Merch Ideas - Week 6

Hello guys! This is week 6 of the blitz project. The ‘blitz’ project is a project that will end up showcasing a blend of fashion and music by displaying and making/designing clothing articles and accessories inspired by music.

LAST WEEK

I have posted five other blog updates for the past couple of weeks which you can check out in the blog section under the ‘BLITZ’ category. Last week I previewed some designs on my blog posts and wrote about the music that inspired them. You should definitely check it out.

NOW

This week, I actually received the 'not alone' hoodie and it is really comfortable. I love that the hoodie can make a statement as well. As for the project this week, I started working on 'merch' ideas. This might also change throughout the next few weeks since it's easier for the time being that I create 'merch' designs for artists instead of outfit inspirations and such. With that idea I thought I could design not just shirt designs that would focus/match with that song, but I can also create accessories. After doing research, I noticed that a lot of fans of big time bands and celebrities prefer merchandise that they can wear on the daily/casual rather than a concert t-shirt that has the artist's face.

Selena G. and Neon Trees Tour Sunglasses

Then, I remembered when I went to concerts and had VIP packages, they gave out sunglasses (as shown) and those were the kind of items that the fans were talking about. I can pretty much wear the glasses any day and no one would notice it's from a band until they look at the name on the sides.

Ariana Grande 'buwyg,ib' inspired scrunchie

Since t-shirts with the faces on them don't really match with many things, the fans were saying that they prefer to have a connection on merchandise that fans would be able to notice (brand like), but wouldn't be as noticeable as a face on the t-shirt. I took these thoughts and made some accessories and designs that can go with different things.

For example, the scrunchie (hair accessory) on the right is a reference to Ariana Grande's "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored" new song. I chose the phrase "i'm bored" because it seems like the typical forever 21 type of material that girls would wear. However, since it is a hair accessory, no on but the fans would be able to tell or people can notice the wording if they take a closer look. I also chose light purple and pink for the color since that is much like the 'sweetener' album and it might also come in yellow since that goes with the album too. I was also thinking of adding pictures on the scrunchie to be more Ariana Grande tour like merchandise.

I also created a charm like bracelet for the song "Piece by Piece" by Kelly Clarkson. I decided on a charm bracelet with broken heart pieces because the lyrics of the song was about how she found the missing pieces that could fill the "whole".

"Piece by Piece" charm bracelet inspired by Kelly Clarkson's song

And I think whether the charms are in one bracelet or two, the meaning behind it can be finding the missing pieces of the 'whole' in you or someone. Which is why I think it works best as a jewelry piece. And I could make the design as accurate as I wanted it to be, but this design is just an idea of what it could be.

OBSTACLES

This week also had some issues due to time. There were several big projects in my other classes and I wasn't able to spend as much time on this project as I would've liked to this week. However, I do think about the project on a daily in to what I think should be the next idea, so that helped a lot in filling in the missing time gaps.

PROGRESS

This week really slowed down my project since I had planned to get more done, but I still made some progress. As for the coming weeks, I still plan on continuing to visualize music video outfits/ accessories for one specific song. Due to the time, and me needing to get a video of the project, I think on song might have to do. Unless I think of a few songs and create a mix to use for the video this week. As for next week, I think I will show a video update of what it looks like so far and more accessory designs.

Thanks for keeping up these past couple of weeks. Feel free to reach out if you have comments or questions about the project.