Madame Gres – Goddess of Drape: Review of ‘Madame Gres: Couture at Work’, Musee Bourdelle, Paris 25th March – 28th August 2011

With the revived importance attached to object based research for fashion scholars and its obvious significance to fashion designers, the Madame Gres retrospective at the Musee Bourdelle in Paris, promoted an ideal opportunity to analyse her work in close detail. As fashion historian Valerie Steele (1998) commented; “Object based research provides unique insights into the historic and aesthetic development of fashion” (p.27). It allows the researcher to analyse the history, material, construction, design, and function of garments. This can be achieved through touching, feeling and by trying clothes on. The fashion scholar can gain an understanding about a garments cultural significance and its impact on fashion design and technology. The designer or pattern cutter can be inspired by the design and construction of the garment, its fabrication, colour and cut

The spiral relationship between suffering and the production of fashionable clothes

In this article, I explore relationships between suffering and the production of fashionable clothes. In the commercial struggle for survival many fashionable styles are discarded while some remain durable due to their adaptability to new trends and creative ideas. The aim of the research was to investigate how suffering initiates these changes in the creative process of fashion design. This was examined through a number of methodologies, which included object-based research and ethnography. The research findings indicate that suffering within the fashion industry can be a positive attribute. It can influence the way clothes are produced and the skills necessary to produce them. A model depicting the connection between suffering and fashion is posited as a tentative theory suggesting there is a spiral relationship in that changes in fashion production and consumption resulting from suffering evolve into a spiral of further suffering impacting on the future of fashion design and manufacture

Fashion in Jeopardy

Glamorous, ostentatious, extravagant, alluring, flamboyant, frivolous! (SLIDE 4) The opulence of high fashion is often referred to with these very evocative words. Aspiring to such dizzying heights in the daily construction of appearance is the ultimate dream of the fashion consumer. This conflicts with the every day functionality of dress and the changes in society that fashion often needs to accommodate. The individual consumer of fashion will put together a look that conveys a visual message that can reflect these changes. These could be induced by war, depression, economic recession and political turmoil. The changes can also put the system of fashion and its consumption in great jeopardy. This research investigates and compares how fashion reacted to the deprivations of the Second World War, with similar deprivation, in the economic recession, beginning in 2008. This resulted in many parallel initiatives that have either been revived or have evolved. Whilst the research recognises that the deprivation suffered during war is far more destructive materially, physically and emotionally it emphasises the similarity of parallel initiatives in relation to fashionable clothing that impacted in the dual times of economic shortage. The initiatives discussed often-threatened recognised systems of fashion, design and consumption. It was driven underground only to re-emerge in different interpretations. In relation to this the research also details how final year fashion design students were set a live two day brief, that asked them consider the concept of ‘Fashion in Jeopardy’. This exercise introduced students in a practical way to how fashion can mirror conflict in society and how a sense of individual style and fashion can be maintained in a crisis

Introduction : The Second International Conference for Creative Pattern Cutting

Fashion journalist, Brenda Polen described creative pattern cutting as: “illuminating, inspired, intricate, whimsical, subtle, complex, challenging, eclectic, weird, dramatic and sculptural” (Rotor, 2014 p. 14) The second international conference is designed to promote contemporary research into the art of creative pattern cutting and its significance to the fashion industry. The conference provides a platform for pattern cutters, fashion designers, students, and educators to explore the impact and direction for creative pattern cutting. The conference aims to: Encourage discussion of new methods and techniques in creative pattern cutting, inspiring technical and design innovation. Develop ways in which the fashion industry promotes pattern cutting as a career, emphasizing its creative integrity and magnetism. Enhance ways in which tacit knowledge and the making process are considered as legitimate forms of research enquiry. Promote equity for the roles of the creative pattern cutter and the fashion designer in terms of esteem and remuneration. Balance debates about the knowledge and practical experience of traditional processes in the context of technological and digital development. We are looking for abstracts, which expand the themes above and further explore the impact and direction for creative pattern cutting. Selected papers will be published in a special edition in The International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, Volume 6, Issue 2, published in July 2016, Guest editors, Dr. Kevin Almond and Dr Jess Power Important dates: • Call sent out: 16 February 2015 • Abstract (150 words) and authors’ biography (100 words): 1 May 2015 (Abstract and biography should be submitted to [email protected]) • Notification for acceptance: 1 July 2015 • Full paper (4000 - 5000 words) submission: 15 September 2015 (or before) • Reviewer’s feedback: 1 January 2016 (or before) • Early bird registration: 1 July – 1 December 2015 • Registration closes: 12 February 2016 • Symposium: 24 and 24 February 2016. Hosting University: University of Huddersfield, UK Organisers: Dr Kevin Almon

Sculptural Thinking in Fashion

Human thinking in relation to the body is conditioned by an understanding of the body as a three-dimensional form. The fashion designer Madame Gres said ‘I wanted to be a sculptor — for me it is just the same to work with fabric or stone.’ Sculpture and fashion both adopt figurative formations, a default position of representing human form in space, motion and time: both an art form receptive to the senses of sight, touch and gravitational pull. This research questions whether the thinking processes in fashion design are common with thinking in sculptural practices within fine art. The question emerged through conversations between a fashion designer and a contemporary artist and centered upon the use of language, thinking and reflective practices, and the articulation and application of material processes. To address these questions we focused upon two approaches: whether thought and its articulation in the lexicon of creative practice is common and whether there is a two way flow of visual, material and technical influences. The initial conversation centered upon the art historian, Rowan Bailey’s essay ‘Herder’s Sculptural Thinking.’ Our interpretations of this work identified that thought itself evolves in the experience of three-dimensions and sharing our experiences of touch. The idea of the sculptural therefore becomes social; a shared phenomena. We became interested in how thinking begins to take shape in material forms, or the notion of working creatively in three-dimensionality is in itself a structure of the emotions that connect to a line of thought. The first section of the paper establishes a platform for the second section by investigating the significance of touch and mimicry, and the philosophies behind thinking sculpturally. The second section considers the effects of influence between the two disciplines, noting an interaction between the creative processes in sculpture and fashion design, such as: modeling, draping, molding, stacking, casting, shaping and carving. The paper concludes by drawing together the two sections

