3.2 ten designs

The assignments have a lot of confusing/conflicting information. Size wise, we drew the croquis on 11"x17" and the were supposed to trace them into our book? My book is 8.5"x11". So I drew a new different one that would fit my page and a pose that is more appropriate for showing clothes.

And, it said to trace the croquis onto tracing paper, so I did, then I designed on them, I tested my colors on sketchbook paper (shown on left side of mood board). The colors turned out way different and kind of nasty on the tracing paper so I posted the photos from before I added the color. Rendering the plaid will be an interesting challenge!

So I guess what I need to do is use carbon paper to trace the drawings from the tracing paper to the sketchbooks? I used removable glue dots to adhere everything on this assignment, so it wont be any problem to do that. But I don't have it in my to do that tonight.

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time fully visualizing what we are expected to turn in each week...
Ali's comments in blue

great - love the pattern

 

 

this pant is better - I think it lacks a certain quirky details that can tell us that this your special design.

 

a bit basic - try to put in some quirky details or cutlines - something special yet minimal.

too basic - if you want it that basic then really play with the silhouette.

 

  

same thing - bring in something nice to the top

 

again print is nice - focus on developing better bottoms too.

  

 

nice detail

My response:

The prints are directly from AbEx paintings. Do you think it would be overkill to incorporate more of that into the looks  you find too simple?

Also a lot of them I planned to have some specialness in the back.

3.1 mood board

Ali's feedback:
The images put together are nice - but the fabric and color story are too big and over powering the mood board. Make them small and complimenting to the rest of the composition otherwise show them on an all together separate board. Also the images suggest some nice gray and lighter shades much more contemporary and elegant then your primary tones. 

My reponse:

I'm just struggling with the whole 6 fabrics thing. I edited the gray out because as is I could only get down to 9 fabrics. So I chose the colors that were in the plaid. I would love to have gray in there but is that too much? I'm not wiling to get rid of the plaid, so if i add a couple grays I'm up to 7-8 colors. I mean you saw my original fabricsplosion.

I'm I misinterpreting something or can i just disregard the 6 things rule?

I made some stained glass windows that broke that rule. My prof (who I butted heads with at every turn) said I could only use 5 colors of glass per window design, so for my thesis show I sorted and organized all the scrap glass in the studio and made two quilt inspired windows and used some of every single color.

So I know that limiting a palette is important, but with the right training and discipline one can break the rule of thumb and still be successful!
I was REALLY missing the gray when designing though, so with your ok I'll put it back in and change the color relationship in almost all the looks. I would like it to be mostly gray and black with 2 color accent on each look.

what the big boys are buying

Retailers Praise New York Glamour

This article listed the top shows, in and out trends as thought by the top global retailers including Nordstrom, Barneys, Bergdorfs, Lane Crawford and Harvey Nichols. I think it was fun to read because it's exciting to compare the tastes of these big wigs. Essentially the fashion magazine editors and high end retailers select what is going to be accessible to and coveted by the masses, and therefore what trends will wax and wane.

I really enjoyed the glamor of this fall season. The sleekness and sophistication are things I hope to achieve in the looks I'll be creating this semester. Glamor with an urban edge, or as Ed Burstell, managing director, Liberty said "Street-inspired luxe."

is eco the best option?

In reference to: No Subject posted by Lauren Edgecombe

Colombia has developed a cotton/plastic blend fabric and is selling it as EcoDenim.  The Colombian textile industry has suffered in recent years due to illegal imports from China and South Korea, the appreciation of the peso, increased denim competition from Turkey and Central America, and a bitter fall out with Venezuela.  All these combined have resulted in a 42% downturn in Colombian exports. 

Two of Colombia's leading manufacturers: thread maker Enka and fabrics weaver Fabricato, have joined forces to create EcoDenim.  Fabricato's president states, "People don’t just like the product, they like what it does, which is recycle these (plastic) bottles that otherwise would take 100 years to degrade."  The fabric costs 10 percent more to produce than all-cotton denim but that affords higher margins from environmentally conscious consumers.

