The Cutting Class

Pattern and Print at Emilio Pucci

Sun, 21 Feb 2016 19:05:45 +0000

Emilio Pucci, PF16.

Historically, Pucci is a brand that is synonymous with print. By looking through the Pre-Fall 2016 collection by creative director Massimo Giorgetti, you can see some of the techniques and options available to designers to use prints successfully across a range of different garments. If you use patterns and prints in your own designs, some of the points below might help you to clarify problem areas, or help you to flesh out a key print in new ways and onto other garments.

Same Print, Different Fabric

Once you have a print or pattern that is key to the collection, you can then consider using the same design on different base cloths and with different techniques. Visually, this enables you to create a collection of garments that use a richer variety of textures. From a more practical perspective as a designer, this also gives you a wider range of fabrics to use in terms of drape and handle. For example, a print may be used on a silk twill for languid blouses, woven into a brocade for more structured outerwear, or printed onto a silk chiffon for floaty dresses.

When moving the same print onto different base cloths, however, you also need to think about how the print will be affected. For example, certain fabrics will retain brilliant colours while others may make the colours more matte and muted. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as the change in the print may be useful in your designs, it’s just something to consider.

Highlighting Single Motifs

If there are certain details that you want to draw attention to in an intense print, it can help to separate out this detail by itself. For example, the motif could be used as a placement print, or you can turn the motif into something more 3D such as an embroidery or embellishment. In the Pucci collection, a feather motif was singled out and used on a simple white top in one look, while texture on other garments appears to be created by hand sewing DTM (dye to match) feathers onto block coloured backgrounds.

Playing with Size and Scale

Another common technique is to vary the size of a print on different garments. For example, you may want to use large bold motifs in one garment, but you may need smaller scale prints for other pieces. When thinking about the scale of the motifs, you should consider the types of garments in your collection and how the patterns will be broken up by the cut of the garments. For example, some garments may have very few seams or darts, and this may allow large-scale motifs to be seen without becoming chopped off or disjointed.

There is also the option to vary the scale of the motif across a single garment. In the Pucci collection, you can see some of the motifs grow in scale. Usually, you would use a change of scale in a way that is flattering to the body, enlarging the print in some areas, while narrowing the print around areas you want to appear slimmer. However, this is also an idea you could subvert if you wished to play with proportion in a more unexpected way.

Matching or Breaking Up Patterns

You’ll also have to consider what your strategy is for dealing with obvious patterns over seam lines. Do you want patterns to be matched? Will it look wrong if patterns are slightly mismatched? Maybe the scale of the print is small enough that it doesn’t matter? Do you need to cut your pattern to take into account the size of the pattern repeat?

This consideration also applies to pleated garments and to how you want to calculate pleat width in relation to the size of a repeat pattern. If you match the width of the print repeat and the pleat width in the right way, the pattern will appear more uniform and will fall on the top surface of each pleat. If the values are mismatched, then the pattern will become offset across the folds of the garment.

In the Pucci collection, there are a few different techniques used to splinter and break up the print. On some of the pleated garments, the print repeat size and pleat values are mismatched so that the fabric pattern begins to become nicely fragmented. In other garments, the print is broken up by splitting the pattern into smaller fragments set against a plain coloured background. Another effect appears to have been achieved by screen printing some sections of the garments after they are sewn, instead of sewing the garments from preprinted textiles. This process makes the print appear to be cracking around the edges to reveal plain fabric under folds or seam lines.

Patterns Across Size Grades

Another practical concern for production is that you will have to consider how panels with an obvious pattern can be sized up and down across different garment sizes. In the Pucci collection, one option used to deal with this concern may be in the use of plain coloured borders. By having borders around the edges of some sections, this may give you space to expand or contract the garment pattern for different garment sizes without disturbing the textiles motifs. Visually, the use of bold borders and stripes also gives the viewers eye some breathing space. Similarly, in the Pucci collection, plain coloured borders on the edges of scarves allows space to sew a hand rolled hem and also helps to define the edge of the scarf when layered over other patterned garments.

Images from Emilio Pucci»

Thinking Like a Designer

Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:34:34 +0000

In this final round-up post about the articles from 2015, we’ve gathered together some food for thought if you are about to become a fashion designer, or fashion design student yourself. From sketching designs to communicating with pattern makers these 2015 articles give you an insight into the analytical mindset of a designer. Does the toile match the sketch? Are you translating the idea correctly into the pattern? Where do you draw the line when using deconstruction to express a concept? Is the balance of fabrics right in the collection?

Translating Designs from Sketches: Gravity and Proportion

Cristóbal Balenciaga images from the 1950s and 1960s showing sketches and final garments.

Beautiful fashion sketches are often shown as part of the romanticised process of designing a garment, but while it can be difficult to illustrate an idea on paper, it can be harder still to turn that sketch into an actual garment. One of the skills that a fashion designer must develop is the ability to translate a design from a sketch or technical drawing into a real garment while retaining the feeling of the original idea and preserving the proportions of the design.

Life Drawing at Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane, AW15, London.

As a designer, the way that you actually draw or illustrate your designs can be highly influential in the actual designs that you create. For his Autumn-Winter 2015 collection, Christopher Kane appears to have been highly aware of the way that drawing impacts his own garment designs and so the act of sketching, drawing and capturing the movement of the human figure became the basis for the concept behind the collection.

Coordinated Chaos at Dries Van Noten

Dries Van Noten, SS16, Paris.

A few years ago now we did an article that asked How Many Fabrics in the Dries Van Noten Show? and laid out the collection as swatches. Since the Dries Van Noten show for Spring-Summer 2016 was again filled with an amazing range of different prints, colours and textures it seemed like time to do this exercise again, and to this time explain how looking at a collection in this way almost takes you back to the initial design stages of a collection.

Flounces and Ruffles

Noir Kei Ninomiya, SS16, Paris.

