Ghost, Reimperatour Jacket
Project Brief
For Ghost’s Reimperatour I attended this year for my 21st birthday, I wanted to design a jacket in tribute to them and to my favorite aspects of the current head of the band. While the lead singer, Tobias Forge, has been with the band since he created it in the early 2000’s, he always introduces a new “Papa” to head the band, who he then plays on stage in full costume!
Process
I started by sketching ideas of the different jacket elements before I transferred them to the jacket in pencil and started painting. I had a lot of potential design directions, ranging from pieces inspired by the band's merch to my final design featuring Papa’s grucifix.
I focused on representing my favorite Papa (Papa Emeritus IV) on the back of the jacket with his grucifix and did a small nod off to his on stage outfits with the inner lining mimicking the inner lining of his suit jackets. Color choice on the back design was also influenced by his sparkly blue and gold suit jackets.
Challenges & Takeaway
The hardest things about this jacket was actually making the decision of what design direction I wanted to go in. All of my ideas paid homage to Papa and the band, so it took outside opinions to help narrow it down to the final product. Seeing my favorite band live for the first time with a unique piece
of merchandise that I designed made the night even better!