Céline, AW15, Paris.Bet you never think of topstitching as nonchalant, right? What about pattern making, can you cut a dart like you just don’t care? This is the bizarre skill that is needed to be a fashion designer; can you convey a certain mood for a collection not just through...
13 Jun 2015
Balenciaga, RST16. The Spring-Summer 2016 pre-collection at Balenciaga was filled with stripes, splits, sheer panels and details that created soft structure. At times, waistline tucks blended into wavy peplum hems that appeared as though they may have been shaped with crinoline. This same soft, wavy structure was also used around...
04 Jun 2015
noir kei ninomiya, AW15, Paris. It comes as no surprise that someone who used to be a pattern cutter at Comme des Garçons would produce intricately designed garments, however, based on the collection shown for Autumn-Winter 2015, it is also clear that Kei Ninomiya has a particular flair for ingenious...
23 May 2015
Valentino, AW15, Paris. Aside from the lacier side» of the Valentino show for Autumn-Winter 2015, there was a range of garments presented with minimal monochrome details and intricate geometric fabrics edged with beads and gold stitching.
19 May 2015
Valentino, AW15, Paris.The Valentino collection for Autumn-Winter 2015 appeared to almost be split into two very different aesthetics. On the one hand there was clean cut minimalism in black and white, on the other hand there was lace and feather patterns in muted colours and tinged with gold.
12 May 2015
Undercover, AW15, Paris.The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Undercover was filled with sharp construction details and shattered design lines which were rounded out by rich colours, painted fabrics and voluminous drapes of velvet, satin and jersey. Soft and luxurious fabrics were often layered, deconstructed and then rejoined to create spliced details...
05 May 2015
Proenza Schouler, AW15, New York.The Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Proenza Schouler featured experimentation with fabrics and trims to create layers of texture within the garments. Two main experiments with volume were also at play from a pattern cutting perspective; at times the fabric was spliced and slit open, while at...
28 Apr 2015
Alexander McQueen, AW15, Paris.The rose is a motif that often features in fashion design, but it was specifically the degradation of the rose that was used in the Autumn-Winter 2015 collection at Alexander McQueen. The idea of petals becoming slowly more bruised and ragged was played out in the fabrics...
22 Apr 2015
Christian Dior, SS15, Haute Couture, Paris. In discussing some of the details from the Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2015 collection», we began to discuss how moving the positions of panel lines can affect your ability as a pattern maker to fit the fabric to the body. As it happens the Christian Dior...
14 Apr 2015
Cristóbal Balenciaga images from the 1950s and 1960s showing sketches and final garments.Beautiful fashion sketches are often shown as part of the romanticised process of designing a garment, but while it can be difficult to illustrate an idea on paper, it can be harder still to turn that sketch into...
07 Apr 2015
Christopher Kane, AW15, London.As a designer, the way that you actually draw or illustrate your designs can be highly influential in the actual designs that you create. For his Autumn-Winter 2015 collection, Christopher Kane appears to have been highly aware of the way that drawing impacts his own garment designs...
02 Apr 2015
Simone Rocha, AW15, London.There are certain construction details that are complementary to each other, echoing each other stylistically to reinforce an idea. One such pairing is that of gathers and ruffles; two techniques which are essentially based on the same process but end up with different names when played out...
