Detail | New Project

Today we started a new project, the outcome is to produce a collection of work based on the extreme intricate details taken from an era over the past 300 years; 1640-1940 to be precise. We could pick any era we liked, and any section of the era within that. As I have very little knowledge of history, i decided to visit the library and root through various 'Fashion through ages' books until I came across an era I found particularly interesting.

The aim is to understand the detailing of the clothes from a particular era, to improve my basic designs skill and process. Fashion designers often use this method, borrowing ideas from a wider variety of historical periods. For example Mcqueen using paintings by Bosch, Botticelli and others embroider into his final collection. Different era's had very obvious detailing on each pieces; ranging from the minuscule waist sizes in victorian dresses to the head to toe buttoning on edwardian to the denim stitching in american workwear. One aspect I will look into is how the rich dressed, the gowns in the past centuries were extremely extravagant, both in detailing and colours. Materials were outrageously expensive, so the fabrication and cleaning process had to be taken into account.

The period I am going to research and base my project on is very early 1900's, The Edwardians. The clothes of the rich were flowing gowns, long coats, many buttons and fastenings, but in particular lace. The dresses of the rich women, the aristocracy, had many removable parts. From sleeves to lace shoe spats. As I aim to modernise this time into a full collection, I will try to take the most iconic details and focus on them. The collection must be daywear and therefore doesn't need to take the gown shape or flowing skirts. However, this big skirt silhouette could be translated into a more modern idea, using length and a number of layers.