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Balancing Proportions at Chanel
Chanel, AW13, Paris.In the recent Autumn-Winter 2013 collection for Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld made the high thigh area the erogenous zone of choice, creating layered garments that focused on a narrow...
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Comme des Garçons Show How Ribbon Roses Are Done
Comme des Garçons, AW13, Paris.There is always a certain generosity in the way that the Comme des Garçons garments are created, more specifically a generosity of volume. This means that when Rei...
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Surreal Motifs at Christian Dior
Christian Dior, AW13, Paris.The recent Christian Dior collection for Autumn-Winter 2013 used an array of solid and elegantly draped silhouettes in combination with sparse embellishments seen in the...
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Drape Analysis of a Balenciaga Jacket
Balenciaga, AW13, Paris.Sometimes it is worthwhile focusing on some of the more subtle pieces of a collection and understanding how they are formed in order to learn from the way they are constructed....
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Naoki Takizawa Design Illustrates Use of Notches
Naoki Takizawa, SS11, “Mode & Science III – Anthoropometria”.This image shows a garment by the designer Naoki Takizawa that was part of his Spring-Summer 2011 collection. The image provides a great...
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Using Seam Allowances to Support Silhouette
Robert Wun, “Burnt” Collection, 2012.In a bid to remove bulk from garments we often try to create patterns with less seams and less seam allowances but there are also times where the positioning of...
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Matched Pinstripes at Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen, SS06, Paris.One of Alexander McQueen’s more subdued collections Spring-Summer 2006 provides a garment that is a good case study for precise pattern cutting. The relatively...
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Simple Geometry at Balenciaga
Balenciaga, AW13, Paris.The Autumn-Winter 2013 collection at Balenciaga used a simple palette of monochrome to explore careful draping and pattern cutting around a geometric theme.The monochrome...
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Ways To Think About Pattern Changes and Fitting Alterations
Comme des Garçons, AW97. Photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia 1997.This amazing photograph of a Comme des Garçons dress provides a perfect visual example of how to think about parts of...
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Painterly Palettes at Burberry Prorsum
Burberry Prorsum, Menswear, SS14, London.It was all about the sophisticated use of colour at the recent Burberry Prorsum Menswear show where the theme of "Writers and Painters" produced a rich palette...
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Lurid Prints and Sweaty Silks at Prada
Prada, Menswear, SS14, Milan.In the recent Prada Menswear show for Spring-Summer 2014, Miuccia reworked florals in lurid colour combinations, pairing the patterns with wet look silk textures and...
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Fundamentals of Pattern Making: Tucks and Gathers at Prada
Prada, as shown with Menswear SS14, Milan.As part of the recent menswear show, Prada also showed a selection of womenswear pieces that will be sold as part of Resort 2014. Among the womenswear pieces...
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Couture in Rubber and Denim at Margiela
Maison Martin Margiela, Couture, AW13, Paris.Never a label to play by the rules, the Maison Martin Margiela couture collections always include elements of subversion that play against the hand worked...
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Trims in Negative Space at Christopher Kane
Christopher Kane, AW13, London.We often think of trims and braids as something that goes on the outside of garments. We run trims around edges, sew them on top of seams and add them onto finished...
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Blended Felting Techniques
Alexander Wang, AW11, New York.Felting is a fabric technique that can produce a variety of different effects depending on the method, from wet felting and nuno felting through to needle punch felting....
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Shaping the Shoulder Curve: The Dropped Shoulder and the Set In Sleeve
Antonio Marras, RST14, New York.When pattern making any garment that crosses over from the shoulder to the arm, you need to consider the placement of seam lines and have an understanding of how the...
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Black Volume at Viktor and Rolf
Viktor and Rolf, Couture, AW13, Paris.The Autumn-Winter 2013 couture collection by Viktor and Rolf was an exploration of organic black shapes created by panelling generous volumes of fabric.The...
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Glitter Club at Christopher Shannon
Christopher Shannon, Menswear, SS14, London.The Spring-Summer 2014 collection by London designer Christopher Shannon was part candy coloured street styling and part monochrome deconstruction. Men’s...
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Thom Browne's Off The Body Tailoring
Thom Browne, AW13, New York.When the silhouette of a garment moves far enough away from the body, all the old pattern shapes become almost obsolete, and the garment needs to be dissected by a new set...
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Working With Difficult Materials: Part 1
Garment images are from the project “The Garments May Vary” by Nadine Goepfert via Thisispaper»Some of the most eye catching new conceptual designs are made from surprising fabric choices that require...
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