Kudos to these two companies for finding a way to recycle our trash into a comfortable and wearable material.  I'm torn on how "environmentally conscious" the product truly is though.  While a pair of these jeans might actually last forever since they aren't 100% cotton (which is biodegradable), consumers will probably still want to buy a new pair of jeans at some point.  In the end you still have tons of plastic waste that will take 100 years to degrade.  They're just no longer plastic bottles, now you have plastic jeans.

Chris Kraul.  "Colombia Counts on Recylced Denim for Revival."  WWDStyle issue 02/15/11.  http://www.wwd.com/markets-news/colombia-counts-on-recycled-denim-for-revival-3490047

I found this to be an interesting article, as well.
My concern was, who wants to wear plastic pants?
I personally started seeking out "green" products back in the late 90's and while a lot of great steps have been made to create sustainable healthy and even recycled products, there's a lot of greenwashing and gimmicks and fad chasing going on. I'm thinking most earth conscious consumers are not going to want even food grade plastic rubbing on their skin all day, and absolutely will not want their kids wearing it. I work in an organic baby store and we sell all organic cotton, soy, bamboo, and hemp clothing. Polyester and other plastic based fabrics have gone the way of the 8-track, as far as eco-conscious consumers go and so who are they marketing these jeans to.The average joe still doesn't care (although if you work the never breaks down angle some boomers may buy into it- and the tight-fisted usually aren't too worried about having the cutting edge styles).

If they want to make a real difference they should create a system to donate all that recycled fabric to people living below the poverty line, where long lasting clothing makes a bigger impact. Educated people with a lot of money are just not going to choose EcoDenim jeans. There are too many higher quality and natural fabrics on the market. And like Lauren said, they will want new looks long before the jeans wear out.

Before we go patting anyone on the back, how about chilling out on the plastic bottle production and consumption and coming up with a way to cut down on plastic production and consumption altogether... This jeans effort feels a whole lot like "too little, too late", and not really addressing the core of the problem... Oh capitalism.....

2_2 story

Utimately the story is a strange juxtaposition of wild uninhibited rawness mixed with very tailored clean traditional elements. Richmond is so full of revolutionary and civil war history. The plan is that I'm going to get color schemes and interesting shape relationships from the paintings, but I want everything to be be perfectly "constructed". I don't like messy looking clothes, unfinished edges, contrived deconstruction, etc. I want to create looks for various occasions. Out of 6 looks I'll maybe do 2 dresses, and the rest separates. Most of the collection will be black, mixing textures, but then the prints are very bold so the black will be broken up. I try to avoid all black, but too many colors/prints start feeling too young.


 

Maxime Simoens

 Maxime Simoens posted by Kimetha King

              

This is absolutely gorgeous! I wonder if he masked the white or used opaque white over the wash. Lovely effect! Thanks for sharing, Kimetha!

week 2 discussion

I would like to dicuss the most recent article on wwd.com containing the query "haute couture," titiled, "Dior Expands Hong Kong Flagship." What I find interesting about this article is the idea that Dior is not a quaint high end boutique; Dior is a fashion power house.  It's kind of like a big box store in a way, with everything, clothes for ladies and gents and jewels, all under one roof. It does make for a more convenient and destination shopping experience, including the VIP room. I also like the quote from Sidney Toledano, "Luxury is space." If you think about it, it makes sense. Rich people have the most land, the biggest homes, convenient access to jet set the whole globe. It makes sense the high end retailers would want their stores to have plenty of room to move around and see everything. They are as much galleries of works of art as a retail stores. This article was good food for thought in terms of thinking of haute couture not just as an artistic trade revolving around clothing, but rather an entire lifestyle of luxury, cutting edge, and exclusivity.

