FASHION DESIGN
Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to the
design of clothing and lifestyle accessories which
generally mirror the cultural and social influences of that
time. This includes all designs worn to create a statement
about the individual or group of individuals. Historians
use fashion design as a means of determining social and
cultural values particularly deriving those values from
paintings and ancient artifacts. Fashion design throughout
history has had a direct correlation with status, position
and religion. Such an example would be a Roman Toga, which
was originally worn by all Romans and then became
exclusive, only being allowed to be worn by true citizens
of Rome. Fashion design is not restricted to fads (often
confused with fashion design), which is generally known as
the "current look" or "street wear". It covers everything
from uniforms to headwear and is not restricted to western
culture. Technically all clothing created for a purpose is
fashion design. For example, the Queen of England’s
coronation costume is fashion design as is the continual
restructuring and upgrading of an army uniform. A monk's
costume is also technically fashion design since it
reflects the monk’s culture. Generally this use of
the expression fashion design is also called costume.
Fashion design dictates and delineataes changes in clothing
over time. A man's shirt may generically consist of a front
or fronts, back, and sleeves, but shirts throughout history
vary in the specifics of their design. It is often and
wrongly perceived that fashion design is restricted to high
fashion and label names.
20th century is the period Fashion Design grew from serving
a practical purpose to a recognized form of art.
The first fashion designer who was not merely a dressmaker
was Charles Frederick Worth (1826–1895) setting up
his 'maison couture (fashion house) in Paris. Worth's
former apprentice Paul Poiret opened his own fashion house
in 1904, melding the styles of Art Nouveau and aestheic
dress with Paris fashion. Following in Worth's and Poiret's
footsteps were: Patou, Vionnet, Fortuny, Molyneux ( who
taught Dior, Balmain and Lanvin ), Lanvin, Chanel,
Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Hand in
hand with clothing, haute couture accessories evolved
internationally with such names as Guccio Gucci, Domenico
Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Thierry Hermès, Judith Leiber,
and others.
It is custom to identify France and Italy as fashion
design's homelands even if recent American, Japanese and
Spanish' contributes are very important.
Modern fashion design is roughly divided into two
categories, haute couture, and ready-to-wear. A designer's
haute-couture collection is meant exclusively for private
customers and is custom sized, cut and sewn. Ready-to-wear
collections are not custom made. They are sized according
to the manufacturer's intended market, which makes them
more suitable for larger productions. Ready-to-wear
collections can also be divided into designers/createur
collections and Confection collections. Designer/createur
collections have a high quality, a superb finish and a
unique cut and design. These collections are the most
trendsetting compared to Haute Couture and Confection.
Designer/createurs ready to wear collections often contain
concept items that represent a certain philosophy or
theory. These items are not so much created for sales but
just to make a statement. The designer's ready-to-wear
collection is also modeled on international catwalks.
Confection collections are the ones we see most commonly in
our shops. These collections are designed by stylists. The
brands that produce these collections aim only for a mass
public and are in general not searching for a new point of
view on fashion. Although many modern fashion designers
work in a "traditional" way -- making clothes that are
fancy and expensive, but still based on
standard/traditional construction and design concepts --
some designers have broken these "rules" over the years.
These include some now-deceased designers such as Elsa
Schiaparelli, who worked in the thirties, forties, and
fifties; Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des
Garcons, and Clarence Davis from the early eighties to the
present; and designers from the mid-nineties onward.
Most fashion designers attend art school. Fashion design
courses are considered applied arts just like graphic
design and interior design.
The types of fashion designer - stylist versus designer -
are often confused. A stylist inspires his/her designs on
existing things, trends and designers collections. A
designer starts from scratch; he/she develops a unique
concept and translates this into garment collections, other
lifestyle related products or a statement in various other
types of media. Some designers approach their work just as
a fine arts painter or sculptor.
fonte: www.wikipedia.org
