Claudia Demcak | UCA Design Research

F L O U

A T E L I E R

R E S E A R C H CLAUDIA DEMCAK University for the Creative Arts • Fashion Atelier • Year 2 • Semester 2 Processes of bias cut project and fabric manipulation project.

2

CONTENTS HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Madeleine Vionnet ........................................................................ 4

Madame Gres .............................................................................. 6

1930s Hollywood ......................................................................... 8

Slovak Folk Costume .................................................................... 10

CONTEMPORARY

INSPIRATION

Bias Cut Garments ....................................................................... 12

Fabric Manipulation ..................................................................... 14

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

Preliminary Concept: Illumination at Night 16

Research & Process 17

Fukinsei ......................................................................................... 19

Final Concept: Earth & Ocean ..................................................... 20

DRAPING

Slip Dress ....................................................................................... 22

Knot Twist .....................................................................................23

FLOU

CONSTruction

Cutting on the Bias ....................................................................... 24

Binding ......................................................................................... 24

Pin Hem & Zig Zag ...................................................................... 26

Godets ............................................................................................27

3

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Madeleine Vionnet Madeleine is known as “the architect amoung dressmakers”. She studied in London before establishing her fashion house in France in 1912.

She had to close the house after two years because of the first World War, but reopened in 1923 - 1939.

Her designs were innovative and had “the perfect balance of experimentation and elegance”. She often used half scale mannequins for toiles. Her favourite fabrics were crepe, gabardine and satin. By freeing women from stays and corsets she modernized women’s clothing by “making women’s personalities, wellbeing and their dreams the centre of fashion.” (vionnet.com/madeleine-vionnet)

4

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

The Bias Cut / “Coup en Bias” Madeleine Vionnet invented the art of cutting fabric on the bias so that it clings to the body and/or creates beauitful drape in clothes with volume. I studyed Vionnet while doing a John Galliano project last year. Galianno was inspired by her slim-fitting bias dresses so I created one for the project, but the project was based on concept and visuals rather than craft. There weren’t any properly finished seams. Coming into this project I knew I would like to try a slim-fitting bias cut dress because I had been curious about how one is made.

Pleating and Draping Vionnet was also well known for her gorgeous draped gowns, which often had traditional Grecian influence. I was inspired by the beautiful fluidity and asymmetry of these designs. I incorporated some of these principles into my own design sketches, including silhouette, cowling, pleating and panelling, but making them more contemporary and modern.

5

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Madame Grès

Madame Grès studied sculpture and opened her Grès fashion house in the 1942. She sold the company in the 1983. Madame Grès was most known for her tiny pleats and revealing cutouts.

Her signature medium was silk jersey, being buoyant and fluid with great tight tucking and body skimming capabilities. Most pieces were made with one long piece of fabric. Each pleat is sewn by hand and is 1mm - 1cm wide. She never sewed or cut patterns but rather draped directly on the mannequin.

6

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Ancient Greek Sculpture Influence Madame Grès was influenced by the detail and fluidity in the hair and fabric on ancient Greek sculpture. Last year I did a school project on Madame Grès and created a half scale version of one of her tiny pleat designs. I was inspired by the detail and rhythm this techniqe creates so I continued this technique in my design sketches.

My half scale Madame Grès pastiche

Juxtaposition of Structure and Drape I have noticed that there is a lot of mix of stability and fluidity in Madame Grès’ designs. The draping and pleats create fludity, but they are usually secured on the bodice at the seams and sometimes along the pleats as well, creating structure. This concept inspires me and eventually helped me to decide on my final concept.

7

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

1930s Hollywood

Barbara Stanwyck After doing a research project on 1930s Hollywood for a project on the history of costume I have been interested in slim fitting bias cut dresses. I took to Pinterest to look for designs from 1930s Hollywood to try to understand how bias cut dresses are constructed and to get inspired by the designs. I noticed a lot of triangular shapes to keep the seams on the straight grain.

