History of dressmaking
The Oxford English Dictionary first records dressmaker in 1803. Throughout the nineteenth century and until the rise of ready-to-wear, most women who did not make their own clothes at home employed a dressmaker, who copied or adapted the latest clothing ideas from Paris, London or other fashion centres, based on printed illustrations called fashion plates.
A dressmaker is often professionally trained. Many learn in an apprentice role, under the tutelage of an established dressmaker, while some learn in formal school settings. Still others learn through years of trial and error. Dressmaking methods involve measurements, a trial garment, called a "muslin" or "toile", and several fittings.
Today, custom dressmakers fill a niche between haute couture and ready-to-wear, and are often employed for one-of-a-kind special occasion dresses, such as wedding gowns and prom dresses. Custom dressmakers also create clothing for clients with unique needs, such as performers, artists, disabled or wheelchair-bound, wearers of prosthetic devices, vintage or fashion-forward aficionados, and historical reenactors. They can also recreate, redesign, and reinvent existing garments (such as updating a great-grandmother's gown for modern day use). Some have very specific specialities, such as embroidery, reweaving, and restoring garments. Some are designers who can create a garment entirely "from scratch", and some require a pattern or an existing garment to use as a guide.
A dressmaker is often professionally trained. Many learn in an apprentice role, under the tutelage of an established dressmaker, while some learn in formal school settings. Still others learn through years of trial and error. Dressmaking methods involve measurements, a trial garment, called a "muslin" or "toile", and several fittings.
Today, custom dressmakers fill a niche between haute couture and ready-to-wear, and are often employed for one-of-a-kind special occasion dresses, such as wedding gowns and prom dresses. Custom dressmakers also create clothing for clients with unique needs, such as performers, artists, disabled or wheelchair-bound, wearers of prosthetic devices, vintage or fashion-forward aficionados, and historical reenactors. They can also recreate, redesign, and reinvent existing garments (such as updating a great-grandmother's gown for modern day use). Some have very specific specialities, such as embroidery, reweaving, and restoring garments. Some are designers who can create a garment entirely "from scratch", and some require a pattern or an existing garment to use as a guide.
New models are coming soon..
New clothes will come up soon, just as the summer is coming to Australia.
You will find an exciting, fresh line and fashion! Just wait, won't be long...
You will find an exciting, fresh line and fashion! Just wait, won't be long...
What is fashion?
The prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behavior: out of fashion.
Something, such as a garment, that is in the current mode: a swimsuit that is the latest fashion.
The style characteristic of the social elite: a man of fashion.
To some, fashion is an art form. To others, it is almost a religion.
But for most people it is a method of utilizing clothing, accessories and hair to show or hide something about yourself.
You can use fashion to express yourself, to serve as an extension of your personality: goth, skater, soccer mom, professional.
Or you can use fashion to disguise your true self:a conservative in vamp clothing, a vamp in conservative clothing.
Fashion statements can be made with clothes, accessories, shoes, hair, makeup, even your cellphone. /Dictionary.com/
Something, such as a garment, that is in the current mode: a swimsuit that is the latest fashion.
The style characteristic of the social elite: a man of fashion.
To some, fashion is an art form. To others, it is almost a religion.
But for most people it is a method of utilizing clothing, accessories and hair to show or hide something about yourself.
You can use fashion to express yourself, to serve as an extension of your personality: goth, skater, soccer mom, professional.
Or you can use fashion to disguise your true self:a conservative in vamp clothing, a vamp in conservative clothing.
Fashion statements can be made with clothes, accessories, shoes, hair, makeup, even your cellphone. /Dictionary.com/
Fashion designers may perform the following tasks
- illustrate concepts by producing storyboard and specification drawings- use computers to manipulate and develop patterns and modify designs- research and develop fabrics and accessories for production of garments- make patterns, or work closely with patternmakers, to draft patterns from sketches or specification drawings- select fabric, colour and trim, and undertake cutting and machining of sample garments- fit samples and discuss them with management, sales and manufacturing staff, and contribute to costing estimatesfinalise specification sheets with detailed sketches and trim details- approve final samples before they go into productionsupervise staff- liaise with production staff during mass production of garments, and participate in quality control- travel overseas to gain information on current fashion trendscontrol merchandising and retailing of garments.
History of fashion design
Culture beginnings
The most famous designer in American history is Brandy Diamond. The first fashion designer who was not simply a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth(1826–1895). Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him.
