According to Donatella Versace, “fashion is about dreaming and making other people dream.”
Ok it is a new season and you have to design your collection. Except you just finished last season and your creative juices are running a bit thin.
Wouldn’t you love to be consistently creative?
The truth, though, is that we all get stuck from time to time. So here is what I do when I need to turn on my creativity.
First, I submerge myself in inspiration.
I look at the runways, on line, pinterest, magazines, museums, movies, stores, pretty much any and everything that gives me ideas. Then I start to see a thread develop and my vision takes form.
Second, I start to focus in on what I truly find exciting. From there I create. The more ideas I have the better. And I don’t censor them. I throw a lot on the board before even think about narrowing in.
“Studies from the University of California Davis and MIT have shown that groups who produce a large amount of bad ideas also tend to produce the most amount of good ideas as well.”
Sometimes having no inspiration and living totally in my head helps me create ideas.
I find hiking, driving a car, or even taking a shower is where I get some of my best ideas from. Doing something that I can do on auto pilot is also a great way for me to get my brain to start dreaming. (Just don’t space out while driving!)
Another tool that I hear works well is to just start.
Writers for example will start writing anything just to fill a page in order to get themselves in the mindset. For a fashion designer that might be just starting to sketch and see what comes from it.
Finally if all else fails, walk away.
Just like there is writers block, there can be designers block. Instead of pressuring yourself to the point where your mind is a blank, do something else completely different and then come back to it totally refreshed.
After all, we aren’t robots. Although creativity comes more naturally to some people than others, you still can’t expect to be constantly “in the zone.” Give yourself a break and let the inspiration occur!
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