At times, words are used interchangeably to describe certain fabric details. In a fashion journalism context this is generally ok because if someone talks about the “ruffled” or “frilly” dress in the collection then it’s usually pretty clear which one they mean. When a designer is talking to a pattern maker, however, communication is key and using certain terminology may mean that you think you’re asking for one thing, when what you actually want is something else entirely.

Is it ever ok to have bad finishes?

Yeezy, SS16, New York.

While looking at the Yeezy collection for Spring-Summer 2016 with puckered seams and wavy zippers, a question began to form about how to evaluate the construction techniques of a collection. Can it ever support a designer’s concept to have construction details that are technically wrong?

Finding the Balance for Casual Luxury

Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:00:39 +0000

Part of what has been interesting about 2015 has been watching as designers continue to use construction details as a way to strike a balance in their collections. An underlying question seems to be constantly asked about how to give a consumer a high-end garment experience without making them look overdressed, to express quality through the finishes and detailing without having garments that scream “luxury”. Part of this balance is found by experimenting with new methods of deconstruction, sometimes as a part of the fabric treatment or pattern shaping, or sometimes just simply through styling.

Nonchalant Construction Details at Céline

Céline, AW15, Paris.

Bet you never think of topstitching as nonchalant, right? What about pattern making, can you cut a dart like you just don’t care? This is the bizarre skill that is needed to be a fashion designer; can you convey a certain mood for a collection not just through your choice of fabric or the way you cut a jacket, but through every single choice and detail down to the last contrast buttonhole.

Wearable Innovation at Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton, AW15, Paris.

Nicholas Ghesquière has a knack for creating collections that look very wearable but that are still filled with quietly innovative construction details and carefully developed fabrics. For the Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Louis Vuitton these elements were combined together in unusual ways to create garments and looks that were a blur of textures and construction references.

Crushed and Creased Tailoring at Gucci

Gucci, AW15, Milan.

The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Gucci had a more subtle atmosphere, a more come-as-you-are version of “fashion” with pieces layered together in a way that felt lived-in. In particular it was interesting to see the way that this undone quality was used across the tailored pieces with crumpled finishes and unusual pressing techniques.

Fractured Layers at Off-White

Off-White, SS16, Paris.

The Off-White collection for Spring-Summer 2016 was filled with deconstructed finishes and patchworked denim set against crisp white t-shirts and structured pleating.

Fabric and Textile Details from 2015

Sat, 26 Dec 2015 03:00:20 +0000

From scraped silicone to embossing machines, chiffon rose petals to sketchy beading, 2015 was filled with different types of embellishments for fabrics and textiles. Often what made these embellishments feel relevant was how loose and organic they were, giving a feeling that was spontaneous rather than densely laboured. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the fabric details were based in geometry and repetition with small modular designs used to create all or part of a garment.

Silicone Texture by Lucy Simpson

Lucy Simpson, 2014.

Some designers start with their end product in mind, and experiment endlessly until they can turn their mental images into a physical form that exactly replicates their original idea. Other designers start from a point of experimentation and allow the happy accidents that occur along the way to encourage their research into new directions and evolve into new ideas and methods.

Ribboned Pleats at Dior Couture

Christian Dior, Haute Couture, SS15, Paris.

From a construction point of view, there are a number of beautiful and clever details that have been used for the Spring-Summer 2015 haute couture collection at Christian Dior. One of the most striking details is one of the textile embellishments where rows of ribbon have been sewn to a base fabric to form pleated skirts and to create bouncy silhouettes.

Embossed Textiles at Tiffany Loy

Textiles and “The Emboss Machine” created by Tiffany Loy 2012-2015.

One of the areas where industrial design and fashion design often crossover with amazing consequences is in textile design; a medium where sculptural and textural experiments can sometimes take place more creatively in the time before the textiles are assigned to a specific garment or product. As is often the case, the method used to create the textures of textiles can also sometimes be just as innovative as the end result, which is the case in the embossed textiles created by Tiffany Loy.

Embellishment and Painterly Prints at Nihl

NIHL by Neil Grotzinger, Graduate Collection, SS14.

In his graduate collection for Spring-Summer 2014, artist and designer Neil Grotzinger created textiles that had an unconstrained and spontaneous quality with placement prints that appeared to be dripping with paint and beaded lines creeping across dresses like iron filings on a magnet.

Constructing Roses at Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen, AW15, Paris.

The rose is a motif that often features in fashion design, but it was specifically the degradation of the rose that was used in the Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Alexander McQueen. The idea of petals becoming slowly more bruised and ragged was played out in the fabrics and textiles with shredded chiffon and shaded organza petals with torn edges.

Smocking, Macramé and Modular Patterns at Noir Kei Ninomiya

Noir Kei Ninomiya, AW15, Paris.

It comes as no surprise that someone who used to be a pattern cutter at Comme des Garçons would produce intricately designed garments, however, based on the collection shown for Autumn-Winter 2015, it is also clear that Kei Ninomiya has a particular flair for ingenious modular patterns and contemporary updates of smocking and macramé.

Fabric Manipulations at Chanel

Chanel, AW15, Paris.

Mixed among the traditional tweeds and bouclés of the Chanel Autumn-Winter 2015 collection were a number of fabric manipulations that added volume and texture to the garments.

Honeycomb Pattern Structures at Junya Watanabe

Junya Watanabe, AW15, Paris.

The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Junya Watanabe was filled with repetitive structures created with a mathematical sense of precision. While the shapes hinted at a rigorous pattern making process, the garments themselves often had a softness and a sense of bouncy movement.

See all articles on Fabrics and Textiles»

Pattern Making Details from 2015

Wed, 16 Dec 2015 21:00:49 +0000

In order to put the year into context, it seems like a good time to revisit some of the details that piqued our interest in 2015. Over the next few weeks we’ll revisit some of the year’s most popular articles to give you a chance to catch up on some of the dart permutations you might have missed.

