Art Direction | Nicholas Swart Fashion Portfolio

NIC SWART

Fashion, Styling & Art Direction

FEDISA

First Year

A collection of works throughout Nic's first year. (2018)

Visual Storyboards

A collection of storyboards created through out Nic's first year.

Photography & Styling

A collection from a styling shoot in Nic's first year on the topic of DIY fashion.

Fashionary & Sketches

A collection of sketches done in Nic's fashionary and visual diary throughout first year.

Second Year

FEDISA

Second Year

A collection of works throughout Nic's second year. (2019)

Fashionary & Sketches

A collection of sketches done in Nic's fashionary and visual diary throughout second year.

A Tribute to Mr. Pearl

In preparation for the students corseted ball gown assignment students were asked to create a 5-piece corset collection in tribute to the legendary, Mr. Pearl.

K-Way x Fedisa

For this project Fedisa collaborated with K-Way. Students were put into groups and tasked with designing a sportswear brand that they would each design one look for. See Nic's process from start to finish.

Cosmopolitan x Fedisa

For this project Fedisa collaborated with the magazine, Cosmopolitan. Students were challenged to create a corseted ball gown. Nic decided to take inspiration from one of his favourite director, Quinton Tarantino. See Nic's process from start to finish.

Truworths x Fedisa

For this project Fedisa collaborated with Truworths. Students were tasked with designing a denim look with Nic taking inspiration from female MC's in Hip Hop. See Nic's process from start to finish.

Featured Fashion House

For this visuals project students were tasked to choose a fashion house and design a 5-piece capsule collection. Nic decided to design a collection for the legendary Helmut Lang brand.

Third Year

FEDISA

Third Year

Graduate Collection

The Broken Beyond

Collection Line - Up

Click Images for More

@swarticus_thebrand

South African Men's Fashion Week

In 2022, Nicholas was approached by the South African Fashion Council with the honour to join a select group of graduates who would showcase their past collections at SA Men's Fashion Week.

More work

A collection of other works throughout Nic's third year. (2020)

Fashionary & Sketches

A collection of sketches done in Nic's fashionary and visual diary throughout third year.

Collection Trend Book

In preparation for his graduate Collection Nic compiled a trend book featuring his own fully rendered sketches, technical drawings and all sorts of elements he would be incorporating into his designs.

Markhams x Fedisa

For this brief students were put into groups and tasked with designing a mens wear collection for the Markhams brand. Unfortunately this brief was interrupted by COVID-19 so the final garments were never constructed.

Trend Boards

A collection of trendboards created by Nic regarding mens wear for FW 20/21.

CCL x Fedisa

In collaboration with the Cape Cobra brand students were tasked to design a luxury handbag suitable for a female Emirati customer.

Brand Me

For this brief, Nic was tasked with designing a print inspired from his own brand and collection created for his graduate portfolio.

BDA London x Fedisa

In collaboration with the trend forecasting company BDA London, Students were tasked with designing a trend book for FW 20/21 suitable for the company's pages.

Beyond Fedisa

Scroll through an array of garments and looks created by Nic for reasons beyond his studies.

Collection Preparation

Look through an array of elements created by Nic in preparation for his graduate collection.

The Academy of Art University

Fourth Year

Anchor 1

Semester 1

A collection of work dome across three classes for Nic's first semester at The Academy of Art (2021)

Fashion Styling

Some highlights from Nic's Fashion Styling class for his first semester at The Academy of Art.

Editorial Styling

Nic's end of semester project for his Fashion Styling class where he fully conceptualised and styled the shoot.

Product Styling

In this section of the semester, students were tasked to creatively style an accessory. Nic chooses to raid his mother's jewelry box and showcase the stones from the collection.

Personal Styling

These two assignments focused on personal shopping and styling. Nic was tasked to put pieces together for 2 fictional clients, Denice and Trevor.

Semester 2

A collection of work from Nic's summer semester at The Academy of Art (2021)

Fashion History

Some highlights from Nic's Fashion history class from his second semester at The Academy of Art.

Fashion Source Book

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For this class students were required to complete a source book entry for the respected module. This entailed thorough research of the time period in order to understand and display the influence it's fashion had on a contemporary designer collection.

