Week 2 - Observational Drawing

This week, we learned about the silhouette. A silhouette is a contour or outline of an ensemble. The silhouette is extremely important in fashion. The silhouette shows up what shapes and forms a garment will take and is a fundamental consideration in construction and design processes. As fashion designers use different materials and techniques to make a garment, they have to ensure that the silhouette of the garment on the human body looks spectacular as well. The silhouette is vital to show what shape the garment will give to the body and which part of the body will stand out more. 

S- Bend Silhouette
Photo: Courtesy of Pinterest

During the Edwardian Period (1900-1909), women's fashion was dominated by the S-bend silhouette. This shape was created by the corset which pushes the bust forward creating a pigeon chest body shape with rounded hipline. On the other hand, the hourglass silhouette demonstrates the cinch at the waist, full at the bottom and upper part of the body to the shoulders. The body-hugging shape is considered as an hourglass silhouette.

We have also learned some new terminologies for the clothes like Leg of Mutton sleeve, bow collar, shawl collar and notch lapel. Lapels are the folded flaps of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat and are most commonly found on formal clothing and suit jackets. 

After the lesson on silhouette, we did some observational drawings. We had to observe carefully and zoom in into the details of the garment before we sketch out the silhouette and the technical flats of the garment.

Hourglass Silhouette: Front View

Hourglass Silhouette: Back view

3/4 View

The details on this garment will mostly be the stitches and the seams. The organza blouse has a classic turnover collar and cuffed sleeves. The blouse is made out of a sheer fabric(Organza) . I love how the fabric flows in this garment, it creates varies shadows and highlights on the sleeves and the pants. The design of this garment is such that one leg looks like it has a straight-cut pants on while the other leg looks like it has palazzo pants on. It is very unique.

Technical Flats are black and white fashion technical drawings that show garment as if it was laid flat to display all seams, top-stitching, hardware and any other design details.

A yoke is a shaped pattern piece which forms part of a garment, usually fitting around the neck and shoulders, or around the hips to provide support for looser parts of the garment, such as a gathered skirt or the body of a shirt.

Technical Flat

Technical Flats of the Sheath Dress

This is the technical flat of a sheath dress I have at home. The details on the dress are the top stitch, buttons, epaulette and the invisible zipper. This sleeveless dress has a scoop neckline.

A dart is a volume stitched away to create shape and dimension.

The Epaulette

Button details

Shank: A loop of metal or other material on the reverse of a button that provides a means of sewing them to the fabric, in addition to creating space under the button for the fabric that is buttoned to sit.



Bibliography

1.http://www.designersnexus.com/fashion-design-portfolio/digital-fashion-flat-sketches/

2.http://blog.wlccollege.org/NEW/the-importance-fashion-designing/

3.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapel

4.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoke_(clothing)

5. The Visual Dictionary of Fashion Design (book)
     Author: Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris

Week 1 - The Insights to Fashion Details

After attending the first lesson, I finally know what to expect for the subsequent lessons of fashion details. On the first lesson, I understand that through this class we are expected to learn and know the vocabulary of fashion. I realized that there are actually so many different terminologies in fashion. We should use and apply these terminologies in our writings and explanation in future so that we will sound more professional. These fashion vocabulary can ensure easier communication and understanding between me and the client in future. I learned that fashion details may include embellishments(eg. beads, sequin, lace), stitching(eg. embroidery) and cutting to enhance the beauty of the garment.  I learned new terminologies like hook and eye and racerback. I am taught to differentiate the difference between style and trend. I didn't know that there is even something called "fads" which is the term for a trend that lasts for an even shorter period of time. I guess we will also have to learn about the significant fashion details that different brands are known for. For example, Chanel is famous for their tweed jacket. 

Chanel Tweed Jacket
Photo: COURTESY OF CHANEL

I am looking forward to gaining more knowledge about fashion through this module. I feel that I am still quite ignorant in this area and still have so much more to learn especially expanding my fashion vocabulary bank. For example, I didn't even know that "maxi" is not the term for the longest length of a skirt and that "floor-length" is actually the correct term. I can't wait to broaden my knowledge on the characteristic of different brands. Hopefully, after this module, I can confidently describe the intricate details of a collection using professional fashion terminologies.