Pattern making details are often the easiest to appreciate when the garment has minimal embellishment, and the collection of articles below highlight some of the pattern making manipulations at work in the collections at Dior, Balenciaga, Delpozo and DZHUS. As is so often the case with sewing and fashion design it is the simple details that are often the hardest to create since there is no room to hide. In the case of many of these garments, minimal seam lines and scant use of darts gives the pattern maker very little room to manipulate for fit changes. The solution is often to maximise how much extra give you can get out of the fabric by using the grain line to your advantage and by easing in small amounts of fit value along the seam line. To achieve this effect, many designers find it more straight forward to work directly on the stand to shape the fabric since any shaping and changes are more tangible than what can be achieved by flat pattern making alone.

Bust Shaping with Panel Lines at Dior

Christian Dior, SS15, Haute Couture, Paris.

In discussing some of the details from the Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2015 collection, we began to discuss how moving the positions of panel lines can affect your ability as a pattern maker to fit the fabric to the body. As it happens the Christian Dior Haute Couture collection for Spring-Summer 2015 included garments that pushed panel lines away from the bust point apex to achieve slightly different fit variations on one basic sleeveless silhouette.

Bust Shaping Considerations at Balenciaga

Balenciaga, PF15, Paris.

Sometimes a design that is very simple on paper can throw some surprisingly tricky pattern considerations at you. There was one particularly simple dress from the Balenciaga pre-collection that illustrates a possible solution to an important question: When you move a seam line away from an apex of the body, what are your pattern options to keep the same fit value?

Pattern Shaping at Balenciaga

Balenciaga, AW15, Paris.

Some time ago, we discussed some of the different ways you can position fabric on the body to create different sleeve shapes. In particular, there are many different design possibilities that open up to you when you give up on the typical bodice / sleeve arrangement and start to blur the positions of these garment parts to create more unusual silhouettes. In this post, we’ll look at the cocoon shaped coats and jackets from the Balenciaga collection for Autumn-Winter 2015 to look at how the fabric has been shaped in these garments.

Pure Construction at Christian Dior

Christian Dior, SS16, Paris.

After the recent news that Raf Simons would no longer be the artistic director at Dior (for women’s RTW, Haute Couture and accessories), it seemed a fitting time to celebrate the fineness of the construction details in his last collection for Spring-Summer 2016. After all, it’s possible that not everyone heard the news that Simons was leaving Dior and felt saddened by the thought that in future there may be a little less bust dart inspiration in the world.

Pattern Cutting Details from Delpozo

Delpozo, AW15, New York.

The Delpozo collections often use clever pattern cutting details to create sculptural details or to support the silhouettes of the garments. In the Autumn-Winter 2015 collection some of the pattern making details worth noticing include sleeves that grow from panels or out of darts, and a sleeve that appears to be a variation on a raglan sleeve.

Wearable Architecture at DZHUS

DZHUS, “Totalitarium”, AW15, Kiev.

The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection for DZHUS was filled with geometric details that used tucks and pleating to fold fabric around the body. Designer Irina Dzhus spoke to us about her pattern making process for the collection and discussed how fabric choice can make the difference between a piece being regarded as a wearable garment or sidelined as a concept piece.

See all articles on Pattern Making Techniques»

Flounces and Ruffles

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:07:32 +0000

Noir Kei Ninomiya, SS16, Paris.

Flounces and ruffles are one type of detail where terms are sometimes used interchangeably and while the general effect can appear similar, they are actually shaped in very different ways from a pattern and construction perspective. For example, in general, a ruffle is created using a rectangle of fabric that is gathered up into a smaller area. When this is sewn into a seam line, such as on the waistline of a skirt, the excess fabric fullness will actually be visibly gathered on the seam line creating small pleats of fabric.

In contrast, a flounce is generally based on a more circular pattern. Or actually more like a donut shaped pattern. The inner edge of the “donut” is the edge that is sewn into the seam while the outside edge of the donut creates fullness at the hem since it is a longer line. If we go back to the example of a skirt shape, then this is similar to what happens in the patterns for circle skirts; the fabric sits smoothly along the waist seam but flares out at the hem. Confusingly, these shapes aren’t always called flounces though; sometimes they are just called “circular ruffles”.

However, this is not a reason to get paranoid about using the correct term with your pattern maker, it’s just a matter of mitigating the chance that you’ll misunderstand each other.The first thing is to check how you’ve sketched a detail onto a garment technical drawing. Have you drawn the detail so it is gathered at the seam line, or did you draw it so it seams smoothly into place?

Also, how much volume does your sketch indicate that you want? The more gathered you draw the ruffle, the longer your pattern maker will make the rectangle. The more flared you make your flounce, the tighter the circle will need to be for your flounce pattern.

If you find it difficult to draw the effect of what you want, consider using photographic references to indicate the detail instead. This will help the pattern maker to see what you are visualising and will reduce the chance that you’ll be disappointed with your sample.

All these same ideas apply even if you are pattern making a detail for yourself. Analysing your own sketch before you jump into the pattern making process can help you to work out what you actually need to make patterns for. If it’s a detail that you intend to use on a few garments in a collection, it’s also worth taking the time to get the measurement ratios right from the beginning, before you adapt it to other garment patterns. For example, this could be a good time to drape on the stand with real fabric to see how the fabric will react when gathered into a ruffle, or cut into a flounce.

Images from Vogue.com» Diagrams by TheCuttingClass»

See more garments with examples of Flounces»

See more garments with examples of Ruffles»

Rethinking Seams at Noir Kei Ninomiya

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 15:23:45 +0000

Noir Kei Ninomiya, SS16, Paris.

For many designers, the basic construction elements of a garment are quite simple - you take 2D pieces of fabric and join them together, usually by sewing seams, to create a 3D object. In the collections created by Kei Ninomiya however, it seems that even these basic ideas aren’t taken for granted so that the flat 2D fabric pieces are often split and ruptured and the methods used to join fabric pieces together become as much an act of embellishment as one of construction.

