The Ragtime Collection

I am rather frustrated with my Illustration teacher because our midterm project has suddenly become Marketing 101. The assignment:  To create a six-piece line of clothing, describe my target client, make an inspiration board, draw six figures modeling the clothes, tell what fabrics they’re made of, and then sell it to the class as if they were a company that we wanted to produce our line. 

In the first place, this is an Illustration class, not a marketing class.  I even looked in the school catalog to see if I’d missed something somehow. Nope. So did we learn any of this stuff (besides the drawing) in this class? NO. 

In the second place, it has never been my intent to create a line and market it.  If I work in this silly field at all it will be from home, advertised by word of mouth, and for a more personal clientele who come to me to do alterations, make patterns for them, or make them something special. So does this assignment really have anything to do with my goals?  NO.

After wracking my brain for two weeks I finally thought I’d re-draw and use my Maple Leaf Rag dress that I designed clear back in Intro to Fashion, and create an entire “Ragtime Collection” of dresses. My wealthy clients (hey, this is all fiction anyway!) are going to use these dresses at a “100 Years of Scott Joplin” pops gala.  I scrounged up ideas for three more formal, prom-type dresses, to sell to this high-class, wealthy market, and I figured I could probably scrape my brain and come up with another two. 

That is not good enough for my art teacher.  I have to "flesh out" my target clients, and make the clothes marketable to several people rather than something for a one-time occasion. (“Tell why this music inspires you,” she prompts me.  Hmm. Joplin is fun, but not inspiring.  In fact, his music has been jangling in my head since I decided to do this “line” and it’s really annoying me.)  Since I can’t figure out how to make this collection work, or how to market it to people who may have never heard of Scott Joplin (although they have undoubtedly heard some of his music) I pretty much have to figure out an entirely different line of clothing.  So right now I'm feeling like the miller's daughter, being told to spin a room full of straw into gold.

I am very put out about the whole thing and have decided to rebel slightly and make the assignment suit me.  Here’s what I think I will do/say for my presentation:

“A few weeks ago I was visited by a woman in her late sixties or early seventies. She was very gracious and lady-like.  I learned that she is a patron of the arts; every year she buys season tickets to the symphony and the opera, and often has season tickets to the ballet as well.  She plays the piano herself, and has even taught some lessons when her children were little.  She is well-educated and enjoys art exhibits and classic literature, from  Grimm’s Fairy Tales to Shakespeare to Hemingway. She has traveled quite a bit.

Her family donates substantially to various charities, including the building of hospitals and college facilities. Because of their passion for the arts they also donate to funds to keep them going.  She is good friends with people who sit on the board of directors for the symphony, opera, ballet, etc....

“She has a fourteen year old granddaughter who is fighting cancer, and so she is planning a big fundraiser for children’s cancer research.  (Currently only about —% of funds raised go specifically to children’s cancer research.)

“She has seen how much her children and grandchildren have loved the music of Scott Joplin when she has played it for them on the piano; it is fun music.  Knowing that it will be the 100-year anniversary of Scott Joplin's music, she—with the help of some high-up friends in the symphony—has organized a Joplin festival for September of 2013 (because September is Children’s Cancer Awareness Month). Rather than using the full symphony orchestra, about 25 members have agreed to donate their time to play some of  Joplin’s ragtime music at a “Pops” evening gala.  She is also considering hiring a group called “The Ragtime Dancers” to entertain, and maybe even teach a few steps to the audience. Tickets for this special event are being offered to season-ticket holders in all classical arts venues. The word will also be spread on classical radio stations, and through newspaper and private advertising.

“The granddaughter loves beautiful, formal gowns and so, at the gala, they are also going to show about six different dresses and sell them through a silent auction. All profits from the tickets, the sale of the gowns, and hopefully more private donations, will go toward children’s cancer research.

“As you can guess, the gowns are where I fit into the event.” 

(This is when I will show my “inspiration board,” which, with permission, will include a picture of my real friend and her son.)

“The client heard of me through my friend Wendy whose son Matthew is also fighting cancer.  Wendy knows the client’s daughter and granddaughter through a cancer-mom support group. When she heard of Grandma’s fundraising plans, she gave them my name as a custom dressmaker.

Maple Leaf Rag

“My client came to me to see what kind of ideas I might have. With the key elements of: Scott Joplin, September, and children’s cancer funding in mind, I thought of making dresses named for Joplin’s rags, and also using some gold in each one because gold ribbons are the symbol for children’s cancer awareness (like pink ribbons are for breast cancer). I created my first illustration for Joplin’s famous Maple Leaf Rag.  She loved it and asked me to make all six pieces.

“The elements that tie my line together are Scott Joplin and gold. So now I would like to present my Ragtime Collectionto you.”

At this point (after my whole moving and very fictitious story) I will show my dress illustrations.  What do you think?