Heddy Lamarr 8

Marlene Dietrich

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Carole Lombard Ginger Rogers

Jean Harlow

9

HISTORICAL

INSPIRATION

Slovak Folk Costume

My parents are both from Slovakia and while designing I am often inspired by the folk costume in some way, as it is part of my roots. While sketching out some design ideas, I started sketching contemporaray dresses with apron-like panels, influenced by the style of this folk costume from a village called Telgart, where my mother is from. I like the look of extra coverage it creates and the vertical lines make the body look longer.

It also joins the traditional with the contemporary, which is a balance that is usually pleasing to the eye. gravitate to.

10

11

CONTEMPORARY

INSPIRATION

Bias Cut Garments

John Galliano

Ralph Lauren

Beginning this bias garment project I did not know where to start. I wanted to design something interesting and modern - not a typical dress. But I didn’t have any ideas that I thought were viable enough to produce, and I kept thinking about making a slim-fitting dress to figure out how Madeleine Vionnet and John Galliano (one of my favourite designers since I was fourteen and who is inspired by her) had done it.

12

CONTEMPORARY

Jenny Packham

Amanda Wakeley

INSPIRATION

Alexis Mabile

I decided to take the challenge to make a dress that fits close to the body. I studied the pictures above and to the right and I drew many rough sketches to finally come to a contemporary version of a tight bias cut dress.

13

CONTEMPORARY

INSPIRATION

Fabric Manipulation Pleats As I draped and reasearched, I kept returning to pleats. They can do so many things.

Zac Posen’s old Hollywood collection inspired me as did Vera Wang’s innovative pleating/bias strip techniqe.

Zac Posen

Vera Wang

Pin Pleats This technique is no doubt influenced by Madame Gres. Many couture designers now adays including Herve L. Leroux are using this technique and making it look modern and timeless, which inspires me.

J. Mendel

14

Vera Wang

CONTEMPORARY

INSPIRATION

Awkward Asymmetry I call this balance of asymmetry in the photos “awkward” because it isn’t perfectly asymmetrical - there isn’t an even amount of difference on both sides of the garment, rather it almost looks like it was done by accident. This concept inspires me because it means accepting things as they are, and emulating nature, which is not perfect Marchesa

Basil Soda

there is a lot of “awkward asymmetry” found in nature.

Sheer and Opaque A mix of sheer and opque creates another principle of balance that is pleasing to the eye, especially when mixed with another principle of balance. I used this “sheer and opaque” concept in many of my designs.

Bianca Spender

Giambatista Valli

15

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

P r e l i m i n a r y C o n c e p t: Illumination at Night

I initially thought of a concept of “Illumination at Night� because I had been inspired by lit-up nighttime city views of New York and London. Last spring I visted New York City and fell in love with the amount of creative buzz and the beautiful view from the Empire State Building.

Arriving in London this winter I felt a similar feeling of awe at the historical beauty and the pretty lights at twilight and at night. Colour scheme: black, gold, dark blue, silver.

Oxford Street 16

Covent Garden

from Waterloo Bridge

Parliament Building

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

Research & Process I came up with my initial, preliminary concept quickly and wrote out the reasons why I chose it to help me decide if it is a good choice. I was not completely happy with it, so I started brainstorming for more ideas.

These are some brainstorms I had. The photo on the right shows my conclusion.

17

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

I read Maison Martin Margiela’s book to inspire me to dig deep into creativng a meaningful concept.

This shirt says - “There is more action to be done to fight AIDS than to wear this T-shirt but it’s a good start.” ^ The message is meaningful already, but being half hidden makes it creative at the same time, maybe even more meaningful. It creates conversation about the issue. < This collection was inpired by Ken dolls and

< The numbers on the garment labels

their clothes. It took the

refer to different

spotlight off Barbie for a

collections, although not all

moment.

of them are in use. This is a strong concept, because Margiela took control of the organization system of thier clothes rather than letting the industry do that for them. They chose what would work for them. < The concept behind this collection was mannequins, bringing to light the process of garment construction and how important mannequins are to fashion designers.

18

the strange proportion of

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

Fukinsei

Fukinsei is the Japanese

principle of asymmetry or irregularity, but with the control of balance. It is controlled imperfection, the beauty of balanced asymmetry. The symbol for this principle is the circle drawn with paint, with an irregular brush stroke that fades at the end. It symbolizes the irregular nature of things, but that they still maintain balance, and that imperfection is always a part of our lives.