The Spring-Summer 2016 collection at Noir Kei Ninomiya continued to explore the same types of black on black fabric manipulations from the Autumn-Winter 2015 collection. Although the pieces are very sculptural, they are always somehow sympathetic enough to the body to prevent them from appearing as just stiff wearable artworks. This is in large part due to the way the flatness of the fabric is broken by the manipulations, and also due to the diversity of fabric choices. Sheer black ruffles add soft volume to some silhouettes while flat black fabric is often spliced and twisted like blinds that have gone awry to reveal the interior of a room. The use of what appears to be clear plastic vinyl helps to break up the dark colour palette, but also provides an opportunity to highlight the use of a twisted trim that is used to seam together parts of the garment.

Part of what is interesting is not just the creation of the modular patterns, but where the patterns seem to “fail” and the fabric falls away. Often this happens by changing the scale so that shaped pieces become larger down the body, or where beading is staggered between split pieces of fabric to create unevenly spaced holes. It is also particularly effective on the sheer knotted macramé dress where a whole side of the dress looks as though it has become unravelled.

Images from Vogue.com»

Wearable Architecture at DZHUS

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 17:56:24 +0000

DZHUS, “Totalitarium”, AW15, Kiev.

From a construction point of view, the pieces in the collection use tucks and pleating in ways that are not simply quick additions to existing pattern blocks, but which are designed into the garments from the beginning. The result of this is that details are well proportioned and flow well between the front and back of the garment. For example, bust shaping is often absorbed into fabric folds that flow over a shoulder line and then continue into an equally balanced back detail as a continuous piece.

In the DZHUS profile on Not Just a Label (NJAL) the collection is described in relation to the “Totalitarium” concept, speaking of the inspiration provided by the “totalitarian regimes of the 20th century’s first half” with specific reference to the “terrific palaces and awe-inspiring monuments” and “solemn spirit of industrialisation” which have obviously inspired the severe construction details of the collection.

One of the quotes from the collection bio which was interesting was the phrase “The Utopian ideology glorifies an image of the working class heroine, so stern and so pure.” What is so striking about this phrase is the fact that although it is used in relation to this specific collection, it also seems to relate to the way we perceive minimalist fashion in general. After all, the DZHUS collection is a perfect example of the type of garments that people with a love of pattern making and garment construction salivate over - well-cut clothes created by someone with an eye for proportion and balance. This type of minimalism often results in garments that feel so architectural that they almost appear solid and more like an object or sculpture than a garment. For this reason, it seemed important to ask designer Irina Dzhus specifically about the construction of the garment to see if she was able to ensure that the clothes were actually worn and not just admired on a pedestal as “glorified” perfectly formed garments.

Interview with Irina Dzhus, designer for DZHUS:

Can you tell us about the process of how you created the patterns for the collection. For example, do you often work by draping directly onto a mannequin? Or do you tend to work solely using flat pattern making techniques?

My choice of the technique depends on the particular design I’m creating. When I want to play up the traditional patternmaking principles - for example, to invert them somehow, - I draw the construction first, then I sew a prototype, try it on a mannequin and make some corrections, if needed.

When I work on complex folds or tucks, or when the main thing about the design is certain balance or proportions while it’s worn, then I go for draping onto a mannequin right away.

You have mentioned some of the special finishes that you used in the collection such as exposed seam allowances, raw hems and seams piped with elastic. Did you have any particular problems in creating these finishes? Do you have any advice for other designers working with raw finishes?

Certainly, I’ve faced some concerns during my experiments with the special finishes. For example, loose fabrics just wouldn’t keep an unfinished hem. The solution I found was making a very thin stitch next to the fabric edge (the colour of the fabric and the thread had to be quite the same), which would help save the material’s structure, yet show the effect of a raw hem. When it comes to piping seam allowances with elastic, it’s important to make sure that the fabric doesn’t gather in the event, unless if that was the idea.

The tucks and pleats you use communicate the same straight lines and repetition as constructivist architecture in keeping with your “Totalitarium” concept. How do you balance this rigidity with the need for the clothes to be worn? Do you feel the fabric choices help to make these structures more wearable? Are the clothes stiffened by internal structure such as canvas or fusing?

All of my designs are totally wearable. I always interpret architectural elements through the prism of the human body shape. When I work on a construction, no matter how complicated and geometric it is, I take into account that the result should serve as clothing. Since I create fashion, not costume or pure art, I only bring to life the styles that can be easily worn – some for very special events, some in everyday life, but always with comfort.

I often stiffen my pieces with fusing but no more than they do for a classic jacket, for example.

In the beginning of my career, I mostly used synthetic materials, such as neoprene, polyurethane etc. to reflect the industrial leitmotiv of my collections, but as I developed my aesthetical taste and ethical positions, I began to value natural fabrics much more, such as textured denim and linen, cotton knit and woolen felt, to name a few. This change of course has also helped get more people interested to wear DZHUS garments in real life, not only on stage or for shootings, which was very important for me. My pieces are still very much inspired with technologies, I use industrial-looking accessories and finishes to communicate that idea, and it seems to me that the combination of these edgy details and natural, sustainable textiles makes the DZHUS look even more distinctive.

Images from DZHUS»

Lookbook image credits:
Photography: Olga Nepravda
Style, Makeup & Hair: Irina Dzhus
Model: Viera Stankeieva

Campaign image credits:
Photography: Olga Nepravda
Style: Irina Dzhus
Makeup & Hair: Maria Kolomiets
Models: Fortune Chidi @ Ego Models, Anna Dogileva

Fractured Layers at Off-White

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 17:11:34 +0000

Off-White, SS16, Paris.

The Off-White collection for Spring-Summer 2016 was filled with deconstructed finishes and patchworked denim set against crisp white t-shirts and structured pleating.

While raw deconstructed edges and asymmetrical silhouettes tend to loosen the overall appearance of a collection, a sense of structure is brought into the garments in this case through more angular elements. Panels of pleating, for example, automatically insert slabs of repetition onto the garments, while angular joins break the circular lines of t-shirt neckbands. The monochrome grid fabric used on some of the garments again gives that same sense of structure and repetition, however, using fabric with repetitive prints can also be used to further accentuate the movement of the fabric in your designs, which is the case here where the grid is fractured across a pleated panel and then becomes distorted when gathered in towards the waist. So to put this another way - if you have structure in your collection, then this actually gives you more to play off in terms of deconstruction and gives you a counterbalance to the more raw elements that you use.

