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Hot take: mood boards are stalling out new designers, a pattern maker in Chicago told me why
I was at a small design meetup in Chicago last month and got talking to a pattern maker named Rosa who has cut samples for around 20 indie labels. She said the newer designers she works with show up with 80 image pins and no decisions, and she has started charging a $75 fee just to sit through mood board reviews. I pushed back because I love building boards, but she pointed at a jacket on her table and said every good detail on it came from her 3rd muslin, not her references. Since then I have been sketching first and pinning after, and my last 4 ideas actually made it to fabric instead of sitting in a folder. Curious if anyone else has cut way back on mood boards and still feels like they have a clear direction, or am I just bad at making them useful?
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noraroberts15d ago
Rosa charging 75 bucks to sit through mood board reviews says a lot. I see this same thing in other hobbies. People spend hours collecting things instead of doing the actual work. I knew a guy who spent six months reading about running shoes and never ran a mile. The board becomes the project because it's safe and it always looks good and it can't fail. A third muslin will tell you the truth, a pin board never will.
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