1.1 Report on Haute Couture Fashion

Visit the website www.fashion-era.com and other web- or print-based resources and research about haute couture, its history and development, its influence on fashion, and the major names involved in it. Write a one-page report on what you think is the role of couture within the fashion industry. What is the relevance of haute couture to our society over time, especially today? What are the specific aesthetics of haute couture that differentiate it from ready-to-wear designers? And what does the future hold for haute couture? 

Couture? Gesundheit!

My favorite thing about haute couture is it’s not bound by restraints of practicality and versatility. People know the garments are for special and fancy and over-the-top-events, and there, stopping the show is the goal rather than selling the most.

Haute couture still creates and overall tone for the season, even though many ready to wear collections come out before couture, HC can be a fabulous snippet of what’s out there. Then RTW and medium to low-end designers and the common people try to emulate the qualities of the hc collections that can be translated to every day looks.

Since couture is all about luxury, exclusivity, and being the elite, the finest fabrics must be purchased to make the garments. This seems like a huge investment because the designs are not guaranteed to be sold, especially in this economic climate. So the fashion houses need to have a certain amount of projected sales (or savings) to even think about creating couture collections.

Most fashion houses can’t take that kind of financial risk and in turn the whole industry is suffering. Couture used to be a place designers could really take chances, since they were only looking for that one perfect client for the dress, rather than a whole target market. Those chances are what moved fashion along. Granted, maybe some of that power has been handed down to the RTW designers, but they are still being held to a notion of wearability and sales to a broader audience. There’s not as much space to be flamboyant and dramatic.

I think the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture should do a stimulus endeavor. The committee was assembled in the first place to protect the creative quest of the haute couture designer, but back then there was less distance between social  classes and qualities of materials. It’s time for an evolution. Perhaps the criteria could be reevaluated. Maybe lowering the required volume of annual looks would give smaller fashion houses a chance to show haute couture designs. And less people are buying couture, and there is no rule on how much the garments have to sell for, perhaps young designers would rather their couture be seen by the masses than to sell each piece for  “a Harvard education”[3]. At this point they don't even have the opportunity to make the clothes that would attracted high end buyers. This catch 22 needs to stop or haute couture will probably end altogether, and that would just be sad.

1. Blackman, Cally. 100 Years of Fashion Illustration. London: Laurence King, 2007. Print.
2. Davies, Hywel. Fashion Designers’ Sketchbooks. London: Laurence King, 2010. Print.
3. Horyn, Cathy. "Full Spectrum, Less Spectacle." Fashion & Style. New York Times, 07 July 2010.  Web. 7 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/fashion/08COUTURE.html>.
4. Rosa, Joseph. Glamour: Fashion, Industrial Design, Architecture. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2004. Print.

week 1 discussion

Discuss the Latest Haute Couture Collections: Using www.style.com, look at all the haute couture collections online. Read the editorial review and look at the complete collection for each designer. What is your opinion of the haute couture collections? Who are the designers? What do you see as the inspiration for the collections? Which collections do you think are strong and weak? Why? Can you pick up any common trends from the collections?
Please write a paragraph with your observations and post it here. Submit photos that illustrate your points along with your observations

Alexis Mabille

I was not at all impressed with the Alexis Mabille show. I like the concept of the white and colored version, but the execution left me with my forehead furrowed. I thought the white versions were exclusively better than the color copies with the exception of this black dress. Even the craftsmanship disappointed me. I mean this crotch is a wreck and the side seems are puckering like crazy (notice, no detail photos available, go figure).  Also it didn't even seem special or remotely innovative. When I see haute couture I want to be dazzled. We've seen long sheer over short opaque, we've seen loose unflattering asymmetry. And we've seen it done better.