In amongst the deconstructed necklines and raw edges, some of the fuller silhouettes gave a sense of old world couture. A couple of the skirts were cut long and full with concentrated layers of ruffled pleating creating fullness around the hips before spreading into longer asymmetrical layers closer to the hem. This silhouette seems to tug at memories of couture dresses cut with peplums so that the fullness around the hips accentuates the illusion of a nipped in waist. But the layering also seems to simply reference the more basic layering that occurs in everyday clothes as well; open hoodies over elongated t-shirts over jeans.

The reason why this seems to be interesting is that there seems to be genuine elegance hidden amongst the deconstruction, and with so many collections playing on awkward proportions it makes for a nice sweet spot to be able to hit “cool” and “elegant” at the same time.

Images from Vogue.com»

Lace Engineering at Céline

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 12:54:21 +0000

Céline, SS16, Paris.

There are certain garments where the feats of construction at work are well-known, such as the layers of canvas and horsehair used to mould fabric for tailored jackets. Other garments seem easier or less engineered simply because they are more floaty and lightweight, but of course, this is very deceptive since all the same basic principles of engineering the fabric still apply. If anything, silks, laces and embroidery can be more difficult to work with because there are fewer layers of fabric to hide behind and because the fabrics themselves are less forgiving.

The Céline collection for Spring-Summer 2016 included some “simple” lace dresses that were the perfect examples of this idea of lightweight construction. For a start, to even stay on the shoulders of the wearer, the straps need to sit at just the right point; otherwise gravity will take hold and pull the strap down anyway. In the case of some of the dresses in the Céline collection, the strap appears to run from the front to the back of the garment with the lace wrapped around the strap, or perhaps the lace section has been stabilised with a more rigid material or stay tape to prevent the front armhole from stretching.

In a way, this strap is like the load bearing part of the dress since it takes the brunt of the weight, and since no added support is provided by a high neckline at the front or back of the garments. For this reason, the straps have to be just the right length so that they don’t simply slide off the wearer’s shoulders and, in this case, the straps have been made adjustable to afford better fit for different body types. Since the straps on bras and camisoles are normally adjustable in this way, this detail also adds to the “underwear as outerwear” feeling given by the slips.

With the straps supporting the weight of the dress, the bust darts are then used to open or close the fullness of the fabric through the neckline area. By adjusting this bust dart, the fabric can then be shaped to prevent the open neckline from gaping.

Aside from the lace dresses in the collection, other details included some interesting uses of topstitched darts and shaped panels to create rounded silhouettes. Often the shaped panels appeared to be a reference to boning panels on corsets, especially where the panels were highlighted with topstitching. Some monochrome tops were cut with wide open necklines that were tight across the shoulders and put the focus on the décolletage of the wearer, and these garments again had undertones of historical dress. In contrast to the figure-skimming cuts of these details, other garments were cut with excess volume through the front and were fastened in such a way that it almost seemed like the garments were cut back to front, complete with invisible zippers through the centre front seam.

Closure details were also reworked to create fastenings that were more unusual while still being functional. For example, traditional fly front zips for trousers were often cut without the covering “fly” section leaving the zip exposed. Chunky metal zips were also used in some front openings in combination with shiny rivets while in one garment the zipper was also covered with a tab. Buttons were also sprinkled across garments in contrast colours and materials though at times these buttons were not just decorative but were also accompanied by matching buttonholes to create staggered front closures or belt details.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Deconstructed Americana at Marc Jacobs

Thu, 29 Oct 2015 21:00:29 +0000

Marc Jacobs, SS16, New York.

In a palette of red, white and blue the Marc Jacobs collection for Spring-Summer 2016 was thick with Americana references and slathered with glittering stars and stripes. Within this relatively narrow concept and colour palette, the garments showed some incredible uses of embellishment and spliced appliqué, while slouchy dropped shoulder silhouettes were contrasted with razor sharp tailoring.

In a video describing the collection, Marc Jacobs talks about working with the “greatest embroiderers in the world” and the collection is filled with garments where embroidery has been layered onto a base fabric and then embellished with smatterings of beading and minute sequins to catch the light. To keep this current, the embellishment is also often made less formal by making the placements quite random. It’s almost as though some of the garments have accumulated the embellishments over time - like a bomber jacket that gets pinned with a new button at every new state in the road trip.

The use of deconstructed knitwear also made for a clever twist on logo sweatshirts with “concert band” and “bobcats” appliqués spliced through by disjointed panel lines. The treatment of the neckline was nicely rearranged on one spliced top to create a folded detail; while on another the splice created a rough V-neck.

Another interesting point about the collection was the cut of the shoulders for the tailored jackets. While the denim and bomber jackets were cut with dropped shoulders to fit with their oversized silhouettes, the tailored jackets were often cut with strong, square shoulders with a pronounced rope on the shoulder. This subtle detail helps to create an almost caricatured version of “formal wear”. These tailored garments were also often trimmed with satin, giving them the embellished formality of uniforms that could either be for fancy bellhops or for a bedazzled chorus line.

The overall effect was something like a 4th of July awards show afterparty where the red carpet dresses were given a drunken DIY update with streamers taken straight from the venue, and the jackets of bell boys had been nabbed for the late night run into a yellow cab. The trick is that the attention to detail is absolute - and the execution of the garment construction is completely committed to the theme down to the very last tiny sequin.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Pure Construction at Christian Dior

Sun, 25 Oct 2015 16:14:31 +0000

Christian Dior, SS16, Paris.

In many ways, when thinking about Simons’ time at Dior it seems apt to think about the quote from Constantin Brancusi that “Simplicity is complexity resolved”. There are many times over the past few seasons where he has given us garments that seem peaceful, even when the construction methods involved would be anything but easy to carry out. Simons himself described the Spring-Summer 2016 collection as a search for purity, but it could be argued that this push for restraint has run under all his collections at Dior as a honed concept of construction. While the design theme for each season obviously changed in tone and mood, the push for the bare essentials in the actual construction of the garments has resulted in garments that often felt light and serene even when the pattern making and sewing methods used to create them were undoubtedly difficult and complex.