I chose this theory as one of my themes in my concept because I have been inspired by

Japanese culture for a few years now, especially the focus on peace and balance. As I started leaning towards a more nature-based concept, I starting thinking about Japanese culture and found that some of my sketches started to resemble contemporary Japanese aesthetic. This theme of balance and asymmetry is imporatnt to me because life is not perfectly balanced, rather it is always in sort of an awkward balance. Fukinsei reminds us that we can never be perfect and must accept things that we cannot change. The resemblence to the nature of life is intruiging, and the asymmetrical balance is a principle that is appealing to the eye.

19

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

F i n a l C o n c e p t: Earth & Ocean Blue

I ended up choosing this concept of the juxtaposition of the stability of the earth and the fluidity of the ocean. I wanted to go in the direction of nature, since it inspires me and makes me feel happy on a daily basis. There are so many examples to be taken from nature and I came accross this concept after looking at the themes that were in my sketches so far (I had about thirty) and I realized that there were some common ones in my inspiration from Madeleine Vionnet, Madame Gres and 1930s Hollywood.

Colour Scheme (Pantone swatches from WGSN.com):

Soft Waves Navy 20

Clear Water Blue

Sandy Grey

Sea Foam White

CONCEPT

DEVELOPMENT

Green

I look out at the Medway River every day when I am cooking my food - something that calms me down and reminds me of home back in Vancouver, Canada. The water made me feel at peace, and most mornings I drink my smoothie and look out at the blue. When I realized the correlation with this and the themes in my sketches, I had to use it as my final concept. The ocean is more green, but with this concept, other bodies of water do apply. I am also inspired the nature at home in Vancouver. There are many mountains, rivers and waterfalls that I enjoy when I go biking, hiking, kayaking and camping.

Dark Forest Green

Ocean Green

Dusty Green

Misty Green 21

DRAPING

Slip Dress To cut the fabric for a slip on the bias, I drew a rectangle on the bias (45 degree angle) with extra width but with the length of each panel the length of each portion of the body of the mannequin.

I also marked centrefront. With a sheer white crepe fabric I pinned the endges of it to the paper draft and hand basted a contrast stitch to determine how to place the fabric on the mannequin.

Draping the Slip: 1. Line up waist and hips. (hips may drop) 2. Pull on hem of side seam to allow more movement in the front.

3. Bust will waist about 2.5 cm at side seams.

4. Smooth fabric over the mannequin and smooth excess fabric made under bust tothe side.

5. Clip to side seam.

6. Add twill tape to neckline, easing in the fabric and creating the neckline.

22

DRAPING

Knot Twist

23

FLOU

construction

Cutting on the Bias Here I have folded the fabric on the 45 degree angle to get the bias grain, pinned the edges together and along the fold, and hand basted a contrast stitch. This just determined the grainline so that I could directly drape it on the mannequin, matching the grainline at centrefront, or align my pattern pieces with the grainline to cut out.

Binding Binding should be cut on the bias (for curves), stretched out with an iron, and if preferred, one could also fold the binding before applying it to a garment. To do this the most efficient way, a binding folding, funnel-like tool is used with the bias strip and some steam.

24

FLOU

construction

Step-by-step from The Cutting Class on how to attach binding: (binding could already be folded or not)

25

FLOU

construction

Z i g Z a g & P i n H e ms I made the following guides to remind me how to achieve these two hem finishing techniqueses that I only just learned at UCA. They are ideal for hemming delicate fabrics.

Zig Zag Hem Wrong Side

Right Side

{

1cm

fold

Pin Hem Wrong Side

Right Side 2.

1.

1cm

{ fold 1

3.

4.

fold 1

fold 2

26

FLOU

construction

Godets

I got the idea for sheer godets to go with the sheer and opaque balance principle that I had been using. I like the look of godets when applied in a contemporary way because they add volume and fluidity while allowing most of the dress to remain structured. They also elongate the body. I went to The Cutting Class website to research how godets work, as I have never created them before. They are simply panels taken out of a pattern and enlarged at the hem with a slash and spread method.

27