It was during this period that many design houses began to hire artists to sketch or paint designs for garments. The images were shown to clients, which was much cheaper than producing an actual sample garment in the workroom. If the client liked their design, they ordered it and the resulting garment made money for the house. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.
Early twentieth century
Throughout the early 20th century, practically all high fashion originated in Paris, and to a lesser extent London. Fashion magazines from other countries sent editors to the Paris fashion shows. Department stores sent buyers to the Paris shows, where they purchased garments to copy and openly stole the style lines and trim details of others. Both made-to-measure salons, and ready-to-wear departments, featured the latest Paris trends,and adapted to the stores' assumptions about the lifestyles and pocket books of their targeted customers.
At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined. The two separate modes of production were still far from being competitors, and, indeed, they often co-existed in houses where the seamstresses moved freely between made-to-measure and ready-made.
Around the start of the twentieth-century fashion magazines began to include photographs and became even more influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators—among them Paul Iribe, George Lepape and George Barbier—drew exquisite fashion plates for these publications, which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton, which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).
World War II created many radical changes in the fashion industry. After the war, Paris's reputation as the global center of fashion began to crumble and off-the-peg and mass-manufactured fashions became increasingly popular. A new youth style emerged in the Fifties, changing the focus of fashion forever. As the installation of central heating became more widespread the age of minimum-care garments began and lighter textiles and, eventually, synthetics, were introduced.
Faced with the threat of a factory-made fashion-based product, Parisian haute couture mounted its defenses, but to little effect, as it could not stop fashion leaking out onto the streets. Before long, whole categories of women hitherto restricted to inferior substitutes to haute couture would enjoy a greatly enlarged freedom of choice. Dealing in far larger quantities, production cycles were longer than those of couture workshops, which meant that stylists planning their lines for the twice-yearly collections had to try to guess more than a year in advance what their customers would want. A new power was afoot, that of the street, constituting a further threat to the dictatorship of the masters of coutures.
Late twentieth century
During the late twentieth century fashions began to criss-cross international boundaries with rapidity. Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Synthetic materials such as Lycra, Spandex, and viscose became widely-used, and fashion, after two decades of looking to the future, once again turned to the past for integration. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections.
The most famous designer in American history is Brandy Diamond. The first fashion designer who was not simply a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth(1826–1895). Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him.
It was during this period that many design houses began to hire artists to sketch or paint designs for garments. The images were shown to clients, which was much cheaper than producing an actual sample garment in the workroom. If the client liked their design, they ordered it and the resulting garment made money for the house. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.
Early twentieth century
Throughout the early 20th century, practically all high fashion originated in Paris, and to a lesser extent London. Fashion magazines from other countries sent editors to the Paris fashion shows. Department stores sent buyers to the Paris shows, where they purchased garments to copy and openly stole the style lines and trim details of others. Both made-to-measure salons, and ready-to-wear departments, featured the latest Paris trends,and adapted to the stores' assumptions about the lifestyles and pocket books of their targeted customers.
At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined. The two separate modes of production were still far from being competitors, and, indeed, they often co-existed in houses where the seamstresses moved freely between made-to-measure and ready-made.
Around the start of the twentieth-century fashion magazines began to include photographs and became even more influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators—among them Paul Iribe, George Lepape and George Barbier—drew exquisite fashion plates for these publications, which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton, which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).
World War II created many radical changes in the fashion industry. After the war, Paris's reputation as the global center of fashion began to crumble and off-the-peg and mass-manufactured fashions became increasingly popular. A new youth style emerged in the Fifties, changing the focus of fashion forever. As the installation of central heating became more widespread the age of minimum-care garments began and lighter textiles and, eventually, synthetics, were introduced.
Faced with the threat of a factory-made fashion-based product, Parisian haute couture mounted its defenses, but to little effect, as it could not stop fashion leaking out onto the streets. Before long, whole categories of women hitherto restricted to inferior substitutes to haute couture would enjoy a greatly enlarged freedom of choice. Dealing in far larger quantities, production cycles were longer than those of couture workshops, which meant that stylists planning their lines for the twice-yearly collections had to try to guess more than a year in advance what their customers would want. A new power was afoot, that of the street, constituting a further threat to the dictatorship of the masters of coutures.
Late twentieth century
During the late twentieth century fashions began to criss-cross international boundaries with rapidity. Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Synthetic materials such as Lycra, Spandex, and viscose became widely-used, and fashion, after two decades of looking to the future, once again turned to the past for integration. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections.
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