From a pattern making point of view, this push for simplicity has often driven all unnecessary darts to be smoothed away into seams or shaped panel lines while maintaining a perfect fit. In other collections, this occurred even at times when the seam lines were shifted away from the apexes of the body. Here in the Spring-Summer 2016 collection, the fit value was often shifted into panels that were shaped in a scalloped design, and when darts were needed, they were cut to blend into the curves of a scalloped hem or neckline. Or hidden along the edge of a stripe in a sheer fabric. Or calculated so that the adjacent stripes of the fabric would still match with the adjoining panels.

Pattern making techniques were also vital in creating the endless new interpretations of the classic Dior “Bar” jacket that appeared over the last few seasons, with waist shaping often created through soft tucks or shaped panels. In the Spring-Summer 2016 collection, the tailored jackets often became softly unravelled at the edges, falling away into pleated hems. Jackets were also occasionally cut with the pinstripes on the cross grain to subvert the stripe direction typically used for suiting, or possibly this effect was created with fabric where the contrast lines were specially woven as a horizontal stripe.

Pleating has also been used repeatedly throughout Simons’ collections at Dior with variations in vibrant colours, or in minute pintucks beside historical silhouettes. In this collection they were often used to give soft texture to garments by being used in different scales and different directions. At other times they were also used as a fit device, transitioning from being compressed around waistlines to releasing up over bustlines.

One element that was missing or only barely used in this collection was embellishment, which has often been a feature of other collections. In Simons’ version of Dior, the embellishment didn’t have that encrusted, over-worked quality that can sometimes make beading and embroidery come off as dated. Instead his use of embellishment was sometimes layer upon layer of shredded chiffon, or beading layered under sheer fabric cutouts, or tiny feathers. His use of embellishment at Dior was often characterised by a sophisticated use of colour, a use of repetition and lots of blank fabric to give the embellishment breathing space.

In the Spring-Summer 2016 collection, with the endless layers of white-on-white fabric and scalloped panel lines it was actually almost as though the seam allowance became the embellishment. Perfect borders of seam allowance were constantly visible in the white and sheer fabrics, creating narrow outlines that highlighted every seam and every dart. The idea of focusing on a pure “line” in garments was Simons’ reference to Christian Dior’s search for new design lines and new silhouettes, but in this collection the idea of the clean “line” also seemed to apply down to every last seam line.

It says a lot about Simons’ time at Dior that seam allowance could be talked about in this way, but it acts as a good indication of how much he has stripped away frou-frou in favour of pure construction. There is even a moment in the documentary “Dior and I” where a member of the atelier is talking about how Simons has asked for less volume in the dresses, and undoubtedly on some of these garments it is far more difficult to shape the silhouette and create volume using less materials, and with less embellishment to hide behind.

While many designers seem to believe that “lots of visible work” = “very good, very expensive garment”, Simons just doesn’t seem to suffer from this affliction. With the obviously skilled hands at Dior he has often been able to create lighter, sheerer, cleaner garments where only the necessary elements remain and which surely must also feel lighter and more wearable to the Dior client.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Graphic Movement at Christopher Kane

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 22:00:36 +0100

Christopher Kane, SS16, London.

As ever, the catwalk show for Spring-Summer 2016 showed the latest results from the Christopher Kane laboratory. In many ways, this collection seemed to combine the colours and fabrications which Kane has used in the past with the sweeping sense of movement from last season’s collection which was inspired by life drawing.

Where there were straight lines, such as in the angular panelling and splices of coloured plastic, they almost never ran at a straight horizontal or vertical, instead cutting across garments at an angle. This movement was often accentuated by the combinations of colours and textures that were used with dense panels of lace or embroidery - and you would have to assume that these contrast pieces would be quite dense or have some sort of self-sustaining structure since panels of fragile laces would presumably have been far more romantic and the garments would have lost that graphic quality.

The paint splattered fabrics also had a sense of movement and immediacy, looking almost as though they had just been sprayed and left with the paint still dripping down the garments. At times, this painterly effect was reversed out on plain black or white backgrounds, echoing the gaping slits and cutouts used in other garments in the collection.

The use of embroidery as a scrawly embellishment also produced interesting results, with thread doodles across a piece of knitwear like a kid who had just attacked a white wall with some stray crayons. Probably the same kid hid the matching straps for some of the dresses, causing the grommets and draping to be held together with cable ties.

All of these details and use of angular design lines came together to give the collection a sense of lightness - while many of the details would have had to be carefully worked out and resolved, there was still a feeling as though something quite fleeting had just happened and had been captured in the clothing.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Coordinated Chaos at Dries Van Noten

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 13:14:58 +0100

Dries Van Noten, SS16, Paris.

A few years ago now we did an article that asked How Many Fabrics in the Dries Van Noten Show? and laid out the collection as swatches. Since the Dries Van Noten show for Spring-Summer 2016 was again filled with an amazing range of different prints, colours and textures it seemed like time to do this exercise again, and to this time explain how looking at a collection in this way almost takes you back to the initial design stages of a collection.

When you flick through the images of the garments from the catwalk show, the Dries show has that quality where you feel like you’re seeing individual people walking down the street, each with their own style and way of layering clothes and colours together to suit their own bodies and complexions. The initial effect is of an almost endless multitude of different fabrics. Of course even when just skipping from one image to the next obvious themes of colours and motifs emerge - like that shocking pink and the glimmers of embellishment - but the overall effect is that each piece feels very individual with its own print or colour combination.

It is only once you start to look at the fabrics by themselves that you begin to see how the fabrics explore certain motifs and colours in shifting variations of scale and tone. There’s still an incredible number of fabrics (we lost count at 90) but they are actually all related to each other. A leaf shape appears on a mesh for body skimming garments, then on a chiffon for blouses, and then enlarged in scale as an embroidered motif on tailoring. The colourways reference each other too, different tones of golds and blues play off each other across different fabrications, sometimes shifting into teal on beige. Interestingly, the shocking pink is actually used relatively sparingly in the garments themselves and is offset by lots of earthy tones.

