Black Milk Clothing

How it’s made

While BMC sometimes aimed to be a fast fashion label, the projects I worked on were often larger in scope and required more time. Below is an example of how I took a concept and refined it into a final product

Concept

Early at BMC I pitched and designed the Mecha Leggings. At the time, nothing similar existed on the market, however, two Iron Man movies had lit up the pop culture space and gaming-related designs were performing well for us. I figured a high-quality and realistic set of sci-fi armour leggings would appeal to our audience. When released, the Mecha Leggings gained a lot of traction on social media and quickly became a best seller. Inspired but the popularity and sales success, I was asked to develop a swimsuit to go with the leggings.

Step 1. Layout test

Like anything this complex, I started with a sketch (not pictured). Nailing the shape and placement of armour panels would be crucial. However, on a first attempt, this was unlikely especially when aligning the design across the side seam. As you can see above, the swimsuit is a single piece of fabric, folded like a taco, with seams up the side and at the shoulders. So I threw together a quick idea of what I was generally planning in Illustrator and ordered a sample (physical copy).

Step 3. Details

I sampled the new layout (“B” above) and it looked great. The final step was to create the final version, full of intricate details and shading. To do this I used copied the vector shapes into Photoshop and used them as masks for the many layers of paint, shading, texture, and colour. With this final artwork sampled and finally approved there came the challenge to create a “Size Range”. The artwork was built and tested for a size Medium yet the product would go on sale in sizes XS-XL. So for each size, the design was manipulated to fit the pattern for each different shape. With this done, the product was ready for production and for the promo shoot.

Step 2. Refining the layout

With the initial test printed and sewn, I placed the sample garment on a mannequin and took photos. Before this point, it’s often hard to predict how shapes distort around the body or perhaps bring too much attention to an area that looks unflattering. Seeing the design on a physical form not only helped review the layout but allowed others to quickly provide feedback. Bringing the photos into Photoshop, I roughly painted over the changes that were needed. By comparing my new painting to the existing design I could update the original vector artwork.

At the customers' request, the designs were also merged into a catsuit.