Anchor 4

Anchor 5

Semester 3

A collection of work from Nic's fall semester at The Academy of Art (2021)

Visual Merchandising: Image & Brand

Some highlights from Nic's Visual Merchandising class for his third semester at The Academy of Art.

Store & Window Design - Rich Mnisi [Midterm Project]

For both his Mid-Term and Final Project, Nic's assignment was to develop a concept for a store design and window display of an existing brand. For his Mid-Term, he decided to explore a brand from back home in South Africa, Rich Mnisi.

Brand Image

This is a mood board designed to identify Rich Mnisi's brand image

Target Market

This is a mood board designed to identify Rich Mnisi's target market

Feature Display

This is a mock-up of Nic's Feature Display, which takes inspiration from Rich Mnisi's brand image and the artist Mary Sibande & Wayne Barker.

Brand Image

This is a mood board designed to identify Rich Mnisi's brand image

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Store & Window Design - Moncler [Final Project]

For both his Mid-Term and Final Project, Nic's assignment was to develop a concept for a store design and window display of an existing brand. For his Final, he decided to embrace the cold season and research the brand Moncler.

Brand Image

This is a mood board designed to identify Moncler's brand image

Target Market

This is a mood board designed to identify Moncler's target market

Wall Display

This is a mock-up of Nic's Wall Display, which takes inspiration from Moncler's brand image and the artist Marcel Duchamp.

Brand Image

This is a mood board designed to identify Moncler's brand image

1/6

Visual StoryTelling: Editing for Short Videos

Some highlights from Nic's Fashion editing class from his third semester at The Academy of Art.

Music Video [Midterm Project]

For his Mid-Term project, Nic's assignment was to create a music video. He started with a song that always spoke to him. The song was Prom by SZA. It reflected a time in his life where a lot of change was happening around him, from moving to the U.S to just growing up in general. He decided to reflect this idea through his younger cousin as he created a montage of memories with her friends last summer together before they all head to college.

Short Documentary [Final Project]

For his Final project, Nic's assignment was to create a short documentary. He was inspired by his aunt and uncle's life story as he documented their immigration to the U.S.

Anchor 7

Anchor 6

Semester 4

A collection of work from Nic's summer semester at The Academy of Art (2022)

Creative fashion product styling & Typography

Some highlights from Nic's Creative Fashion Product Styling & Typography class for his third semester at The Academy of Art.

Product Look Book

For his first project in Product Styling, Nic was tasked with creating a product look book for the department store, Dover Street Market.

Product Look Book

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Content Creation

For his second project in Product Styling, Nic was tasked to continue his representation of Dover Street Market with content creation. This included an Ad Campaign, Digital Newsletter and an Instagram Feed.

Digital Ad

Newsletter

Instagram Feed

Digital Ad

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Beyond Studies

Music Video Styling

A collection of Nic's styling work for Cape Town's local music industry

Can't have you

by Tim Young

Exploring his interest in the music industry, Nic got the amazing opportunity to work alongside one of Cape Town's up-and-coming artists Tim Young.

All the looks and accessories were hand-picked and designed by Nic. A fan favorite was the oversized shirt that featured imagery from the singles covers art alongside lyrics. The shirt was designed as Young wanted to stay grounded in his style but asked Nic to push the boundaries as much as he could.

Additionally, Nic helped the director (Christie Iris) with creative direction and was also responsible for scouting the location.

Smooth Sailing

by Tim Young

After the success of their first collaboration, Nic once again received the incredible opportunity to work alongside Tim Young for his next single. Smooth Sailing.

Kicking it up a notch, this time Nic chose to source pieces from his friends from Merchants on Long. Merchants on Long is an African department store that houses some of the most talented fashion designers on the continent. Like the store, Nic enjoys showcasing local, young, and upcoming talent in his work, so in the music video, you can see Tim Young wearing a Thebe Magugu golf tee and an Atto Tetteh linen shirt.

Then beyond sourcing pieces from his closet Nic visited his friends at Annie's Wardrobe, a regarded costume store in Cape Town. A giant leopard fur and some groovy glasses from here seemed appropriate for the retro aesthetic of the Smooth Sailing-verse.

Christie Iris again returns as the video's director, and together with Nic, she collaborated on the video's artistic direction and location scouting.