The Progress of Creative Pattern Cutting

This paper documents the journey of several research initiatives, which focused upon creative pattern cutting. Instigated by a peer-reviewed, journal paper entitled, ‘Insufficient Allure: The Luxurious Art and Cost of Creative Pattern Cutting’ (Almond, 2010), the endeavors attempted to elevate concepts of tacit knowledge and the making process as a form of legitimate, academic enquiry. The projects culminated in the first peer-reviewed conference dedicated to the discipline: ‘The First International Symposium for Creative Pattern Cutting’, held at University of Huddersfield in the UK, in February 2013. To trace the impact of the research initiatives, we consider how the skills of the pattern cutter, clothe the body with a myriad of shapes and silhouettes. We discuss this in relation to the different pattern cutting techniques that can be utilized to realize three-dimensional form and ways in which the research enterprises have arguably elevated the professional position of the cutter in terms of esteem and remuneration. In order to assess the impact of these initiatives, both within the fashion industry and in the emerging arena of fashion research, we identify some of the different research approaches utilized in practice-based enquiry and how results can be arrived at from hands-on experience, inspiring us to develop new ways to pattern cut

Sculptural Thinking in Fashion

Human thinking in relation to the body is conditioned by an understanding of the body as a three-dimensional form. The fashion designer Madame Gres said ‘I wanted to be a sculptor — for me it is just the same to work with fabric or stone.’ Sculpture and fashion both adopt figurative formations, a default position of representing human form in space, motion and time: both an art form receptive to the senses of sight, touch and gravitational pull. This research questions whether the thinking processes in fashion design are common with thinking in sculptural practices within fine art. The question emerged through conversations between a fashion designer and a contemporary artist and centered upon the use of language, thinking and reflective practices, and the articulation and application of material processes. To address these questions we focused upon two approaches: whether thought and its articulation in the lexicon of creative practice is common and whether there is a two way flow of visual, material and technical influences. The initial conversation centered upon the art historian, Rowan Bailey’s essay ‘Herder’s Sculptural Thinking.’ Our interpretations of this work identified that thought itself evolves in the experience of three-dimensions and sharing our experiences of touch. The idea of the sculptural therefore becomes social; a shared phenomena. We became interested in how thinking begins to take shape in material forms, or the notion of working creatively in three-dimensionality is in itself a structure of the emotions that connect to a line of thought. The first section of the paper establishes a platform for the second section by investigating the significance of touch and mimicry, and the philosophies behind thinking sculpturally. The second section considers the effects of influence between the two disciplines, noting an interaction between the creative processes in sculpture and fashion design, such as: modeling, draping, molding, stacking, casting, shaping and carving. The paper concludes by drawing together the two sections

The Status of Pattern Cutting

This commentary documents the journey of several research initiatives, which focused upon creative pattern cutting. Instigated by a peer-reviewed, journal paper entitled, Insufficient Allure: The Luxurious Art and Cost of Creative Pattern Cutting (Almond, 2010), the endeavors attempted to elevate concepts of tacit knowledge and the making process as a form of legitimate, academic enquiry. The projects culminated in the first peer-reviewed conference dedicated to the discipline: The First International Symposium for Creative Pattern Cutting, held at University of Huddersfield in the UK, in February 2013. To trace the impact of the research initiatives, I consider how the skills of the pattern cutter, clothe the body with a myriad of shapes and silhouettes. I discuss this in relation to the different pattern cutting techniques that can be utilized to realize three-dimensional form and ways in which the research enterprises have arguably elevated the professional position of the cutter in terms of esteem and remuneration. In order to assess the impact of these initiatives, both within the fashion industry and in the emerging arena of fashion research, I identify some of the different research approaches utilized in practice-based enquiry and how results can be arrived at from hands-on experience, inspiring us to develop new ways to pattern cut

A Potential Dichotomy: Clothing, Fashion and the UK Apparel Industry

The research focuses upon the production of apparel in the UK, in order to explore a potential dichotomy between clothing and fashion. Both the terms suggest ways in which the body can be dressed and are used liberally within industries that produce apparel. I consider the currency of sociologist, Georg Simmel’s theory, which identified no fundamental links between the clothing and fashion. In fashion. Clothing is usually constructed with textile materials worn on the physique and is worn by human beings, in the majority of societies. The quantity and style of clothing depends on bodily, societal and environmental considerations, including gender. In contrast fashion is a common term for a popular style in clothing, footwear or accessories and is usually, the newest collection or creation produced by a designer or retailer. The UK designer, Jean Muir regarded herself as a dressmaker and implied there was conflict between the production of clothes and the role of the fashion designer in this process. The investigation seeks to offer new insight into existing research related to clothing and fashion, by centering upon the production of apparel in the UK and the specific needs of the highly developed, UK fashion and clothing educational system. In so doing it identifies how the terms are perceived today, in both the UK and global apparel industries