Detail | Idea Development

[Water-colour detail sketches based on dresses from 1901-17]

Today I decided to pick out the main details repeated throughout Edwardian dresses, and line them in pen and shade in water-colour. This brought out the delicacy of each detail and inspired me to turn these into some sort of design; textile or development. The shape and silhouette of the dresses remained very similar throughout the entire period, but the details alter dependent on what the dress was for and who would wear it. Similar detailing was used across dresses, this was interesting as the difference between day and evening wear wasn't in shape, length or silhouette. The main differences was the cut of the shoulders and collar, and the detailing on both of these. 

Most dresses included some sort of lace, whether in the form of a collar detailing, skirt trim or simple add-on's to sleeves and shoulders. The embroidery on some of the dresses was intricate, one dress included gold thread all over made to look like layers upon layers of peacock feathers. The dress supposedly 'lit up' when entered the room. Each part of the embroidery was made by hand, and the dress would only have been worn but the richest aristocracy at the finest balls. 

One detail I kept picking out was the incredible amount of layering, every dress had a huge amount of layers, petticoats, skirts, aprons, added lace, frills, jackets, bodices and coats. This could have been due to how cold houses were, or simply to show how much a person could afford simply through the amount of material they wore. 

The colours I picked for the water-colour were mainly based on how I associate wealth with colour. Dyes in that period would have been very expensive, meaning the darker richer colours would only be worn by the wealthiest. Seeing as I am focusing this project on the rich people of the Edwardian Period, I used blues, purples and reds to colour my sketches. I hope to include maybe a gold or white, perhaps in the form of a lace or laser cutting as a physical response.

As I wanted to use these drawings to further my development, I photocopied (enlarging and duplicating) a few of the sketches. With these I can turn them into textiles like prints or embroidery, or simply cut and paste them onto a body to rearrange where each detailing could go. As I only did a few, I feel I need to step my game up and produce at least three times this amount. On top of this, this weekend I shall start to try to recreate some of these on a mannequin. This will help me understand the fabrication methods, and also physically alter where each detail could be placed. I will record this process and start some designing from there. I think I also need a little more research on fabrication, but a trip to the V&A tomorrow should provide a good basis.