Armani Privé

To the complete extreme I absolutely adored Armani's collection. It was completely innovative, not just for fashion but for Giorgio himself. And not just style, but actual fabric engineering. I mean when I opened the collection I totally forgot who the designer was because it looks so modern. He's sure come a long way from American Gigolo! It's exciting to see something that looks futuristic but also wearable. Often the use of futurism in haute couture is a fantasy but difficult to imagine actually wearing the garments. I was happy to see the garments in motion because the fabric moves and the light does awesome crazy tings in reflecting off the fabrics. I appreciate the range here. He shows us separates in the same fabric, separates in the same color but different textures, dresses in various lengths, pants jackets tops, but it all feels completely cohesive. The collection is not without influence, the 50's born pencil skirt is a star of the show and the hats have a pit of a military flavor, sailor cap meets combat helmet. Though clearly Tim Blanks wasn't feeling it, I like the dimpled texture and pattern of this on the body of the dress but the bottom does start looking a bit like Pee-Wee's foil ball at the Playhouse. Paul Poiret would be so proud of this tunic and hobble-esque look here that is flattering and interesting with such a strong historical reference yet a refreshing new take. And then this patchwork that helps tie all the other solid looks together. It's nice to see a bold print. I would have rather seen tops made out of this than the bedazzled breasts.  They are too reminiscent of Britney's Toxic video for my taste. And I also did not like this look with the tourniquet/sling sleeve/collar, she looks like she just got patched up in the HC-ER.

Bouchra Jarrar

I did not love or hate the couture collection by Bouchra Jarrar. The asymmetry was interesting and I do think she finds harmony and balance, but it was a bit lackluster for me. I wouldn't buy any of the pieces, though i do think fur and leather are basically gross and wrong, but they just don't look comfortable. My favorite piece was the long jacket in the first look  and my least favorites were these two. I'm really not sure what is going on here, or why...? I mean in the silver one it looks like she forgot to take off her nighty before she put on her dress, or that maybe she has he baby strapped on to her back over the evening gown. And the black, well, I have two words, BAD PROM.

Chanel

I love Love LOVE the spring 11 RTW by Chanel so I was excited to see what Karl came up with for couture and frankly I thought the show was a bit of a yawn. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the review though! I'm sure to see the garments in person would have considerably stronger impact. I felt like the client age was strangely inconsistent, one model was made to look 12, while this next one looks so mumsy, or like a 12 year old dressed in her mother's suit. The fit is awkward. I lot of the models looked like they were swimming in their clothes. They say dewy web, I say bubble wrap. And the straight across then rounded shoulders made all of them look really tense. I mean, I love old Karl, he's adorable and awesome, and there are definitely some pretty details and sweet ideas. But I don't think that detail translates to photos of runway on the computer. As a whole, I'm just not thrilled. Coco Chanel busted through a world of fashion that had no clothes remotely like what she was making. She brought comfort to women in fabrics that move and feel good, but most of these woman look totally uncomfortable. And beaded clothing chafes, and ten million beads is a whole lot of chafing. I did like the sequin leggings in theory, though, no amount of craftsmanship would keep the sequins on most women's thighs as we walk, but the button bottom leggings are fantastic.

Christian Dior

Does John Galliano live in the southern hemisphere? Because his fall collection for Dior looked like spring and the spring collection looks like fall. I absolutely agree with Natalia in that his proportion is stellar.  He's such a fun designer. This is what I want out of a couture show, over the top, drama, romance, decadence. I'm glad to see the New Look hanging in there. Full skirts are not so in at the moment. But he does it with such drama and sex appeal that it's totally covetable! My favorite look is this I love the shimmery dotted swiss pencil and would wear it in a heartbeat. I can't imagine wearing a top with that kind of volume but Galliano makes me want to, and that, folks, is what truly innovative fashion is all about! I also like that in this collection from one to the next all the looks are totally unique from each other in color texture, volume, proportion, materials, silhouettes, but there's a certain flavor to it that makes it all work together. It's like say, (Americanized) Indian food, each dish is different but there's a certain flavor (garam masala) that makes it all work together. And the styling is smokin' hot!