You also get a sense of how the overall collection was styled to give the catwalk show a certain arc, moving from bright pinks, aquas and yellows through to vibrant purples and dark reds and finally into moodier blacks and shadowy greens. Essentially, there’s lots of thoughtful coordination within the chaos, and the randomness actually sits within a set of boundaries.

By taking away all of the garment shapes and the styling to focus on only the fabrics it is almost like going back to that initial phase in a design room where the designer just has a few sketches and a pile of fabric swatches from the mills laid out on a table. Not that all designers work in this way, or even to say that this has been the process in this collection, but for many designers getting the range of textiles right helps to solidify the concept for the collection.

To put this another way, sometimes it seems like designers get to the end of the sampling process with a whole range of garments and then “pull it all together” with styling, like you would with a wardrobe full of clothes. On the other hand, some designers appear to make it all work at the beginning when the collection is just a pile of swatches. If you’re a designer working on your own collection then this initial layout of swatches can be used to balance the collection before you’ve even sewn up a garment. Are there enough pop colours? Do we need more neutrals? Do we need to mix up the textures? More sheer, less opaque? More matte less shiny? Can we afford all these embellishments? etc. If your collection fabrics wouldn’t work as a crazy patchwork quilt, then maybe they’ll look disconnected once they are sewn up into garments.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Is it ever ok to have bad finishes?

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 14:01:56 +0100

Yeezy, SS16, New York.

Interviews surrounding the collection suggest that the colour palette was a reflection on the variety of human skin tones, played out through the soft muted tones of the colour palette. The silhouettes and details also have military undertones with camouflage colours and utilitarian pockets. But there is also that misfit quality about the clothes, maybe less like a well-funded army and more like kids creating oversized outfits from army surplus.

In this collection, it seems like the clothes were made first and then dyed afterwards, or at least were garment washed after construction to affect and distress the fabrics. It is this process which either intentionally, or unintentionally, has caused the technical problems with the details in the collection. The puckered seams and wavy zipper tapes seem to be the result of putting the garments through wash cycles and treatments, potentially at high temperatures, where all of the components have shrunk at different rates. The thread on the seams reacts differently to the surrounding fabric, and the zipper tapes buckle against the edges of garments.

But the question is, when do we applaud these details for being cleverly engineered methods for creating the mood of the collection and when do we draw the line and just call them construction issues?

This is not at all intended to be a collection review based on whether or not people should like the collection - this is about analysing how we value clothing and how we use construction details as a signal of what we think clothing is worth. And maybe about whether we can still call a piece “luxury” or “elevated” if the construction details may be mistakes.

If we decide that the collection is a play on proportion and colour as worn by a cast of ragtag misfits, then you could argue that the details support the collection. These are street style clothes designed to be lived in, worn, stuffed in a bag and then shaken out to be worn again. In a way, they already have the physical qualities of garments that have been through the washing machine too many times. It’s honest to make them have the look of the old favourites that hang around in our wardrobes far longer than they should; t-shirts with overstretched necklines and comfy sweatshirts that have worn too thin.

There’s even precedent for it. Not just at a high-end conceptual fashion level but in streetwear, after all there’s an art to making distressed jeans that look authentic, and people will pay good money for the time and effort required to create the look of a garment that somebody else would throw in the bin. That’s fashion after all, to be able to pick and choose how you piece together an aesthetic and pay for the worn in look if you want it.

The next question is, is the fact that the details support the concept of the collection enough? Does part of how we value aesthetic come down to the designer’s control? Is a technique only valid if it was intended, but if it was an accidental consequence of dyeing the garments then does it just become unfortunate? Maybe it shows mastery of materials to choose to mismatch the thread to the fabric or screw up the tension, with the intention of creating puckered seams. Or maybe it happened by accident, and when the samples came back to the studio post-dye everyone went “oops”? Do we value one over the other? Should it even matter?

Maybe it’s actually just that these details stand out when they are not bad enough. Maybe the problems need to be worse, and become something new, to be considered artistic. Think Hussein Chalayan encouraging rust to form on the garments on his graduate collection in 1993. Or Margiela leather goods covered in cracking paint. Or more recently, Faustine Steinmetz’s shredded denim.

The thing is that even on a Comme des Garçons garment where almost no edge of the fabric is finished, overlocking is on the outside, the fabric is fraying like nothing else and the silhouette looks like a bunch of knotted rags, there’ll still sometimes be a hint of control. Something tiny, like a perfectly formed hand sewn thread loop on a hook and loop closure. Even if you choose to embrace accidents and curate destruction, maybe there’s something to be said for offsetting it with a silent nod and a wink, a tiny hint of pure, controlled technique.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Shattered, Pleated Appliqué at Thom Browne

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 11:59:17 +0100

Thom Browne, SS16, New York.

The layered suiting ensembles at Thom Browne for Spring-Summer 2016 were embellished with carefully worked appliqué. The motifs were cut in a variety of fabrics and subtle pastel tones and were often spliced into fragments across front closures and shattered across pleated skirts.

It is interesting to think about the planning that would need to go into embellishment that is this detailed. For a start, you’d want to have the fit right of the basic garments before planning the placements of the motifs, since fit changes later would probably be a nightmare, and could throw off the whole sense of proportion of each design.

For the appliqué and possibly patchworked sections that run across the pleats, you’ve got the extra consideration of planning which parts of the designs split onto the top of each pleat. Or to put this another way, you can’t have the motif on the inside folds or pleat underlays since they won’t be visible.

The pleat underlays in the collection are also used to great effect in the collection, since rather than all being from the same self fabric, the underlays are sometimes pieced in as separate panels, allowing multiple contrast colours to be used. Sometimes this is used with subtle tonal variations, or at other times black is used to pierce through the appliqué to create a more graphic effect.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Pleat images by The Cutting Class»

Lingerie and Tailoring at Givenchy

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 21:00:31 +0100

Givenchy, SS16, New York.

