A Summer Mood Board

One of the things I really wish had been available to me when I was in fashion school was more information on interview portfolio materials and what real fashion designers show in their interviews. Of course there are sketches, illustrations, and flats, but I think one of the things I found most bewildering was the mood board. Now, I know we've discussed many a sample fashion project here before, but since I've been getting so excited about the approach of summer, I decided today was a good day for a brand new sample mood board, complete with colors as well.

Each company and design team has a different preference for how they show their seasonal inspiration. Some like more photos of "attitudes" (re: images of their target customer that may or may not actually include photos of garments) while others prefer more color inspiration or tear sheets of actual garments. Today I tried to hit on all of those elements. In the paragraph below you'll find the requisite image reference links.

Scalopped swimsuit | Watercolor Dots | Watercolor Stripes | Pink Palm Trees | Yellow Beach Umbrellas | Pink Sunglasses | Turq Revo Aviators | Flower Embellishment | Paper Scallops | Ladies in Shades | Teal Palm Trees | Horizontal Stripes | Lady on the Beach | Flamingo in the Pool | Popsicle | Grapefruits.

The above image is what I would propose as the summer color palette. Essentially here I used the eye dropper tool in Illustrator to pull the colors I thought best represented my mood board. Ideally, I would have matched these to pantone colors and called out their exact color reference number, but I find that a very few people have the time or the access to do so. In lieu of such luxuries, a good, color correct printer will do just fine. I placed all the chips in neat rows with names beneath (again, this would be a color code if you have one), in sort of rainbow order with all the neutrals at the bottom. To add a little cohesion to the whole thing, I used a sand background so that it would sort of link back to the mood board. On other projects, I've used the same background for mood board, color story, fabrics, and trims. I feel like it does lend a unified look.

So...there you go! All you people who find this site from googling "sample fashion project," I hope this helps!