Ellie Saab

I really hate textures and his choice of reds. Spring is only a fraction of a hair less trashy than fall. He needs to look at Givenchy. The bride looks very German Expressionistic to me, Corpse Bride. 
This dress here is what I do not want my line to look like. Aesthetically, it's cute, but this is appropriate for a 16 year old. Or maybe the boudoir...

Having a cast of characters I'm gonna say is generally a bad thing in a collection.
  Jessica Rabbit                                     Juno                           Holly Golightly
 
I like this one best.

Givenchy

I like this show more relative to the fall show. I think I may have enjoyed this less without having seen the previous one before hand. Aesthetically I'm not that into it, but I appreciate the intricacy, the qualities of the collection, consistency, variation could be pushed I think. The texture/pattern/image/detailing remind me of this art piece in the New Mexico museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. I went there a bunch as a kid. This picture is really yellow, it's more white in real life. I scoured the internet and this was the best pic series I could find. Overall on this collection I'd say, "Well, I wouldn't have thought of it..."



John Paul Gaultier

To be honest, I liked it better as thumbnails. Once I got in on the details the textures and relationships weren't stopping my heart.



This is utter crazy town since who wants bigger hips, but somehow it almost works. (I don't like the bottom of the jacket, sheer ruffle is just really out for me.) 
I like the all black suit with red shoe. I like the sporty coat and true waste, but I don't like slash pockets and I really hate that neck ruffle!
A lesson for the young ladies, this one everyone is flipping out over is smokin hot!  suggestive, powerful, creative, and then this is just trashy looking, it's perfect for Mistress Matisse or Elvira but it gives away too much, crosses the line of sexy into sexual. I think clothes should tease, leave the viewer wanting more.

This is sexy is this the one Tim Blanks called straitjacket-y? It's my favorite of the show.
This looks like it has plastic Hawaiian leis sewn all over it.
And I hope this is intentionally so Cruella De Vil.
This is hands down my least favorite, it's a Scarlet O'Hara piñata. This is TOTALLY the antithesis of what i want in my collection. I can hear Tim Gunn's voice, "Don't forget to edit!"  Horrible from head to fringe! i liked the overall flavor of the show. Punk is huge here in RVA. I like the grit, but I prefer a little more finish.



Valentino
This show is what I expect from the house of Valentino, elegant, classy, pretty. The gowns are youthful but not junior. I have to admit none of the looks took my breathe away. I liked the overall palette but the red (especially the opaque)  is too stark against the muted pastel colors of the rest of the collection. The two green looks are a bit separate as well, maybe a little more cool would have helped the continuity. I think the order could have been improved, if the prints came between the solid reds, and the green looks it might tie the whole collection together more. Still, the reds would stand out, and I don't think 2 looks in the middle of the show should stand out on color alone. I love the swirling collars.  I appriciate the Victorian influence   and I hated the Elizabethan neck ruffs.
 

I noticed an overarching theme of this season's couture was "flesh".
Whether it be pinks so muted and browns so pale they blend in with the skin,

           Chanel                                              Dior

        Valentino                                         Elie Saab

Or so sheer the skin shows through,

        Chanel                                          Valentino

            JPG                                          Givency

     Alexis Mabel

or somebody else's skin,

          Bouchra Jarrar                        JPG                      Valentino

Or so dang tight and slick it looks like a second skin.

Armani Priva

Though the collections vary strongly from one to the next, all of the collections have at least one tie to the idea of skin.

Ali's reply:

I agree with you about Bouchra Jarrar - it was sort of hit and miss collection with nothing really great to write home about.

Though in case of Armani, I do feel that it is was yet again a disappointing collection and a clear sign that he really needs to call it a day. After seeing amazing work from him over the decades it is sad to seem him do this stuff.

I think they are a few years late with the Elizabethan ruffles anyway...nicely written - good job.