Thursday 30 December 2010

The Little Black Dress

Did you know that the little black dress was inspired by the black dresses that maids wore in the early 20th century? Chanel took this inspiration and created a series of little black dresses with white collars, an American copywriter coined the term ‘little black dress’ and it has stuck ever since!

Sunday 26 December 2010

Movement

This is a rough sketch showing movement of a silk dress.


These photographs capture the movement of the dress.

Inspirations

These are images of a selection of images I have used as inspiration in my design work, these images are taken from a Vogue edition which was focussing on fairytale styled images with a twist.
This is also an example of a spread that Karl Lagerfeld did for the same edition, I think they are very beautiful and I admire the style of the illustrations.


Dior Inspiration!

This is my favourite dress of all time, and inspires me in pretty much everything I do. It was because of this dress that made me think about working in the fashion industry and here I am studying fashion as a degree!


This is a Christian Dior evening dress from Autumn/Winter 1955.
Champagne-pink silk satin, with overlayers of tulle which is embroidered with silver thread and sequins.

Saturday 18 December 2010

Visiting Lecturers: Colin McDowell

You must amaze. You must offend. You must excite.

These were the words of advice given to us by fashion journalist Colin McDowell. A fascinating lecture by a man, who has worked in the fashion industry and who has published many books and now writes for The Sunday Times Style.
It was refreshing to feel as if as a student today we have a chance to make an impact in the fashion industry, and that as students there is faith in us for when we graduate to make an impact.

These visiting lecturers have given small pieces of interesting insights into the beginnings of designers such as John Galliano, who at first was seen as a joke, with his designs and toile’s literally being thrown away if was not there early enough to save them!

Colin McDowell also spoke of the possibilities that designers in the east could bring to the west, for years the west have had great influence over fashion in the east, however this may be all about the change.


This is a canvas experimenting using wax crayons and oil paints.

Visiting Lecturers: Roland Klein


In Leeds we have recently been lucky enough to hear from two influential guest lecturers who both gave an insight into the fashion industry and have also inspired us as designers.
Roland Klein came and spoke about his life in fashion, starting with his first placement working under Dior, and then working as an assistant to Karl Lagerfeld who was designing for Jean Patou. Everything he had to say was just inspiring, in particular his experiences within couture houses and also the illustrations of his own original sketches for couture clients.
True couture was designed around a client, and a catalogue for example of sketches would be sent to the clients of a design house and they would then choose which styles they would like in what colours and of how many. It seems that the true meaning of couture clothing these days is confused with the idea of having a garment made and tailored to one person in a design they have specified. Although the couture industry has significantly shrunk there is still a place for couture in Paris, which will always remain the heart of couture fashion. Nowadays, the fashion houses survive on people buying into the idea of the couture houses such as Dior and Chanel, by allowing for mass produced garments, shoes, bags, lingerie, hosiery, purses, hats and accessories, it is no longer about selling a dress it is more about selling the image of the brand.
After speaking about couture, Roland Klein also told us of his different experiences working for Marina Rinaldi which is part of the MaxMara Italian fashion group. He spoke very passionately of his experiences working in Italy, their love of design and how great it would be to experience working in Italy. It was definitely an inspiring lecture!

A new love!

Rebecca Beads Dress
French Connection
I found this dress originally in blue, and absolutely love it!  Looking at the dress in the store it is beautifully made and looks exquisite however unfortunately, it costs just too much for my student loan. This is my first time writing a blog, but thought the first thing I shared should be something I love!