The Enchanted Type collection encompasses the human desire for adventure in everyday life. The collection blends design features from boho, victorian, and everyday business casual wear and prioritizes comfort and whimsy over societal expectations.

The short story "The Enchanted Types" by L. Frank Baum describes a world full of wonder and life, and where fashion is what we make of it. I found this story incredibly inspiring, and wanted to translate that into a collection of "business casual" pieces with fun, whimsical, and accessible style. 

Featuring inclusive and sensory friendly aspects that flatter many different body types, the collection allows for those who value convenience and wear-ability to still employ excitement and personality into their daily lives. Transport yourself back to playtime, where dressing up didn't have a rule set and you could just be yourself: "The Enchanted Type".

Another very important aspect of my ideation was the material selection. 

The next step for me was prototyping. I split up the collection into 3 sections: the knit "tops", the pants, and the accessories. Shown below are renderings of the 3D prototypes, the physical prototypes, and the plans I have to change the designs before I make the final.

The most complicated of this first section is the bathing suit. I wanted it to fit well, but have volume where it mattered. The client wanted to show off their natural bust and hips, but wanted to minimize the attention at their crotch without the client needing to tuck (term for a process used by transfeminine individuals wherein they smooth out the crotch area by "tucking" bits away). On my second prototype, I still faced some issues with gaping in the lower back and hip area, but I was able to fix that in the final piece.

The next knit top was very simple pattern-making wise, but had the added challenge of the indigo dye. I did some tests on swatches of fabric as shown below to play around with the technique required to make the "moon jelly" motif. Shown below is a rendering of the 3D prototype as well as the physical prototype, and the plans I have to change the design before I make the final.

On the first prototype of the pants, the main issue that I faced had to do with mobility. My client is a very physically active person, and expressed a need for a full range of motion in their daily life. By changing the fabric for the final piece as well as make some tweaks in the pattern-making, I was able to allow for that range of motion without too much bagginess. 

For the hood, I created a color reduced image of the hood with Photoshop and then brought that into the program with the laser cutter. The main testing that I had to do was with the size of the graphic so that I didn't accidentally make it too big or small for my pattern piece. 

Due to time constraints, I did all of my prototyping of this garment in CLO, and it turned out exactly like I wanted it. I was aiming for a simple cover up with gathering along the side that utilized the fullness within the gather to create a mermaid-like silhouette.

The final thing I had to test before I am able to work on the final pieces is my seaming. The client is neurodivergent, and struggles with many sensory issues in clothing, one of which is seams that are too big or textured. When I showed the client the seams I had created, she expressed that they were still too textured. In response to this, we decided to just use the seam designs I had created inside out.