The Givenchy Spring-Summer 2016 collection combined the silky sensuality of lingerie with the strictness of tailoring topped off with lashings of embellishment.

The lingerie references came through with laces, soft tulles and embroidery with touches of lingerie hardware such as bra strap adjusters. Many pieces of lingerie also feature soft angular panelling to cup the curves of the body, and some of the garments in the collection appeared to build from these types of panel lines, expanding into unusual cuts, fullness and monochrome spliced panels. The silky, lacy pieces in the collection also often used an awareness of gravity in different ways and this carried through to the tailored pieces. Fabrics were draped and wrapped around the body, hanging from straps or gathered into ruched details to create layers of lace and embroidery. These pieces were then layered with deconstructed jackets that sat somewhere between a tuxedo and a dressing gown, cut to split open and fall off the shoulders of the models.

The classically tailored garments in the collection included traditional details such as pick stitched shawl lapels and beautifully cut vests. Metallic and satin contrasts were also used to add shine to some of the collars, pocket welts and patch pockets of the men’s pieces. Touches of lacy softness were brought to one look with a white on white shirt and tie while a laser-cut leather in black on black also seemed to be used to create a reverse lace design on a tie.

For the gowns of the collection the use of fabric layering appeared to shrink in scale but intensify in quantity, with tiny sheer circles creating gradients of embellishment that blended from opaque to transparent, spreading like a growth over the models faces and clothes. The use of embellishment in the styling of the models appeared to have an almost ritualistic, mask-like connotation steering the dresses clear of just being red carpet fodder. Less celebrity, more high priestess.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Crushed and Creased Tailoring at Gucci

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 19:01:32 +0100

Gucci, AW15, Milan.

Often the modern tailored look is quite thick and sculpted with a smooth rounded quality. However, here the crisp crease you’d expect to see down the front of tailored trousers was also applied to jackets, with vertical creases up through the torso or with horizontal ridges sitting low on the hips. When extra horizontal creases were added to trousers, they were used in such a way that it looked like a hem that had been let down at some point, never to be refinished.

Aside from the tailoring in the collection, there were also some relaxed uses of pleats and ruffles styled in a loose way with raw hems and soft flowing fabrics. At times, pleats were used to splice evenly through drapey florals, but in other garments the pleating had more of a crumpled effect, echoing the crumpled leather tailoring. In these instances, the pleating was often worn knotted and bunched as scarfs and neckties.

The piping details on some of the tailoring also seemed like a louche reference, taking the garments out of serious formal wear territory and putting them somewhere between smoking jackets and silky monogrammed pajamas. The piping finishes were also used on coats to define the edges of pockets and front edges. In contrast to the other less formal finishes, details such as the piping and tailored pockets were done immaculately, striking the balance or creating luxury garments, without making them feel overworked.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Pleats and Contrasts at Kenzo

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 22:00:39 +0100

Kenzo, AW15, Paris.

The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Kenzo included some interesting pattern cutting details to create draped details and subtle folds of fullness. At times, sportswear colours and satin fabrications were contrasted with a more historical technique, with cartridge pleats used on sleeve heads and dropped waists.

From a design line perspective, there were some nice uses of asymmetry to guide the viewer’s eyes around the garments. At times, angular diagonal panels cut across the sleeve and body pieces of tailored jackets, pierced with contrast strips of colours that bordered on neon. In some tops, curved panels arced across the shoulder area before sweeping into draped fullness around the waist.

There was also some interesting pattern cutting going on in the folds of come of the shirts and coats. There appeared to be extra fullness cut into some shirts and jackets around the neckline / collar area. This fullness appeared to be folded out at the top so that the pleat of fabric draped at a diagonal and blended to nothing at the waist. When used on both sides of the neckline, this created a triangular silhouette which flowed out from the top button of some looks and continued down into layers of fabric volume with staggered hems.

The use of contrast also played an important role in this collection, especially in looks that were so layered and patterned. Contrast facings, or possibly self-backed fabrics, helped to create definition on garments that used draped collars so that pools of black satin broke up detailed prints.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»

Wearable Innovation at Louis Vuitton

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:17:29 +0100

Louis Vuitton, AW15, Paris.

There were silky slip dresses spliced with angular contrast panels and chunky zips that appeared to be cut like lingerie and sewn like sportswear, even complete with lace panels, elasticated trims and zigzag stitching. Minimal knitwear was transformed with fully-fashioned splices running across the chest, and rib structures that splayed out to create fluted hems. Occasionally these knit pieces also appeared in sparkly metallic versions that were layered over mini skirts. Mini skirts appeared throughout the collection in a range of different fabrics from leather to pixelated sequins. The leather versions involved minute LV branding with tiny buckles and straps embossed with the LV logo. The fly front on these skirts was often also emphasised with the use of an exposed zip surrounded by an appliquéd panel in a contrasting leather.

The sharp tailoring in the collection had a crisp quality, which was possibly a feeling created specifically through the pattern tweaks and construction choices used. For example, the hems were cut square and flattened with an outline of topstitching, while the lapels sat clean and flat as though supported by a crisp fusing and shaped with a good flat press rather than leaving the lapel to roll softly at the neck.

The crisp tailoring was often softened by carefully chosen contrast details. Yellow topstitching ran down the sleeves of one coat, matching the yellow thread used to attach the buttons. Leather pieces were also used to create shaped patches above the pockets on some coats. The tailored pieces were often dressed down with the way that they were styled - layered over clean tops with shoelace drawstring hems to add another sporty reference.

The fact is that lots of these details look easy, but they’re not. Those knitwear splits had to sit at just the right place so that the gape didn’t look awkwardly tight or sloppy. And the panelled slip dresses could so easily have looked puckered and messy with misplaced black panels sliding away from that underbust line. Add in a good sense of proportion, well-fitted clothes and enough time and resources to iterate and you can take unusual ideas and turn them into a well executed collection.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»